What Happened to Zaela Walker?
According to her grandma, Zaela was a smart girl who loved to read. She could count to 20 and knew all of her colors.
“She’s a character,” Richardson told KVVU. “...I miss that kid so much.”
Only Beasley and Walker likely know what happened to Zaela. But, based on the evidence they’ve compiled, investigators suspect Zaela suffered some sort of traumatic or health-related injury that ultimately resulted in her death. Then, they allege, Beasley and Walker disposed of her body and fled.
On August 21, 2018, Beasley was watching Zaela at the home he shared with his mother. Just before midnight, Beasley’s mother awoke to the sound of a loud noise coming from Beasley’s room, according to the arrest report. When she walked into the hall to investigate the commotion, she saw Beasley carrying a crying Zaela.
Beasley told her that Zaela had urinated on herself and that he’d thrown a cot against the wall in frustration. Then, he took Zaela into the bathroom to clean her up. That was the last time anyone other than Beasley and Walker ever saw Zaela again.
The next afternoon, Beasley searched the internet for information on “how to stop seizures in children.” One of the results suggested marijuana as a possible treatment and, a few hours later, Beasley went to a dispensary and bought a pre-rolled joint.
After that, police suspect Beasley met up with Walker on August 22 at a local park, where they ditched their identification, bank cards and phones. From there, they embarked on a multi-week road trip in Beasley’s mother's car, traveling all over California before heading east to Illinois, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and Texas. They also spent a few days in Tijuana, Mexico.
In late September 2018, Beasley and Walker were re-entering the United States when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers ran their names and discovered that Beasley, Walker and Zaela had all been reported missing. Beasley and Walker told authorities they weren’t missing or endangered and that Zaela was in the care of Beasley’s family.
The couple made their way to Houston, where they began searching for jobs and a place to live. In November 2018, they were questioned by police again during a traffic stop and repeated that Zaela was staying with Beasley’s family. But Beasley’s family members told investigators they hadn’t seen the toddler in months.
By December 2018, Beasley and Walker had made their way back to North Las Vegas, where police arrested Beasley on kidnapping and child abuse or neglect charges as well as traffic-related charges.
When investigators questioned Walker, she told police that she and Beasley were trying to repair their relationship and did not want to complicate matters by reintroducing Zaela into their lives. This led police to believe Zaela was dead.
Walker also mentioned to police that the trunk of Beasley’s mother’s car smelled terrible, like rotten meat—an odor authorities suspect came from Zaela’s decaying body. She said they tried to get rid of the stench by vacuuming the trunk and using a lemon-scented ammonia cleaner.
“An analysis of Walker and Beasley’s communications during their time away from Las Vegas showed that they never reached out to anyone about Zaela’s status or condition,” according to the North Las Vegas Police.
Why Do Parents Kill Their Children?
In March 2019, police arrested Walker on suspicion of murder. Beasley was already in jail for the other charges and was rebooked on one count of murder. Beasley and Walker were both later indicted for murder.
“Based upon all the lies that are being told by both him and the mother at this point, there’s no question this child is dead,” prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said.
Investigators said their suspicions were reinforced by recorded jail phone calls between Beasley and Walker, including one particularly revealing exchange.
“They’re talking, and [Lakeia says], ‘You always say no body, no crime,’ and then they continue to talk,” Paul Freeman, a detective for the North Las Vegas Police Department, told a grand jury.
Zaela’s death is a rare example of “filicide.” Parents don’t often kill their children but, when they do, the most common explanation is “fatal maltreatment,” or death that results from abuse or neglect, Susan Hatters Friedman, a professor of forensic psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University and a forensic and reproductive psychiatrist at University Hospitals, tells A&E Crime + Investigation.
Filicide is often committed by parents who are under stress and have limited means. Substance abuse and mental illness also often play a role, she adds. But these contributing factors, she says, are often only uncovered “in retrospect when we are looking back at cases that have happened and looking for risk factors.”
Justice Without Closure
In April 2026, Beasley and Walker reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Beasley pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and Walker pleaded guilty to accessory to commit murder.
Walker was sentenced in July 2026 to two to five years of probation. She must maintain a full-time job, have no contact with Beasley and abstain from drugs and alcohol. If she violates those conditions, she could be sent to prison.
Beasley was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison, with credit for the more than seven and a half years he has already spent behind bars. That means he could be eligible for release in less than three years.
The lack of a body in the case influenced why it took so long to reach a conclusion. “This became a ‘no-body’ murder case, which adds multiple requirements to an already complicated murder investigation,” Kevin Hale, a retired police chief who now serves as chair of the criminal justice program at Post University, tells A&E Crime + Investigation.
In “no-body” homicide cases like this one, prosecutors must compile a “considerable” amount of circumstantial evidence—such as witness statements, video evidence, cell phone records and receipts—to prove that a crime has been committed and that the suspect is responsible, he says. The lack of physical remains, he says, further hampers prosecutors because they don’t have a medical examiner’s report to indicate the cause, manner and date of death.
Without a body, defense attorneys for Beasley and Walker could have argued that Zaela was still alive and being hidden by family members, Hale adds. They might also have claimed that, if Zaela was dead, she could have been killed by someone else.
“These are points that prosecutors must be thoroughly prepared for,” he says.
Though Zaela’s killers have now been brought to justice, the toddler’s family continues to endure the heartbreak of her loss—a pain made even worse by the fact that her remains are still missing. The absence of a body not only complicates criminal proceedings, Hale says, but it also creates “very difficult and challenging” circumstances for surviving loved ones.
“Family and friends do not experience full closure, and so they find it very difficult to move on,” he says, adding that the case will “likely remain open as investigators continue to try to find Zaela’s remains.”
