July 4, 2025 • 14 mins
The Black Effect Presents... Hunting 4 Answers!
In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: When 15-year-old Joniah Walker vanished from Milwaukee in June 2022, she left behind only a chilling trail of digital footprints and unanswered questions. What began as a routine summer afternoon turned into a years-long mystery involving secrets and disturbing messages. Three years later she still remains missing. Anyone with information about Joniah's whereabouts should contact the Milwaukee Police Department at 414-933-4444 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.
This is the story of Joniah Walker.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're
talking about a case out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It all
started in June twenty twenty two, when a fifteen year
(00:22):
old girl was supposed to go get her work permit
with her father that afternoon, but when her father arrived
to pick her up that day.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
She was nowhere to be found. That was three years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
What police would discover would raise terrifying questions about what
really happened to this vulnerable teenager. This is the story
of Jenia Walker. Jenia Walker was born on May fifteenth,
two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
By June twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Two, she was a fifteen year old girl living on
Milwaukee's North Side. At the time of her disappearance, she
stood five feet three inches tall and weighed one hundred
and thirty pounds. Her mother described her as a perfect daughter.
She was angelic, soft spoken, and very intelligent. But Jania
(01:22):
was also struggling at the time. You see, she had
been diagnosed with depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Her
therapist knew that she was having some difficulties, but even
they couldn't have predicted what was about to happen. June
(01:44):
twenty third, twenty twenty two, it should have.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Been an exciting day for Jenia.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
She was scheduled to go with her father to get
her work permit for her first job at a pizzeria, but.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It appeared as if some thing was troubling Jenia. That day.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
At two thirty pm, a neighbor's ring camera captured her
walking away from her mother's North Side Milwaukee apartment. She
was alone at three twenty seven pm. Phone record show
Jenia called her therapist. Later that evening, she sent a
(02:24):
text message to the same therapist. The message was short
and to the point, she expressed running away from home.
That was the last communication anyone would ever receive from
Jenia Walker. Her mother also stated how she believes Jenia
(02:49):
was definitely groomed and lured away. When Jania's father, Jonathan
arrived that day at four pm to pick up his daughter,
of course we know that she was gone. He tried
calling her phone, it went straight to voicemail. Her mother,
Tanisha Howard, tried the same thing again, nothing but the
(03:14):
voicemail That's when they knew something was terribly wrong. Jania
had never run away before, and despite her mental health challenges,
this behavior was completely out of character for her. On
June twenty eighth, five days after Jania disappeared, her mother
(03:37):
walked into a Milwaukee police station to update authorities with
disturbing information she had discovered. Tanisha had been digging through
her daughter's online activity. The teen was active on sites
like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, YouTube, Gmail, as well as
(03:59):
some other websites for adults. However, it wasn't just the
platforms that were concerning, it was who Jenia was talking to.
When Jania's older sister, Mackenzie Thompson gained access to her
Snapchat account, she discovered what police reports described as disturbing videos.
(04:26):
Every single friend on Jenia's Snapchat account appeared to be
older men, some located nationally, others internationally. The majority of
her messages had been deleted, but the videos dated all
the way back to January twenty twenty and ended in
(04:49):
June twenty twenty two, right when Jenia disappear. Among all
of the online connections, one name kept coming up, Zach.
Police reports described Zach as a white male with red
hair and a beard from Pennsylvania. Jania's mother said her
(05:13):
daughter was very obsessed with this man. In twenty eighteen,
when Jenia was just eleven years old, she had written
a letter to Zach. The letter had been addressed to
a location in Pennsylvania, but it was never mailed. When
(05:34):
Jania disappeared, that letter had also disappeared too. Her mother
believes Jenia might have taken it with her. Police eventually
tracked down Zach at that Pennsylvania address. When interviewed, he
admitted to speaking with Jenia on Snapchat when he was
(05:55):
approximately seventeen years old, but he denied ever meeting her
or knowing where she might be. As investigators dug deeper
into Jenia's final months, they discovered she had also been
preparing for something else. Jania had been watching YouTube videos
(06:18):
about doomsday prepping and living off the grid. She was
researching survival skills like how to survive in disasters. She
had also recently read two books about learning the German language.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
In the months.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Before her disappearance, Jania had also lost a significant amount
of weight. Her mother had taken her to the doctor
and scheduled a follow up appointment with a specialist, but
that appointment never happened because Jenia vanished first. When Jania
(06:57):
left that day, she didn't take any of.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Her own clothing.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Instead, she took all boys clothing and possibly some of
her brother's clothes.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
She may have also taken.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Her Chrome HP laptop, the reason Jenia had stopped living
with her father. Jonathan reveals just how deep her online
relationships had become. One day, he walked into his daughter's
bedroom unannounced and heard her say that she loved a
man who was on her iPad. When he looked at
(07:35):
the screen, he saw an older, white male. Jenia immediately
closed the iPad, and the only way to open it
was with her fingerprint. Jonathan reportedly considered waiting for his
daughter to fall asleep that night so he could access
the device, but instead he called Jenia's mother. When police
(08:01):
became involved, they said they would need to get a
search warrant. Jonathan decided to just let Jenia live with
her mother instead. He didn't want to risk his home
being gransacked by authorities. Her father also found entries in
Jenia's diary. One page read of how she was glad
(08:22):
that her father didn't get into her iPad that night.
During his police interview, Jonathan broke.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Down and began crying.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
The evidence suggests Jenia might have known she was going
to disappear. On the day she went missing, Jenia logged
out of her Facebook mobile app. Her email records appeared
to show she had deactivated her Find MyPhone app on
both her iPad and iPhone. She had also been turning
(08:57):
off her location services on her phone. Jonathan had noticed
that Jenia was making videos at three seventeen am while
at her mother's house. She had been using massive amounts
of Internet data, which her father believed was from apps
she was using to communicate with people online. But perhaps
(09:20):
most telling, Jenia's therapist had told her mother that Jenia
did express the intention to run away now. In the
weeks following Jenia's disappearance, her mother, Tanisha, became the target
of very cruel scammers. One morning, at two forty five am,
(09:43):
Tanisha woke up to a text message from an unidentified
person calling from a Google number. The person claimed to
know where her daughter was and said Jenia had been
sexually assaulted but was still alive. The person demanded five
thousand dollars first in bitcoin, then through cash app in
(10:08):
exchange for Jenia's location. When Tanisha couldn't comply with the demands,
the person said, stop playing with me and threatened to
stop talking. Tanisha also received calls from inmates at prisons
in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. These calls appeared
(10:31):
to be unrelated to Jenia's case, but further added to
the family's torment. Police advised Tanisha that these were likely scamps,
predators trying to take advantage of a family's desperation. Milwaukee
(10:51):
police pursued several leads in Jenia's case. Her photos were
compared against a confidential Debta base to see if she
appeared on any human trafficking sites.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
The search yielded no results.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Investigators followed up on the mysterious addresses and phone numbers
found in Jania's iCloud notes, but these leads didn't produce
evidence either. Police have also investigated various phone numbers that
appeared to be connected to Jenia, including one associated with
(11:31):
the name Zach that was sent to her through Snapchat.
Despite all of these efforts, Jania Walker remains missing today,
more than three years after Jania Walker vanished. Her case
remains open and active. In twenty twenty four, the National
(11:57):
Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an age progression
image showing what Jania might look like today as a
seventeen year old. The case has all the signs of
online predation. Did someone convince Jenia to run away with
(12:18):
promises of love or.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
A better life? Was she trafficked? Is she still alive.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Somewhere or did her trust in the wrong person lead
to something darker. Jania's disappearance has left a family shattered
and a community still searching for answers. Her mother describes
Jania as someone who was socially awkward and soft spoken,
(12:50):
characteristics that may have made her an easy target for
online predators. Every day that passes without answers is another
day of agony for her loved ones. My thoughts and
prayers are with the Walker family, loved ones, and everyone
(13:10):
who continues the search for Jenia. Anyone with information about
Jenia's whereabouts should contact the Milwaukee Police Department or the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You can find their.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Contact information in the description box below. As we close
out this episode, don't forget to click the follow button
to stay updated on Jenia's case and others like it.
Be sure to subscribe to Hunting for Answers on YouTube
and follow us on Instagram and TikTok from our te
Prime updates. And if you enjoyed this story, leave us
(13:50):
a five star rating. Thank you so much for joining
us on another episode.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Until next time.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
The sac
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Sep Secla sect
Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're
talking about a case out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It all
started in June twenty twenty two, when a fifteen year
(00:22):
old girl was supposed to go get her work permit
with her father that afternoon, but when her father arrived
to pick her up that day.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
She was nowhere to be found. That was three years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
What police would discover would raise terrifying questions about what
really happened to this vulnerable teenager. This is the story
of Jenia Walker. Jenia Walker was born on May fifteenth,
two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
By June twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Two, she was a fifteen year old girl living on
Milwaukee's North Side. At the time of her disappearance, she
stood five feet three inches tall and weighed one hundred
and thirty pounds. Her mother described her as a perfect daughter.
She was angelic, soft spoken, and very intelligent. But Jania
(01:22):
was also struggling at the time. You see, she had
been diagnosed with depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Her
therapist knew that she was having some difficulties, but even
they couldn't have predicted what was about to happen. June
(01:44):
twenty third, twenty twenty two, it should have.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Been an exciting day for Jenia.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
She was scheduled to go with her father to get
her work permit for her first job at a pizzeria, but.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It appeared as if some thing was troubling Jenia. That day.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
At two thirty pm, a neighbor's ring camera captured her
walking away from her mother's North Side Milwaukee apartment. She
was alone at three twenty seven pm. Phone record show
Jenia called her therapist. Later that evening, she sent a
(02:24):
text message to the same therapist. The message was short
and to the point, she expressed running away from home.
That was the last communication anyone would ever receive from
Jenia Walker. Her mother also stated how she believes Jenia
(02:49):
was definitely groomed and lured away. When Jania's father, Jonathan
arrived that day at four pm to pick up his daughter,
of course we know that she was gone. He tried
calling her phone, it went straight to voicemail. Her mother,
Tanisha Howard, tried the same thing again, nothing but the
(03:14):
voicemail That's when they knew something was terribly wrong. Jania
had never run away before, and despite her mental health challenges,
this behavior was completely out of character for her. On
June twenty eighth, five days after Jania disappeared, her mother
(03:37):
walked into a Milwaukee police station to update authorities with
disturbing information she had discovered. Tanisha had been digging through
her daughter's online activity. The teen was active on sites
like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, YouTube, Gmail, as well as
(03:59):
some other websites for adults. However, it wasn't just the
platforms that were concerning, it was who Jenia was talking to.
When Jania's older sister, Mackenzie Thompson gained access to her
Snapchat account, she discovered what police reports described as disturbing videos.
(04:26):
Every single friend on Jenia's Snapchat account appeared to be
older men, some located nationally, others internationally. The majority of
her messages had been deleted, but the videos dated all
the way back to January twenty twenty and ended in
(04:49):
June twenty twenty two, right when Jenia disappear. Among all
of the online connections, one name kept coming up, Zach.
Police reports described Zach as a white male with red
hair and a beard from Pennsylvania. Jania's mother said her
(05:13):
daughter was very obsessed with this man. In twenty eighteen,
when Jenia was just eleven years old, she had written
a letter to Zach. The letter had been addressed to
a location in Pennsylvania, but it was never mailed. When
(05:34):
Jania disappeared, that letter had also disappeared too. Her mother
believes Jenia might have taken it with her. Police eventually
tracked down Zach at that Pennsylvania address. When interviewed, he
admitted to speaking with Jenia on Snapchat when he was
(05:55):
approximately seventeen years old, but he denied ever meeting her
or knowing where she might be. As investigators dug deeper
into Jenia's final months, they discovered she had also been
preparing for something else. Jania had been watching YouTube videos
(06:18):
about doomsday prepping and living off the grid. She was
researching survival skills like how to survive in disasters. She
had also recently read two books about learning the German language.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
In the months.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Before her disappearance, Jania had also lost a significant amount
of weight. Her mother had taken her to the doctor
and scheduled a follow up appointment with a specialist, but
that appointment never happened because Jenia vanished first. When Jania
(06:57):
left that day, she didn't take any of.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Her own clothing.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Instead, she took all boys clothing and possibly some of
her brother's clothes.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
She may have also taken.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Her Chrome HP laptop, the reason Jenia had stopped living
with her father. Jonathan reveals just how deep her online
relationships had become. One day, he walked into his daughter's
bedroom unannounced and heard her say that she loved a
man who was on her iPad. When he looked at
(07:35):
the screen, he saw an older, white male. Jenia immediately
closed the iPad, and the only way to open it
was with her fingerprint. Jonathan reportedly considered waiting for his
daughter to fall asleep that night so he could access
the device, but instead he called Jenia's mother. When police
(08:01):
became involved, they said they would need to get a
search warrant. Jonathan decided to just let Jenia live with
her mother instead. He didn't want to risk his home
being gransacked by authorities. Her father also found entries in
Jenia's diary. One page read of how she was glad
(08:22):
that her father didn't get into her iPad that night.
During his police interview, Jonathan broke.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Down and began crying.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
The evidence suggests Jenia might have known she was going
to disappear. On the day she went missing, Jenia logged
out of her Facebook mobile app. Her email records appeared
to show she had deactivated her Find MyPhone app on
both her iPad and iPhone. She had also been turning
(08:57):
off her location services on her phone. Jonathan had noticed
that Jenia was making videos at three seventeen am while
at her mother's house. She had been using massive amounts
of Internet data, which her father believed was from apps
she was using to communicate with people online. But perhaps
(09:20):
most telling, Jenia's therapist had told her mother that Jenia
did express the intention to run away now. In the
weeks following Jenia's disappearance, her mother, Tanisha, became the target
of very cruel scammers. One morning, at two forty five am,
(09:43):
Tanisha woke up to a text message from an unidentified
person calling from a Google number. The person claimed to
know where her daughter was and said Jenia had been
sexually assaulted but was still alive. The person demanded five
thousand dollars first in bitcoin, then through cash app in
(10:08):
exchange for Jenia's location. When Tanisha couldn't comply with the demands,
the person said, stop playing with me and threatened to
stop talking. Tanisha also received calls from inmates at prisons
in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. These calls appeared
(10:31):
to be unrelated to Jenia's case, but further added to
the family's torment. Police advised Tanisha that these were likely scamps,
predators trying to take advantage of a family's desperation. Milwaukee
(10:51):
police pursued several leads in Jenia's case. Her photos were
compared against a confidential Debta base to see if she
appeared on any human trafficking sites.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
The search yielded no results.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Investigators followed up on the mysterious addresses and phone numbers
found in Jania's iCloud notes, but these leads didn't produce
evidence either. Police have also investigated various phone numbers that
appeared to be connected to Jenia, including one associated with
(11:31):
the name Zach that was sent to her through Snapchat.
Despite all of these efforts, Jania Walker remains missing today,
more than three years after Jania Walker vanished. Her case
remains open and active. In twenty twenty four, the National
(11:57):
Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an age progression
image showing what Jania might look like today as a
seventeen year old. The case has all the signs of
online predation. Did someone convince Jenia to run away with
(12:18):
promises of love or.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
A better life? Was she trafficked? Is she still alive.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Somewhere or did her trust in the wrong person lead
to something darker. Jania's disappearance has left a family shattered
and a community still searching for answers. Her mother describes
Jania as someone who was socially awkward and soft spoken,
(12:50):
characteristics that may have made her an easy target for
online predators. Every day that passes without answers is another
day of agony for her loved ones. My thoughts and
prayers are with the Walker family, loved ones, and everyone
(13:10):
who continues the search for Jenia. Anyone with information about
Jenia's whereabouts should contact the Milwaukee Police Department or the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You can find their.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Contact information in the description box below. As we close
out this episode, don't forget to click the follow button
to stay updated on Jenia's case and others like it.
Be sure to subscribe to Hunting for Answers on YouTube
and follow us on Instagram and TikTok from our te
Prime updates. And if you enjoyed this story, leave us
(13:50):
a five star rating. Thank you so much for joining
us on another episode.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Until next time.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
The sac
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Sep Secla sect
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