Update: Man under investigation in St. Paul girlfriend’s death charged with raping teen
Shana Hollins did not deserve to lose her life, her sister said Tuesday.
“I don’t want who she was to be forgotten and drowned under how she was ended,” said Krystal Hollins, who described her sister as feisty and devoted to her three children.
St. Paul police were called to Hollins’ East Side residence on Monday morning and found the 39-year-old woman dead. They were told a teen, who was a relative of Hollins’, had been sexually assaulted.
Officers arrested Ivan Dan Walker, 33, on Monday on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, in what a police spokesman said was “one of the most disturbing cases” investigators had seen in a while. Authorities say Walker held the teen against her will.
Hollins and Walker were in a relationship — she recently broke up with him but began seeing him again about a month ago, according to someone who knew Hollins.
Police, who referred to the woman as Shana Lynne Branch, said her death is being investigated as a homicide, but the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office has not determined her exact cause and manner of death.
Walker — who has a history of violence, according to court records — is a person of interest in the investigation, according to police.
HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Walker’s estranged wife told authorities she and her children lived in fear of her husband. The couple was married last year in Illinois and he filed for divorce on July 16 from the woman, who continues to reside in Illinois.
One time, while drunk, he pushed her children around and punched her in the face, according to a petition she filed in an Illinois district court last year seeking an emergency order for protection from her husband.
When she spoke of leaving the relationship, she said Walker threatened to kill her.
“I can’t take this anymore,” she wrote in the court document. “He is very controlling and I need to get out of this.”
Almost exactly a year before the St. Paul case, Walker was arrested for domestic battery in Illinois. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in August.
A judge granted Walker’s wife’s order for protection in July 2017, after he was arrested for assaulting her, according to court records filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court in Illinois.
When St. Paul police arrested Walker on Monday, he also was booked into the Ramsey County jail as a fugitive from justice.
The Missouri Department of Corrections issued a warrant for Walker in October, after he didn’t report to his parole officer and his whereabouts were unknown, according to a spokeswoman for that department. He was convicted of second-degree robbery and was in prison from 2008 until 2014.
LEAVES BEHIND THREE CHILDREN
Shana Hollins leaves behind her three children, who are 7, 14 and 20 years old, along with her mother and other relatives, her sister said.
“That was my sister,” Krystal Hollins said before becoming overcome by emotion Tuesday. “I don’t have anybody else. It was me and her. … (Monday) night, I had to tell my youngest nephew about his mom. Who does that? How do you do that?”
The sisters grew up in New Orleans and Shana Hollins had been in Minnesota for about 20 years.
“My sister was … extremely energetic,” Krystal Hollins said. “… Back home … all reasons that we are alive are reasons to celebrate and that’s what she did. … You couldn’t take New Orleans out of her.”
She worked as a certified nursing assistant. She was protective of people around her and resourceful, her sister said.
“When you asked my sister … for something, there wasn’t a ‘No,’ ” Krystal Hollins said. “It was, ‘Let me see. How can we do this.’ She would figure stuff out and she was always there for everybody.”
The family has also had to weather other tragedies. Shana Hollins’ cousin Brandon Roberts was fatally shot in St. Paul last year and the case remains unsolved. Another cousin, Melvin Paul Jr., was shot dead in Minneapolis in 2006.
CASE UNDER REVIEW FOR POTENTIAL CHARGES
Walker remained jailed Tuesday and the Ramsey County attorney’s office is reviewing the case for charges.
Police were called to the 1500 block of East Jessamine Lane between Hazelwood Street and Ames Avenue just before 7 a.m. Monday on a report of a death. Paramedics pronounced Hollins, who lived in the residence, dead.
Police said Walker is a resident of East St. Louis, Ill., but the Ramsey County jail log indicated he has a Stillwater address.
Court records don’t show any criminal charges for Walker in Minnesota.
In East St. Louis, Walker was arrested for battery/causing bodily harm in East St. Louis in December 2016. A court record says a trial was scheduled for 2017, but doesn’t indicate the outcome.
Walker’s criminal record in Illinois also includes a felony conviction for attempted armed robbery in 2005, as well as misdemeanor-level battery in 2005.
HOW TO HELP
A GoFundMe page for Shana Hollins’ family has been established at gofundme.com/support-krystal-and-her-family.