Nashville police and the FBI have reopened an investigation into the case of a 60-year-old grandmother who vanished without a trace five years ago this week.
Wanda Faye Walker was last seen in early October 2016, and authorities believe she may have met with foul play.
“I believe Wanda Faye Walker was likely killed,” Metro Nashville Police Detective Matt Filter said at a Tuesday news conference alongside the family, according to WTVF NewsChannel 5.
A reward for information leading to an arrest in the case has grown to $11,000.
Walker was a retired schoolteacher who picked up a part-time job at a local Dollar Tree, the station reported.
On the day she disappeared, Walker failed to show up at work after being last seen at the apartment she shared with a cousin on 11th Avenue South, WTVF reported.
Days later, her car was found abandoned in an alley only four blocks away “with a significant amount of blood inside,” Filter said, according to the station. “This blood was later determined to belong to Wanda Faye Walker,” he added.
Aside from evidence that a struggle had taken place, investigators found few other clues inside the locked vehicle, including some of Walker’s personal belongings.
Five years later, her family remains desperate for answers and hopes that someone in the community saw something and will come forward.
“We definitely miss having her around. Her smile, her laugh,” Walker’s granddaughter, Quantesa Chambers, said at the news conference Tuesday, according to WTVF. “If you or anyone out there know or have any information regarding … what happened to my grandmother … we would love for you guys to share that information with us.”
Police urge anyone with information in the case to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.
“My granny was — you know — the rock of our family,” Chambers said. “Closure for us is everything.”
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