Overview
- Officers who answered a May 23, 2026 domestic‑disturbance call in Blacksburg, Virginia discovered 19‑year‑old Joniah Walker alive and said she told them she had been held against her will since June 2022.
- Authorities say Walker left her Milwaukee home in an Uber to meet a man at a Chicago movie theater on June 23, 2022 after years of online contact, and investigators allege the man then abducted and held her in Virginia.
- Owen Lars Anderson was arrested on May 27, 2026; Montgomery County records show he faces local charges including abduction and 55 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, and Milwaukee County has filed kidnapping and child‑abduction charges in Wisconsin.
- Police say investigators found numerous electronic devices at Anderson’s home, that Walker was forced to factory‑reset and discard her phones, and that the FBI has assumed custody of the digital material for forensic review.
- Walker's family criticized early police work in Milwaukee for a slow response and for relying on relatives to collect doorbell camera video, and officials say ongoing state and federal probes will determine extradition, additional charges, and next steps for prosecution.