What we're learning from BCI investigation into Akron police shooting of Jayland Walker

Did Jayland Walker intend to die the night police shot and killed him last year?

It’s one of the biggest questions the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) tried to answer during its 10-month investigation into his death.

The Akron Beacon Journal is still combing through thousands of pages of BCI reports, videos and photos to provide a deeper understanding of what happened. But a summary of the case revealed for the first time how state investigators and police from Akron and Euclid zeroed in on a theory early on: suicide by cop.

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Walker, 25, died June 27, 2022, about a month after his fiancee was killed in a car crash near Cincinnati.

In the weeks between her death and his, Walker searched Google for the “quickest ways to die” and “drinking bleach,” according to a prosecutor summary of the case released Monday by BCI.

But he also searched for one-way tickets to far-flung places on other continents.

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During this time, Walker — who had no criminal record — confided in his best friend Dupri Whatley, a Summit County sheriff’s deputy who works at the jail, the report said.

Whatley said he tried to console Walker and invited Walker to an Akron gun range one day to blow off steam. At the range, Whatley taught Walker how to load and fire a gun — things Walker didn’t know how to do, the report stated.

A couple of weeks later, unbeknownst to Whatley, Walker bought a handgun of his own, the report said.

What happened the night Jayland Walker was killed?

Walker carried the gun with him on June 26, when he left home at 10:04 p.m., the report said.

Walker appeared to have no destination. Investigators determined he was not working his regular job, delivering for Uber Eats or DoorDash that night, the report said. Instead, he was just driving around Greater Akron for about 2½ hours.

At 11:14 p.m., for example, Walker returned to the same location where New Franklin police tried to stop him the night before, the first time he fled from police — and escaped, the report said.

At 11:59 p.m., cellular data pinged Walker downtown.

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He apparently left the area — the summary report doesn’t say where he went — but returned downtown at 12:16 a.m.

Six minutes later, two Akron police officers in Car 24 saw Walker’s 2005 Buick Century on North Hill near North Howard Street and Tallmadge Avenue.

The license plate light was burned out. As Walker headed south on state Route 8, officers ran his plate number through a police database. The only thing that popped up was a note saying the vehicle had evaded police the previous night in New Franklin, the report said.

The New Franklin note said police thought that driver was white.

Akron police initially decided against stopping Walker.

“There were no warrants. There was no criminal record," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Monday during a press conference, adding that officers told investigators it would be too dangerous to pursue the vehicle for a burnt-out light.

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Walker drove away, but data show he returned to North Howard and Tallmadge at 12:30 a.m., the report said.

When the same officers saw the car again, Yost said it "piqued their curiosity" because they had watched the car enter the highway less than 15 minutes before. Now, it was back.

This time, Car 24 tried to stop Walker and, for the second time in two days, Walker’s car fled.

As Walker drove south onto Route 8 for at least the second time that night, investigators said he fired his new gun. Ballistics matched the gun to a casing found on the entrance ramp, the report said.

More Akron police joined the crosstown chase until Walker jumped from his car in Firestone Park.

Walker left his gun behind, unloaded with a clip on the seat. With it, he left a ring his family said he always wore. The report said it was like a wedding ring, representing the relationship between Walker and his fiancée, whom he had been with since high school.

What Jayland Walker's mom, sister told BCI investigators

Investigators, even before they knew about Walker’s Google search history or circuitous drive the night he died, began questioning whether Walker’s death could have been suicide by cop.

Even if Walker intended suicide by cop, it wouldn’t necessarily exonerate the officers who fired the shots. It might, however, help explain why a man who had no previous run-ins with law enforcement acted so out of character by running from police and firing a gun.

On June 29, BCI Special Agent Cory Momchilov asked Walker’s mom and sister —  Pamela and Jada Walker — if Walker made any comments about being upset or suicidal.

Both said no.

“Nothing like that,” Jada Walker said, according to the report. “And, you know, I can only imagine what goes through someone's mind like that when they lose, you know, say their significant other or even in this case you figure a soul mate, but throughout this time, you know, he never brought anything like that to our attention.”

Text messages between Walker and his mother in the 48 hours before his death showed how Walker was having trouble coping after his fiancée's death. He couldn't even watch television, Walker told his mother.

"It reminds me of her," Walker texted his mom.

Pam Walker responded: "I pray for you day and night that God helps you through this and try to give you some peace. I love you so much Jayland."

The last text message Walker sent his mom arrived at 1 p.m. June 26. "I know you good mom it really all Good love you too," he texted, according to the report.

They talked again at 10:30 p.m. for three minutes, just two hours before he died.

It's unclear what they spoke about.

At 3:36 p.m., about 15 hours after Walker had died, his mother texted him one last time: "Jayland answer your phone!!!!"

'Are you saying this could have been suicide-by-cop?'

Suicide by cop surfaced in the investigation again three days later when Euclid police reached out to Akron police with a tip.

Euclid Capt. Mike Janson said Walker’s best friend, Whatley, interviewed for a job there June 29. During the interview, Whatley told Janson and others that Walker had asked him how to get police to shoot him.

Akron Detective Sgt. Tony Starvaggi passed that information on to BCI investigator Cory Momchilov, along with Janson’s cellphone number, the report said.

During an interview July 2 with Momchilov, Janson said Whatley opened up after Euclid police asked him why he hadn’t applied to work for Akron police.

Whatley “went into a discussion about his best friend, like I said he got, a little emotional which is understandable and ahh, he’s like, ‘But I’m telling you this was a suicide by cop and I’m totally on Akron P.D.’s side even though it’s my best friend,’ ” Janson said, according to the report.

Janson and five other commanding Euclid officers were in the room during Whatley’s job interview, which was not recorded.

Five of the officers said Whatley described Walker as depressed. The sixth officer, who was admittedly multitasking, could not recall the discussion touching on suicide.

Euclid Chief Scott Meyer told investigators he was the first in the room to broach that theory in the Walker case after reading Whatley’s body language.

“Are you saying this could have been suicide-by-cop?” Meyer asked Whatley, according to the BCI investigative report.

Meyer could not “recall exactly what Whatley’s response was verbatim,” according to the state investigation, but the chief took Whatley’s answer to be an “affirmative” or a “yeah, I think so” or a “maybe,” he told investigators.

Akron Capt. Dave Laughlin, along with Deputy Chief Jesse Leeser, was present Oct. 20 when Whatley interviewed for a job with the Akron Police Department, according to the BCI report. During that interview, Laughlin said Whatley again spoke about how his friend, Walker, had asked him previously “how would somebody get the police to shoot them.”

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Momchilov interviewed Whatley in July about Walker and what he may have said during his interview with Euclid police.

Whatley told Momchilov that he and Walker grew up together and wrestled together in high school. Walker wasn’t himself since losing his fiancée, Whatley told Momchilov.

Whatley denied ever telling Euclid police that Walker asked him about how to get “police to shoot him.”

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“No, he never, I never said that,” Whatley said. “I said that Jayland knew, knew better. But I never said them words. I just said I don't, I don't know what was going on,” Whatley said, the report said.

When Euclid police asked him if he thought Walker died by suicide by cop, Whatley told Momchilov he told them he didn’t know.

“All I know is he was going through some things, and he said a few words,” Whatley said, according to the report. “And I told him, like, hey, you gotta resources at work, and I can get you in touch with, if you want to just come to my house to just sit, we can sit. We don't even gotta talk to each other. We could just sit. I just told him that he wasn't acting himself, his normal self.”

Momchilov then asked Whatley if he thought Walker was suicidal.

“I can't say that he was contemplating,” Whatley said. “I mean, he never asked me about it. He never asked me about it or anything. It's just that's what most people are thinking that it was, that it was suicide by cop. That's what most people are thinking.”

Whatley said he hadn’t spoken with Walker since June 13. He had called Walker, but Walker didn’t call him back, so Whatley said he believed Walker needed some space.

Whatley said he was “shocked” to find out Walker fired a gun from his car during the fatal police chase.

“ … (T)hat's shocking, shocking to me if he shot a gun from out of the car,” Whatley said, “cause that's not Jayland.”

Eventually Momchilov asked Whatley, “I guess what I'm getting at here is, I mean, is it possible that his, his girlfriend's death, you know, drove him over the edge?”

Whatley said he couldn't understand everything his friend was going through.

"I don't know for sure," he said. ''... He'd been through a lot."

Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett can be reached at agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com. Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston can be reached at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: What did BCI discover in Akron police shooting death of Jayland Walker?