The Double Disappearance of Diamond Bynum and King Walker

On July 25, 2015, in Gary, Indiana, a developmentally disabled 21-year-old woman named Diamond and her two-year-old nephew left their home to take a walk while their caretaker was napping. They have not been seen since. Despite countless searches and sightings, as well as a named person of interest, they are still missing. It’s a baffling case that needs and deserves attention.

Transcript

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People always want to know what it's like to be me. How does it feel to see a dead body? Tell a family their loved one has been murdered, talk to a rape victim, catch a killer and get them to confess. Hold on tight, my friends. Get ready for the journey. And welcome to murder with mannina. Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of murder with men. Nina, I need to change topics can we do a new podcast called menopause with men enough? Because I am done. I am dying. So I met this Training the last few days active trainer active shooter training, right? We're in this classroom and there's probably 30 of us and it's warm. It is warm in the classroom. People had said it and then all the sudden I just start pouring sweat in the skies next to me and he's like, are you okay? I mean, my face is bright red, and it's horrible. I hate it. It is awful. And it's like 90 It's been in the 90s here and nd so it really oh my god, it's going to be such a hot summer it is going to be such a hot summer and I have a pretty good air conditioner but it struggles when it gets this hot. So it's just horrible. But oh god. I think menopause with Medina might be our new my new podcast. Oh, that sounds fun. Right? I have some supplement tips for you. Okay, five, HTP, five, HTP up to 800 milligrams a day. That's yeah, you gave me some things. I was doing better. Yeah, I was doing better. And then all of a sudden it came back. So this poor guy next to me was just like, are you okay? Okay, I'm alright. So I can't believe I'm at the age but anyways. Alright, so I'm I'm really into these cold cases. And I thought, Man, I need to start looking at my own state. Right. So I know we've talked a couple about a couple cold cases. But I want to talk about this one. This is a 21 year old Her name was no get this diamond Bobby Monet Bynum. Okay, that's her name. So we're just gonna call her diamond. But she was 21 when she went missing in July 25 2015. And she's from Gary, Indiana. And most people think of two things when they hear Gary, Indiana, where Michael Jackson and the Jacksons were born. And then Gary, Indiana be in like the murder capital of the world for a few years of the United States. Per capita. It's a horrible, horrible city, this kind of what we call north northwest part of the state. It's almost close to Chicago. 3540 minutes from Chicago. It reminds me for some reason of a musical isn't Music Man. Isn't there are a famous song called Gary about Gary, Indiana. Oh, maybe maybe just Michael Jackson. Is that what comes up mostly, but anyway. So she went missing in 2015. So a little description about her and she's got an interesting story. So just her physical district description is her hair's black. She was only four foot eight in 238 pounds. She had her nephew that was with him, and he was only two. So both of them went missing. July 25 2015. Our family described diamond describe diamond as being wonderful, had a wonderful smile. And if you Google her and look at the pictures of her and her nephew, it's just it's just so unbelievably sad, but just both really cute. She had a wonderful smile and an outgoing personality. But as a young child, she was diagnosed and this is important was diagnosed with prader willi syndrome. It's a genetic it's a genetic disorder. This syndrome is characterized by suffering by severe and I think it's called hippo. Tonia. poor appetite and feeding difficulties in early infancy, okay, followed by in early childhood by excessive eating and gradually becoming obese, okay, obviously, she was obese at four foot eight and 238 pounds, okay. Her motor milestones in language development were delayed. Okay, so that's what she was dealing with. Um, there is no cure, and I looked, I looked to try to get a little bit more information. There's no cure for it. And it's pretty rare, fewer than 20,000 cases, on average a year and the life expectancy is just 30 years old. So in this July, she'll be 29. Okay, so her mental capacity at the time she went missing was of a fiber between five and seven year old child and it's difficult for her to communicate and speak to others. So remember all this. She is a base. She is drawn to food but she has a hard time communicating with people. And then of course, remember that two year old Fe was with her. Her family does. In reading some interviews and looking at some TV they they learn how to understand her. And she did know the number or the phone number of her father. She did know that now remember that mental capacity is five to seven. She has a pronounced limp. She has misaligned teeth in walks with one arm bet. Okay, this syndrome includes a constant feeling of being hungry. So overeating is a problem, obviously. And her favorite food is cheeseburgers feed. Remember that as well. Okay. Okay, so an overview of kind of what happened February of 2015. Dimon in the son's family moved to Gary Indiana from Hammond in Hammond Indiana is right next to Gary. Because of the disability her her her and the nephew have a hard time adjusting to the neighborhood. So you can imagine her mental capacity. A new a new area. She's just having a horrible time. July 25 of 2015. The nephew is dropped off and diamonds father house and Father's house so he could spend the day while his mother went to a class in Chicago. Like I said, this place is close to Chicago the next day, there was a family birthday party, and everyone was expected to be there. July 25, the same day at 1020. In the morning, diamond stepmom takes a 40 minute nap. Okay, so they're home alone. Evidently, she wakes up at approximately 11 And notice that the house is empty. She does a search brief and of the house can't find anybody and also knows that she has wandered off before. Okay, so this has happened before where she's wandered off. Okay, so in the afternoon soon after. She starts to search he calls diamonds dad and they call the place and they start a search. Okay, so the police are doing a good job. Everybody's out looking. Diamond has done this before. Okay. That afternoon, the police are going door to door interviewing people. And then flyers were made flyers were made really quick. The police are out going door to door. Right? She's got a capacity of a five to seven year old and she's with a two year old. That afternoon at McDonald's. They're the first people to report of society. Okay, it makes sense. Why? Because she loves cheeseburgers. She loves cheeseburgers. Okay. So they're the first people that think that they saw her however, the sighting was seen before she was reported missing. Employee said that he had just took her order and that they left employee was adamant that the two were alone. Okay. The search continues with no look. And interviews were done. And people had seen some sightings, but nothing was coming. Nothing was coming around. Okay. July 29. So it kind of stops, they're searching, they're searching. They're doing interviews. They're looking, I'm hoping that they started to look a lot at different restaurants. I couldn't find anything to tell me that they did. But you know, I mean, she likes food. Right. And she's hungry all the time. So that's the first place right? You know, I would go I would go looking. So now on Sundays lay seven elevens and snap. Yeah, all that stacks, right? Absolutely. So four days later, the Department of Homeland Security assisted Gary Police Department, which is fantastic. Right now you've got the federal government coming in and helping in they started searching abandoned, abandoned buildings in the area for two days. They said one by one, each building in a 24 block radius was search. And they were investigated by canine. Okay. And the thing about Gary is there's a lot of Abant there's a ton of crime. There's a lot of abandoned buildings and houses. It's just it's just not a nice place to be. They were thinking that she might have gone into those abandoned buildings because it during that time in July, they were going through a crazy heatwave like what we're going through right now in the 90s. And she was baby trying to get out of the sun. bloodhounds were used for over two hours, the scent led them to a neighborhood gas station, just like you said. Where were the set was lost. There was another set that was picked up near some railroad tracks, where it was again lost. So they are getting some sense, but they're losing those sets. Now we fast forward two more days. We're now on July 31 of 2015. Almost a week later, there was an unconfirmed sighting and a witness saying that she may have seen diamond asking for food at a bus stop near her house. The two year old was not mentioned in the sighting. Okay, but this is all this was unconfirmed. The others were confirmed she did go to the McDonald's. She did go to another gas Asian, but this third one was not confirmed and their information said that she was alone. All right, now we're to August. The question, what is confirmed mean? What does that say? Witnesses confirmed? Well, so a couple of things. So when you confirm if I were to ask you something, okay, if I were to ask you, Hey, did you see diamond? Or did you see this person? I can hand you a flyer and you say, yep, that's exactly who she was. Or you could describe her to me. 100% sure that you actually confirm seen her? Okay. Somebody else say, Oh, I might have seen her. Yeah, I saw. I saw a female, heavyset female with a young kid. It you can't it's not 100%. Okay. To lie. Because people, especially when people are out, like the police are out and the neighbors are out there all looking for her. Right. And people want to help. And they're like, yeah, maybe I saw, you know, they start to think back. And they're like, yeah, yeah, maybe I did. Well, what did she have on? Oh, I don't I don't remember that. You know, we can't 100% Say. So when we go and we backtrack. We need as close as we can. That's not to say that, that they didn't see it. You know, it's not to say that, but we like to nail it down that absolutely. They were at least seen here, because it gives us a starting point as we go. I see. Okay, thank you. Now we are to August 3 2015. And remember to she doesn't communicate, she doesn't communicate. Okay, so that's obviously a big issue. She's got a young child with her and she's a young child. So we're nine days later, the Garrick police department called it off. And quoted as saying, the resources, this is what the police said, the resources have dried up. Are you freaking kidding me right now? That I mean, I just I get so I'm started looking at these cold cases and trying to hear old Oh, my God and to say, and to say to the family, it's like, it's like the Gary Police Department started off really heavy and strong doing everything. Now we're nine days later, and they and they and they say that the resources have dried up that just I think it's a horrible thing to say. Essentially, you're saying that you're giving up. And it just in my response is freaking make it rain. Keep it keep looking. Right? Don't let stuff dry up. I hate that. So like, they just started strong, and it ended badly. But Gary is such a high crime. I have to I have to say this too. They have so much cop crime. And Gary, there were there were eight or 910 1112 murders in that nine day. Wow. So that is July in the heat of July. I mean, they don't have the resources, right? They do not. Now they didn't need to say that quote that the resources had dried up, I think there's better language to say that or that sounds callous, even if it is accurate. I mean, but you know, resources, the amount of detectives are onto other cases. But again, I would say you owe it to diamond King, the little nephew and their families to keep looking. I just don't think that there's anything and maybe I just don't have this figured out. But I just don't think that there's any leads that can't be warmed up. Like for instance, the one case that I have, that I never solved, I go back and still look at it. The only case that you've done, I still go back and think about it and look at it. And if I have a buddy that's in homicide, you know, and what's kind of interesting about that, when not to get off track is her family never has never contacted me. They never contacted me. I contacted them when I told them that their daughter had been murdered. And there had been nothing. They never called me to say, if I made an arrest. I called them and said, Look, you know, I told him that night it's gonna be a difficult case based on her lifestyle and circumstances. But, you know, I worked like every other one. Yes, it's a sidetrack but do do you describe that case as far as what happened? I mean, it basically it was during a big huge event in Indianapolis where we probably had 150 to 200,000 extra people. And she was prostituting, and she was shot and dumped out of a car. Bam. That's it. Like I don't have any other I went to her apartment. There was no other, you know, and when I knocked on the door and knocked on the door late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, and our parents were not surprised. They knew right. They knew when the the knock on the door that it was probably do you say how old how old you are probably in her mid 20s mid 20s. So, but what were the parents like what was the sense that you got me the loving parents that tried and she just got off on the wrong track and they had other kids that they had to raise and they loved her and but they were not surprised by this. So In other words, it wasn't one of those situations where you knocked on the door and the mom is passed out with a crack pipe. It these were parents that these were loving parents that that really did try. Well, they absolutely try. You know, and what's funny when we say that is I don't know that I haven't. Have you ever met parents that really didn't try, right like and what's your definition of right in their own way in their own way, I was always able to find a way that they would the hand that there was doubt in the life that they're in and the decisions that they made and just where they were in their world. I you know, I don't know that I've ever met context. You always talk about that in context. Everybody really does the best job that people can do the but you know, at the end of the day that you can always try to find something and I always did. You know, I always did. I don't know that I ever ran. I don't know that I've ever interviewed parents where I was like, You know what, they don't give two shifts. I don't think I ever have, you know, I don't think I ever have they left them at the best that they could. And these parents did, too. But my point is, I still think about her. I mean, it was the one that got away. You know, I never I never figured it out, like to the point where I absolutely had no freaking clue. And that is foreign to me. I mean, usually I can get a clue Well, you know, what comes to mind, though, is that that killer may be a serial killer, like what we're finding in Ohio, and we'll be interviewing someone who's working on a case like that. No, Ohio. Well, you know, how easy would it be to if you figured out in the United States where your large events are? Right? We just had one Indianapolis 500 250 to 300,000 people were here in the city. So if you were a serial killer, and you because you know like as detectives and investigators were you get killed. I'm gonna go to the people that are closest to you. Right? I'm gonna start looking at them. I'm gonna do all that you got stranger danger that just acts you there in Indianapolis? 500. How am I ever that's what I'm thinking. I mean, somebody just killed a prostitute and dumped or out of the car. What kind of person does that probably a person that hasn't only done it one time? Right? Doesn't it say like, I like an 80 year old lady that happened to be looking out her window. She could she said it was a car but she couldn't give me any description. I mean, I remember interviewing her and I was just trying so hard to get anything but she, you know, she couldn't see it was dark. You know, when she that was as far as witnesses. That's all I had. So anyway, anyway, that is an interesting sidetrack and getting back to diamond. Okay, so the leads are dried up. Okay, so with no one working this, obviously, but later in August, there was another unconfirmed sighting, saying that they sold diamond and King at a White Castle, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago, which would be 22 miles. Whoa, okay. Wow. 22 miles in Chicago from where she lived. All right. And what's interesting, all of the sightings, were seeing her at food places did she did she have a bus pass it? Was there any explanation for how she would have ended up 22 miles away? No, no, literally like five to seven. That's her mentality. Don't forget that fires the two year old with her run wild. Crazy. There was another unconfirmed sighting in the same Roselyn neighborhood eating at a checkers, which is kind of like a fast food hamburger place with another woman. But that was unconfirmed. And the thing about this a little bit that I'm a little bit worried about is that the Gary police department was like, Okay, it's dried up, and then some of these unconfirmed tips come in. And I just wonder how far did they go with it? You know, did they get a good description of the woman? Was there video? It doesn't appear to be. Okay. So, but in the middle of August 2015, Gary police named a person of interest who was a local male sex offender. Now, what I don't understand is, you have somebody with her mentality and a two year old. Why would you look at sex offenders at the very beginning? Like, to me that just seems is that maybe that's just not obvious to everybody? That mentality, right? Somebody that would be really, really easy to take advantage of. She'd be really she can't talk. She doesn't communicate? Well, she does. She is an adult, you know, but once you figure it out, she's got a disability, you know, so anyway, but the problem with this is they named a person of interest. Again, it was a sex offender, but evidently it took them a couple of weeks to catch up to him to interview him because they could not find him. But now he's no longer a suspect. That's a little troubling for me as well. Because if you know he's a sex offender Then he's registered. And you're supposed to know where these little fuckers are all the time, right? Like, and it took him two weeks to catch up with him. So you see the lack. You see the motivation at the beginning of it. And that's it's such human nature to right your motivations, you're going, you're going, you're going. And then when things stop, there's this like something that you have to find inside you to keep going right? And you can make an excuse. I can say, Look, I just got another murderer. I just got two other murders. I just got a rape. I just got, you know what I mean? Like there's always going to going to be that, but they say he's no longer a suspect. I hope it leads that they violated him, because he's obviously not supposed to be or he wasn't where he's supposed to be because it took them two weeks for him to catch up to him. So all right. Now we're into September 2 2015. A regional silver silver alert was issued. But this was six weeks later. Isn't that weird? A silver now, you know. So that's what I was just about to ask. Amber, you got the Amber Alert. Right? We all know that your child has been taken away. Silver Alert. Is a lot of times with elderly people that walk away from Oh, you're off for right I wander off all right. They why the heck, they waited six weeks to put us put a Silver Alert out. And they only put it regional, which is okay. I guess because from the unconfirmed sightings, she was in that region, right? I guess. But they waited six weeks. So that's that's troubling to so when you go, you know, and I hate to dissect and say that law enforcement isn't doing but I just can't imagine going on a scene. And you're learning that she's got this disability. And if that doesn't motivate you, are you kidding me? She's with a two year old. So a five year old mentality with a two year old mentality. You know what I mean? Like every I feel like every alert should be out. And it wasn't. That happened in September, October. And plus, I mean, she's easy to from the way you described spot. It's very easy to spot. Absolutely. It's not just oh, a blonde 18 year old. Yeah, absolutely. So now we're into October of 2016. And the Northwest Indiana Major Crime Task Force announced that they're going to take another look at the case, which is great. And I think that happened because family is pushing it. They're doing press conferences, they're getting news, they're doing interviews, they're doing also sorts of things. What's a little interesting, though, is that they kept inviting the Gary police department to come to these new news conferences. And it appears like they said that they were would come and then they backed out at the end. I don't know what that's about. But this task force, which are great things, they came and they took another look at the case. They dedicated a week. And when I heard that, I'm like, Are you kidding me a whole week. Like I just, I just like, okay, they go through the file, they re interview people, they did use the canine but nothing came from it. So whole week. That's what they did. And I just really feel like when I was doing research and kind of looking at this, it was more of like, okay, we need to get the family off of our back. They're putting some pressure on us. Let's get the taskforce to look at it for a week plus, look, look at it. I know the way you'd look at it. It would be 100 people were interviewed that week. Well, I mean, I just think it's just yeah, it just Yeah, okay, so evidently due to popular theories of law enforcement officers investigated local sex offenders in the neighborhood. Okay, so now they're like now the neighborhood and the family are really are starting to do the investigation and that's one thing that is good and bad okay with with the family started investigations. It's, it's good because you have people that know the victims and can give you a lot of good information. And they're they're keeping the ball rolling and keep it in in the media and giving you information. And it's bad, because they feel like they have to, right. That's the police's job. That's the detectives jobs, but some some pressure again, they started investigating local sex offenders in the neighborhood, and they came up with a person of interest. He's a 34 year old local man. But nothing other than that has come up. That's where it stops the 34 year old local man. That was it. So here we are with this case, the family is still trying to keep it alive. But I have to ask, Wait, was he one of the sex offenders? The 34 year old? No, this was a different one. What they did was they got pressure from the family in the neighborhood and they started to look or the sex offenders that live close to diamond in gain. And they came up with somebody, but I just feel like the research and everything that I read, they just did that. They just did it to like, a piece of paper, right? Okay. I'm gonna have to ask, you know why the heck they waited over We're here to look to look at local sex offenders. That's a little crazy to me, to me. And maybe I'll ask you and listeners, you can ask yourself, but to me this screams sex offender to me. This just screams sex offender. Well, like you said because she was vulnerable. Absolutely. And he will Easy, easy prey. So July 24 2019, at the fourth year anniversary of the National Center for Missing Children shared an age progression image of what she would look like now and what he would look like he would be six. Okay, so if you're interested, you can look at that. Six years later, the family slams police and that they were not helpful at all. So now they're starting to do more interviews talking about how horrible diamonds grandmother is quoted as saying it's like they vanished from the face of the earth. And I think I feel like that. I think that that is a double edged comment. I think they feel like diamond and King vanished from the face of the earth. And I feel like they feel it that way. Get with the Gary police department, they just vanished. They were on it. And then they vanished and went away. She says that the sergeant that was leaving the case. Doesn't doesn't return calls, or won't answer. And what's so it was so interesting about that is I remember, in my first I don't know, probably a couple months in homicide, the big and I think it was I think it was another detective, not even a supervisor, he said the most important thing that you need to remember to do is always answer always answer the the family's calls always, even if you have to tell them that you have no leads, because I think what happens is you don't want to answer because you know, they're calling to say you got anything new in the case. And it's worse when you don't answer or you don't keep in contact, right. Like and so that took that to heart, like I kept it. I mean, and you have to you have to kind of, you know, bite your ego a little bit and go, You know what, I don't have anything, I'm sorry, I'm still working. And that, to me, is better than just not answering it be honest with families, you have to be honest with families, you know, and I was I mean, I, I sat in so many living rooms, and I said this before, you're gonna know, before I do, you know, you got to we have to keep the communication. So I would give them my personal number so that we can keep the communication but I just think that's disheartening for me to to read this and see the interviews where they're like, the detective doesn't even call me back, that is such a slap in the face, like I don't even care enough about, you know, your granddaughter, or your family to call you back, you know, sorry that you've gone through all this shit. And you don't have any idea where these kids are. And I'm not going to call you back. And I'm going to say that every lead has been dried up. I mean, it's just it's just horrible to me. But that's what we're dealing with. So they've been trying to get the official police report which this is an hour thing. They're trying to get the official police report which police won't give it to him. And I think they think that the Gary police department or why does that happen so often when they can't find answers? Why won't they at least open up the files, you can always go back to the thing that it's an ongoing investigation that that is your key words. I mean, what would be the reason if they don't have any leads? They don't have anything to hide? She should be able to get the police report because it's public record. I don't know why the family is now speculating that they're trying to cover their tracks and all of this stuff. And maybe they are like they might be doing Yeah, I mean, it sounds like that they dropped the ball. And I was as I started to research this case, I was so excited. I'm like, Man Gary's out there. They've got Homeland Security there. They're doing fliers. They're doing all this stuff. And then it just dropped off. So the family on every anniversary holds a news conference. And the Gary police has yet to attend one. She said quoted Grandma says they've been fighting us every step of the way. That is so badass words, you should not have to work. You should not have to fight the people who are supposed to be fighting for you. Right? Okay. And I still really don't understand too. This comes up a lot comes up families, for cold cases, the families want to see the files or detectives like you offer to help. And you might request a file. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me at all that cold cases that are 30 years old, 20 years old, why they wouldn't open them up and say yes, how let's have a fresh pair of eyes. Even if it's not a detective, even if it's not law enforcement. It's just a regular person. Like yeah, let's have I can tell you this. If another detective came up to me and said, Hey, I want to help you. With the case that you weren't able to solve. I would freaking run my case file over to him or her in a second. In a second. We can get a conversation going about Got it, you know, we could just get dialogue going, we could get the brains going just start, you know, because people like this the thing about, and I don't know why detectives we don't work better together, right? Because I'm bringing a set of skills and different experiences. You're bringing a set of skills and different experiences. Oh my god, what could we solve if we work together? Like, right, fresh perspective? I can't imagine how that could hurt any case. Yeah, they hired a private investigator and the private investigator doesn't have any of the file. And that's really, really difficult. I mean, you can get a lot of information from the family. And yeah, you can solve things without the file, but man You're eating so they have yet to be found. Again, this happened in 2015. And July of 2000, I'm sorry, 2019. In July, and Gary, Indiana, if you have any information at all, I would not call the Gary Police Department. Okay, if you have information on this case, I would call the Chicago Sun Times at 312321 2200. Because in my research, the Chicago Sun Times has run the story a lot. They are trying to keep it alive. They are trying to do something so if you have information, so I would go to Chicago Sun Times again. 312321 2200 or you can email them at tips at Sun times.com. Any information is this on Crimestoppers yep, there was Crime Stopper flyers. If you go Yep, absolutely. And if you go and you look her up, I'll tell you, if you go when you look her up, and you see her smile, and you see this little this little guy you'd want to help again, her name is diamond, Bobby Monet Bynum. And her little nephew's name was king. So that's the story for the week. Thanks for Thanks for shedding light on that, Chris. It's not even that old of a case. It's not that old. And, you know, I just think a couple of things right there. If they're dead, I just can't believe that the bodies haven't been found specialists since they went through the abandoned buildings and just step up, stand with the families continue to work on it be honest, if they call you call them back. I just had a girl that listens to the podcast. And she emailed me and she's like, I want to be a homicide detective, and she called me last night. And she said, you know, how do I do it? What do I do? What's the most important thing and I said, You know what, respect people and develop relationships. She's like, well, I'm on the street, you know, right now, because I know I'm too young. I said, get those relationships while you're working the street. Because when you become a homicide detective, so she's a she's already a police officer. She's already a police officer. She's only been on you. How do I get into homicide? Yeah, respect, treat people with respect to develop relationships, because the streets, you know, you're working the streets now. And you're going to be back on the streets as a detective. And you're going to be asking the people that you've been in contact with before for information, and they're going to remember how you treated them. And they'll base their information on that. So great advice. Yeah. So again, guys, thanks for getting a lot of traction. With the podcast. I feel like a lot of people are messaging me and we're trying to keep these cases alive. So stay safe, especially if it's freaking warm out like it is an indie that the crime goes up and all of that stuff. So thanks again everyone and we'll see you next time on murder with mannina. If you have a cold case you'd like Chris to review, submitted through our website at murder with mannina.com and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at murder with mannina and Twitter at murder W mannina. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode of murder with mannina.