Mother demands answers after veteran daughter found dead, belongings gone in Chicago Heights

Mom says veteran daughter's belongings tossed after death

A mother got the call no parent ever wants to get.  Her daughter, Alexis Walker, who served in the marines, was found dead in her apartment.  She was just 25. And to make matters worse when she was finally let inside her daughter’s unit, it was completely empty leaving her with nothing to remember her by.

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. - A grieving mother is demanding answers after she says her daughter, a former Marine, was found dead in her apartment and nearly everything she owned vanished shortly after.

The backstory:

Alexis Maya Walker, 25, served in the United States Marine Corps after enlisting at 19. Her service was cut short due to an injury, leading to an honorable discharge. In the years that followed, she struggled with mental health challenges and eventually moved into Otto Veterans Square, a housing facility in Chicago Heights designed to support veterans.

On March 20, the Chicago Heights Police Department discovered Walker dead inside her fourth-floor apartment during a building check. Authorities later informed her mother, Lynette Walton, that Walker may have been deceased for at least three weeks.

Walton says the call came as a shock—but what followed deepened her distress.

"The police department contacted me," Walton said. "They told me they had found my daughter in the apartment."

Walker’s cause of death remains unknown. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is still investigating.

While the investigation continues, Walton says she immediately began trying to retrieve her daughter’s belongings. She says she called the property manager multiple times, left voicemails, and explained she was traveling from Arkansas to handle arrangements.

"I called her before I started driving, told her who I was and that I would be there," Walton said. "She never returned my calls."

But when Walton finally made it to Illinois, she says communication stopped entirely. On April 10, more than two weeks after her daughter was discovered, she went to the building herself and was allowed inside by a superintendent.

What she found, she says, was devastating.

"The apartment was empty. Not a paper clip, not a piece of paper, nothing," Walton said. "I have nothing."

Walton also says a fellow veteran living in the building told her he witnessed workers clearing out the unit less than 48 hours after Walker’s body was removed.

"They threw away her stuff less than 48 hours after they removed my daughter’s body from this building," Walton said.

Among the items she believes were lost were clothing, shoes, personal keepsakes, and a Pandora bracelet she had given her daughter.

"Everything that she had was in that apartment," Walton said. "And I have nothing now."

Walton says she has since sent a formal demand letter asking what happened to her daughter’s belongings. She says she has not received any response.

She also raised concerns about how the situation was handled.

"I feel like the woman was covering it up," Walton said. "She knew somebody cared. She should have waited."

What's next:

The Housing Authority of Cook County, which manages the building, has been contacted for comment but has not responded.

Otto Veterans Square is intended to provide housing and support services for veterans, many of whom face housing insecurity, disability, or mental health challenges after military service.

Walton, meanwhile, says she is still waiting for answers—not only about her daughter’s belongings, but about her death.

At this time, the Cook County Medical Examiner has not determined a cause of death.

"I don’t want this to happen to anybody else," Walton said. "These people served their country. And this is how they’re treated?"

Chicago Heights PD issued this statement late Wednesday on the case: 

"This case involved a call for a well-being check in March. The individual was found unresponsive, no signs of foul play, and pronounced at scene. The Cook County Medical Examiner was notified. There is no investigation by the CHPD."