TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Prosecutors filed a motion Monday seeking the death penalty against a man charged with fatally stabbing one of his two young sons and wounding the other, then dragging both boys into a lake.
Katron Walker, 33, is charged with murder in last week's death of 4-year-old Collin Walker, whose body was left in the lake with his throat cut and stab wounds to his chest, authorities said.
Walker also faces an attempted murder charge for stabbing his 2-year-old son, who has since been released from a hospital.
Prosecutor Bob Wright said he decided to seek Walker's execution partly because of the slain boy's age.
"There are a lot of people opposed to the death penalty and I think that some of the members of that family are," Wright said. "But I think at the same time they believe that the facts of this case do warrant it."
Walker was led into a Vigo County courtroom for a hearing Monday wearing handcuffs, leg shackles and a bulletproof vest. The judge had been scheduled to appoint a public defender for him, but Indiana law requires that death penalty defendants be represented by attorneys qualified in death penalty cases. The judge is expected to appoint those attorneys during a hearing June 26.
Walker, who is being held without bail, is accused of taking the boys from his father-in-law's home at knifepoint June 13, just days after his wife said she wanted a divorce.
That night, police found the van Walker had been driving near a private lake. While dogs were searching the area, Walker ran from a rundown, abandoned trailer and jumped into the water, dragging his naked children with him, police said.
Officers jumped in and grabbed the 2-year-old. A dive team later found the older boy's body in about 12 feet of water.
Katron Walker, who had marijuana and methamphetamine in his system, was treated for wounds that police said were self-inflicted.
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