BELL COUNTY, Texas(KXXV) — Nearly two years after the death of 11-year-old Zoey Rene Walls at Stillhouse Hollow Lake, a Killeen man has been indicted in connection with the case.
On Wednesday, the Bell County Sheriff’s Office presented evidence to a grand jury, which indicted 44-year-old Joshua Glenn Walls for criminally negligent homicide in Zoey's July 2, 2023, death.
The next day, Thursday, investigators with the Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Apprehension Team located Walls and took him into custody. He is currently being held in the Bell County Jail on a $50,000 bond, set by Justice of the Peace Cliff Coleman.
Walls remains in custody as of Thursday evening.
BACKSTORY ON THE CASE:
On July 2, 2023, Emergency crews responded to a report of a boat crash on Stillhouse Hollow Lake around 7:58 p.m. after reports that a child had been struck by a boat.
Investigators say the girl had been tubing behind her family’s boat when she fell into the water. As her father, who was driving the boat, circled back to get her, she was accidentally struck by the vessel and suffered fatal injuries.
A nearby boater heard the family’s cries for help and rushed over, bringing the girl to the Stillhouse Hollow Marina on Simmons Road, where first responders met them.
Justice of the Peace Nicola J. James pronounced the girl dead at the scene and ordered an autopsy to be conducted by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.
