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Home / News & Events / A Model of Mercy Emerges from a Grisly Killing

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A Model of Mercy Emerges from a Grisly Killing

By Felix Carroll

Joe Walker had returned home from confession on July 8, when he found a note on his door. It was from the police. They wanted to speak to him as soon as possible.

When the police arrived, they told him the news. His daughter, Sarah Anne Walker, a 40-year-old mother of two, had been brutally murdered. Her body was discovered inside a model home in a new residential development in Texas, north of Dallas, where Ms. Walker worked as a real estate agent.

The crime drew national attention as investigators searched for the killer. It was featured last summer on the cable news networks and on "America's Most Wanted," not to mention all the local news media. The attention helped investigators track down the alleged killer. It also helped Mr. Walker get an important message out through the mainstream media — a message of mercy.

From the outset, a number of news outlets reported that Mr. Walker prays the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy every day, not only for the repose of the soul of his daughter, but for her killer as well.

Mr. Walker, 63, a retired retail executive from Greenville, Texas, is a reader of this website. He agreed to an interview with thedivinemercy.org because, he says, "Divine Mercy is so important to me."

"This murder devastated my whole family," he says, "but Divine Mercy is what's gotten my family through this."

'A Beautiful Young Lady'
Sarah Anne was one of three children born to Mr. Walker and his wife, Carol.

"She was full of life, a beautiful young lady, and quite renowned in the real estate business," says Mr. Walker. She adored her two children, he says, and was very thoughtful when it came to her parents.

He shared how a day before her murder, Sarah Anne wrote him an e-mail about her visit just days before. She had brought her son, Josh, and niece, Kendyl, over to spend time with their grandmother, who was seriously ill at the time and who continues to suffer from health problems.

"I promise you that those two hours that Josh and Kendyl were praying for Mom ... the angels heard them," Sarah Anne wrote. "I let Mom know that we are going to bring Kendyl and Josh back out next Thursday to see her again."

But her murder prevented that.

Investigators say a couple looking at a model home discovered Sarah Anne's body.

"The FBI says it was one of the most brutal single murders they ever investigated," Mr. Walker says. "He stabbed her 27 times. Bashed her skull in. Why? I don't know. It was senseless. It was a horrible, horrible crime."

No motive for the murder was announced, but police say Ms. Walker's Rolex watch and ring were stolen.

A Man of Mercy
Mr. Walker recalls the shock he and his family felt after learning of Sarah Anne's killing. But close friends of the Walkers were not shocked by the reaction of Mr. Walker, who immediately leaned on his faith.

A member of the Knights of Columbus, Mr. Walker is well known in his parish — St. William the Confessor Catholic Church in Greenville — for his corporal and spiritual works of mercy. He regularly gives out copies of the Diary of St. Faustina, prayercards, and Divine Mercy images that he has framed. He is known as the man who buys and serves doughnuts and other treats after Mass and at other parish events.

He's also the man whom many people turn to when a loved one is on their deathbed. They know Mr. Walker will pray the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy for them.

"He would never tell you this stuff. He's too humble," says his pastor, Fr. Paul Weinberger.

Father Paul recalls the first clue people got of how the Walkers were handling the murder of Sarah Anne. Father Paul was just about to lead mourners in the Rosary at the funeral home when Mr. Walker interrupted and said to all those gathered, "And we've got to pray for the one who did this."

It was a natural reaction, and one he stands by to this day.

"If you study the Diary of St. Faustina," says Mr. Walker, "you learn that you have to show mercy and forgive in order to receive mercy."

Indeed, through the message of Divine Mercy, Jesus is calling people to a deeper understanding that God's love is unlimited and available to everyone.

"The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy," Jesus told St. Faustina (Diary, 723).

"Joe was just so insistent that the killer not be left out — that it be public," said Fr. Paul. "The way he comported himself with the murder of his daughter — it showed that his faith is not just something superficial. It's deep."

Transformed by Divine Mercy
When asked about his faith, Mr. Walker said that five years ago he was transformed from a "lukewarm Catholic" after he learned about the young Polish nun, Sr. Faustina Kowalska, who saw extraordinary visions of Jesus in the 1930s that she recorded in her Diary. Jesus revealed Himself as The Divine Mercy. He spoke to her about His abundant, unlimited mercy available to even the greatest sinners, offered as the last hope of salvation before His Second Coming.

What was it about the message of Divine Mercy that touched him so?

"I've learned through the message of Divine Mercy that no prayers go to waste — ever," Mr. Walker says. "You may not have confidence in your prayers, but they don't go to waste.

"I've learned that God never sends you any more than you can handle. I know that, and I trust in that.

"I've learned that we must pray, pray, pray. It never ceases to work," he says. "I know the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy works.

"I know that if you practice everything that St. Faustina mentions in her Diary that you will have an outstanding chance of going to heaven.

"Divine Mercy saved my life. It saved my wife's life," he says.

That trust in the Lord served as the inspiration for Fr. Paul's homily a week following the murder of Sarah Anne.

"You see, Joe has a great devotion to the Divine Mercy," Fr. Paul told parishioners. "And year after year, hour after hour, Joe has prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet. And if mercy is what you want, mercy is what you have to give. Joe could say those words soon after his dear daughter had been murdered and he was saying them in all honesty. He wasn't saying them through clenched teeth. He didn't say he hoped God had mercy on the fiend, coward or wretch who did this to his daughter.

"It is amazing," Fr. Paul continued. "Divine Mercy had prepared Joe for that moment."

The Fight Ahead
Kosoul Chanthakoummane, 25, has been charged with the murder of Sarah Anne in what police say is an open-and-shut case.

"His DNA was everywhere at the crime scene," says Mr. Walker.

Against Mr. Walker's wishes, the Collin County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty for Mr. Chanthakoummane, whose trial is set to begin in October.

"There's no reason they cannot give him life without parole," says Mr. Walker, who says he has not yet met Mr. Chanthakoummane. "To put him to death and to take another life — I don't think our Lord would want that.

"So that's the next fight I'm gearing up for," he says. "People want revenge, but revenge never works. Yes, it was just a totally senseless, random act. But everyone deserves every bit of their life so they can have a chance to repent and go to heaven. I believe that totally, completely.

"God wants to not lose even one soul," Mr. Walker continues. "He wants all with Him in His Heavenly Kingdom. Jesus died for all men. He is a very forgiving God and full of mercy. Yes, He exacts His justice as well as mercy, which go hand in hand. We will receive the same mercy from God that we have rendered to others.

"Jesus, I trust in You!"

Mr. Walker asks that all who read this article join him in his prayer intentions for his daughter — and her killer.