Twyla Pettiford, a 52-year-old Black woman from Akron, Ohio, was found shot inside her Manchester Road home on June 17, 2020, after police answered a welfare check when she failed to report for work. Pettiford worked at Summa Barberton Citizens Hospital and was a mother of three sons and a grandmother; family remembered her as sassy, classy and loving.

Investigators identified Chester Billy Walker, Pettiford’s boyfriend and the father of two of her sons, as the suspect in her murder. The case was treated as a domestic incident and the Akron Police Department described Walker as armed and dangerous. Pettiford’s son DiMichael Pettiford later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Walker’s estate seeking damages for loss of companionship, support, mental anguish and funeral expenses; the suit was assigned to Judge Alison Breaux in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

The killing was one of 50 homicides recorded in Akron in 2020. If anyone knew Twyla, her household, or has information about that day, please come forward.