Police took Uloma Walker-Curry, 44, into custody Tuesday. She is charged with aggravated murder.
Walker, 45, was ambushed outside his East Side home on Nov. 3, 2013. He was shot several times in the chest before the gunman hired by his Nigerian wife left in a car.
Uloma Walker-Curry, who was home at the time, made a frantic 911 call seconds after her husband was shot.
Uloma Walker-Curry married the firefighter in July 2013.
Padgett, 21, was dating Walker’s stepdaughter at the time of the slaying and sent several text messages seeking a gun in the days leading up to the homicide, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brian Murphy said during Padgett’s arraignment.
.
.
Officials have not identified Padgett as the gunman. He is being held on $1 million bond.
Walker, 45, parked in his driveway and was walking toward his Lampson Road home when the attack occurred, police said.
Witnesses told police they heard shouting coming from outside the home at the time of the shooting, officials said.
Walker died at MetroHealth Medical Center. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, which performed an autopsy Monday, will determine the official cause of death.
The city promoted Walker from firefighter to lieutenant in August. Walker joined the Cleveland Division of Fire in 1998 and was certified as an emergency medical technician, officials said.
.
According to reports by AP, Cleveland homicide detectives initially followed leads provided by Walker-Curry that neighborhood drug dealers might have killed her husband to stop him from complaining about them. But a Crime Stoppers tip and cellphone technology, including text messages, led detectives to investigate Walker-Curry, who was arrested last week, prosecutors said.
Dorty was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year for an unrelated aggravated robbery. Padgett was arrested Aug. 8 for Walker’s slaying. Padgett dated Walker-Curry’s daughter, prosecutors said.
No attorney information was available for the four suspects. Walker-Curry and Padgett are being held on $1 million bonds. No bond has been set for Hein, who was arrested Monday. The juvenile will eventually face delinquency charges, prosecutors said.
One of Walker-Curry’s three children, a daughter who asked to only be referred to by her first name, spoke with FOX 8 about the arrest. Jessica said she actually moved out of state years ago because of her rocky relationship with her mother.
She called her mom hurtful and a pathological liar, but said she never imagined she could also be a cold-hearted killer.
“I cannot, I cannot even think how this is possible,” Jessica said. “But I wouldn’t put it past her. I’m so disgusted. I’m hurt… The way she performed at the funeral… I feel really really bad.”
Jessica didn’t know her sisters boyfriend, who is also charged in the case, but met him at the funeral and described him as unemotional and detached. She isn’t sure if she will contact her mother in jail, and said right now her thoughts and prayers are with the Walker family.
“Because one thing I know is that he loved his kids, he loved his family,” Jessica said. “He was really good guy.”
Those thoughts were echoed by the woman who lived next door to Walker. Frances Russell described him as a nice man, who worked two jobs to put his daughter through college.
“I want to know the reason, why would you just kill a person like that?” Russell said. She said she suspected it was an inside job and she’s praying for the family.
“We always thought it was personal,” she said. “It’s hard to explain that you can see a person and know they have that much evil in their heart.”
