Lawyer: Woman Wasn't Trying To Deceive Missing Person's Parents

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The attorney for Donna Walker told a judge during a bail hearing Wednesday that the woman did not try to mislead two Indiana parents into believing she was their long-lost daughter.

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Walker: I Was Off Medication This Summer

Instead, attorney Billy Rork told Shawnee County District Judge Nancy Parrish, Walker -- who he said has a history of mental disorders -- may have been trying to find out information about herself. Walker perhaps thought she might have been the daughter when she called authorities, Rork said.

Police say Walker, 35, falsely claimed in July she might be Shannon Sherrill (pictured, right), 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 to authorities last week.

Walker was in Shawnee County District Court for a hearing on Rork's request to lower bail from $100,000 to $10,000. Parrish did not immediately rule on whether to lower the bond, opting instead to ask a doctor to examine Walker to determine her current medical status.

Walker told the court she moved to Topeka earlier this year seeking mental health treatment. She says for several weeks before she turned herself in last week, she was off one set of medication during a process to change to another set of medications.

"I was without mental health care for a period of time, and without my medication," Walker said.

Walker promised to appear whenever the court directed.

A prosecutor told the judge the bail should not be lowered, arguing that she should be considered a flight risk.