Coming Sunday
Thursday’s pedestrian fatality that shut down I-285 exposed weaknesses in the efforts to improve traffic response and protect the public. The AJC explores the struggles the region faces to get everyone on board.
As police continue their investigation into a predawn fatality that brought traffic on I-285 to a standstill for hours Thursday, those who knew Gayla Joyce Walker are struggling to understand how she ended up dead on one of the country’s busiest thoroughfares.
That question remained unanswered Friday, along with the identity of the motorist who first hit Walker. The 53-year-old Dunwoody woman was struck by numerous vehicles afterward, though none stopped.
Some of those drivers have come forward since, Sandy Springs police Sgt. Ron Momon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Police have released few other details about their investigation.
Walker died just three miles from her home, her brother, Maurice Scruggs, said in an interview with Channel 2 Action News. She did not own a car, said Scruggs, adding that Walker talked to her son about three hours before the accident but it’s unclear where she was at the time.
Florence Shelton-Clark got the news about her friend, whom she had met several years ago when both were students at Gwinnett Technical College, around 3 a.m. Friday morning via an email. “Gayla,” the message began, “was tragically killed.”
Sharon Falcher was in a fabric store Thursday afternoon when she received a call from a Gwinnett Tech professor. Earlier that day, she had heard a news report about a highway death involving someone named Gayla.
“Not my Gayla,” she told herself.
Yes, it was Gayla, the professor, Susan Arnold, informed her.
“I just sat on the floor of that fabric shop and cried,” Falcher said. “I was dazed. I’m still dazed.”
Just after 6 a.m. Thursday, a 911 caller reported a dead animal in the roadway on I-285 westbound just before the Roswell Road exit. When police went to investigate, they found that it wasn’t an animal but an unrecognizable human whose body parts were scattered across multiple lanes of the busy interstate.
Authorities shut down all westbound lanes of the Perimeter at 6:35 a.m., and it would be three hours later before those lanes reopened. Traffic came to a halt for seven miles to beyond Spaghetti Junction, while eastbound traffic was jammed back to I-75 by onlooker delays. Ramps from Ga. 400 to I-285 westbound were also closed.
Friends said they relied on Walker, who studied interior design, for everything from advice to motivation. She was the smile who welcomed them in the classroom, the attentive ear at the coffee bar.
Walker wanted to be in business for herself, said Shelton-Clark, and she was always eager to share her expertise with others.
Shelton-Clark recalled attending a seminar at Gwinnett Tech where was surprised to see underclassmen referring to her friend as “Miss Gayla.” Walker had been working with the students in assembling their portfolios.
“We’d go to Starbucks,” said Falcher, who took design courses with Walker. “We’d talk about where we were, and where we wanted to be.”
Walker remained in touch with the school, even after graduating, said friend and budding designer Zach Weiler.
“She was the one people called at night,” said Weiler. “I’m sure she paid for my lunch a few times.”
Weiler learned of his friend’s death when he logged on to Facebook on Friday morning. The day before, he was among the thousands of Atlantans fuming as traffic came to a standstill.
“I can’t believe I cared about something so stupid as being late to work,” Weiler said. “I mean, someone died on the interstate.”
He still can’t believe that someone was his friend.
“What was she doing out there on that highway?” asked Phyllis Wilson, the victim’s sister. “We just don’t understand it. We don’t know why this happened.”
Police are just as confounded. One veteran traffic investigator said this case brings with it particular challenges.
“I feel for (Sandy Springs police). They have a tough road ahead,” said Sgt. Brian Honea, a 13-year veteran of Marietta police’s Selected Traffic Enforcement Program. He’s not involved in this investigation.
“The time of day that it occurred, on that roadway, makes it very difficult,” he said.
And eyewitness accounts must be taken with a grain of salt, especially in the dark.
But Honea said the public could ultimately play a major role in solving this case.
“Sometimes, it’s that phone call you get two days later from someone who was there or knows something that helps you put the puzzle together,” he said.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
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