Indiana Officials Confident Walker Will Be Extradited

INDIANAPOLIS -- Boone County officials are confident that the woman accused of lying about being a missing Thorntown woman will be extradited to Indiana to face charges.

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A Topeka, Kan. judge Friday set bail at $100,000 for Donna Walker, 35, saying he set the bail that high because he considered her a flight risk.

Police say Walker (pictured, left), 35, falsely claimed in July to believe she might be Shannon Sherrill, who vanished at the age of 6 while she was playing outside her mother's Thorntown, Ind., home in 1986. Walker is charged in Indiana with identity deception, a class D felony, and false reporting, a class A misdemeanor.

Walker, a Topeka resident, turned herself in Thursday.

Walker's lawyer, Kevin William Rork, is fighting extradition for his client, RTV6 reported, but Boone County officials will plan file a governor's warrant if needed.

"We could be talking anywhere between three days to two weeks," Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said.

During Walker's hearing Friday, Rork requested that her bond be lowered, pointing out that she surrendered herself to authorities and has an income limited to medical disability payments, but the judge refused the request.

At Friday's hearing, the judge said he considered Walker a flight risk because of what he believed her mental condition to be. He did not offer details except to say Walker was taking medication, sees mental-health professionals in Topeka, and once stayed at a Virginia mental health facility in the 1980s.

Walker's next hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

Police said Walker first called Sherrill's parents, who live apart in Indiana, on Saturday. Walker claimed she was a Virginia resident named Beth Harris, and that she believed she might be their missing daughter, according to police.

Walker also made the claim to authorities over the phone, police said. Police said she would, at separate times, speak to police in three different voices, posing as three different people. Walker used two of the personalities -- including one by the name of Donna Lewis -- to try to support the Beth Harris story, Indiana police said.

According to a transcript of a probable cause hearing held Tuesday in Boone Superior Court, police believe Walker has done the same type of thing with other high-profile cases in Virginia, California, and Oregon. She would pose as one person, and then pretend to be other people to bolster her claim, according to the transcript.

According to the transcript, an investigator testified that Walker's three fictitious characters -- Beth Harris, Harris' husband, and Donna Lewis -- at various times called police or the Sherrill family from Walker's Topeka apartment. Other calls were made with a phone card, which is difficult to trace.

Walker has a criminal record, according to the probable-cause transcript. Authorities say Walker was charged in Virginia in connection with writing bad checks, a bomb threat, and false informing.

In an interview with an ABC reporter Thursday, Walker denied knowing anything about accusations against her, and said she wasn't aware that police were looking for her until a friend told her he saw a report on the Internet.

"Of course it's scary, but I'm still confident that the court system will work," Walker said.

Lawyer: Walker 'Concerned' About Sherrill Parents, Charges

Walker's lawyer says she is "concerned about the parents being upset" and about being charged in the case.

Kevin William Rork, attorney for Donna Walker, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday that Walker -- who surrendered to Kansas authorities Thursday -- doesn't believe she was involved in any criminal activity relating to the case of Shannon Sherrill (pictured, right).

"She's concerned about the parents being upset and the facts they're relating to, but she's also concerned about being charged with some type of criminal activity when she doesn't believe that has occurred," Rork told ABC's Charlie Gibson.

Rork said that whether Walker had anything to do with the alleged hoax remained to be seen. But he said that if she was involved, prosecutors would "have to show that she made statements that she believed are false, and I think they're going to have a hard time doing that."

"If she did say something, what was her state of mind at the time any of those statements may have been made? I think that evidence will clearly come out," Rork said.