A shocking update has ended the mystery of a missing child and kidnapping case, as a teenager who disappeared from Chicago has been found four years later in Virginia, having been held captive all this time, according to NBC 5 Investigates.
The alleged kidnapping happened outside a Chicago movie theater on June 23, 2022, according to law enforcement. The 15-year-old girl had taken an Uber from Milwaukee to Chicago to meet a man who had arranged the ride for her, authorities said. She had been communicating with the man online for several years, they said.
Investigators said the man convinced the teen to meet up, and he held her captive ever since that day.
“Her dad called me and was like, ‘Her phone’s going to voicemail.’ I knew immediately it was just off…”
The parents of Joniah Walker, now 19, said they knew a switched-off cellphone was the key clue that their daughter was in danger.
The teenager became a well-publicized missing person, her family and friends begging for help and criticizing Milwaukee police for moving too slowly. They went on local TV, pointing to a doorbell camera video of the last time the teenager was seen as evidence of a sloppy investigation.
“Why didn’t the police go knock on people’s doors? Like everybody on that block has a Ring camera. We got the videos, not the police,” one relative said.
“No one interviewed me, no one sat me down. It was us versus the police stations with a glass between us,” stated another.
Four years later, Walker was found 730 miles away, in a small frame home in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Police said she was sexually and physically abused while being held as a captive by 37-year-old Owen Anderson. Records state the man disposed of her cellphone — and a burner phone he’d sent her to use — in a sidewalk trash can.
A few days ago, Milwaukee County authorities filed kidnapping and child abduction charges against Anderson, who has yet to appear in Wisconsin court and is still in custody in Virginia.
Milwaukee police declined NBC 5 Investigates’ request to discuss the alleged kidnapping, or answer questions about the investigation. An officer on the case had previously said they had no indication the teenager had been targeted by an organized abduction ring.
“I can assure you we have no reason to believe that she was involved in human trafficking,” Milwaukee police officer Jamie Sromalla told NBC Milwaukee in 2025.
In an email to NBC Chicago on Wednesday, a Milwaukee police official reiterated that position, saying that it would be misleading to report the teenage girl had been a victim of human trafficking. However, the charges clearly lay out that authorities say she was the victim of a kidnapping, child abduction and sexual abuse while being held against her will for years.
If you are a child being abused, or know a child who may be facing abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at (800) 422-4453, or go to childhelphotline.org.
