Daphne (3:57)
In November of 2006, a 16 year old girl was found dead in her bed in a quiet neighborhood of Knoxville, Tennessee, after her parents thought she had simply overslept. Her community reeled from the news as speculation circulated around the case of her sudden and suspicious death. But soon the investigation would reveal eerie details about her final few days, which included telling several friends that there was a man dressed in black watching her home. This is the murder of Emma Walker. Emma Jane Walker was born on March 20, 2000 to parents Jill and Mark, and they were later joined by her little brother Evan. Emma and Evan grew up in Fountain City, Tennessee, which is a neighborhood in North Knoxville. And Emma was absolutely loved by her family, her friends, all of her peers. She was very much remembered as a spirited girl with a huge heart. Her mom, Jill proudly described her as, quote, very spunky. She liked to make people laugh. In 2014, Emma entered Knoxville Central High School as a freshman. And she, she quickly found her stride there like she was an honors student and an active participant in her school's extracurricular activities, including the Health Occupation Students of America, which was preparing her for her dream job as a neonatal nurse, which is a career that she was drawn to because of her desire to help people. Like, even at the age of 15, she knew that that's what she wanted to do. She also loved animals, especially dogs, and volunteered at an animal shelter in her city quite often. And on top of all of this, Emma was a talented dancer and cheerleader and was actually the only freshman who made the cheerleading team that year. A friend of hers on the squad named Laura Hutton remembered, quote, emma really took cheerleading seriously. She really loved doing it. It was one of her passions. She loved leading and she loved football games. She loved just being part of crowd appeal. According to her friend Keegan, quote, people who didn't know her were like, oh, she's the super pretty cheerleader. Like, oh, no. But then they would meet her and say, she's the nicest person. Now, William Riley Gaul, who went by Riley, was a junior when Emma was a freshman, and he played wide receiver for the Central High School Bobcats. So these two had plenty of chances to get to know each other at the games, obviously also in school, but their shared sense of humor is what really drew them together. Both of them were known for their goofiness, and Riley was known among his fellow juniors for being the class clown. Emma's friend Zach Green described, quote, he was a little nerdy on the side, a little to himself. From the outside looking in, you'd think he was just a normal guy. Well, though the chemistry between them was instantaneous. Riley was actually already seeing another girl when they met. But according to Riley, he broke it off in order to pursue his feelings for Emma. But by his ex girlfriend's recollection, the timeline was a little bit murkier than that. In fact, he had promised her that he would take her, you know, the apparent ex to prom that spring instead of Emma, even though Riley and Emma had started dating by that point. So, of course, Emma was very hurt by this when she found out. But they continued to date with him, assuring her that they would go to prom together next year. So he literally took a different girl to prom?
