Benjamin Walker
VANCOUVER — A man who police say confessed to the brutal murder of his own grandmother in Washougal appeared in court Tuesday morning.
A Clark County judge set bail for Benjamin Walker, 27, at $1 million. According to a probable cause affidavit, Walker brutally killed his grandmother, 78-year-old Joan Walker, first choking her in bed as she was sleeping then, when he wasn’t sure if she was dead, coming back with a kitchen knife and cutting her throat.
Police said Benjamin Walker even described part of the attack by making a cutting motion on his own throat as part of a confession he gave them Monday.
Benjamin Walker wore a suicide smock in court Tuesday, and his court-appointed attorney told KPTVhis client was remorseful over the death of his grandmother.
“Well, he’s remorseful, he’s sad,” attorney Jeff Sowder said. “If you take the probable cause statement at face value, he turned himself in.”
According to court documents, Benjamin Walker killed his grandmother Monday morning before apparently walking to the Washougal Police Department to make his confession.
When police officers went to the house on H Street where he lived with his parents and his grandmother, they found the body of Joan Walker. Benjamin Walker’s parents were also in the home at the time and didn’t even know that Joan Walker was dead, according to court documents.
Court documents report that Benjamin Walker drank a six pack of beer Monday morning before he killed his grandmother.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Benjamin Walker told officers he was mad at his grandmother over requests for him to turn off the lights in her home and her complaints that he used too much water when he showered.
The affidavit also notes that Benjamin Walker had some scratches near his mouth and on his chin, which police believe are from his grandmother when she tried to fight back.
Prosecutors called the killing premeditated, while Benjamin Walker’s attorney said he may ask for his client’s confession to be suppressed. He also asked a judge to order that the grandmother’s body not be buried or cremated until he could have his own pathologist look at the body.
The judge agreed with that request, until at least 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, when both sides will be back in court to argue that motion.
