Teen girl and boyfriend charged with injury to child, not murder, in 8-year-old’s torture death, HCSO says

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Overnight, 17-year-old Kara Walker stood in front of a Harris County judge for what investigators say was her role in the death of her 8-year-old brother.

But even though investigators say that the boy died at the hands of Walker and her boyfriend, neither is charged with murder, only injury to a child. Prosecutors say they aren’t ready to release the reasons why the most serious charges haven’t been filed.

Walker was arrested on Wednesday, months after the boy died at the Baytown Methodist Hospital, according to a spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriff’s office.

According to the spokesperson, Walker and her boyfriend brought him to the hospital on February 10 because he was unresponsive. Five days later, he died.

Sheriff Ed Gonazalez said then that Walker’s boyfriend claimed the boy was injured in a fall. However, investigators say hospital staff told them the story didn’t add up.

An autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

According to court documents, the boy was “abused and tortured over several days. The injuries that resulted from abuse caused the complainant’s death.”

Walker’s boyfriend was arrested in March at this home in the Highlands area, just months before Walker was.

Now, five months later, the Harris County DA’s office didn’t have a specific answer to our questions about what took so long to arrest Walker, stating that defendants are arrested at different times based on the evidence in the investigation.

For updates, follow Mo Haider on Facebook, X and Instagram.