King Walker disappeared from a relative's house along with his aunt in 2015

“He was a happy baby,” La Shann Walker, 47, recalls of her beloved 2-year-old grandson, King Walker, who disappeared nearly four years ago from a relative’s home in Gary, Indiana. “He used to love for his mom to sing John Legend.”

King was last seen on July 25, 2015 when he and his aunt, 21-year-old Diamond Bynum, went missing together from the relative’s home. Bynum has a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome, which causes slow mental development among other ailments. According to NWI.com, Bynum “has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old.”

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Walker recounts how, on that fateful day, King’s mother, Ariana Walker, brought the boy over to the relative’s home to babysit while she attended cosmetology school. But when the relative awoke from a nap, King and Bynum were gone.

Both police and the family began a frantic search for King and his aunt. They pursued leads from witnesses who claimed to have seen the two together at a local gas station. But the searches yielded nothing, and potential sightings have dried up over the years, though King’s mother and grandmother regularly post flyers to help keep their relatives’ faces in the public eye.

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King Walker is one among thousands of children who go missing in America every year. In fact, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children said there were more than 400,000 missing-children reports made in 2018.

“It’s devastating. I have days where I’m just crying,” Walker says. “I try to stay positive — but sometimes it’s hard not knowing anything at all.”

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Walker tries to maintain her faith that King and Diamond are still out there. “I wanted to get a private investigator, but it costs so much. I couldn’t afford it,” she says.

Despite the ongoing pain she and her relatives continue to experience, Walker tries to maintain hope. “Thinking about death, I’d go crazy. I have to stay focused and keep my mind right so I can be good when they get home.”