Series: Day 1 - Article 3

Similar Pasts, Similar Fates

PAIR OF WOULD-BE WITNESSES DIE IN STREETS

Ernest "Easy Rider" Peterson and Atlas Joe Walker Jr. had more in
common than untimely ends. Both had criminal records -- together, they
had 18 felony arrests and both had drug convictions, Walker for heroin
possession, Peterson for crack distribution. Both had survived gunshot
wounds earlier in 2003 -- Walker lost his right eye, and Peterson took
six bullets -- and agreed to testify against those who tried to kill
them.

By year's end, both Peterson and Walker were dead.

Investigators say Peterson probably was targeted the first time
because he was related to murder suspect Fred Malone, and associates
of the victim were bent on retaliation. After Peterson survived that
shooting, he was approached on the street and warned not to testify.
He moved his family out of Orleans Parish and started sleeping with a
gun under his pillow.

Peterson, 25, had gone back to his old neighborhood to help a cousin
get a tire. It was Oct. 25, two days before he was to fly to
Rochester, N.Y., to search for an apartment for his family, including
his companion and their young daughter.

He was found with a gunshot wound in the head in front of a grocery
store on St. Claude Avenue. He had tears in his eyes and a Hershey bar
in his hand.

At the scene, some people in the crowd gathered near Peterson's body
and laughed.

"They said, 'Look at him! His head got busted!' " said Carolyn Jones,
his companion.

When Jones took their daughter to visit Peterson's grave, the
3-year-old tried to bring him back by digging in the dirt.

In Kenner, Walker's two boys started the school year in August with no
father.

A self-employed laborer, Walker, 29, had not lived with his wife and
children. But Bridget Walker said he visited with the boys when she
took them to a relative's house in Gert Town.

The boys, who have spoken to counselors at school, had a relationship
with their father that no one can replace, she said.

"It's something they just have to deal with day to day," Walker
said.

She said she doesn't know whether Walker's murder is connected to his
previous shooting. "It's a possibility, but no one knows for sure,"
she said.

Walker, who had six children in all, was sitting on a Gert Town porch
one Sunday morning in August when he was killed by a man toting an
assault rifle.

In both cases, with their main witnesses dead, prosecutors dropped
charges against the men accused of trying to kill Peterson and Walker.

Detective Gregory Hamilton said attempted murder charges were dropped
against Terrance Handy soon after Peterson was killed.

"He reported it, he went to the DA and he still ended up dead," Jones
said. "How do they expect people to come forward?"

An attempted murder charge against Alvin King, who was accused of
taking out Walker's eye during an attempted armed robbery, also was
dropped.

But the district attorney's office said it isn't finished with King.

Because he was out on parole when Walker was shot, King's arrest could
jeopardize his freedom. He was convicted of armed robbery in 1995 and
sentenced to 10 years, and prosecutors want a judge to order King back
to prison for violating the terms of his parole.

No arrests have been made in Peterson's or Walker's deaths.