Report: Woman Killed Walking on I-285 Refused Ride From Police

By Deb Belt

A Dunwoody woman who died after she was hit by vehicles on Interstate 285 in Sandy Springs had earlier refused a ride home from police.

WSB-TV reports that the Dunwoody Police Department responded to a call about 5:08 a.m. Jan. 22 about a woman was acting erratically at the Exxon gas station on Ashford Dunwoody Road.

Officers talked with Gayla Joyce Walker, 53, and tried to give her a ride home, but police say she refused and walked toward southbound Ashford Dunwoody Road.

Walker was hit by several vehicles and killed just before daybreak near the Roswell Road interchange in Sandy Springs just before daybreak Thursday morning.

Investigators with the Sandy Springs Police Department are looking for a white pickup truck, possibly with a camper shell on its bed, which they believed was involved in the fatality.

Walker, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, had attended Michigan State University and took classes in Atlanta to launch an interior design business, WSB reports.

Her brother and sister told the TV station they had no indication that she might be suicidal. Walker had no car, and her daughter would drive her where she needed to go.

Anyone with information in this case should call Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS (8477). As always, residents with information do not have to provide their name or any identifying information to be eligible for a cash reward.

Tips can be made online or by texting CSA with tip info to CRIMES (274637).

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Photo: Gayla Joyce Walker. Credit: Sandy Springs police