Mother of woman who drowned in Broken Bow Lake in 2022 wants case reopened, feels it was mishandled

McCURTAIN COUNTY, Okla. (KSLA) - It has been one month since an Oklahoma newspaper released audio of McCurtain County officials allegedly making racially charged comments about community members and threats against journalists. Since that audio has been released, there have been multiple protests to get those officials out of office, and even a lawsuit filed to get a case reopened that was handled by area law enforcement. KSLA spoke with a mother who believes her daughter’s case was mishandled and would like to see it reopened. 24-year-old mother, Alyssa Walker-Donaldson, was reported missing Feb. 7, 2022. A field interview was conducted by the Idabel Police Department before the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office took over the investigation, officials say. “She went missing and I just don’t think it was handled right, and just by supporting her, everybody came together as a community to find her,” said Carla Giddens, Walker-Donaldson’s mother. Giddens, with the help of family and community members, spent days searching the location where Alyssa was last seen: a local bar in the Broken Bow Lake area. Sheriff Kevin Clardy and deputies joined in the search, but the family says the department did not help in the search initially. “The sheriff’s department didn’t do anything for support. They showed up the last day,” Giddens said. On Feb. 9, Walker-Donaldson’s submerged SUV was found in Broken Bow Lake; her body was pulled from the vehicle the following day. “I get a phone call because they just found the car at first. I get a phone call at 8:30 they say, ‘Is this Carla Giddens?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ They said, ‘Well, Alyssa is in the car. Her body is in the car,’” said Giddens. “That road where they supposedly said she drove down it’s like curvy, curvy, curvy, curvy. She would have wrecked before she even got there.” After a night out drinking with friends, the drive Walker-Donaldson reportedly made was about three miles of curvy, narrow roads. The family and other community members searched the area where Walker-Donaldson was found prior to the discovery, but did not find her car. Walker-Donaldson’s mom believes because the initial investigation was not handled correctly, things may have been missed by Sheriff Clardy and his team. “I need her case to be reopened. And to know that nothing was handled right when it came to her all because I never used racism, but it was. I feel like once her body, once they knew she was African American, that nothing got done correctly,” Giddens said. An autopsy determined Walker-Donaldson died due to accidental drowning. No drugs were found in her system, but alcohol was. Giddens is still holding out hope that her daughter’s case will be reopened. Sheriff Clardy has been suspended from the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, along with two others following the release of the recordings. Sheriff Clardy was the person who released a lot of the information during Walker-Donaldson’s initial death investigation. He’s also allegedly one of the people heard in a controversial recording talking about lynching, joking about the victim of a deadly house fire, and discussing hiring a hitman to kill two McCurtain Gazette reporters. Clardy is also the chairman of the McCurtain County Jail Trust. Multiple protests have been held since the audio recordings were released, and allegations and concerns about inmate mistreatment and potential racism have come to light. “No one knows that I have been living in like fear of just getting in my car, thinking that something would happen to me just because something happened to her,” Giddens said. Sheriff Clardy has been asked by the governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, to resign, but has not. KSLA reached out to the sheriff’s office for records about the investigation and is waiting to hear back. KSLA also reached out to the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation. Officials there they currently have an open investigation in McCurtain County, but could not say more. Walker-Donaldson’s mother sees her grandchild regularly and says she often speaks to her about Alyssa.