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(Introduction to show begins)
TODD MATTHEWS (Missing Pieces Host): I’m Todd Matthews and this is Missing Pieces. Tonight we have Cassandra Weekly, welcome Cassandra.
CASSANDRA WEEKLY: (Guest) Thank you, thank you very much.
TODD: Very good to have you here. She’s going to tell us a little bit about her brother, her brother was murdered; his name is Wayne Walker…
CASSANDRA: Yes
TODD: ok, could you, could you take us to that now. I, I have a letter that you wrote, uh you are originally from Washington DC, you’ve been in Alabama for 14 years…
CASSANDRA: Yes
TODD: Three years ago this November…
CASSANDRA: Yes
TODD: Ok, what happened?
CASSANDRA: Absolutely, actually a couple months from now it will be the anniversary, it will be four years.
TODD: Wow
CASSANDRA: My brother Wayne was my only sibling, he was two years older than I, and uh unfortunately he was killed. He was brutally murdered November the 24th. At least the 24th of November was the day that…
TODD: uh huh
CASSANDRA: he was discovered. Um, my mother called my brother. My brother saw my mother all the time; he cared for her in Washington DC, because I moved to Alabama. And he cared for her and he was a attendant on Amtrak, and uh she knew exactly when he would be getting off of his run, so she calls always to put in her order for the day before he got busy. And in their discussion my mother said that she wanted something to eat. Well, my brother Wayne passed a particular fish market. And they had good fish sandwiches, and my mother ask him if she, if, if he would bring her one, and he promised that he would do so. Well, Wayne had a regular agent of what he would do when he would get off from work. First of all, he hated to wear his uniform anywhere other than work, so he would go home, change his clothes, get ready to go get his hair cut, uh, take his laundry to the laundry so it would be ready for him to pick up to go back to work; and he would go and visit my mother and run with her whatever errands she had for him. Well this particular day Wayne did not do that. It is believed that he got off from work that day, Thursday; I think it was on the twentieth, and he was supposed to do those things and go to my mother. My mother waited for Wayne to bring her the sandwich. Uh, one hour turned to two, two turned to three. The hours turned to days. To no avail did Wayne arrive at my mother’s house, which was very unlikely. My mother knew that Wayne was reliable, you know, anyone that knew Wayne knew he was reliable. He was crazy about our mother; he just really made her his baby. And Wayne did not show up. My, happened to call me that day, and as in every day we talk, and she said, “Well your bother was going to bring me a fish sandwich, but he has not brought it.” I said, “Well, he’s probably still getting, you know, his self together, he’ll bring it a little later.” She’s says, “Well, that was early he said he would be here but he has not come.” I said, “Well don’t worry, he’ll be there. If he said it, he’ll be there.” So that evening my mother called me back and she says, “Well”. We were just talking, so I said, “How did you enjoy your sandwich?” She said well, if you got it, I.. she said, “If I got it, you got it.” And I said, “Really?” She said, “Yes, uh he did not bring the sandwich.” I said, “Well, has he called?” She said, “No.” I said, “Well, maybe he went home and went straight to sleep”, because Wayne would stay on the road for two days. He also had planned to go and visit his daughter who lived in uh California. He was supposed to go there two weeks, uh later, proceeding the day he died. And he, we knew he was working overtime if he could get it to pay for the trip, because he wanted to buy her a new car. So, it turned out that Wayne never did show up at mother’s house. Mother continued to call, and she began to get a little concerned. Well, the next day, mother called, I called her and asked her if she heard from Wayne, still nothing. I was also calling Wayne, to find out if there was something going on, if there was some reason he did not take her the sandwich and did not reach him; trying not to alarm my mother. It turned out that the days, the hours turned to days, and Wayne was supposed to go back out on that Sunday, to go to work. So my mother decided that she would wait until it was time to go back to work. Well, the job also knew something was wrong…
TODD: uh huh
CASSANDRA: Wayne did not come to work. I found that out recently as a matter of fact, last week I spoke to someone at the job and they shared their feeling of Wayne not showing up. And they were very troubled; because they said, that Wayne never, did not come to work. He would have never missed the train, and he would have called if there was something wrong, and it just was not his character. Well, at that time they decided they would call mother, and they said that they were really debating, they said, Lord what are we going to do, should we call, you know we don’t want to really upset her. What are we going to do, you know but we need to call and find out what’s going on. So afterwards they decided they would call her that Sunday. And they spoke generally to her, “Hello Miss Walker, how are you doing?” They called her Miss Walker. “How are you doing, have you talked to Wayne?” and mother said, “No, I have not talked to that boy, I don’t know where he is. He was supposed to bring me a sandwich, and he never did bring the sandwich to me.” And she says, ‘Well, I would go up to his apartment if I could but those hallways are so long and I just don’t feel like going.” And the co-worker said, “Well, no Miss Walker, not go up there, why don’t you just get someone else to go.” And my mother says, “Well I’ll get my brother to go, but he has dialysis.” So she says, “Well can you get someone else?” My mother says, “Well, uh maybe I’ll try someone else.” To no avail did she get someone else to go up there that day which was Sunday. That next day, which was Monday, my mother called back to the job at 8:30 that morning, still my brother had not report, reported to work, nor had he heard anything, my mother heard anything about him. So, it turned out that my mother decided that she would have the resident manager. Actually I called her and still nothing, and I suggested that she would call the resident manager, ask the resident manager to see if his car was there. If his car was there, to ask her to go to his apartment to check and make sure he was ok. My mother did that. Upon doing that the resident manager found my brothers body in his apartment. My brother lived in the upper sixteenth area of Washington DC. I don’t know if you know that area, but it is a very nice area, it is just above the National Zoo. So it is in a very affluent neighborhood. And those types of things just don’t normally happen there. So, upon going in and discovering my brother’s body she did in fact call the police and she called my mother. And from my understanding she asked my mother if she was alone, and my mother told her no, my aunt was there, who lived next door to my mother. And she told my aunt that my brother was on the floor and it looked like he was deceased, and they, but they had called the ambulance to go. So basically those are the initial facts of his murder. Since then, the case has remained unsolved.
TODD: Well, you know Washington DC, have you heard its called Washington, called the Murder capital? There’s, there’s a lot of homicides…
CASSANDRA: Well actually, yes. Well actually I retired from DC Fire Department.
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: And, uh, yes, go I worked the streets quite a bit with the department, and you know, there were a lot of murders. There are a lot of things that are going on in Washington that will really shock you. You know, uh, never did I imagine that this tragedy would hit my home.
TODD: You know I’m about to take a trip to Washington, and you know, I’m afraid to be alone there walk the streets, is that a real fear?
CASSANDRA: Well, I really don’t think that, that is a real fear and it depends on where you are. I mean there’s crime everywhere, you know uh, unfortunately that’s just not something that we can hid from you know. It’s just like sin, sin is everywhere, you know, and crime is sin…
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: However, you know we can’t just live in a box and not live our lives. We must go on and we must walk in faith that we can do that, you know. There is a measure of um unrest, if that is the word for it, you know in the bigger cities. But you know there is a culture shock. As long as I lived in Washington DC, I did not see any of these things. And it’s a funny thing, because when I moved to Alabama, rural Alabama, never did I imagine that my life was in danger. And I remember, uh one day being in my home and not hearing any sirens. And I was thinking, wow, this is really something, you know, uh, we take those things for granted, you know the fire departments are those that run into the burning buildings, and run into the problems when everyone else is running out. And you know I think that we just…
TODD: Uh huh.
CASSANDRA: The adrenaline runs so rapidly that we never ever stop to think that our lives are ever in trouble.
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: And you know as helpers, we go in to help. And my point is that you know there is trouble everywhere…
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: But we have to live, and we can go there are a lot of beautiful sights in Washington DC. There are a lot of places to go, you know and I, I don’t want to even say be selective, but you know, I’m, you could be in your neighborhood…
TODD: Yeah
CASSANDRA: and get hit by a car, you know.
TODD: If I could see one thing while I am in DC what would you recommend?
CASSANDRA: I recommend that you go to the Smithsonian. There’s so much at the Smithsonian. Also go to the National Zoo. There is nothing like the National Zoo. The National Zoo used to be our playground. And the Watergate, actually used to be our swimming hole. My brother and I were very close and (laughter) we used to go to the Potomac to fish and to swim. There was a little place there right on the other side of the Kennedy Center that we used to go and swim. We used to live about two blocks from the Watergate. During the time that Nixon (laughter) uh was going through his little thing, we lived there. And um, I remember, my brother and I going to the Potomac to fish and we went to swim, and you know those little rowboats..
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: You just row the boats…
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: and uh, you go out on the water. And we were out on the water and this girl fell over. And, I remember my brother could not swim a lick, and he was going over there trying to help this girl from drowning. And I couldn’t swim, and I’m like, oh boy, and he kept telling me, “It’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay, don’t worry about it we’re gonna do it.” And he took his row and I don’t know how that boy did that thing but all of us came out of that water safely. (laughing)
TODD: (laughing)
CASSANDRA: Wayne was that kind of person. He would keep you laughing all the time and that was one of the things we always talked about because (laughing) the person he was trying to rescue was really, really, really, really a little overweight and you know I don’t, I don’t want.. I want to be kind because it was in fact we were children at the time. So you know how kids are and how they react to certain situations, but, thank God the Lord spared us (laughing)
TODD: Well it sounds like you really had a really memorable childhood.
CASSANDRA: Oh yes, yes in deed. Ah we did. We were, we were blessed and you know our environment, you know. We talk about Washington and the danger in Washington, but there’s so much exposure there. And you know, it’s what a person a person is looking for..
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: You know ah my, our parents gave us the best that they could, you know, and uh that meant, if that meant moving, where things were quieter, then that’s what they did. And you know, we were blessed in that and we had all of those monuments there as our playground, we really did you know, and that helped us quite a bit. And it made us the people that we grew up to be.
TODD: So now everything, it’s a short period of time….six months prior to your brother’s death your father passed away.
CASSANDRA: Yes, unfortunately…
TODD: Can you tell us about that?
CASSANDRA: Unfortunately, my dad had Alzheimer’s.
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: And, it was really, really devastating. Uh, but uh, I was the caretaker, I was caretaker for all of my family members, uh even before the six months before my father died with the Alzheimer’s, Wayne was diagnosed with cancer.
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: A year before then, he was… well actually about, about eighteen months before then because it was two years, uh, before he was killed that he was diagnosed with the cancer. And uh, we went through that journey. Not only did we go through the journey of him being diagnosed with the cancer, but we went through the journey of a faith walk. The investigating into the best treatment, he was treated also at the, by the way, at John’s Hopkins, uh, Medical Center. And we prayed and we ask God to show us where the best place would be for him to go for this treatment. And let me tell you how Wayne was diagnosed with the cancer, because it also tells you a little bit about Wayne. A friend of Wayne’s was going to be screened for cancer and he was petrified, did not want to go for this screening, and Wayne tried to encourage his friend to go, and this person would just not hear of it. So, Wayne says, “There’s nothing to it. I’ll tell you want, I’ll go and if I go and you see how easy it is, then you can go.” And that is what occurred, and needless to say; the friend did not have cancer and Wayne did. So, once we found this out, I immediately went home and uh, during those years I spent a lot of time back at home caring for my family members, and you know, we prayed about it, and we found peace, and we did research, and there’s a book called “Brother to Brother”, and it is about [prostate] cancer. Uh, we got a lot of knowledge out of that book concerning [prostate] cancer and uh, it’s wise. I recommend anyone that’s going through or think they have it, to go and get the book. I can not remember the author right now, but it, I’m sure it’s in the Library. And uh, do research, you know because we wanted to be educated on the facts and the options before proceeding. Well, Wayne then went to John’s Hopkins, I took him. We.. and it was so funny because every day Wayne would get up and he would call, “What are you doing?” “Uh, I’m praying.” “Well, let’s pray together.” Or, you know we just had; God blessed us with that opportunity to really, really seek Him and his advice during that time. And I’m so thankful; because little did we know what the future had to hold for Wayne. So even you know, in this devastating time, I knew that Wayne was saved, without a shadow of a doubt. We grew up in the church, we have a[n] extensive background with, you know, uh with ministers and pastors in our family, so we’ve always been under the word. But it was an awesome, awesome journey to walk with each other during those times. You know things happen and you know sometime we don’t understand why things happen, but you know sometimes we take our eyes off of the Lord. The Lord never leaves us, we take our eyes off of Him. And things, He allows things to occur to cause us to pray harder, to get closer to Him, and to seek Him. That’s exactly what we felt was happening. And Wayne went to John’s Hopkins and he had one of the best doctors, and needless to say when he left, and even when he, when Wayne passed he was cancer free. He was cancer free. So, that, that is a story within itself. But getting back to my father; during that time as well, he had progressive Alzheimer’s and I brought him here to Alabama and I cared for him and took care of him until he passed. Wayne met me to help care for daddy uh and it was an ordeal. It was an ordeal, but together again we did it.
TODD: But now after Wayne was killed, what did this do to your mom?
CASSANDRA: Oh… boy. Wayne spoiled mother so much. Every birthday he would have a surprise birthday party or he would get all of her friends together; he’d take them out, and, you know buy them lunch or take them on shopping sprees or… everyone just thought that, that, that mother had the best son in the world because he spoiled her so. And mother was so dependant on Wayne. She actually lived with me for awhile when she was, she also got sick. And, uh she wanted to go back home, and she went back home and Wayne just devoted his.. his time to mother. And just like that day when she knew what time he got of and she put in her call for her, for him to come there, that was, that customary, it was expected every time he got off. And he really spent a lot of time with her. And when my mother found out that my brother was killed, you could just look at her and see, she too was just dying. It really, really, really destroyed her.
TODD: Did you stay home during this period?
CASSANDRA: As soon as I received the call, as soon as she said, “Wayne is dead.” All I could say is, I’m on my way, hold on, I’m on my way. We threw a couple things in a suitcase and was on the highway I know within fifteen or twenty minutes, and off we went. And all I could think of was, “Lord, just keep my mother.” At that point, that very point, it was like a dream.
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: And you know I trust God. I did not have the answers; I did not know at that point what had happened to him. I did not know he was murdered, I did not know. All I knew was that he was dead. And I trusted God that whatever happened he was still in control. So my focus then was on my mother and I did not want her to have to go to the morgue. And I got to DC and before I even went to visit my mother I went straight to the morgue, uh, went to the examiners office and they showed me my brother and I identified him. He really didn’t look like himself and but I knew it was him an got through that and went rushing to get to my mother and on the way I even got a traffic ticket because my concern was getting to her because I knew my mother was gonna be destroyed. My mother was in a complete daze. She, her shell was there but she was in a complete daze. There was, and, you know as hard as it was, Thanksgiving was just a couple days away, and I remember preparing a meal for my mother. The meal was prepared and no one could eat. It was just a very solace time. Mother was very hurt and she just cried and cried and cried, she never became the same. Her demeanor changed everything about here just changed. She literally died, her spirit just died right then.
TODD: Well she didn’t make it much past that did she, how long did she make it past that point?
CASSANDRA: Six months
TODD: Six months, so within a year..
CASSANDRA: Yes
TODD: Your entire family gone.
CASSANDRA: Within eighteen months.
TODD: Wow.
CASSANDRA: Within well, actually, lets see, six, six, six, within eighteen months, that’s right, they passed.
TODD: What, what was your, what actually killed your mother?
CASSANDRA: Well actually it is a year.
TODD: Yeah six months before and six months after.
CASSANDRA: You’re right it is.
TODD: yeah
CASSANDRA: It is, I never even looked at that.
TODD: That year seemed like a long year to you actually you know.
CASSANDRA: Yes it really did.
TODD: Now what did your mother..
CASSANDRA: I never looked at it that way..
TODD: How did she pass away, what was her, a broken..
CASSANDRA: uh..
TODD: heart obviously contributed to it a great deal.
CASSANDRA: Well of course, I stayed with my mother in DC for months at least three months.
TODD: uh huh
CASSANDRA: I stayed with my mother and finally I came back. I tried to get my mother to come back with me, she wouldn’t come she wanted to stay there. And she felt that I’d gone through enough taking care of my dad with the Alzheimer’s and taking care of Wayne with the cancer when he had it, and going through because I was taking care of all of his affairs with his death. And she thought that my hands were tied and she did not want to be a bother and then she decided she would go into a nursing home, and then like “no mother, you can’t do that.” And then she finally decided I’m going to my daughter. She so, she came here. She called me and said, “Look I want to come.” And I went and got her and brought her here that day. But her, her spirit, her will was gone to live. Mother just got weaker and weaker and she had to go to the hospital. The doctors told her Miss Campbell you can live. There is nothing wrong, you’re a little tired but you’ll be fine. We’re going to keep you for a couple days because you’ve gone through a great ordeal, and we’ll let you go. And she said, “No, no.” I tried to encourage her, “Mother you’re going to be fine, you know we’re going to make it through this.” And she said, “No.” She said, “I can’t lose another child.” She said, “I love you, but I want you to be the last one.” She said, “Please let me go.”
TODD: hmm
CASSANDRA: “Please let me go.” She said, “I love you, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.” I said, “Mother it won’t. We’re gonna be fine.” She said, “No, its time for me to go, just let me go, don’t try to hold me, don’t try to make me stay here, I don’t want to, I’m ready let me go because I want you to be the last one.” And the nurses said, and the doctors said, “No you really don’t want to do that.” She said, “Yes I do.” And uh, I said, “ok”. And we called all of the family. She got to say goodbye to everyone and explain to everyone how she felt. And uh, all of her friends, whoever she wanted to talk to that’s what she did. And I stayed in the hospital, the hospitals here have two, its, it’s like a semi private room and one bed is for the patient and the other bed is for the family member. So we laid in that bed in that bedroom side by side. It happened to be the same hospital my father passed in as well. And we lay there side by side until she passed. We had church in that room, we sang all of her favorite songs. She used to enjoy hearing Wayne and I sing gospel. Wayne and I used to sing in the choir. And we used to, all of our favorite songs are the songs I sung to her. So that’s how she passed.
TODD: So all of this is over now. Now what did you do after that? You had to go back to Wayne, you had unfinished business.
CASSANDRA: Most definitely. Well actually what I did uh, When Wayne passed one of the main things I was doing, because it’s not, giving up is not an option. If you look at my webpage uh for Wayne that’s the first things you see; “Giving up is not an option.”
TODD: Well that’s how we found you. (laughing)
CASSANDRA: (overlaps) That is..
TODD: (overlaps) that’s how we found you and we knew you would be a good guest.
CASSANDRA: Yes, well, giving up is not an option, because Wayne would have never given up on me. We were extremely close and he would have never given up on me. It’s a funny thing, I do a lot of volunteer work I do a lot in the community um, although retired I still do things to help people and my mother and my brother always laugh and they used to always say, “One thing is for sure, as hard as she works if anything ever happened, or anybody in our family needed help we wouldn’t have to worry about because [we knew], we know that Cassandra Weekly is on the case.” And it is so amazing and you know it’s another thing I said to Wayne, and it’s funny how we have these conversations with our loved ones and we joke about things amongst ourselves. And one of the other things when Wayne got sick with the cancer and I was trying to encourage him and, you know, Wayne made a statement about him being so sick that he would not put the burden on either of us if he got so sick with the cancer, that he would go into a nursing home or something so that we wouldn’t be burdened. And I told Wayne then, I said, “Look man you can stop that.” I said, “Because if anything was ever to happen to you, let me tell you something; first of all, I will take care of you while you’re living. As long as you’re living you don’t ever have to go into a nursing home. You or mother, I will always take care of you all.” And I said, “I will take care of you.” I said, “Even if you pass, I’ll still take care of you, so you never have that to worry about.” Little did I know that my brother would be killed; and I would be left with caring for finding justice for my family. I am adamant with the thought that the person responsible with killing my brother is the same person that is responsible for draining the life out of my mother and her will to live. I am adamant about that. And I am adamant in saying that giving up is not an option, and I will press as long as it takes until justice is served. As long as I have breathe in my body. And you know, wow, this is really an issue with me because uh when the case first started the detectives that were working the case, uh, every day, every day..
TODD: uh huh
CASSANDRA: I called them and I spoke with them about the case and when I saw the things were being slack and I saw that time was passing on there was some concern. But one thing happened when I went to Washington DC the night that I went there. And that was I started getting information myself. And to any family that is out there that is, has been plagued by this painful devastating ordeal, I advise them, who ever that person is in that family that has the strength to press on beyond this and refuses to be victimized twice by this, this awful thing that has occurred, to be wise. And I thank God that I was able to get on the phone right then and start making calls of people that I knew my brother knew and not only did I call them, but I called them at inopportune times. I called them at two and three o’clock in the morning when people did have a chance to think. To really get answers and today that is a blessing to me because I kept my little blue book with all of my information in it and I can always go back and refer to it. Unfortunately in my case, in my family’s case, the detectives that were on the case uh were removed from his case. And I did not, I was not aware that they were removed from the case. Uh after my mother passed I needed to step back for a minute and regroup. Well during that time I went to school. I was a student before taking care of them when they were sick and I needed to go back and finish and I did decide at that time to take a break go back to school, finish, uh, you know my education and then really give this my fulltime attention. In that time someone dropped the ball. Somebody decided that they would make my brother’s case a cold case and I was not going to have that and when I called around seeking, trying to get information on what was happening on my brother’s case, I discovered in that semester that the officers or the detectives were taken off of the case, that no one knew were the case was. And I found Detective Durant. The Lord blessed me with Detective Durant. And I called after being sent from one number to the other number to the other number and I, he was in cold case, and my brother’s case was not there. And I asked him if he could search, and he says, “Yes if you want me to.” I said, “Can you do it?” He says, “Yes.” I said, “Will you do it?” He says, “Yes, if you want to.” I said, “Will you dedicate yourself to giving me and my family one hundred percent of your effort in solving this case. He said yes, he would. And he was ready to retire. He said, “I promise if I get it, I will not retire until this case is solved.” Detective Durant took the case, and he found my brothers case and called me back in three days and told me that he had located it, and asked me if I was sure. I tell him, “Yes, I was sure that I wanted him to take the case.” He seeks permission and he was the granted permission to take the case and he’s been on it since. I talk to Detective Durant every single day except Saturday and Sunday. If he is working Saturday and Sunday then I speak to him then. It will not happen to me and my family again. We will not be victimized by this horrifying horrific incident. I know every step that he’s going to take, and even if he has not taken it, if the Lord puts in my spirit then I’ll call. I’ll make the calls, I’ve contacted his job, I’ve contacted friends and associates, I have done so much in this case, in this case. But it’s, this is not the time to slow down to give up and to give out.
TODD: But you know I read in your own, the letter you wrote yourself, there are over six thousand unsolved murders in DC, that’s a lot.
CASSANDRA: In DC.
TODD: In DC alone.
CASSANDRA: Yes, yes, in DC alone. But Wayne’s will not be an unsolved murder. I am completely confident that it is going to be solved. It is a matter of time, as long as I can continue to encourage Detective Durant and work with him, you know and uh, have him to work with me this case will not be unsolved.
TODD: Now what do we know about the case, what, what do you know? What, what happened exactly?
CASSANDRA: Well what I can tell you about the case is that Wayne was found stabbed in his apartment. I can tell you that according to the FOX news, uh report, Wayne was found nude stabbed in, in his apartment. I discovered, I knew that he had multiple stabbed wounds, I knew that. What I did not know was that they sliced his throat. I can not tell you who or how many people are involved. The other thing that I was able to do was to extract some the, from the footage I was able to extract the pictures from that another person, or other persons that are helping me, one of the persons in particular that has been a jewel to me is Nancy with Angelbound. And we have enlarged pictures. We have extracted pictures, uh, stills from the video and we are posting. There were some people of interest that were found on the video. The video, the actual footage came from his apartment camera. So, uh, with that footage we can see that someone went into the apartment building with Wayne. Someone left out of the apartment building with Wayne. Someone reentered the apartment building with Wayne and uh, there’s also another picture on the website also, uh, that looks like a Caucasian man, or Hispanic man that is believed to be a person of interest because they believe he returned Wayne’s car. Uh which says that it is possible that the car was taken after the murder; it is possible, uh, that the person was in with my brother and he was the passenger so therefore he would have needed a way to leave. Um, there is a picture on the site that also of a person of interest leaving alone. Ok, so there has quite a few little things coming to surface. Um, I discovered just a couple weeks ago when FOX 5 did the report that Wayne had his uniform on.
TODD: uh huh
CASSANDRA: So in fact he was doing what he was expected to do. And that is to go home from work, change clothes, go run his errands and then go to my mother. And the reason I know that, is because I was able to recognize his uniform. And I was able to uh; and I know that Wayne never, never wore his uniform anywhere. Anyone that knew him knew that his uniform was just that uniform from work. And if he didn’t take another shirt to over it or something to disguise it when getting off you know, then he would go home and change.
TODD: Now there’s a reward in this case too.
CASSANDRA: Yes, there’s a twenty-five thousand dollar reward, uh, being issued or offered through the Metropolitan Police Department. Uh, I have thought of ways, uh, of raising the reward, um, but right that’s just not of interest. Uh the most important thing now is to do other work on the case. But for anyone that has information the twenty-five thousand dollar reward is available. Um, uh, Todd Matthews there is one other thing that I would like to say. First of all I want to thank you for the opportunity to be able to get our story out. Uh, it is truly a blessing for you to have me on as a guest. Uh, during the time of my brother’s murder there was no media coverage.
TODD: Uh huh
CASSANDRA: I mean absolutely no media coverage. When FOX 5 did their report a couple weeks ago, they were troubled by that fact; that he received no coverage, and they decided to go back and to find out why. And one of the reasons that I was given was that it was during the time of the sniper trial. You know the snipers were in..
TODD: Yes
CASSANDRA: Washington DC. And that took precedence over my brother’s murder. And for that reason I’ve had a problem with getting press coverage. Time can be an enemy, because old news is not what they call good news. But I think they…
TODD: Well, and there’s so many hours in a day and I know they can’t cover everything, and I think that’s why…
CASSANDRA: They can not.
TODD: We’re sort of the anti-media. We, we don’t do this as a form of media, we do it as a public service announcement and try to take people like you that’s had no exposure.
CASSANDRA: Uh hum.
TODD: and change that for them. That’s, that’s the goal.
CASSANDRA: Well I thank you. And I’m prayer, I’m prayerful that this will help me generate other media. I really wanted to uh, do America’s Most Wanted, or um some of the other, Nancy Grace, and some of those other programs because Wayne’s story is newsworthy. Not only did I lose my brother, but I lost my mother. I lost my entire nuclear family, you know. And uh, there is another part to this that I have not mentioned, and I was not going to, but I am. Wayne had or left one daughter, he has one child Tamika. Tamika’s twenty-nine years old. And at this very minute Tamika has been flown to the Goshen medical center, cancer center and she is battling for her life with lung and liver cancer. So again, here we are.
TODD: Yet another.
CASSANDRA: I find myself at this place.
TODD: Do you have children?
CASSANDRA: Yes, I have two.
TODD: And how are they?
CASSANDRA: I have two. Uh, well, I adopted one child, he’s twenty years old. I adopted Dominique as a single parent, he’s twenty. Uh, and uh, he’s a student now, actually doing fire science, he, he’s coming along. He’s a blessing, a testimony within himself. And uh, I have another child who’s thirty-five, who is dealing with a, a child who is also sick, uh, that was born and one pound twelve ounces. But um, all is well. But my concern is for my niece.
TODD: Uh huh.
CASSANDRA: I pray for closure, uh for her, that she is at peace. That she can find peace. And I pray that the exposure would generate even more exposure, that uh, that this case will be solved. And that it will peak the interest of those people with information to come forward. One of the problems with the case is that a lot of his so called friends and associates did not come forward. And we don’t know why you know, people are private, people don’t want to get involved. But um, a lot of people; at least according to FOX news; says that they did not come forward. So my petition is that anyone with any information in regards to the case; do in fact come forward, because Wayne would have done that for his friends. He would have been right there, just like me. He would have been there to the very end trying to do whatever he could to help his friends. Wayne was a, he was an awesome guy. Wayne was on Love Connection. I know you know that from my story. And uh, he was also on Family Feud, and uh one of the things Wayne did even when he went on his date on Love Connection, when he went to pick his date up, his date was complaining about her feet. He went straight to the store and bought her a pair of shoes. He was just that kind of person. He really, really was. And he was so lovable and likable. When I spoke to his job last week, and here we’re just about going on the four year anniversary of his murder, they tell me that they have boards, they have a bulletin board with Wayne as the centerpiece, and they said “You know we have him everywhere.” And uh, there’s another thank you card that I made for everyone and I personalized it with Wayne’s picture on it, and they said they have it hanging inside of the office that Wayne’s spirit will have to remain there, because Wayne was there with them for seventeen years, you know, so.
TODD: Well, what do you thinks’ next?
CASSANDRA: I think that hard work, diligence, perseverance is going to be next. And what I mean by that is I believe that we’re going to receive a break in the case very shortly.
TODD: Now you say, you speak to the detective almost daily. Daily that he works.
CASSANDRA: Daily.
TODD: Do you see…
CASSANDRA: Daily.
TODD: progress with each conversation? Are you seeing progress?
CASSANDRA: Yes, I am.
TODD: its baby steps…
CASSANDRA: unfortunately…
TODD: I’m sure it’s baby steps
CASSANDRA: Well unfortunately because of bad notes and um for whatever reason documentation; whatever; he’s almost having to start over on this case. And I believe that the best uh, how do I say this. It would have been better, for those people that went on the case that went in and out; they saw him in the beginning, uh, to be on the case because they have more information. Um, there’s nothing like eye contact or being an eyewitness. In this case Detective Durant did not have that privilege. So he has me and what I can remember; and all of those notes that I wrote, that I kept thank you Lord, to paste together actually what happened. I believe that he is, is gaining momentum and there is a lot that’s taking place. There is a lot of movement in the case at this time, uh and I believe that we’re going to reap from this through diligence and patience. The patience, of putting it all together and getting the full picture, there was a lot of evidence left on the scene, uh, there was a lot of evidence. One of the things that is missing from this case, is that the last telephone call that Wayne received, was, came from a pay phone, you know one of those cell phones that you just go to the uh, dollar store or uh one of the drug stores or something to purchase, Wal-Mart, uh and I think they’re called Tracfones.
TODD: Yes.
CASSANDRA: And um, that phone is very hard to track. And it had a number on it, the telephone number was 202-413-1615, and that telephone number was the last phone conversation that Wayne had. Um, it was the last telephone call on his telephone bill. And Wayne’s phone was also stolen. But that number contact was made with that person one time, and that person refused to talk. And that is a vital, vital piece of this puzzle. So, hopefully someone will come forth and has information in regards to that telephone number; or the person believed to be the owner of that phone. So even with all the evidence that we have, we’re still looking for little, little things. I believe that we probably have it in the palms of our hand, and it is so minute we’re over looking it. So, every day, it’s go back over everything that we have. And that’s what I do every single day, now that I’ve graduated from school, is I go over every detail. I study these stills on the website. And for those that don’t know of the website if I may, I’d like to give that address. It is www.myspace.com/waynelwalker. And I pray that someone will go. I want, I do want to say one thing. You know sometimes with media unfortunately we get bad media. I believe that Wayne received some bad media. With all of my heart, one of the things that was said, some things that were said about Wayne were not true. Um, I must include that Wayne was gay.
TODD: Uh huh.
CASSANDRA: But Wayne’s lifestyle, was Wayne’s lifestyle and he was a wonderful person. And in regards to what a person is, is no reason for anyone else to take someone else’s life. Never is it right for someone to take someone’s life. The news reporter stated that Wayne picked up men. I assure you that Wayne did not pick up men. Wayne did not do that, nor, uh and that’s the main thing that I wanted to make plain to the public. They are going to refute that statement. I will be concerned with clearing his name, after this killer is found. Right now it does not matter what was said, what matters to me is that my niece gets justice.
TODD: uh huh
CASSANDRA: That she can see that her father uh, father’s life did no go unsolved, that it did not count, but that it does.
TODD: Well unlike normal media you will have a permanent archive page of Missing Pieces for as long as, uh Kimberly and I are alive and able to provide this. You will have that there permanently, so you…
CASSANDRA: Thank you..
TODD: It, it will be there on the internet and anybody looking for his name will find it.
CASSANDRA: I thank you. I thank you, I really do.
TODD: We’ll keep trying.
CASSANDRA: I, I just, I don’t know how many minutes we have left, (laughing) again, I really want to say thank you and I really want to thank Kimberly. Kimberly is a jewel. And she called me to set up this interview.
TODD: Uh huh.
CASSANDRA: And I thank God for your program and your concern; your compassion, your compassion for the family members of those that have been victimized. And you know I just, I, it takes a gift to be able to communicate and show your love and concern for others. And I do really truly thank you all.
TODD: I’m glad that you got to tell us about everybody because I think that’s left out a lot in the media, the impact on the entire family. It wasn’t just Wayne we wanted to talk about, it was all of you guys.
CASSANDRA: Yes
TODD: I’m glad we got an opportunity to do that because you know the entire family was impacted.
CASSANDRA: Well you know another thing that I mention on the web is that violence affects everyone. You know a person may have a moment of, of unrest and decide that they are going to do something to an individual, not considering the impact on the entire family. But no one can go out and commit a violent act on one person. There is on such thing as committing a violent act on one person because that person is a part of somebody else. It is, in my case my brother was my brother, he was somebody’s father, somebody’s son and somebody’s uncle, you know and uh, and nephew. And you know, it is really, really devastating that an entire family has to suffer at the hand of someone that has gone on to commit such an awesome sin. And, you know, we have to really think, and you know even to the person that commit these crimes it not only stops at our family but the innocent victims of that persons family. They’re going to have to endure the court. They’re going to have to be the ones that are going to have to go and do those visits and get the lawyers and try to help the rest of the family members that are going through because their family member brought pain to them. So you know when we talk about violence we have to look at the whole picture because there are so many innocent victims that are victimized and it changes lives for ever, you know. To the person that commits the crime, to the children that are left home because they have committed a crime you know, they are in broken homes, you know there are, now we have grandparents taking care of children that are, have been left because their parents have done wrong. And we really have to get the message out. We need more education so people can be aware of the impact, you know of their actions, and we must always remember there is a consequence for every action, you know. I just, I just pray that we can teach these things in our churches and our schools, not to be afraid to speak the truth because it does happen in all of our families. And I’ve noticed on MySpace, I never, ever would have imagined going to MySpace. But you know, one night; you can not tell me that the Lord did not tell me to go to MySpace. And when I did go and start this page which I’ve never done before, and start this page; I have met so many people that are going through the same thing. I put in the article that he was not a Kelsey Smith. Wayne was not a uh Natalie Holloway. He was not one of the others that we hear so much about on the news. Those families went through a devastating hurt as well as we are going though. But there are so many people that never have the opportunity to get their story told. And there’s so many, there’s a family of people on this MySpace page that are hurting to get their, to get justice for their family members. And I pray that. I’m praying that we will pray and intercede for other family members as well, because it is not just about us, but about a hurting world that has been victimized.
TODD: I know you’re going to have a positive impact. You, you spoke of impact tonight..
CASSANDRA: I plan…
TODD: You’re going to, you’re making a positive impact.
CASSANDRA: I, I plan to, you know I, I will be the voice for those that have no voice.
TODD: It was good to have you here tonight.
CASSANDRA: Thank you so very much.
TODD: And thank you for being here, and we will stay in touch as usual. We’ll say goodbye to the audience..
CASSANDRA: God bless you
TODD: Bless you too.
CASSANDRA: God bless you, thank you so very much.
TODD: Alright, goodbye everybody
CASSANDRA: God bless.
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