Cherie Walker, 34, was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences on Friday for enabling her husband to rape her 11-year-old daughter and forcing the child to give birth without medical care in their squalid Oklahoma home.
The Muskogee County mother will join her husband, Dustin Walker, behind bars after a judge handed down the punishment for six counts of child neglect and one count of enabling sexual abuse. Dustin Walker, who pleaded guilty in March, had already received a life sentence in June for child sexual abuse plus 42 years for child neglect charges.
The horrifying case only came to light last August when the 11-year-old girl gave birth alone in the couple’s feces-filled residence. Authorities responding to the home discovered six children total, all found with no clothing and lice in their hair, according to court documents. The other siblings were ages 2, 4, 6, 7 and 9.
A pediatrician testified that it would have been impossible for the parents to miss the girl’s pregnancy, KJRH reported. Yet both Walkers initially claimed they had no idea she was expecting. The mother’s refusal to seek medical treatment for her pregnant daughter became central to the prosecution’s case against her.
DNA testing later revealed with 99.9% certainty that Dustin Walker was the biological father of his stepdaughter’s baby. The charges against both parents were upgraded after those results came back.
Muskogee County Assistant District Attorney Janet Hutson spoke about the lasting damage inflicted on the young victim. “This child is traumatized,” Hutson said. “She’s been through a horrific ordeal. I mean, not only has somebody gotten her pregnant, but she gave birth at home without medical assistance, and this will be her life for the rest of her life.”
The case began with the initial child neglect charges after the appalling conditions inside the home were discovered. The “deplorable conditions” described in court filings painted a picture of severe deprivation affecting all six children in the Walkers’ care.
The sentencing closes a chapter in one of Oklahoma’s most disturbing child abuse cases, with both parents now guaranteed to die in prison for their roles in the systematic destruction of a young girl’s childhood.