Joniah Walker, now 19, was found 730 miles from her Milwaukee home when officers answered a domestic disturbance call in Blacksburg — and Owen Lars Anderson, 37, now faces kidnapping charges in Wisconsin and 55 child sexual abuse material counts in Virginia
A girl who disappeared from Wisconsin at the age of 15 and was found safe four years later had been abducted and held captive in Virginia throughout that time, police say. Joniah Walker, now 19, was rescued on May 23 at a house in the mountain town of Blacksburg, some 730 miles from her family’s Milwaukee home, after officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance. A criminal complaint obtained by the Daily Mail alleges that Owen Lars Anderson, 37, kidnapped her on June 23, 2022, after persuading her to meet him at a cinema in Chicago — the culmination of contact that began on Facebook when she was just 12.
A 911 call that ended the captivity
According to the complaint, Blacksburg officers attended Anderson’s home over an alleged domestic disturbance, and during their enquiries Walker disclosed that she had been reported missing as a juvenile and was being held against her will. Police allege she had been kept at the property ever since the 2022 abduction and subjected to sexual, physical and verbal abuse.
Court documents further allege that Anderson deliberately cut her off from the outside world. Investigators say she was not enrolled in school and had little or no unsupervised contact with anyone else, and that she was allegedly made to perform sexual acts on camera, with Anderson threatening to release the recordings if she refused his demands or tried to leave or report him.
Years of online contact before the meeting
Investigators say Anderson used online grooming tactics over several years before Walker disappeared. The Wisconsin complaint states he maintained contact with her from the time she was around 12, gradually building her trust across three years of communication before arranging to meet in person when she was 15. She had confided in him about struggles and alleged abuse at her family home, police said, and he persuaded her to leave, luring her with what the filing describes as false promises of a better life. The complaint records that he assured her “he would never hit her, never scream at her”, that he would care for her and keep her well fed, and that he told her he wanted to “cuddle” when he collected her and once she lived with him.
On the day itself, authorities say, Anderson booked an Uber to take her from the family’s Milwaukee home to the Chicago cinema, where police allege the kidnapping took place. Walker told investigators he made her carry out a factory reset on her iPhone before discarding it — together with a burner phone he had previously given her — in a bin in Chicago, then drove her to his Virginia home in a rental car.
Arrest, weapons and a widening investigation
Anderson was arrested on May 27 and, according to the complaint, was carrying two Glock pistols, 14 loaded spare magazines, several knives and three cans of pepper spray when officers detained him. A search of his home the following day allegedly turned up electronic devices, flash drives, journals and other evidence, and the FBI has since taken custody of the digital material, officials told WDBJ, with the Bureau conducting a forensic examination as part of a continuing inquiry into possible further offences.
The charge sheet spans two states. In Blacksburg, police said Anderson faces abduction and immoral acts with a juvenile, strangulation, child abuse and preventing a 911 call, alongside 55 counts of child sexual abuse material possession in Montgomery County. In Wisconsin he is charged with kidnapping, child enticement and abduction of a child — felony counts that carry the possibility of decades in prison if he is convicted.
Held without bond ahead of extradition
Anderson was arraigned on the local charges at Montgomery County Courthouse on Tuesday and is being held without bond at Western Virginia Regional Jail, with a judge ordering that he remain in custody pending his transfer to Wisconsin to face the kidnapping-related case. Officials told WDBJ that federal charges are also under consideration as the FBI’s work continues, and that the Montgomery County counts could potentially be absorbed into a federal prosecution, with authorities indicating further charges remain possible.
