Mya Ann Grady, a 36-year-old White/Caucasian female from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, was killed on the morning of February 21, 2015, while she was driving to work. She was headed from Uniontown toward her job at Lady Luck Casino at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort when her Hyundai Accent ended up against a guiderail along Route 40 on Summit Mountain in Fayette County. At first, it looked like a roadside crash in wintry conditions.
PennDOT snowplow operators found the car still running and reported it, but when authorities arrived, they discovered that Grady had not died from the crash. She had been shot in the head.
Investigators later said Grady was shot twice as she drove, and the case quickly became a homicide investigation. Her death left behind a painful picture: a mother of four, on her way to work, found in her car along the highway by workers clearing snow. Police focused on the circumstances around her personal life, particularly her long relationship with Terry Walker of Uniontown. Authorities described Walker as her boyfriend or former boyfriend, and reports said the relationship had lasted about seven years and had become troubled, turbulent, and abusive. Investigators believed Grady had been trying to end the relationship.
Within days, Pennsylvania State Police identified Walker as the suspect. He was charged with criminal homicide, and police warned the public that he should be considered armed and dangerous while they searched for him. Troopers went to a Uniontown home looking for him, but he was not there. Walker later surrendered at the state police barracks in Uniontown shortly before 1 a.m. on February 27, 2015. Through his attorney, he denied being the person who fired the fatal shots and said he had not been hiding from police.
Court records and police testimony later outlined why investigators believed Walker was connected to the killing. According to reports from the case, Walker told police he followed Grady as she drove to work that morning and admitted he was present when the shots were fired. Investigators said he was driving a white SUV or Chrysler Pacifica and had pulled alongside Grady's vehicle when the shooting happened. A witness also reported seeing a white sport utility vehicle speeding on Route 40 with a passenger window down around the time of the killing. Police also testified that gunshot residue was detected on Walker's clothing and in the vehicle he was seen driving near the shooting.
At Walker's preliminary hearing, state police testified that his version of events changed multiple times during the same interview. Investigators said Grady had been in the process of breaking off the relationship, and testimony suggested Walker had made troubling remarks before the killing. One witness said Walker had spoken the day before Grady died about taking care of the situation regarding their relationship. Prosecutors later described Grady as someone who wanted away from him and had tried many times to end things, but said Walker would not leave her alone.
Walker was held for court on the charges, and the case continued into 2016. Rather than go to trial, he pleaded no contest in June 2016 to third-degree homicide. In July 2016, he was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison for killing Grady. The plea spared Grady's family from having to endure a trial, but the sentence confirmed the legal outcome of the case: Walker, the man long identified by investigators as her boyfriend or former boyfriend, was convicted in connection with the shooting that ended her life on Route 40 as she was simply trying to get to work.
