Chapter 1: What is the story behind Emma Walker and Riley Gall?
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They're the perfect high school couple, prom dates, the cheerleader and the football player.
But their story ends with a hooded man hammering on the front door, frightening texts, a mysterious kidnapping, and a deadly shot in the dark. Knoxville is a rural community. There's a lot of mountain folks around here.
It's like a slice of Americana, really. It's a really suburban, beautiful city, a nice place to raise your kids, and presumably a safe place to raise your kids. Everybody goes to the football games, Fridays, everybody's excited at school to see how well we do. It's what our school revolves around, so it's exciting.
The Central High Bobcats are a big deal here, and it's just as big of a deal to be on the cheerleading squad. In the fall of 2014, Emma Walker was 14 years old.
Emma really took cheerleading seriously. She really loved doing it. You know, it was one of her passions. She loved leading and she loved football games. She loved just being part of crowd appeal.
Going into high school, being a freshman cheerleader, was that a big deal for her? She had done competitive gymnastics as a young child and then competitive dance. When she tried out for cheerleader, she was the only freshman that made it. So she was very tickled with herself. People described Emma as bubbly and fun-loving and positive.
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Chapter 2: How did the relationship between Emma and Riley evolve?
They argued fiercely and then they sort of made up fiercely. But it was always drama, always drama with those two. He would comment on what she wore and tell her what not to wear? Yes. And what would you say to that? We're the decision makers in that. not your boyfriend.
When things got really intense and bad, he would wait outside her work for her to get off, and he would just wait outside for hours.
Just wait. Did you all relate this to Emma? Did you feel concerned for her? Does she seem to feel concerned?
I told her, and some of the other friends told her, just like, you could do better. Like, we don't like him, but like, she just kind of brushed it off. She did her own thing. Riley didn't speak to her the way that a guy should talk to a girl. It was just disrespectful. I hate you. I hate everything about you. You're the biggest bitch I've ever come into contact with.
I felt like the texts were getting worse and a little bit threatening. We, on one occasion, saw one, I'll see your name in the obituary. He wrote that to her? He wrote that to her. And we questioned him about it. He said, I was just angry. That's when it started to get many more red flags. Soon, Emma's parents have had enough.
They ban Riley from their home and take away Emma's cell phone so the couple can't talk. But it doesn't work.
Riley gave Emma an iPod Touch and she texted him through the Wi-Fi.
So they could text and it go undetected. Emma, I'm sorry for however I act to you. I love you more than words can describe. Did you attempt to break them up or advise her to break up? Yes, several times. But as you do that with a teenager, the more you butt heads, the more she is going to think he's in the right. Because he had a way of isolating her and making her think that he was the only one.
Typical high school fights, but then weird things begin to happen. Out of the blue, someone just starts banging on her door.
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Chapter 3: What warning signs indicated a toxic relationship?
I believe so.
Emma realized she didn't want to be with Riley, and she broke up with him, what was supposed to be, for good. And then we're all like...
Yes, finally, like, it's happening, like, what we've been waiting for. Her friends and her family, they're relieved. They're excited. They think they have Emma back. Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, that she didn't plan on going back to him.
But Riley isn't taking the breakup well. Over in his college dorm, he takes some Vicodin pills and washes them down with alcohol in an attempt to take his life. One of the things that Riley Gall was known for is when things would not go the way he wanted, he would sometimes claim he was going to kill himself if they didn't, you know, reunite. How did you hear that he might have been suicidal?
Just, like, be, like, off to the side, like, moping, saying things like, I just feel so depressed, like, I want to hurt myself, blah, blah, blah, blah. It was just things that he would just, like, say a lot. It was just like a cry for help, I guess, in a way.
It's Friday night.
The big playoff game and the Central High Bobcats win. So Emma's off to a party at a friend's house to celebrate.
Then around 11.30 p.m., something strange happens.
I walk in and Emma's like coming out of the bathroom and she's like, Zach, I'm getting these really weird text messages. Come outside alone if you don't want to see a loved one get hurt. I've got someone you love. If you don't comply, I will hurt them. Was she spooked? Yeah, she was just feeling really weird about it. I mean, it was a random number.
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Chapter 4: What events led to the mysterious kidnapping claim?
I'm coming. I'm speeding. Just give me a minute. She was supposed to come meet me. She didn't show. I had an intuition. Something's going on. So I drove to home and Riley's car was sitting out front of the house and they were in the driveway. What was your first thought? I thought, you're kidding me. He knows he's not allowed here. And I just said, you know, you're not allowed. You need to leave.
And he did leave. Were you worried? Yes, I was worried, yes. I tried to calm her down and take her mind off of it. But she's thinking, what, that some stalker or maybe some burglar is trying to get into the house? I think. We were watching her. I mean, Sunday we followed her to work, followed her back home to make sure she was safe. She said, I'm craving ice cream. So we drove to Sonic.
We had a nice, cold Sonic blast. And I wished her good night. I love you. See you tomorrow. I went to bed. She stayed up. And how did she seem? She seemed very happy. Very happy and relaxed. More of a, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. Everybody says goodnight, but her parents don't know that they're actually saying goodbye.
Where is your emergency?
It's not responding.
You have to imagine how Emma would have been feeling at this point. Friday, Riley is coming out of a ditch, claiming to have been abducted. The next day, she's home alone. She's taunted at home by someone dressed in black banging on her door. You know, that is rattling. In two days of this now, had to have been wearing her down. The next day...
I went in there to wake her up, which is usually very easy to wake her up, and said her name, didn't hear anything, bumped her leg, didn't hear anything, and then went to her face and realized and checked for a pulse and couldn't find anything. I don't remember a whole lot from that moment. I mean, I know I called 911.
Emma's mother makes maybe one of the most heartbreaking 911 calls that I've ever heard.
Where is your emergency?
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Chapter 5: What were the circumstances surrounding Emma Walker's tragic death?
The girl. She texted me. Which girl? The one that passed away. Oh.
If that's your girlfriend of two years who you're in love with, who you're posting these heartbreaking tributes to on social media, why aren't you using her name?
When I first met him at his grandpa's, he might have been a grieving boyfriend. When we got into the interview room and sat down, I felt like there's a dark side. He didn't have a whole lot of passion or passion.
Riley tells them he'd been trying to speak with Emma all weekend, but she wouldn't engage, that she even blocked his number.
She just kept blocking me on stuff, so I was just kind of... But she said if I would help her write her paper, she would talk to me. And I used one of my friend's phones on campus to call her. I was crying, and I was trying to get her to reason with me on... being back together with me. And she just kept saying no. She said she didn't care about the relationship anymore.
She said, you need to stop. You're crazy. You need to get a life. I left the phone. Block me.
Riley offers police his alibi, saying after Emma hangs up on him, he goes to his grandparents' house, then drives back to his dorm where he breaks down in the parking lot. I just sat there for about two to three hours and just wept, just looking at pictures of us and stuff like that. He was really, really upset about this, but when you saw him, was he broken up?
In my opinion, he was emotionless. His interview was probably one of the most disconnected. It almost seemed rehearsed, deliberate. You began to ask him about the gun.
He did not have the gun, didn't know where the gun was, and basically didn't have anything to do with it. No, you had already talked to friends of his who had told you that he had this gun. Yes, ma'am. What if I told you someone told us that they saw you with a gun?
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Chapter 6: How did investigators gather evidence against Riley Gall?
I have to get rid of the gun in order for me not to get pinned for something that I didn't do. In order for me not to go to jail for something that I didn't do, I have to get rid of this weapon. That's when I knew, like, he did it.
Riley starts scheming ways that he can help his friends backpedal out of what they said.
Tell them you're on LSD and you were drunk.
But what Riley doesn't know, his two friends have a plan of their own. They want justice for Emma, and to do it, they're going to have to go undercover and get it all on tape.
I'm trusting you guys, like, with my life.
I'm trusting you.
Alex McCarty and Noah Walton are convinced their longtime friend killed Emma, his high school sweetheart. After all, she was shot. Riley had a gun.
He said he wanted to go and throw the gun away.
Yeah, I just knew that if there was a chance that he could get rid of the murder weapon... You should stop it. I had to stop it.
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Chapter 7: What was the outcome of Riley Gall's trial?
What was in there with the gun, gloves?
There was gloves and trash bags and tennis shoes, the black tape, some of the black clothing.
You think those were the shoes that were used?
Yeah, I really think that that was the clothes used not only the night of the murder, but I think also that was the clothes that was used the morning of the Man in Black incident.
Those bizarre events leading up to Emma's death all make sense now to investigators. They're convinced that Riley faked his own kidnapping and posed as that mysterious man in black to stalk Emma. Emma's parents are now facing the young man accused of murdering their daughter. What are your feelings toward him, Mark?
I don't know that I can tell you that on camera, but I would like to tell him one day.
Hey, I gotta quit. It seems like they've got him until Riley's trial, when the defense team delivers an unexpected twist.
We looked at each other and said, did you hear? Did he just say that? Did he? For 100 days, I'm going to cross the seven continents because the answers to everything important are out there at the edges of our world. I'm stepping into the unknown. Where are we going? To see our planet. This is amazing. As it's never been seen before. From pole to pole. Pole to Pole with Will Smith.
Series premiere Tuesday, January 13th at 9 on National Geographic. Stream on Disney Plus and Hulu. Show me the way.
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Chapter 8: What lessons can be learned from Emma Walker's story?
If your boyfriend or girlfriend is telling you you can't go there or what to wear or who to hang out with or who to talk to, that it's not okay. And I think when they become quiet and withdrawn, it's a big sign too. It's not just bruises. It's emotional and controlling. Riley Gall appealed his sentence.
Three years after his conviction, he was back in Knox County Criminal Court to request a retrial. But the judge said no, since there was no new evidence, and the state Supreme Court has since rejected any further consideration of the case. Riley remains behind bars, serving a life sentence for the murder of Emma Walker. He'll be in his 70s before he's eligible for parole. I love you so much.
The Walker family finding comfort in unexpected surprises Emma left behind. And you didn't know she put this on? That's their thing. Very cute. Do you find yourself going back looking through these? Oh, yeah. They're home like a living photo album, locking Emma in their hearts and memories.
You can watch fresh episodes of Bad Romance from 2020 on Monday nights at 10 p.m., right after The Bachelor. And of course, tune in on Fridays at 9 for all new episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening.