For a truly heart-breaking and twisted story, look no further than North Las Vegas’s own: Lakeia Walker and Ricky Beasley. Both of these 27-year-old individuals are being held without bail on possible murder charges. The victim? Their 3-year-old daughter, little Zaela Walker. Las Vegas criminal defense lawyers agree that the nature of these crimes will be tough to defend against.
As if any murder story involving the killing of a family member isn’t tragic enough, the circumstances surrounding this particular case are especially disturbing.
What Events Led up to the Crimes?
Beasley and Walker were not currently living together, as their relationship was troubled. However, they were still dating/in contact. On August 21st, 2018, Beasley was watching Zaela in his home, which he shared with his mother. Around midnight, Beasley’s mother – Zaela’s grandmother – was asleep in her room, adjacent to Beasley’s bedroom. A loud THUD awakened her, so she rushed to the hallway to see what had caused the noise.
She discovered her son in the hallway holding little Zaela, who was crying. As per the police report, Beasley told his mother that Zaela had just urinated on herself and he had become angry and throw a cot against the wall, causing the disruptive thud. Beasley then took Zaela to the bathroom to clean her off in the shower.
That incident is the last time anyone other than Ricky Beasley or Lakeia Walker saw Zaela.
How Did the Situation Progress?
According to the police report, the following afternoon, Beasley searched the internet for information on how to stop seizures in children, “even though none of his children have a history of seizures,” as per the report. One of the Google search engine results suggested that a particular type of marijuana could be used to stop seizures. So later that day, Beasley visited the Reef Marijuana Dispensary and purchased a marijuana cigarette.
The Couple Allegedly Fled
The next event in the timeline is alleged and supposedly took place at Craig Ranch Park. Beasley and Lakeia abandoned their iPhones at the park, as well as their credit/debit cards and all forms of identification. Then, they drove to Southern California, and over the next few weeks, through Illinois, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Texas.
Police said that Zaela was never seen with them on this mega road trip. Nor did they let any family or friends know they were going on this trip. They simply disappeared until September 17th, when they returned to Las Vegas. After obtaining their IDs, the couple left for Tijuana, Mexico.
Apprehended at The Border
On September 23rd, the couple was stopped by border patrol while they were re-entering the United States. They, as well as Zaela, had been reported missing.
When police interviewed Lakeia about Zaela’s whereabouts, she lied profusely to them. Later, she failed a polygraph test. NLVPD eventually retrieved information from her that “lead detectives to believe that Zaela was not alive,” according to police reports.
Lakeia later told police that she and Ricky Beasley were working on their relationship and did not want to complicate things by bringing Zaela back into their lives.