Joniah Walker: The Police Files Part 2

On Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at 12:45 p.m., Tanesha L. Howard, the mother of Joniah Walker, 15, walked into a Milwaukee police district station to update authorities on information regarding her missing daughter.

Joniah’s family said there were cameras and that Walker was observed on a Ring camera. She was last seen walking away from her mother’s north side apartment, and more than two years later, the teen is still missing.

“A squad was requested to go to the location but due to call volume was unable to be dispatched,” according to her police file, which Media Milwaukee obtained through an open records request.

Joniah is one of several minors who remain long-term missing cases in Milwaukee. Although police declined to comment on the specifics of her case, they did provide the file through an open records request. The following information comes from it.

Howard said Walker left and sent a text to her therapist that she had run away. She also mentioned seeing an “unrecognized number” on the phone bill.

“Howard stated that the family attempted to contact the number numerous times, and that the voicemail message indicated ‘Flowers’ was the user,” according to Joniah’s missing person report.

An officer contacted the number as well and spoke with a woman who was uncooperative.

“Howard stated that among other items in the iCloud information, she located a ‘note’ with two addresses and phone numbers in it,” according to Joniah’s missing person report.

Joniah’s family attempted to contact both addresses.

“At one of the addresses, Howard stated that neighbors stated they did not know someone was living there, and were ‘shocked’ when they saw people at the location. At the other location, there was (a man) who stated he had been living there for approximately three years and did not know anything about Joniah,” according to the report.

Per the iCloud files, Joniah was using Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, IMVU Virtual World, Discord, YouTube, Gmail, and some websites for adults.

Howard found a phone number that was sent to Joniah through Snapchat from information gathered through iCloud.

“Howard stated the name Zach was found with the phone number and they believe it to be associated with… a white male with red hair and a beard,” according to the police report. The report provides the man’s full name, which Media Milwaukee is withholding since he has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case.

Howard also said that, in 2018, Joniah wrote a letter to someone who she met online. She believed the letter was addressed to an address in Pennsylvania. 

Joniah had been watching YouTube videos about “doomsday prepping and living off the grid,” according to Howard. When Joniah went missing, her son received two location data points sent to him and “now believes they were from Joniah.”

“She stated that at the time she did not know what to make of the information and thought it was strange, but now thinks that they may have been location data from Joniah’s phone,” according to Walker’s missing persons file.

Walker’s therapist informed Howard that Walker stated that she had the intention to run away.

Mackenzie Thomson, Joniah’s older sister, obtained Walker’s Snapchat login and observed “disturbing videos,” the reports say.

“Thompson showed me the friends and story list of Walker’s account and all friends on the account appear to be older men that are nationally located and internationally located,” according to Joniah’s missing person report.

The Snapchat account was observed and the majority of her messages “appeared” to be deleted. The first observed videos began in January 2020 and ended June of 2022.

There were no pictures on Joniah’s iCloud account. Thompson believes that everything was saved in Snapchat. 

It was mentioned that Howard received two calls from a phone number which she stated was a telephone number used by inmates at a prison in Richmond, Virginia, on July 2, 2022, and received another on July 4, 2022.

“Howard stated she spoke with someone who knew her name and identified himself…and stated he was in jail for a Violation of Probation and reckless driving,” according to Joniah’s missing person report.

Another call Howard received was from a prison in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The caller identified himself as either ‘Ewayne’ or ‘Emmanuel’ saying he got the phone number off Facebook. He stated he was looking for a girl named ‘Kyeta Kyeta’ from Facebook,” according to Joniah’s missing person report.

One day, Howard woke up at 2:45 a.m. to a text message, and an “unidentified person” was calling from a Google number.

“Howard stated that they knew where her daughter was. Howard stated that the text stated that her daughter has been raped but was still alive,” according to Joniah’s missing person report. It’s not uncommon for scammers to target families in missing-person cases.

Howard stated that the person asked her if she had Bitcoin, then Cash App, stating that the person told her to send $5,000 and the person would send Joniah’s location.

The person also asked what bank she uses and if she has money.

“Howard then stated that the person said stop playing with me and stated that if she couldn’t follow the rules, the person was done talking,” according to the police file.

Howard also received a call from a person with a strong foreign accent. Howard stated that she did not understand what the person was saying or asking for. 

The police officer she was talking to “advised Howard that this was probably a scam and someone trying to play on her emotions. I advised Howard to block the number and not to give the person access to her bank account and to not give the person any money,” according to Joniah’s missing persons report.

The police reports also say that a woman from a child advocacy center was involved in helping Joniah. It was discovered that she had recently read two books that are “both related to learning the German language,” according to the police report.

Joniah’s Facebook activity showed she logged out of the mobile app the day she went missing and her email records “appeared” to show she deactivated her “Find my” app on her iPad and iPhone, according to the reports.

“Howard also stated that one of the people she specifically recalled Joniah talking to through Snapchat was someone named ‘Zach.'”

Joniah once wrote a letter to Zach, which was addressed to an address in Pennsylvania. 

“Howard stated the letter was never mailed but is now missing and she believes Joniah took it with her. Howard stated Joniah was ‘Very obsessed’ with Zach and that she (Howard) and the police at the time spoke with (Zach) via Snapchat,” according to her police report.

A male named Rob was also mentioned by Howard, saying this is who she thinks contacted her by phone about the $5,000. She described him as a white male with brown hair and a bushy mustache.

“Howard then searched Facebook for someone like this and found a profile with a photo dating back to 2013 that appeared to be a filter making the user look like the image she described,” according to the report.

“The majority of the similarly dated photos depict a juvenile white male, clean-shaven with medium-length hair. The subject appears to be approximately 12 years old at the time of the photos and Howard observed and selected one specific photo with a filter to make the image fit her idea of the subject to show officers,” according to the police report.

It was mentioned in the report that “this lead does not need follow-up.”

On July 29, 2022, Howard received an email that had “@riseup.net” on it.

Riseup.net’s website mentions that they do not store “IP addresses or store data that can uniquely identify users,” “all user data, including email, is encrypted,” and more.

Howard talked about her daughter as “not street savvy,” “a very smart girl,” “being intellectual,” “polite,” “well-mannered,” “[socially] awkward,” and “soft-spoken.” 

“Tanesha stated Joniah has always [conversed] with adults and not children her age. Tanesha stated Joniah is very interested in things like getting skills to survive in disasters,” according to Joniah’s police report. 

Howard said Joniah didn’t take any clothing that belonged to her.

“Tanesha stated Joniah took all boy clothing and believes she may have taken some of her brother’s clothing. Tanesha stated she also believes Joniah took her chrome HP laptop she purchased from her but was not sure,” according to Joniah’s missing person report.

Tanesha mentioned that Joniah also “lost a ton of weight” in April or May.

“Tanesha stated she did take Joniah to the doctor and they had a follow-up appointment with a specialist but never went because Joniah went missing,” according to the report. 

Joniah’s photos were compared in a “confidential source to see if she was on any human trafficking sites.”

“The search yielded no results,” according to Joniah’s police report.

The therapist described Joniah as a very intelligent person and said she was not comfortable with physical attention because of past trauma.

Zach no longer lived at the Pennsylvania residence when police arrived. His mother told police that Zachary moved out and gave him the address.

“Agent Bradley did locate (Zach) at the address and interviewed him. Agent Bradley stated Zachary did remember speaking to Joniah on Snapchat when he was approximately 17 years of age but denied meeting her or knowing where she may possibly be,” according to Joniah’s missing persons report.

Joniah’s dad, Jonathan, mentioned in the report that the reason Joniah stopped living with him was because he walked into her bedroom unannounced and heard her say that she loved a man who was on her iPad.

“Jonathan stated he observed an older white male on the screen but Joniah closed the iPad and the only way to open it was to use her thumb finger,” according to the report.

Jonathan, Joniah’s father, said he was thinking of waiting for Joniah to go to sleep to go on her iPad, but he ended up calling up Howard instead. 

“Jonathan stated he eventually gave Joniah to Tanesha because the police was going to write a search warrant and he didn’t want them to destroy his house,” according to Joniah’s police report.

Jonathan also found a written diary of Joniah’s and one of the pages had said: ”I am glad my dad didn’t open my iPad because he would know all my secrets,” according to Joniah’s missing persons report. 

Jonathan began crying during the interview, according to the police report.

Jonathan said he bought Joniah the iPad and paid for Joniah’s cell phone.

“Jonathan stated there was a time he noticed that Joniah was making videos at 3:17 a.m. at her mother’s house,” according to the police report.

She was supposed to get her work permit with her dad the day she went missing. Jonathan tried calling Joniah’s phone but it kept going to voicemail. Howard did the same thing with it going to voicemail, too.

“Jonathan stated that’s when they knew something was wrong,” according to the police report.

Jonathan said he once took Joniah and her friend to a restaurant and saw she had a “large knife.”

“Jonathan stated he asked Joniah why did she have the knife and she replied to protect herself,” according to the police report.

Jonathan also said Joniah was getting large boxes delivered to Tanesha’s house. 

“Jonathan stated he asked Tanesha why she wasn’t looking in the boxes Joniah would get. Jonathan stated Tanesha told him because Joniah would fight her about it,” according to Joniah’s missing persons report.

Jonathan checked the cell phone history and saw that there were only calls to him, her mother, and siblings. Jonathan also said Joniah had used a large amount of internet data. 

“Jonathan stated he believes Joniah was using apps to communicate with people online,” according to Joniah’s missing persons report.

Jonathan mentioned he no longer pays for Joniah’s phone.

“Jonathan stated he kept Joniah’s cell phone on for a year but the phone was not used since she went missing. Jonathan stated Joniah would also cut her location off on her phone,” according to the missing persons police report.

According to the file, it was requested Jonathan get the phone cell phone records from the time Joniah went missing and Jonathan said he would try.

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into missing people’s cases in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.