Tracy Walker (serial killer)

Tracy Walker (born 1964) is an American serial killer who murdered three homeless people in Rancho Dominguez, California from 2020 to 2021.

Born in 1964 in Mississippi, he grew up in an impoverished household with his mother, who frequently cohabited with various men and gave birth to seven other boys from different fathers.

Unable to afford tuition, Walker dropped out of school in the late 1970s and began working in manual labor, often changing jobs.

In 1985, he left his home state and moved to Los Angeles, where he found a job, got married, and settled in his own house.

At that time, he was well regarded by friends and neighbors, had no history of drug or alcohol abuse, and had never been convicted of any crimes.

In the late 1990s, he was declared mentally unstable and transferred to a mental institution, where he was treated for several months.

He had no relations with his relatives or ex-wife, who divorced him in the mid-1990s after his conviction and moved out-of-state.

As he spent a lot of time among fellow vagrants, Walker often got into conflicts, as a result of which he carried a knife with him at all times.

Having previously been incarcerated for a 1991 voluntary manslaughter conviction, Walker later pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Very little is known about Walker's early life.

By 1991, Walker was working as a security guard at a bus depot on 77th Street when, in the early morning hours of December 7, he got into a dispute with a fellow guard, which resulted in him shooting and killing the 34-year-old man with a revolver, a crime witnessed by multiple bystanders.

Immediately after committing the killing, Walker attempted to flee in a school bus, managing to drive several blocks away from the crime scene, but was soon stopped by police officers on San Pedro Street.

Refusing to comply with their demands, Walker attempted to open fire on them, but officers drew their weapons and fired on him, striking him seven times.

He was diagnosed with a variety of conditions over the years, including schizophrenia and PTSD, brought on by the 1991 shootout.

Walker was rushed to the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center for treatment, where, despite the severity of his injuries, he eventually recovered and was put on trial in 1993.

During the investigation into the crime, his defense attorney was able to have the charges reclassified from first-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter.

Walker eventually pleaded guilty to this charge and was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment.

While serving his sentence, Walker's mental state deteriorated dramatically.

In 2001, Walker's condition improved; as a result, he was declared to no longer be a danger to the community and released.

Soon after his release, he returned to Los Angeles, where he lived as a vagrant for the next two decades.

During this period, he changed residences frequently, slept in homeless shelters or on the streets, and was forced to work in manual labor due to his lack of education.

At different times, he is known to have worked as a cleaner, security guard, or laborer.

The youngest of four siblings, Loeza was raised in South Los Angeles after her father was deported to Mexico in 2003.

As a high school student, she began abusing drugs, ran away from home, and began to live as a vagrant.

During this period, she lived with a group of fellow homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles, gave birth to a son from an unknown father, and was arrested several times, spending time in the county jail.

During the mid-2010s, Walker lived in the notorious Skid Row neighborhood, known for housing some of the biggest homeless populations in the country.

In the late 2010s, Walker moved to an isolated section of land near the Compton Creek, where he soon gained a reputation as a loner who preferred not to be disturbed by others.

Soon after the move, he began committing murders.

In 2011, he was arrested on a charge of unlawful possession of edged weaponry, to which he pleaded guilty and was placed on three years probation.

She had no contact with family members between 2016 and 2019.

While investigating the Loeza murder, law enforcement found two receipts and a Minute Maid carton near her body.

They determined that the receipts originated from a Numero Uno Market store in Compton, while the juice was from a Vons in Long Beach.

While reviewing surveillance footage from the Vons store, they noticed Tracy Walker buying the juice with an EBT card, after which they interviewed homeless people living near where the body of the murdered woman was found.

They identified the man as a vagrant they knew by the nickname "Solo," whom detectives quickly established to be Walker, who was detained and questioned.

He refused to admit guilt and was eventually released, as investigators had no evidence to charge him with anything at the time, despite the fact that a search of his tent uncovered several knives.

On January 15, 2021, Walker committed his second murder.

The victim was 26-year-old Kenneth Edward Jones, who, like Walker, was homeless and whom Walker beat to death on South Santa Fe Avenue, inflicting severe injuries to his head.

Jones was born into a dysfunctional family in San Diego and was placed in foster care at age 8 due to physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother and stepfather.

Two years later, he was adopted by his aunt, Keisha Grier, who lived in Compton.

Walker's first known victim was 26-year-old Patricia Loeza, who was stabbed to death eight times in June 2020, with her body being found on June 7 on South Susanna Road.