RFP Staff
♦ Angel Dejesus “Cheezy” Arias, 23, a Latin Kings gang member formerly of Salisbury, was transported back Friday to Salisbury to face justice for the alleged brutal blunt force murder of transgender woman Elisha Maurice Walker, 20, from Salisbury. The pair were alleged to be hanging out daily at Arias’s residence at 121 Hemlock Drive in Salisbury up until Elisha Maurice Walker’s disappearance. Many believe Walker met her end in Salisbury, although law enforcement has not yet confirmed this.
Charged with first degree murder (felony) and larceny of a motor vehicle (felony), Arias is now in the Rowan County Detention Center after being transferred from the Johnston County Jail.
Under a secured $50,000 bond for the larceny of motor vehicle (felony), Arias has no bail set for 1st degree murder charge.
From the August 14th, 2015 Rowan Free Press article on Arias’s arrest in Johnston County, N.C.:
“Elisha Maurice Walker, 20, a transgender woman from Salisbury missing since November 2014, was found dead Thursday in a shallow grave in a wooded area behind a house on Homestead Lane in Johnston County. Walker’s body was identified by her physical description and personal property.
Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies arrested and charged Angel Arias, 23, an alleged Latin Kings gang member who lived up until February of 2015 at 121 Hemlock Drive in Salisbury, with Walker’s homicide.
Walker was reported missing by her family after family and friends lost contact with her in late October. Walker, prior to her disappearance, kept regular contact with her family and friends phone calls, texts, and Facebook, but all that stopped in late October and her family became alarmed.
Walker’s 2000 silver Pontiac Sunfire was found burned near the town of Clinton in Sampson County, N.C. The fire appeared intentionally set. Not long after Angel Arias, who formerly lived at 121 Hemlock Drive in Salisbury, became a “person of interest” in Walker’s disappearance. In early August the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office was alerted that Arias was being held on drug charges in the Johnston County Jail. Right about that time a house on Homestead Lane near Smithfield in Johnston County was identified as a possible location for Walker’s body.
Thursday investigators found Walker’s body in a shallow grave in woods behind the house on Homestead Lane. Soon after Walker was IDed and brought to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Raleigh for an autopsy and final positive ID. Its said that she likely died of a blunt force trauma. No motive is known for the killing.
Arias, awaiting transport back to Rowan County, was charged with murder (felony) and larceny of a motor vehicle (felony). He is currently being held without bond in the Johnston County Jail.
Angel D. Arias Previous Record:
The Late Elisha Maurice Walker:
Angel Arias (below):
Previous articles about Elisha Maurice Walker:
