The Boy Next Door Who Murdered His Cheerleader Girlfriend

After killing his girlfriend, he quoted the Bible to say he loved her

In November 2016, 18-year-old football player William Riley Gaul shot dead his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Emma Jean Walker. After shooting her, he tweeted a Bible verse on his social media:

“That’s my beautiful Emma. Rest easy now sweetheart. 1 Corinthians 13:8. Be sure to remind God about our verse.”

This is a very deep verse for teenagers. It states:

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. — 1 Corinthians 13:8

When William shot Emma, they had broken up for some days. He had fallen madly in love with her but she had turned him down. Like many teenage couples, their relationships went through highs and lows but what would cause William who was described as the boy next door to shoot Emma?

An Almost Perfect Couple

William and Emma fit the stereotype of the American high school dream couple. William was the handsome high school football player and Emma was the pretty and blonde cheerleader. Together, they seemed to make the perfect young couple.

William and Emma met at Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. Emma was only 14 and a freshman but she was already taking cheerleading seriously and she loved attending football games.

William was older by 2 years and he was a high school junior as well as Central High’s wide receiver in football.

William was described as very normal. He was raised by his mother and grandparents but like most teenage boys, he loved playing video games and was a bit of a jokester.

Emma’s parents only had positive things to say about William when they found out their daughter was dating him. He was described as the boy next door who was very polite, nice, and likable.

Emma also loved hanging out with William. Initially, their dates were supervised by Emma’s parents but eventually, the two had their own time together.

Emma’s social media accounts were filled with pictures of the two of them taking silly selfies and just having a great time. Emma even declared on social media that she was very lucky to have a boyfriend like William.

What looked like a normal relationship on the surface eventually started to show signs of cracking. There were red flags in the relationship that were becoming obvious to Emma’s friends and family.

William started acting possessive and controlling. He didn’t want Emma to hang around with her friends. He would comment on the clothes she wore even going as far as telling her what she could and couldn’t wear.

He also acted very clingy and would stalk Emma wherever she went. The relationship became turbulent and the couple would break up and then get back together in a cycle that played out continuously.

By 2016, William had graduated and had gone to college but he was still dating Emma despite her parents’ attempts to encourage her to end the relationship.

Murder and Investigation

With enough intervention from her parents, Emma finally did break off the relationship with William. It was at this point that William’s behavior began to take on a strange turn.

Emma had moved on but William found this difficult to accept. He became depressed, suicidal and tried to re-establish contact with Emma.

William would come to her home and start yelling at her. Emma started to become afraid of him. William even contacted Emma at a girls’ sleepover. When she received threatening texts from him, she became afraid for her life.

In one incident right before Emma’s death, William dressed in an all-black outfit and started walking through Emma’s neighborhood. He even attempted to break into Emma’s home.

Shortly after on the night of November 21, 2016, Emma was shot with a gun from outside her house while she was laying in bed. Two bullets were shot with one ending up in Emma’s head and the other lodged in her pillow.

Emma’s death wasn’t discovered until the next morning by her mother. When the police were called and started asking questions, one name seemed to pop up on everyone’s lips — William.

After the murder, William started tweeting references to Bible verses and about how much he had loved Emma.

Ironically, it was William’s college friends who helped the detectives latch onto potential evidence to make an arrest.

When detectives questioned William’s friends, they told them that William was in possession of his grandfather’s gun. Shell casings found at the scene of the crime were the same caliber as the gun belonging to William’s grandfather. The police were afraid that William would dispose of the gun which was evidence of the crime so they enlisted William’s friends to help them in a sting operation.

William’s friends were hooked up with hidden microphones, a transmitter, and a video camera. They would meet up with William and get him to admit the location of the gun and that he had shot Emma. They succeeded in getting him to reveal the gun and other pieces of evidence. The police then arrested William and charged him with first-degree murder, gun theft, and stalking.

William’s defense was that he never intended to harm Emma or cause her death. He stated that he had merely fired the shots because he had wanted to get Emma’s attention.

The prosecutor argued that there was enough evidence to convict William of a serious crime. He had purposefully stolen a gun from his grandfather and had shot at Emma’s bedroom from outside her home. Moreover, they found evidence of the black outfit that William had used to stalk Emma.

William was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. During his sentencing, he apologized to Emma’s parents and told them that the shooting was accidental.

Emma’s friends and family don’t seem to buy the apology. In the end, they believe that William shot Emma because he couldn’t have her and he didn’t want anyone else to have her either.

Sources: Unilad, ABC News, CBS News, The Daily Mail, stuff.co.nz

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