Hutchins Accused Killer's Fiancee Indicted in Murder of Postal Employee

Bei-jing Tashawna “Channelle” Walker wanted to protect accused killer Donnie “Lil-Debo” Ferrell. They were both from Hutchins, 12 miles southeast of Dallas, and engaged to be married. They appeared in each other’s Facebook profile photos.

In a photo Walker uploaded Jan. 30, Ferrell, who worked at a home health care agency, snuggles next to her. A sparkling pink heart graphic on the bottom corner of the photo captures her feelings for him, and “Mrs. Ferrell” written in parentheses underneath her name on Facebook suggests their future together.

In Ferrell's photo, uploaded Feb. 19, 10 hours after he allegedly shot and killed a postal employee, he hugs Walker, a former security guard, as she bites her lower lip. He was arrested a few days later, charged with one count of murder of an officer or employee of the United States, according to the Feb. 22 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District in Dallas.

“I apologize for the wrong that he did,” Walker posted to Facebook a day after Ferrell’s arrest. “Those of you that already know what’s going on and those of you that know me and know my heart know that I am deeply sorry and hurt. Please pray for everyone involved.”

Now Walker, who is a single mother, has been charged with a felony. A federal grand jury in Dallas returned a three-count indictment, charging Ferrell, 25, and Walker, 24, with felony offenses related to the Feb. 19 murder of Tony Mosby, a 58-year-old postal truck driver.
Ferrell was indicted for murder and Walker for “knowing that an offense against the United States had been committed” and helping Ferrell in order to hinder his capture and punishment, which could be life in prison or death.

Mosby worked a regular nighttime shift at the U.S. Postal Service’s office at 401 Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike in Dallas. He drove a box truck, which looks like it sounds. He’d just made a U-turn at Sylvan Avenue and driven eastbound onto the Interstate 30 ramp when the gunshots sounded.

One struck him in the head. When the .38 caliber bullet struck him, the box truck hit a concrete barrier in the early morning hours of Feb. 19 and skidded to a halt on I-30. The killer was nowhere to be found, and a $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to his capture.

“He was the rock of the family and part of that glue is gone," Sylvia Mosby, the victim's sister-in-law, told KDFW-TV. "And I think that’s what’s going to help heal his children and his brother and his sister is bringing this person to justice.”

Ferrell had been drinking and playing pool with friends shortly before Mosby’s murder, according to investigators. The group left the Dallas pool hall at about 1:30 a.m. in an SUV. Ferrell was sitting in the front passenger seat when they passed Mosby’s box truck heading eastbound on I-30. Moments after they passed him, Ferrell pulled out his .38 revolver and fired several shots at Mosby, leaving behind a cloud of smoke and sparks as Mosby’s box truck hit the barrier.

One of Ferrell’s friends asked him why he fired his gun. He said Mosby had flipped him off, according to the Feb. 22 federal complaint.

Later that Monday evening, Ferrell received a text message from a friend saying that Ferrell had killed a postal employee. Ferrell told him not to say anything about it to anyone else. He told the other friend who'd been in the SUV not to talk to anyone about the shooting. Both told federal agents about the shooting and police corroborated their accounts with video recordings near the scene of the shooting and elsewhere.

It took the Dallas police and agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI to bring Ferrell in. They surrounded his home in Hutchins. A standoff ensued, but Ferrell was taken into custody.

The next day, Ferrell’s uncle Ben Ferrell apologized to Mosby’s family in a WFAA-TV report.

“There is no excuse now, talking about a bad childhood,” Ferrell said. “No, he didn’t have anything like that. He just made bad choices.”