MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man accused of killing two women he arranged a date with online has been convicted on two counts of first-degree murder, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
A jury found 26-year-old Darrin Walker guilty after a five-day trial in Criminal Court. Both charges carry a life sentence and the court has yet to determine if the sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently.
The incidents occurred in February 2020 inside a parked car on Bethay Drive and Belmont Run Cove in southeast Shelby County. According to sheriff’s deputies, Walker became angry and started shooting.
Detectives found Destiny Wilkins, 25, in the street and suffering from several gunshot wounds. She managed to tell deputies that a man, later identified as Walker, shot her and a friend. Then, he forced them out of the car.
Wilkins said Walker drove away with her injured friend, 23-year-old Nayeli ‘Courtney’ Love, still in the backseat. According to the DA’s Office, the car was found abandoned about two miles west near Lake Valley Drive and Barkshire Drive. It was a block from Walker’s home.
Love was found dead in the back seat of a car with multiple gunshot wounds and Wilkins died from her injuries while being treated at the hospital.
Detectives compiled evidence from cell phone records and neighborhood video to connect Walker to the murders. The DA’s Office said Walker was arrested about 10 days later.
Sentencing for Walker is set for September 23 and will determine if he serves both life sentences consecutively or concurrently.
Walker was already on diversion probation at the time for a prior aggravated kidnapping conviction at the time of the murders.
In October 2015, an arrest warrant was issued for Walker after he was accused of raping three women in three separate incidents. WREG previously reported he was arrested in Dallas, Texas, extradited back to Memphis, and charged with aggravated kidnapping, rape, and robbery charges.
Walker was 19 at the time.
Walker and his brother were also arrested in 2021 after police said a woman’s boyfriend was shot 12 times after she asked one of the men to not stand on her front lawn.
Both men were booked on attempted murder and firearms charges three months after the incident.