Angelina Wall, also known to relatives as “Angie,” was 22 years old when she was murdered. Her body was found on the side of the roadway in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, more than 15 years ago, and the person responsible for her death has yet to be brought to justice.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2001, a woman driving on Highway J noticed an object on the shoulder, just south of U.S. 12, that resembled a snowmobile suit. When she beamed her headlights in its direction for further examination, she realized it was a body, according to WQOW.
Initially believing it was the body of a child, she hurriedly drove to her daughter’s house in Fall Creek and called the Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office.
The women then led Officer John Staber, who is now a sergeant, to the body, which was later identified as Angelina Wall.
An autopsy revealed that Wall died from strangulation.
Eau Claire County investigators concluded that after Wall ended her shift at McDonald’s on Hastings Way, she couldn’t find a ride; therefore, she began walking home around 1:40 a.m.
Between 2:35 a.m. and 2:40 a.m., Wall stopped at a gas station, bought a mint-flavored donut, and then continued walking on Birch Street.
Five hours later, Wall was found dead.
What happened to Angelina Wall remains a mystery; however, investigators believe she was taken against her will by someone who lives in the area.
“The person that grabbed on to her, I don’t think knew her. I think it was a random act of violence against her, and my only theory is that it could have been a transient individual that came through Eau Claire,” said Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer.
“For Lori’s sake, we’d love to close this thing out and make that phone call and say we’ve made an arrest and we have a confession.”
In hopes of ascertaining new information, the Eau Claire County Police Department re-interviewed inmates as well as people who had previously given statements.
WEAU 13 News reported that there are suspects of interest in the case, but officials are not releasing their names to the public.
Cramer said, “We’ve finally got some information that really puts some pieces together that we had information about some individuals previously and now that it almost coincides with this. It’s independent from anything that we’ve had; the people that we talked to and re-interviewed, all of a sudden things clicked.”
“We’re trying to get to the point where we can go to the district attorney either to get an arrest warrant or to get a court order for a DNA profile for a suspect or suspects.”
Anyone with information regarding the unsolved murder of Angelina Wall is encouraged to contact Sgt. Mayer at (715) 839-5102 or Eau Claire County Crime Stoppers at (715) 874-TIPS.