The Murder of MyAngel Walker

MyAngel Walker was last seen alive on December 11, 2024. According to investigators, she was shot with a firearm between 10 and 11 p.m. that night at 1503 Gary Street in Clinton, South Carolina. The following morning — December 12 — she failed to appear for her shift at NHC Healthcare in Clinton. Her absence was immediately flagged as unusual by coworkers, and her family reported her missing to the Laurens Police Department. Investigators also began searching for her white Jeep Cherokee.

Clinton and Laurens police launched a joint investigation. As the night wore on, it became clear they were looking for something more than a missing person. The investigation expanded into Newberry County and Greenwood County. At approximately 5:22 a.m. on December 13, law enforcement received a request to assist the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division near McKenzie Road in Greenwood County. MyAngel's body was found shortly after — at approximately 5:40 a.m. — inside a burned vehicle near Ninety Six, a small town in Greenwood County. Investigators determined she had been shot in Clinton and transported in her own vehicle to that location, where the car was then set on fire.

Two arrests were made the same day her body was found. Malachi Pressley, 19, was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Taylor Shutrell Kinard, 19, was charged as an accessory after the fact for aiding in the disposal of MyAngel's body. The arrest warrant for Kinard states that she "did render assistance to Pressley by aiding in the disposal of Walker's body." Clinton Police Chief Michael Addison said of Kinard: "She had knowledge of it and she helped." No motive was publicly disclosed.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the Clinton Police Department and the Laurens Police Department, with additional support from the Laurens County Sheriff's Office, Newberry County Sheriff's Office, Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Both Clinton Police Chief Michael Addison and Laurens Police Chief Heath Copeland credited the rapid resolution to the established working relationships among upstate law enforcement agencies. Arrests were made within approximately 36 hours of MyAngel's murder.

The investigation expanded across three counties — Laurens, Newberry, and Greenwood — as officers traced the path of the crime from its starting point in Clinton to the location where her body was found near Ninety Six. SLED led the final scene response in Greenwood County. MyAngel's family has characterized the case as a domestic violence situation, and her mother, Sade Woodruff, publicly urged anyone in a dangerous relationship to leave if they are able. No official motive has been released by law enforcement.

As of March 2026, Pressley remains held without bond following a second bond denial. No trial date has been formally announced, but proceedings are expected as soon as fall 2026. Kinard also remains in custody awaiting disposition of her accessory charge.

MyAngel Walker was 18 years old. She had already started building the life she wanted — working in a healthcare facility, learning what it meant to care for people who needed it, keeping her grandfather in sight as both inspiration and purpose. She wanted to become a nurse to take care of him. That is not a small dream. That is love made into a plan.

She was described as a burst of energy. A very bright young lady with a very good heart. Her siblings have struggled since she was taken from them. Her mother has sat in courtrooms facing the man accused of ending her daughter's life, and found the strength to speak. "Anybody that's going through any type of domestic dispute, being abused, anything," Sade Woodruff said. "Get away. If you are able, get away."

MyAngel deserved a future. She deserved her grandfather, her career, her life. The people who took that from her are in custody, and a trial is coming. Until there is a verdict, until there is accountability, her name belongs in every conversation about domestic violence, about the cost of staying, about the cost of not leaving. She was a burst of energy. She should still be here.