Ohio newlywed had husband killed to get insurance money

In this undated photo, Uloma Curry-Walker appears at a hearing
last month in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland.
Curry-Walker, 45, a newlywed accused of soliciting her firefighter
husband’s killing to collect $100,000 in insurance money has been
convicted Friday, July 7, 2017, of aggravated murder in a scheme
that was flawed from the start: His ex-wife was still the
beneficiary of his policy. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 8.

A newlywed accused of soliciting her firefighter husband’s
killing to collect $100,000 in insurance money has been convicted
of aggravated murder in a scheme that was flawed from the start:
His ex-wife was still the beneficiary of his policy.

Uloma Curry-Walker, 45, could receive life in prison without
parole for the November 2013 slaying of William Walker, whom she
had married just four months earlier. Jurors deliberated for less
than two hours before coming back with the verdict Friday,
Cleveland.com reported (http://bit.ly/2uCGoXg).

Prosecutors said Curry-Walker was nearing financial ruin after
running up tens of thousands of dollars in debt when she asked her
then-17-year-old daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend to find
someone to kill her husband so she could collect the insurance
money.

But a police investigation found that Curry-Walker’s scheme had
a glaring problem from the outset. Her husband had not yet changed
the beneficiary on the insurance policy from his ex-wife’s name to
Curry-Walker’s when he was killed, and it was the ex-wife who
received the money.

Testimony showed that Curry-Walker gave the boyfriend, Chad
Padgett, a $1,000 down payment to carry out the slaying. Padgett
contacted his cousin Chris Hein, who initially failed in his
attempt to kill Walker. Hein then turned to Ryan Dorty to carry out
the killing.

Prosecutors said Dorty ambushed Walker and shot him four times
as he returned home from getting fast food Curry-Walker had
requested. She and her husband were packing the night he was killed
for a move to a house they had purchased outside Cleveland.

The daughter, Padgett, Hein and Dorty testified against
Curry-Walker at trial as part of plea deal for their roles in the
murder conspiracy. Hein agreed to a sentence of 18 years to life;
Padgett 28 years to life; and Dorty 23 years to life. Prosecutors
agreed not to seek adult charges against Curry-Walker’s daughter.
She will instead spend a month in a juvenile detention center.

The daughter testified at trial that her mother told her: “No
one would believe I would hire a bunch of kids to kill someone when
I know people that could.”

Curry-Walker wrote a confession the day she surrendered to
police that said she killed her husband because he was abusive. Her
attorneys did not call any witnesses to testify that Walker was
violent toward his wife.

Cleveland.com reported that one of Curry-Walker’s attorneys
pointed to discrepancies in witness testimony during closing
arguments and suggested the daughter had devised the murder
scheme.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 8.

Neither of her attorneys returned telephone messages seeking
comment on Friday.

Friday would have been the couple’s fourth wedding
anniversary.

denverpost

In this undated photo, Uloma Curry-Walker appears at a hearing
last month in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland.
Curry-Walker, 45, a newlywed accused of soliciting her firefighter
husband’s killing to collect $100,000 in insurance money has been
convicted Friday, July 7, 2017, of aggravated murder in a scheme
that was flawed from the start: His ex-wife was still the
beneficiary of his policy. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug.
8.

A newlywed accused of soliciting her firefighter husband’s
killing to collect $100,000 in insurance money has been convicted
of aggravated murder in a scheme that was flawed from the start:
His ex-wife was still the beneficiary of his policy.

Uloma Curry-Walker, 45, could receive life in prison without
parole for the November 2013 slaying of William Walker, whom she
had married just four months earlier. Jurors deliberated for less
than two hours before coming back with the verdict Friday,
Cleveland.com reported (http://bit.ly/2uCGoXg).

Prosecutors said Curry-Walker was nearing financial ruin after
running up tens of thousands of dollars in debt when she asked her
then-17-year-old daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend to find
someone to kill her husband so she could collect the insurance
money.

But a police investigation found that Curry-Walker’s scheme had
a glaring problem from the outset. Her husband had not yet changed
the beneficiary on the insurance policy from his ex-wife’s name to
Curry-Walker’s when he was killed, and it was the ex-wife who
received the money.

Testimony showed that Curry-Walker gave the boyfriend, Chad
Padgett, a $1,000 down payment to carry out the slaying. Padgett
contacted his cousin Chris Hein, who initially failed in his
attempt to kill Walker. Hein then turned to Ryan Dorty to carry out
the killing.

Prosecutors said Dorty ambushed Walker and shot him four times
as he returned home from getting fast food Curry-Walker had
requested. She and her husband were packing the night he was killed
for a move to a house they had purchased outside Cleveland.

The daughter, Padgett, Hein and Dorty testified against
Curry-Walker at trial as part of plea deal for their roles in the
murder conspiracy. Hein agreed to a sentence of 18 years to life;
Padgett 28 years to life; and Dorty 23 years to life. Prosecutors
agreed not to seek adult charges against Curry-Walker’s daughter.
She will instead spend a month in a juvenile detention center.

The daughter testified at trial that her mother told her: “No
one would believe I would hire a bunch of kids to kill someone when
I know people that could.”

Curry-Walker wrote a confession the day she surrendered to
police that said she killed her husband because he was abusive. Her
attorneys did not call any witnesses to testify that Walker was
violent toward his wife.

Cleveland.com reported that one of Curry-Walker’s attorneys
pointed to discrepancies in witness testimony during closing
arguments and suggested the daughter had devised the murder
scheme.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 8.

Neither of her attorneys returned telephone messages seeking
comment on Friday.

Friday would have been the couple’s fourth wedding
anniversary.

denverpost