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Suspect in missing girl hoax surrenders

Donna L. Walker is wanted for allegedly duping a couple into thinking she was their missing daughter.
Donna L. Walker is wanted for allegedly duping a couple into thinking she was their missing daughter.

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Indiana State Police say the woman who called the parents of a 6-year-old girl who has been missing since 1986 was 'the perpetrator of a cruel hoax.' CNN's Sean Callebs reports (July 30)
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(CNN) -- The woman accused of claiming to be the missing daughter of an Indiana couple surrendered Thursday to authorities in Topeka, Kansas, officials said.

Shawnee County Sheriff Richard Barta said Donna Lynette Walker arrived at the Shawnee County Adult Detention Center with her lawyer around 5 p.m. (6 p.m. EDT). She was booked on one charge of being a fugitive from justice, he said.

Capt. Timothy Phelps of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections said she will appear in court Friday morning, where a judge will evaluate the probable cause basis for her arrest and determine if bond will be set.

After the hearing, the county's district attorney will decide whether to send Walker back to Indiana to face a felony charge of identity deception and a misdemeanor charge of false informing.

Authorities in Lebanon, Indiana, said Walker phoned the parents of Shannon Sherrill and claimed that she might be their daughter, who has been missing for nearly 17 years.

Barta said he did not know why anyone would do such a thing. "Anybody who would do something like this is just not normal," he said.

Shannon was 6 years old when she vanished on October 5, 1986. She was last seen playing with friends outside her home.

Shannon's mother, Dorothy Sherrill, said she was happy to hear Walker was in custody.

"I'm excited in some ways, but it still hasn't brought my daughter home," she told reporters outside her home in Indiana.

"Great," said Shannon's father, Mike Sherrill, when told Walker was in jail. When told of reports that she had apologized, he said, "Sorry isn't good enough."

Sherrill said the only good thing to come out of the hoax was that it generated national attention which could help to find his daughter.

Different names, different voices

The hoax has "emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted the immediate and extended family of Shannon Sherrill," Indiana State Police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said Wednesday at a news conference to announce the claim was a hoax.

Bursten accused Walker of not only calling the parents but also telephoning members of the news media so the story would get more publicity.

"This has been a very cruel hoax for the family," Bursten told reporters.

The motive behind the hoax was unclear, authorities said, pointing out that Walker never made any demands to police or family members. But they also said without elaboration that Walker has a history of carrying out similar hoaxes in the Virginia Beach, Virginia, area.

Walker allegedly first contacted Dorothy Sherrill on July 25. She then called Mike Sherrill on Saturday, and authorities said they had been in phone contact with her, most recently on Tuesday.

Authorities said she used three different names and three different voices in various phone calls to help corroborate her story. The phone calls were all made from the Midwest to western United States, authorities said.


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