The first visible sign of emotion in the case against a woman accused of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a Philadelphia kindergartner last year came during the second day of testimony.
April Walker, the owner of Heaven’s Little Angels Day Care, fought back tears as she spoke of her 6–year-old daughter’s friendship with the 5-year-old kidnapping victim.
The two children were friends in an after-school day care class.
“I was scared, angry, upset,” said Walker, who testified that the kidnapping was upsetting to her daughter due to her relationship to the victim.
Christina Regusters, one of the Heaven’s Little Angels day care workers, was arrested for the kidnapping and sexual assault of a child from Bryant Elementary School. The child was also a student in the Heaven’s Little Angels Day Care after school program.
During this cross examination, defense attorney Fred Harrison asked Walker how Regusters interacted with children. Walker said she was "very pleasant and calm with the children."
Walker went on to testify that Regusters had good work performance and sometimes brought her cousins, age 7 and 11, to the center with her permission. Regusters had gone through the necessary background checks and there was never a complaint about her at work.
However, Walker said Regusters was sometimes late or a no-show to work. Because of that, she was suspended for 3 days starting on Jan. 14. The lateness continued and Regusters was notified she was being terminated on Feb. 4.
In her opening arguments, Prosecutor Erin O'Brien stated that Regusters sexually abusing a young female cousin and plans to introduce testimony.
Walker started the daycare with her husband Greg in August of 2011. Just one and a half years, the business that catered to neighborhood residents found itself at the center of the Cobbs Creek child abduction case.
Walker received a frantic call from daycare employee Sherrell Carter on Jan. 14, 2013 that a 5-year-old child was missing from the daycare’s after school pickup from Bryant Elementary.
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“I called my boss and told her we had a serious problem, that she needed to come to the school. My mind frame was to find this little girl. I looked everywhere I could,” said Carter.
Regusters allegedly took the child from school and sexually assaulted her before dropping her off half naked at a local playground.
After the child was found, Walker was relieved and sent a mass text to her employees to share the news that the child was alive. Regusters, the alleged kidnapper, received that text because she was a day care employee at the time.
Contact Sarah Glover at 610-668-5580, sarah.glover@nbcuni.com or follow @skyphoto on Twitter.
