Teen Killer Caught Lying On Camera - The Emma Walker Case

She was a 16-year-old cheerleader and honor student at the start of her life. Before that life was cut short. There was a killer in this town. A killer who from an outsider's point of view wouldn't be capable of such horror. But sometimes, even a seemingly wholesome and perfect young relationship can end in tragedy. Do you know anybody who don't want to do that? I don't have anyone that we have on our day, girl. Trust me, guys, with my life because I mean, this is 70 years in jail. The Golden Boy, a teenager that murdered his ex-girlfriend in cold blood. This is the tragic murder of Emma Walker. My name is Brianna, and I'm hot on the case. Emma Jane Walker was born on March 20, 2000 to her parents Mark and Jill Walker. She grew up in the suburbs outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, with her little brother Evan. The walkers were a really sweet, close, loving family. They were the kind of family that people looked at and thought, "Wow, they really have it all." In Mark and Jill certainly felt that way when it came to their children. Emma was a very special girl. Obviously, she was very beautiful on the outside, but she was just as if not more beautiful on the inside. People at her school would say because Emma was this popular, beautiful, blonde-haired cheerleader that they would be intimidated by her thinking that she was probably stuck up and mean. But when they actually got to know her, they would soon realize that Emma was actually the nicest person that you could ever meet. And from what I've read about Emma Walker, that really does seem to be the case. Emma was down to earth, she was kind. She frequently volunteered at causes that she was extremely passionate about, like animals. She loved animals, and she would volunteer at her local animal shelter all of the time. Her dream was to be a nurse, but not just any nurse. More specifically, she dreamt of being a needle-natal nurse. A needle-natal nurses are nurses that specialize in premature infants, infants that are born with birth defects or other extremely critical health complications. And this was the kind of person that Emma Walker was. When Emma was younger, she got really into competitive dance and competitive gymnastics, but when she entered middle school, she got really into cheerleading. When she entered a central high school in 2014, she was the only freshman that made it the cheerleading squad, which is already extremely impressive, but Emma is doing all of this while also being an honor role student. And as a 14-year-old high school freshman, Emma would meet and she would develop a crush on an older boy that was on the football team, a tale as old as time. This was 16-year-old junior and wide receiver, William Riley Gaul, who would go by his middle name, Riley. When Riley and Emma met, Riley actually already had a girlfriend, but he liked Emma, so he told Emma that he was going to break up with his girlfriend, and then he would love to take Emma to his junior prom. But he didn't. He did not break up with his girlfriend, he did not take Emma to prom. He took his girlfriend to prom, and this really upset Emma because she liked Riley, but Riley would eventually break up with his girlfriend so he could date Emma and then they finally started going out. Emma's parents were a little hesitant about Riley at first. They didn't love the fact that they felt like Riley kind of led their daughter on at first, and also that he had a girlfriend when he first met and started flirting with their daughter, and they're probably already extremely protective over Emma because Riley is also older. He's two years older, he's a junior, Emma is only 14, she's a freshman. But eventually the entire family would come around and they would welcome Riley into their home and into their lives. Riley came from a nice family. He was also a really good student, he was popular, he was active in his church. He even had a nerdy side to him. So to Emma's parents he seemed like a really nice kid at first. And amongst the other students at Central High, the popular opinion was that Emma and Riley seemed like a really good match. It was the stereotypical perfect high school relationship, the cheerleader and the football player, the all-American golden couple. And for those first few months of the relationship, it really did seem really, really solid. But as more time went on, it became very evident that there were some serious cracks. It was small things at first, but it became increasingly more concerning. It seemed like Riley never wanted to hang out with Emma's friends and never even tried to attempt a connection with her friends. And then it seemed like Riley was trying to kind of cut Emma off from her already established friend group. He was very possessive and extremely controlling. He wanted absolute control over whatever Emma did, who she was allowed to hang out with, what she was allowed to wear. He was very jealous. Like if Emma was working after school at her part-time job, Riley would just show up and he would just hang around at Emma's place of work for her entire shift to like monitor what she's doing. And then they would actually break up for the first time because Riley cheated on Emma. It's always the ones that are accusing you of cheating that are actually the ones out there doing it. Emma and Riley would get back together, but Emma's parents never forgave Riley. And he could definitely feel it. And then Emma and Riley would be on again and off again for like two years. It was a very vicious cycle. They would get back together and things would be so great. They would go on cute dates. They would go paddle boarding. He would take her to his senior prom and then something would happen. They would break up and then Riley would become this extremely stubborn person, this very aggressive mean person. Riley would send Emma just the most disgusting text messages that you could ever possibly receive. Calling her names, insulting her, cursing at her. If he was ever upset with Emma or didn't get his way, he would just send her these long text messages. He would blow up her phone, calling her a piece of shit, and telling her to go fuck herself. Calling her all of these terrible, terrible names, just trying to make this young girl just feel absolutely terrible about herself. And then he would tell her that he doesn't love her anymore, that she's dead to him. And you know what, that is not love. Someone that loves you isn't going to want to make you feel terrible about yourself like that. And it's only ever when he felt like he was losing control. And he would go to the greatest depths of manipulation to regain that control. He would also often threaten to hurt himself if he ever felt like he was losing Emma and losing that control he had over her. So throughout this entire two-year relationship where Emma and Riley are on again off again, people that know of them but don't really know them are still seeing them as this perfect couple. But people that really knew them like Emma's friends and Emma's family knew the truth and they saw this relationship for what it truly truly was. Unhealthy, toxic, and abusive. Before meeting Riley, everyone described Emma as this fiercely independent young girl that was stubborn and headstrong. And I mean, I've even seen this in my own life with people close to me where these people get into these very toxic relationships and seem to lose parts of themselves in the toxic relationship. Any time that Emma would try to stand up for herself and put her foot down, try to break up with Riley. He would be aggressive. He would be manipulative. He would try, like I said, to convince Emma that he would hurt himself, bring an end to his own life if she didn't comply and do whatever he said. And I'm sure for 814, 15, 16 year old Emma, that was extremely confusing. How can someone that makes me feel so happy, someone that claims to love me so much, also be the same person that makes me feel my worse? Emma's parents really tried to step up. in. They really wanted to try to break this toxic cycle that their daughter was in. At first, they attempted to monitor anytime Emma was around Riley. So Riley and Emma were only allowed to hang out if it was over at Emma's house and even at that, they weren't allowed like behind closed doors. Like they could only hang out in like shared family spaces like in the living room. But Emma and Riley would just sneak around behind Emma's parents backs anyway. The longer this relationship went on, the more that they started to see a very drastic change in their daughter and they did not like it. Emma was sad and stressed out more than she was happy. And your sanity and your happiness is not something you should have to sacrifice to stay in a relationship especially at that age, but really never. So they're also monitoring Emma's text messages with Riley at this point and they see these terrible abusive messages that Riley is sending their daughter. So ultimately, they made the decision to ban Emma from seeing or speaking with Riley at all. But Emma was still a teenager and teenagers tend to rebel so she was still seeing Riley despite her parents' best efforts to keep him away from her. It had to be her decision to want to end this relationship once and for all and that decision did come at the start of her junior year of high school in the fall of 2016. Riley had just gone off to college for the first time. He was attending Maryville only 30 minutes away, but there's still some distance. And Emma just did not like how Riley was acting and it seemed like a light bulb just went off one day. She was done and she told him that it was over for good this time. And for the next few weeks, it seemed like Emma was happier later. Like this weight had been lifted off her shoulders finally and her friends, but especially her family really started to see that like the old Emma was back. But the other half of this breakup Riley was not handling it well at all. It has actually been reported that immediately following the breakup that Riley attempted to OD on bike it in and his friends and his family were extremely concerned for him and his mental state. Four weeks following the breakup it seemed like Emma was the only thing on Riley's mind. He would just sit in his car for hours just looking at old photos of them and crying. And he was still just blowing up Emma's phone with text messages calling her leaving voicemails. One second, they would be him begging for her to take him back saying how much you loved her. And then the next second, it's calling her these terrible names and being very, very abusive again. So eventually Emma did block Riley. So we couldn't contact her on her phone anymore, but then he would just take one of his friends phones and start blowing her up on there. So then she'd have to block that number as well. And throughout all of this Emma is still just living her life. She's 16 years old and she's just trying to enjoy her junior year of high school. But one weekend would change everything. November 18th 2016 was a Friday. Emma's high school just won a huge playoff football game. And the team was just one win away now from playing in the state championship. This was a big deal, especially for a high school cheerleader. So to celebrate Emma was hanging out at one of her friends houses with her group of friends. The night was late-hearted and fun until an unknown number started sending bizarre and threatening text messages to Emma. These messages instructed Emma to come outside alone. That they had someone that Emma loved and that they would hurt that person unless she complied. And at first Emma is really confused and she does not go outside at first, but the messages just continue and continue and they're so threatening that eventually Emma does go outside, but some of Emma's friends are with her. It's late at night, it's very dark, but Emma can see that someone is lying face down unconscious on the front yard of her friends house. She gets closer and she realizes that this person is Riley. Riley starts to like wake up and he's very confused. He's grabbing his head. He has no idea how he got there or what's going on. And he tells Emma this bizarre story about how he was hit over the head and he was kidnapped by these people in a van. And the last thing he remembers before he loses consciousness is them saying that they have to call Emma. Yeah, so I guess whoever kidnapped Riley just wanted to harass his ex-girlfriend and then just dropped him off on the front yard of his ex-girlfriend's friends house without a ransom, without anything. Right. Well Emma just like does not really believe this story at all. She does see this as just a very bizarre attempt to try and get her attention and to try and get her to feel bad for him. So she reaches out to him and starts talking to him more and eventually get back together with him. So she tells Riley to just like go home and she just goes back inside the house and continues having a fun night with her friends. So Riley calls up one of his friends to come pick him up and he tells his friends this story about how he was kidnapped. He sticks to the story and even his own friends don't believe his story. And he basically told me that these people knocked him out, took his car and threw him in a van and he didn't know where he was. But the following day, Saturday, November 19th, Emma started to believe that maybe someone really was after her. Emma was home all alone this day and she starts hearing that someone is aggressively banging on her front door. When she peeks outside, she sees a stranger wearing all black clothing, wearing a black mask standing right outside her home, just banging on the door. She's absolutely terrified. She actually texts one of her friends that she's afraid that she's about to die. And since she's home alone, she's thinking to herself, who can I call right now that I know will come over and she calls Riley? She doesn't want to be alone. She says, hey, I still hate you, but I really need someone right now. So Riley comes over. They talk for a little bit. Emma's mom eventually comes home, kicks Riley out. And now that Emma's family's home, she doesn't need Riley anymore. And she's kind of just over him and this entire bizarre weekend. Now it's Sunday, November 20th. Nothing bizarre is happening on this day. It seems like whoever was harassing Emma on Friday and Saturday was just gone now. It was just a normal, nice, relaxing Sunday at home with family. Emma and her dad even go out that evening for ice cream. And then later in the night, Emma's parents go off to bed. Emma and her little brother get ready to go to bed. It's Monday the next morning time to go back to school. But then in the middle of the night, Emma's parents wake up to a really weird loud noise. It kind of sounded like someone slamming a door shut, really, really loud. It was like a loud bang. Emma's dad market gets up. And he is just trying to make sure that nothing like fell off the walls or anything weird. Like I definitely woke up in the middle of the night because something I've had hanging up on command strips has like fallen off in the middle of the night. He also goes to check up on his two children. He opens up his son, Evan's room. Looks like Evan is sleeping still. He goes and he opens up his daughter, Emma's room. Looks like Emma's still just lying in bed. So Mark goes back to bed, thinking that maybe this was just a weird dream and he just made up this loud noise because he can't seem to find what made this loud noise. So he just goes back to bed. Early the next morning, the entire Walker family is waking up for work and for school. But Emma doesn't wake up. Her mother goes into her room and she tries calling out for her to wake up, which was typically pretty easy to do. Emma was usually very easy to wake up, but Emma wasn't getting up now. So her mom kind of walks to the side of her daughter's bed and she kind of tries like pushing her daughter's leg a little bit, but still Emma doesn't do anything. She doesn't make a noise. She doesn't make a single movement. So this is when Emma's mother looks at her daughter's face and she instantly knows that something is really really wrong. Emma is pale and her lips are blue. Her mom tries to get a pulse, but she cannot find one. Her 16-year-old daughter is dead and said, "I don't know, I didn't hear anything. I bumped her leg, didn't hear anything, and then went to her face and realized and checked for a pulse and couldn't find anything." She calls 911, "absolutely frantic. I mean, could you even imagine?" "And she has no pulse." "Oh, look at that." "She's so insane!" "You said that she's non-responsive?" "She's non-responsive, she's going." When first responders arrive, they have no idea what kind of situation they're walking into. Sixteen-year-old girls don't just die in their sleep every single day. They're thinking maybe this is a self-inflicted death, or maybe it was some bizarre, tragic, strange medical emergency that wasn't diagnosed. But very quickly, once first responders arrive, they realize that none of that is the case. Sixteen-year-old Emma Walker was murdered in her sleep. She was shot in the head while she was sleeping in her own bed. Police found two shell casings lying in the yard right outside of Emma's home. Someone had walked up to the side of Emma's home in the middle of the night. Emma's bed was pushed up against like an exterior wall of her home, and her killer shot two bullets into the side of her house, exactly where she laid her head on her bed at night. One bullet went right through Emma's pillow and a second bullet went into her head. The first thing that police do in a situation like this is ask the people closest to the victim who would want to harm them. Emma's friends and Emma's family all said the exact same name. Her ex-boyfriend Riley Gaul. Again, this was a situation where people that knew of Riley but didn't really know Riley had a very different like view of him than people that actually knew him and knew his relationship with Emma. The morning after Emma was found dead very quickly, this news spread amongst her community. Not only was she very popular but she was so young and this was this was a tragedy. It was sudden but also this is a murder and now there's a killer walking amongst them. So this is quickly spreading amongst our town and amongst the high school that Emma attended. Riley's phone was blowing up that entire Monday morning people expressing their condolences. Riley even changes his bio on social media to be about Emma and he boasts a very sweet post about Emma about how much she loves her and how beautiful she is and people feel so bad for Riley but people that actually knew him at the exact same time were convinced that he was the one that actually killed her. When Riley is brought in for questioning right away, things are looking extremely suspicious. Riley can't seem to remember exactly what he was doing the night that Emma was killed which was the night right before the day that he's currently being questioned. It's not like this is something that happened a year ago. They're asking what were you doing 12 hours ago, 24 hours ago? He says at the time of the shooting he was just sitting in his car looking at old photos of him and Emma and he was crying. Do you have any idea why you hear what this is about? The only thing they told me is that you all want to ask me some questions about how back camp turned one so you sat in the car and went to the three hours and just cried. And while I was doing it, I just kept it because then she wasn't going to come back and I always got her to come back and ask and I was just she blocking everything so I couldn't send her anything, you know, I think I could send her messages on Twitter and that's gonna tell you I sent that message around one. I just thought her how much I love her and they know sorry that she didn't want what we had anymore and I hope that she was going to do great things in the future. You remember I saw her in your car? I'm up to the mouth. I was looking at my phone and I'll tell him looking at pictures of us. For three hours, two and a half, maybe. Let me just sat in the car. I've done that before. Riley then can't seem to completely remember whether or not he's spent the night at one of his friends' houses. He says that he's pretty sure that he spent the night at his friend's house and he's pretty sure that other than him and his friend, no one else was there, which seems weird. It would seem like you would remember if you had a sleepover with your buddy and if there were other people at the sleepover party, no. Riley also keeps doing this thing during his two-hour long interrogation and that is just such a red flag whenever I see it when I'm covering these different cases. Whenever he's referring to Emma, the girl that he dated for two years and the girl that he claims to be in love with, he refuses to actually call her by her name. Either calling her the girl or the one that passed away. This is such a red flag and it's actually something that guilty people do in interrogations all at the time because they're subconsciously trying to distance themselves from the victim and from the crime that they committed. Riley tries to convince the police his bizarre story about being kidnapped and how someone wearing like a mask was trying to scare Emma the night before she was killed and the night after he was kidnapped so very clearly there was someone after him and Emma and whoever this person was the person in the mask and the person that kidnapped him was obviously Emma's killer but once Riley starts to realize that the police don't really buy his story. He gets very upset repeatedly asking if he's a suspect. When did this marriage kidnapped him? Playful? Friday? Dispash Friday? When did that happen? Sometimes I don't remember much about it. I just remember two guys literally I was fighting on it before I got to know it when that's the most I met that's house and I pulled in the driveway and this band pulled it over across the new semi-set cool and these two guys were like walking across the street. I almost didn't think anything of it because they went like it's hell rush and then I turned around about to get in my car and it's kind of one of them crowds them on the back and the other ones around the corner and they just like put their hand on my face and just took me. So these guys just randomly picked you out for no reason? I guess they did ask me they're like like is what you want to talk to for the last time and it's not so freaking out. And I said Emma and it made me call Emma. She lit an answer off on multiple pounds so they used their phone and I was just crying and saying she thought it was a joke she thought it was fine crying for me. I woke up where it was and her friend's yard. I don't it's Ronald Tazzlepie I literally remember them my head ate for the rest of the night when I got back kind of looked after that. She's still my little lab? Yeah. They thought it was they thought it was nothing to do. That's why I haven't talked to anyone about it because no one would take me seriously. Riley denies having anything to do with Emma's death and he denies even having access to a gun in the first place. But what Riley does not know is that police actually do know already that he has access to a gun. Police had already talked to two of Riley's closest friends Alex and Noah who told the police that in the two days before Emma was shot and killed, Riley told them that he stole his grandfather's gun for protection, you know, because he was just kidnapped. And he even showed the gun to them and again that's the same weekend that Emma was shot and killed. Riley denies all of this when the investigators bringing up to him and he just sticks with the story that he does not have a gun and he has no idea why his friends would say in me of that. But unfortunately what Riley's friends Alex and Noah told the police was completely true. Riley did steal his grandfather's gun. His grandfather always kept a gun hidden in his car and Riley took it on Friday hours before he even claimed to be kidnapped. His entire family was looking for this gun the entire weekend. But Riley kept denying having any clue where it was. I find it hard to believe three hours is making me. I don't have anything else to say. I've told you the shot told you to answer it for me. So that's. well, if it's going to be the same situation, that's the same answer. I'll stand at the house today. The house is shot of up around. The rounds that were found after you called them. The rounds that were found after came from your grandfather's gun. I don't know where they got them. know who would want to shoot the who would want to take your grandfather's gun and take it to their house and and she was the hell. I didn't know that way to get out of this. I don't know anyone that we have on our day girl. Riley's friends Noah and Alex were in a very difficult position. Riley was one of their best friends but now they truly believed that he was a killer. So without Riley knowing they agreed to help the police arrest him. After his interrogation Riley reaches out to his friends Noah and Alex he sends a text saying hey I'm going to send you a text make sure you delete the text message. I'm about to send you after you get it and he says why did you go to the police? Why did you talk to the police? Why did you tell the police about the gun? They think I killed Emma and he comes up with this plan that his friends will go to the police and tell them that they were tripping on drugs and were really confused and pretty much take back their statements about Riley having a gun and then after that he like says you can't talk to the police at all anymore after that. Tell them I don't have a gun you were tripping on drugs you were confused and then do not talk to the police anymore. Police wanted a confession but they also wanted the murder weapon so they miked up Noah and Alex and they also gave them a hidden camera and they set up an entire sting operation. It was Tuesday November 22nd the day after Emma was found dead in her bedroom. Noah and Alex invite Riley to just come over hang out play some video games. They are miked up and they have the hidden camera. Go do your thing guys. Hey, every day life man, every day life. Go do your things. Go play some modern warfare. There you go. Hey, go on around. Yeah, so text just I hope for whatever. Yeah, thanks guys. No, thank you. She did. Yeah. While they're all hanging out they bring up Emma and tell Riley how sorry they are that she's dead because this is someone that Riley is supposed to love so much and Riley just immediately starts talking. He says stuff about how it's so hard to grieve because he's just so worried about having this crime pinned on him because he did not do it and then he starts talking about his grandfather's gun. How we need to get rid of the gun because if they find the gun they're going to think he's guilty and he just needs to get rid of the gun. Just talk to Alex. I can't even he can be upset of her because I'm probably going to get arrested in the next couple of days. But I understand he told you about the gun. I had that gun because I was scared about what happened. I know you don't believe me. You probably don't either whatever. I would never hurt her day in my life. They've said she shot herself because of me or the eye shoulder. If I have to go to court in front of a grandeur or anything and you have to testify or if the cops don't talk to you again, whenever you talk to them just be like you were too afraid to tell them that you were unassent because you thought you were Indian charcoal. That's true. I would never venture that. Yeah. And if anything about that gun just say I must have misunderstood or something because I was tricking balls. I really don't know what we're going on. He was just like Raleigh was just complaining to me about some stuff. I guess I thought I heard something about a gun and his grandfather thinking that he took it. You know, if you tell him you're on Hellesley you were drunk and you're high. Your mind was altered. Whatever statement you give them wasn't a straightforward answer. If you just tell him that you were unassent, high and drunk and just you didn't really understand what I was saying you just kind of went along with this. I knew something. I was the only sober person here. Can we go close? He's been. Because I need to get rid of the gun. At the glove? I'm going to throw it in the water. They would never ever find it. It just needs to be gone for whatever reason. Just it just needs to be honest. You guys don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I mean I got your bad man. If it's in the Tennessee River, they will never find it. Are you guys? Are you busy right now? Can you about to do anything? I'm trusting you guys like with my life because I mean this is 70 years in jail. If I get convicted it's something I did do. Noah and Alex agreed to help Riley get rid of the gun and Riley plans to dump it in the river because he thinks that they'll never find it. The boys all get in the car and Noah and Alex their microphones are still on. So we don't have video at this point where we do have audio. In the car they stop and get some food and on the way to the river they talk about the gun and undercover cops are trailing closely behind them. I'll carry you that glove gloves on at the top. Throw that bullet individually. Throw them a clip. Throw them the gun. Yep. When they park at the river they are immediately surrounded and 18 year old Riley Gull was arrested. In the car in a trash bag was the gun. There was also a bunch of black clothing just like the clothing that a strange man was seen around Emma's home just hours before she was killed. Because obviously everything was Riley. If that's not already completely obvious. Everybody put their hand out of the hands up. Fresh airs. Retter. Move the bag back toward the sea. Yep. Okay. She knew. She was the one that was sending those threatening text messages to Emma claiming that he was kidnapped. Just because he wanted to get her attention and get her to feel bad for him and get her to talk to him. He was the one that was wearing the black clothes and the black mask banging on her dorm. She was home alone because he wanted to make her scared. So she felt like she would reach out to him and then he could rush over and play the hero. And Riley was the one that showed up at her house in the middle of the night fired two bullets into the side of her bedroom wall where he knew her bed was and he was the one that killed her. And when they tested the gun it was obviously a match to the murder weapon that murdered Emma. When Riley's trial began in May of 2018 surprisingly he did not try to claim that he was innocent like he did not try to claim that he was not the one that pulled the trigger and killed Emma but instead he would try and use the defense that this was not first-degree murder but reckless homicide because he did not intend to murder Emma. He pulled the trigger. He fired shots where she laid her head at night but he did not intend to kill her. His intention was just to scare Emma so that she would reach out to him and he could try and get her to take him back. That the entire week and before Emma died things were just escalating. He pretends that he's kidnapped so she'll reach out to him and get back together with him. When that doesn't work he shows up at her house in the middle of the day trying to scare her but when that doesn't work he shows up at her house in the middle of the night this time with a gun hoping that he'll terrify her enough that she'll feel like she needs him. It's crazy as it is and it's bizarre as it is. He's hoping that he can come to her rescue. And as I said in opening statement some of us have no about firearms. May very well know that you shoot into a house that'll go through the wall. Some of us may not and I submit to you Raleigh Gal did not. We will never know exactly what happened the night that Emma Jane Walker only 16 years old was killed but Raleigh had been in her bedroom countless amounts of times. He knew exactly where her bed was. He knew exactly where she would be laying her head down at night and when he shows up at her house with a gun he fires two bullets exactly where her head was. One bullet goes into her pillow the second one into her head. This does not seem like an accident. This does not seem like an attempt to just scare her. If you want to just scare her why are you firing bullets where she's sleeping? In my opinion this was a murder. He wanted her back. He was losing control and if he couldn't have her then nobody could. At the end of the trial 19-year-old Raleigh Gal was found guilty on all charges which included first-degree murder and a judge sentenced 19-year-old Raleigh Gal to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 51 years. He won't be eligible for parole until 2067 at the age of 69 years old. This year's Gilmer and Count Ones the first defined offense charging the defendant with first-degree murder and the jury reached a verdict. Yes for that one of your verdicts, guilty. Riley has attempted to appeal his conviction and his sentence multiple times but he has always been denied. Emma Walker's community refuses to forget about her. The health occupation students of America and the cheerleading squad at Central High School that Emma was both a part of established a scholarship in Emma Walker's name called the Emma Walker Memorial Scholarship. In Knox County, a dog park was named in her honor. The Emma Jane Walker Memorial Dog Park and because it was her dream, the East Tennessee Children's Hospital's Nino-Natal Intensive Care Unit dedicated a room in her honor. Cases just like this one I think are so important to never stop talking about. I feel like it's such a common misconception that teenage relationships are not that serious and that the issues that are seen in high school relationships just aren't that serious and that these people will just grow out of them. Even in just my own personal experience, I really believe that the most unhealthy and toxic relationships I have ever seen were relationships that I witnessed while I was in high school. And I did look up some statistics. Roughly one in three teenagers will experience some sort of abuse, whether that's sexual, physical, verbal or emotional in a relationship before they reach adulthood. And when it comes to just psychological and emotional abuse, about 76% of teenagers will experience that kind of abuse before they leave high school. But sadly, only about 30% of them will ever say anything about the abuse to a trusted adult. Which is why I think it's so important for every teacher, every parent, every guardian to be aware of the warning signs. If talking about Emma Walker story and other victims stories just like this one can prevent this happening to even one person, then this is why I do this. I'm so interested to hear all your thoughts and opinions on this case. If this is a case that you can relate to or if anyone in your life can relate to, I feel like this is definitely something that I know any girl that has gone through high school has seen something similar to this case and has seen a boyfriend, whether you dated a boyfriend like Riley or one of your friends did. And that's why it's so scary how something so common can end in such tragedy. I'm so interested to hear all of your thoughts on this case. But while you're in the comments, just please always remember to be respectful. So many people love Emma. She leaves behind a huge community of loved ones and family and friends. So please just always remember to be respectful because this is Emma Walker's story at the end of the day. So while you are leaving me all of your comments on YouTube and on Spotify, just please always remember to be respectful. While you're there, please let me know what case you'd want to see covered in a future hot in the case episode. And that's all I have for this week's investigation. And I will see you guys all next Friday when we are hot in the case once again.