Kriti Mehrotra
On November 15, 2014, Catherine Renee Plotz Walker was found heinously murdered inside her Honolulu, Hawaii, home. The 38-year-old army wife and devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seemed to have no known enemies, so the brutality of the offense was also perplexing. However, as explored in Investigation Discovery’s ‘911: Did the Killer Call?: The First Suspect,’ it eventually came to light that her perpetrator was none other than someone she wholly trusted.
Catherine Walker Was Stabbed to Death With a Knife From Her Own Kitchen
As one of the five children born to JoAnn Chapman and Douglas Plotz in Albany, New York, Catherine Renee Plotz Walker (July 22, 1976) was reportedly raised in a loving, religious household. She thus almost always shared a profound connection not only with God but also with her parents and her 4 siblings: Julie Plotz, Janice Plotz Priess, Jennifer Plotz, and Joseph Plotz. According to records, she graduated from Shaker High School in 1994 before deciding to pursue further studies by enrolling at Ricks College in Idaho and then Utah State University.
Catherine was proud of her educational as well as her familial backgrounds, so she was over the moon when she met Matthew Walker through their church, and he appreciated them just as much. The duo soon became romantically involved, ultimately leading to them happily tying the knot in a beautiful, cozy ceremony surrounded by all their loved ones in her hometown on May 16, 2003. In the early years of their marriage, he reportedly served as an Army Medic with a few overseas deployments, whereas she proudly worked at Douglas Industrial Company in Watervliet, New York. The Walkers subsequently moved around a lot within the US, with her supporting her husband throughout his enlistments in Maryland, Texas, California, and finally Hawaii.
According to records, by the time 2014 rolled around, Catherine was proudly taking care of their home in Honolulu, Hawaii, while he served as a Medic at the Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC). That’s where he was reportedly working on the evening of November 14, returning home in the early hours of the next day just to find his wife lying bloody, cold, and dead on their bedroom floor. He immediately dialed emergency services to report the matter, asserting not only the fact that she wasn’t breathing but also that one of their kitchen knives was covered in blood right next to her. The 38-year-old’s autopsy report later confirmed she died as a result of multiple stab wounds across her neck and torso, with one of them going str aight through her neck.
Catherine Walker’s Murder Was a Heavily Premeditated Conspiracy
Since Catherine was killed inside her home on the Aliamanu Military Reservation, the Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) helmed the inquiries. They were quick to secure the scene before conducting interviews with the victim’s loved ones, all of whom indicated the LDS church member and Young Women’s leader truly had no enemies. They hence carefully looked into the hypothesis of a robbery gone wrong, but there were no signs of a break-in, extensive struggles, or missing items, plus the way she was killed seemed personal. Therefore, they soon asked Michael to come in for an extended interview to really get an insight into who she was, the people she was close to, and their marital union.
Michael initially came across as very cooperative, since he didn’t hesitate to tell officials anything about his whereabouts on the fateful night or his intense 11-year marriage to Catherine. He claimed they were great together with no significant issues, which was also the consensus of all her loved ones, and seemed to have been backed by how shattered he sounded in his 911 call. However, he then shocked detectives by confessing he was a bisexual “sex addict” who had been stepping out of his marriage for years to be physically intimate with both men and women. He further revealed his liaisons weren’t limited to his car or hotels, but that he had often brought his lovers home while his wife was not around, following which he named a potential suspect.
When asked if any of his lovers could have potentially wanted to harm Catherine, Michael named 24-year-old Alisa “Lisa” Jackson, with the allegation he’d broken up with her just a day prior. Thus began a search for the young Indiana native while the 35-year-old’s alibi was also looked into – hospital records confirmed he was working in the emergency room his entire evening shift. However, everything changed when Lisa was found as she agreed to be interrogated. She claimed she had been with Michael since they met on a dating app in September 2014 and never split. Instead, she added, they conspired to kill Catherine after they had discussed that while her “deepest desire” was to take a life, his was to have his wife be “gone” for good without divorce.
Michael Walker and Lisa Jackson Are Currently Incarcerated in a Federal Prison
Lisa’s confession changed the course of the investigation as it led officials to take another look at Michael, starting with an in-depth analysis of his initial 911 call to report his wife’s homicide. While he seemed broken and hysterical for most of it, detectives now noticed an odd sound in the background when he said he was actively administering chest compressions on Catherine. According to records, the sound was mechanical and produced steady beats, leading them to soon ascertain that it came from a CPR manikin. A search warrant was then executed on the Walker home, during which a manikin was indeed found hidden in one of his closets. So, on November 4, 2015, Michael was indicted on one federal count each of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Lisa had already been indicted by this point, with her confession having painted a clear picture of how she and Michael carried out the offense. As per court records, they met in the parking lot of a gym near the Walker household on November 14, 2014, during which they confirmed the plan was to kill Catherine that night. Then, reports reveal, the duo came up with a text code for Lisa to be certain which path she should use to enter and exit the home: “good” meant the window, and “bad” meant a key left in the gravel by the back door. In her admission, Lisa had said she entered the home around midnight between November 14 and 15 using the key, following which she grabbed a kitchen knife, made her way upstairs, and stabbed Catherine.
She had also revealed that she remained there for at least half an hour to ensure their victim was dead before leaving, giving Michael a clear alibi because he was at work throughout this period. So, authorities came to believe he was the mastermind behind the entire ordeal because he wanted to lead a “free” life while also benefiting from his wife’s $400,000 life insurance policy. In the end, Lisa pleaded guilty to murder in 2015, whereas Michael pleaded guilty to second-degree murder days before his scheduled trial in 2020 to avoid a life sentence. They were eventually sentenced to 30 and 35 years in prison, respectively, so they remain incarcerated in a federal prison to this day.
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