As Ivan Walker dragged the teenage girl through a St. Paul home Monday and repeatedly raped her, he had a warning: Stay quiet or he’d kill her just as he’d killed her cousin, authorities say.
Walker was reportedly in a relationship with the 16-year-old’s cousin, Shana Hollins, who police found dead inside her St. Paul townhome early Monday morning.
The 33-year-old Stillwater man was charged Wednesday with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping for his alleged conduct toward the teen, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court.
The investigation into the death of Hollins, 39, is ongoing. Walker was Hollins’ boyfriend, the criminal complaint said.
Police are investigating her death as a homicide, but the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office has not determined her exact cause of death.
Walker was not at the residence when police arrived at the scene Monday.
When he was located and arrested in downtown St. Paul later that day, he told police he hadn’t been at the townhouse that morning or the previous evening and provided an alibi.
“Police spoke to the alibi witness who did not confirm (Walker’s) alibi,” according to the complaint.
HOLLINS FOUND DEAD IN BEDROOM
Police were called to the townhome in the 1500 block of Jessamine Lane between Hazelwood Street and Ames Avenue just before 7 a.m. Monday by a young male who reported that his mother’s boyfriend may have killed her.
They found Hollins dead in an upstairs bedroom.
Witnesses identified Walker as Hollins’ boyfriend, and reported that the East St. Louis, Ill., man met Hollins in November. He stayed with Hollins and her children at her townhouse several nights a week.
Police encountered the teen downstairs, crying and shaking. She told officers Walker had “raped her several times and confessed to killing” Hollins, according to the complaint. The cousin said she was visiting Hollins from another state.
The girl was on the couch in a lower level of the residence when Walker walked downstairs, grabbed her by the neck and started choking her, according to her testimony to police.
Then he dragged her to the kitchen and started punching her when she screamed, threatening that he would “kill her, too” if she didn’t keep quiet, she reported.
“Nobody is going to help you,” he told the teen, the complaint said. Then she said he forced her into the basement and raped her twice.
TEEN PLEADED TO BE LET GO
The girl reported pleading with Walker to let her go, promising not to tell police.
When she convinced him to let her use the upstairs bathroom, she saw her cousin lying in a bed, her feet purple, the complaint said.
She watched as Walker snorted cocaine from a straw and then placed the straw next to Hollins, the girl told officers.
He allegedly told the teen he planned to make Hollins’ death look like a drug overdose.
After raping her a third time in the kitchen, the 16-year-old convinced Walker to leave, the complaint said.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Hollins lying dead in a bed, legal documents say. A straw was protruding from her nose, which also had foam and mucus in it.
WALKER AND HOLLINS HAD BEEN ARGUING
Following his arrest, investigators obtained a search warrant to collect DNA from Walker and evidence from an injury to his hand, where the teen said she’d bitten him during the assault, the complaint said.
Hollins’ 20-year-old son told officers he’d arrived home about 11 p.m. the previous evening and heard Walker and his mother arguing in a bedroom.
Neighbors also reported seeing Walker at the residence.
Walker, who has a history of violent crimes in Illinois, made his first court appearance on the criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping charges in Ramsey County District Court on Wednesday afternoon.
His bail was set at $750,000 and public defender Kristen Williams was appointed to represent him. Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hollins was a mother of three. Her older sister remembered her this week as a feisty, determined woman who always showed up for the people she loved.
A police spokesman said Wednesday that police are not releasing additional information about her death as their investigation continues. The medical examiner’s office is conducting more tests and examinations, which could take up to two weeks, according to police.
HOW TO HELP
A GoFundMe page for Shana Hollins’ family has been established at gofundme.com/support- krystal-and-her-family.