Nancy Carolyn Walker was a woman of boundless energy and ambition, a beloved sister and daughter who moved through life with the grace of the dancer she was. At 55 years old, the Chicago, Illinois, native was a successful Black entrepreneur with a portfolio of businesses that included a beauty salon, a trucking company, and five residential buildings.
Dancing was her lifelong passion; she had studied it in college, taught jazzercise and yoga in her own studio, and led dance at her Buddhist temple. Her family and friends knew her as a caring, inquisitive soul who was a leader, a perfectionist, and deeply loved.
The vibrant life of Nancy Walker came to a brutal and mysterious end in the winter of 2003. She was last seen on January 28, 2003, hours before she was supposed to meet her sister, Myrna, for lunch. Her family grew deeply concerned when she failed to show up to teach her dance class—something she had never missed. They reported her missing, but felt their concerns were not taken seriously by the Chicago Police Department. Her sister recalled that while the disappearance of Laci Peterson dominated national headlines at the same time, Nancy's case received minimal media attention, with her photo appearing in the classifieds.
For 63 agonizing days, her family waited for answers. The devastating news came on March 19, 2003. A cleaning crew discovered Nancy's dismembered body along the Bishop Ford Freeway. Her remains had been placed in three black contractor bags. The medical examiner determined that she had been strangled before her body was dismembered. Her sister Myrna later shared the profound and lasting trauma of the loss, saying, "When I lost her, I could not swallow my food. I felt like I was doing her an injustice because I could still eat and Nancie couldn't."
Nancy Walker's murder is one of a deeply disturbing cluster of unsolved homicides in Chicago. Her case is included in a list of at least 51 women, the majority of them Black, who were killed between 2001 and 2018. The pattern of these deaths—often involving strangulation or asphyxiation, with bodies left in alleys, abandoned buildings, and garbage cans—has led to the belief that one or more serial killers, sometimes dubbed the "Chicago Strangler," may be responsible. The Murder Accountability Project, a nonprofit organization, used an algorithm to identify the alarming cluster of unsolved cases, noting similarities in victimology and method.
Despite the patterns, the Chicago Police Department has stated it has found no definitive evidence linking all the cases to a single serial killer. However, in 2019, the department agreed to review the 51 unsolved murders. For the families of the victims, the lack of answers has been a source of immense pain and frustration. They have criticized the police for what they perceive as a lack of urgency and attention, suggesting that the victims' race and, in some cases, lifestyles may have influenced the level of investigation.
Eighteen years after her death, Nancy Walker's case remains open and unsolved, with no arrests made. Her family continues to seek justice and preserve the memory of a woman who was so much more than a victim. They remember the entrepreneur who dreamed big from the age of eight, the protective older sister, and the graceful dancer who lit up their lives. Her longtime friend, Delmarie Cobb, refuses to let her be forgotten, stating, "There's someone walking around here who thinks they got away with murder. And we can't let them get away with murder."
