Inmate: Cousin admitted to killing

Bill Gang

Thursday, March 12, 1998 | 10:23 a.m.

One of two cousins charged in the execution-style slaying of one of their girlfriends admitted to his jailhouse roommate that they had committed the crime, the now-prison inmate has testified.

Four-time felon Mark Smith testified Wednesday at a preliminary hearing for Christian and Johnny Walker that after learning of the pair's involvement he notified police because "it was a sad thing, it was sick."

The hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to hold the cousins for trial is expected to conclude today in Justice of the Peace Bill Jansen's courtroom.

Smith said 18-year-old Johnny Walker confided in him that Christian Walker, 19, had been arguing with Maureen McConaha "about her being with another man" and shot her in the head.

Johnny Walker, according to Smith, said he believed the 17-year-old girl was still alive and took the .25-caliber pistol from his cousin and "finished it, shot her."

Deputy Clark County Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Bucklin testified that McConaha suffered four gunshot wounds to her head, any one of which would have been fatal.

McConaha's body was found Oct. 4 in a desert area near U.S. 95 and Tropicana Avenue. She had been shot repeatedly in the head at point-blank range.

Metro Police detectives have said that under her body they found a cigarette butt and DNA from the saliva on it matched Christian Walker's DNA.

In a courtroom crowded with supporters of the defendants and friends of the victim, testimony also indicated that McConaha had left a party on Oct. 3 with the Walker cousins, who returned a short time later without her.

Christian Walker was quoted in testimony as saying he had taken the girl home.

Timothy Roche, whose house in southeast Las Vegas was the site of the party, told the judge that Christian Walker had been "acting kind of crazy ... tripping out, you know what I'm saying."

Roche made references to "dank sticks" -- cigarettes dipped in embalming fluid -- smoked by some partygoers.

Smith testified that he was reading a Bible when Johnny Walker began the conversation by asking if a man "could be forgiven if he committed four murders."

He said it was then that Walker told him of McConaha's slaying.

Smith, who is serving a five-year sentence for robbery, said he never sought a deal or leniency for his testimony and while he is concerned about being labeled a snitch, "one thing outweighs the other."

If Christian Walker eventually is convicted, it won't be the first time he was found guilty of a crime involving McConaha.

Walker was convicted last year of misdemeanor battery for head butting her three times on Aug. 27. That incident led her to get a temporary protective order against him.