In the early morning hours of August 11, 2021, the life of 29-year-old Black / African American female Tiffany Monique Walker was tragically cut short in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her body was discovered by garbage haulers in an alley on the 3600 block of Knox Avenue North around 7:10 a.m., showing signs of obvious trauma. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner would later confirm that Walker had died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, ruling her death a homicide.
Described by her mother as carefree and loved by everyone, the brutal and public nature of her death left her family devastated and searching for answers. Her mother, Lorraine Wilson, standing at the site where her daughter was found, expressed her heartbreak, stating, "To see our children just murdered, and then mine left in the alley like a dog, like nobody loved her...Nobody deserves to get treated like that and left in the alley like garbage."
The investigation into Walker's death remained open and active, with the Minneapolis Police Department initially offering no public updates. However, a significant break in the case came five days later, on August 16, when a woman reported to the Hennepin County Medical Center for a sexual assault examination. She told medical staff that the man who had assaulted her, 47-year-old Emmet M. Nelson, had also confessed to killing Tiffany Monique Walker. This witness had been in Nelson's apartment and noticed what appeared to be blood stains on his carpet and his attempts to clean them.
Following this lead, investigators spoke with a second witness who confirmed the first woman's account. This second witness told police that Nelson had admitted to shooting Walker and dumping her body in the alley. Nelson allegedly recounted that he was about to get into an altercation with some men when Walker walked by and said something to him. He claimed to have "blacked out" and shot her. Surveillance footage from the area showed Walker appearing to chase Nelson's maroon Mustang before the shooting. The footage also captured his car driving through the alley where Walker's body was later found, turning off its lights, and then leaving.
According to the charges filed against him, Nelson put Walker in his car after shooting her, drove for about 15 minutes, and then left her in the alley. To ensure she was dead, he shot her again in the head. A search of Nelson's home uncovered a carpet vacuum, bleach, and clothes with what appeared to be blood on them. Emmet M. Nelson was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm due to a prior felony conviction. At the time of his arrest, he was on parole for a 2006 criminal sexual conduct conviction.
