Alisha M. Walker, 20, of Akron, Ohio, wearing a navy blue prison jumpsuit and pink nail polish, said little during her hearing at the Allen County Criminal Justice Center. Judge Robert Ross ordered Walker to continue being held without bail in Allen County Jail on a first-degree murder warrant until her next hearing Feb. 10.
Walker is accused of stabbing to death Alan Filan at his home in Orland Park. Police said Walker has a history of prostitution and battery and that she admitted to stabbing Filan.
By not fighting extradition, she eventually will be back in Cook County for arraignment on the charge of first-degree murder. She will either be picked up by Orland Park police officers or an extradition service will bring her back to Cook County, the clerk said.
Police found Filan, 61, dead on his kitchen floor about 10:35 a.m. Tuesday after being called to check on him when he didn't show up at work. He had been stabbed multiple times, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
"Walker confessed to being at the home of the victim on Jan. 18 after Filan contacted her via the Internet site Backpage," according to the police. "Walker and Filan argued over money, a struggle ensued, which resulted in Walker stabbing Filan multiple times."
Walker then drove off in her car, the police said. They said she previously had seen Filan at least twice.
Brian Badke, Brother Rice's head football coach and a 1992 graduate, had Filan for a typewriting teacher when he was a student at Rice.
"I am absolutely shocked. I was very surprised about everything. This is out of character for him," Badke said. "It is a shock to the faculty, staff and administration. It will be a tough time for the kids who really liked Al. He really cared about his kids. We will keep the Filan family in our prayers. We will always remember Coach Filan. I was fortunate to have known him."
Walker's mother, Sherri Chatman, of Akron, said her daughter told her she acted in self-defense.
"Alisha told me she had to" stab Filan, Chatman said Saturday, "that there was nothing else she could do. The only way I see my baby doing that is if she was in danger, in harm. It was either him or her. I think she freaked out."
Walker's uncle, Ed Hensley of Winchester, Ky., said he talked with his niece Friday evening in a phone call from the Allen County Jail and that she told him she and another woman, who also worked for an escort service, had gone to Filan's home Jan. 18.
"They had some sort of two-for-one special and went over there," Hensley said. "This guy got upset because it wasn't what the Internet suggested, or whatever. My understanding is the guy wielded a knife at the other girl, and then my niece freaked out, took the knife from him and then stabbed him with it to keep [the other woman] from getting stabbed."
Orland Park Police Comdr. John Keating comfirmed in an email Sunday, "There was another woman who traveled to the home with the suspect."
The other woman is not a suspect, Keating said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire - Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2013.)
