GREENSBORO, N.C. — January 1, 2024 marks one year since friends and family lost their loved one.
Natasha Walker, a mother of two girls, was out with her husband Jesse Walker on New Year's Eve last year.
Friends said the two left to go help a friend that night.
Greensboro police charged Vashon Juan Sigler, 48, with the murder of Natasha Yvette Walker, 32.
Walker was shot and killed on Cridland Avenue on the morning of New Year's Day in 2023.
Lucretia Gordon is the cousin of Natasha Walker's husband, and also a good friend and business partner.
"When I first met her, I was one of those people who didn't smile often," Gordon said. "I just felt like the world was against me. She would call you singing and laughing and praising God, and I was like this girl like, 'Girl, how are you so happy,' and being around her I started saying, 'You can do it, be kind,' and stuff like that with other people and so I feel like she had changed me to be that kind of person because who wants to be mad and bitter all the time. Then losing her. It's so cruel out here, but we still have to be good towards each other because in a blink of an eye, you can lose your loved ones just like that. That's how she was, she cared. I don't want to walk around, even though we're mad that he took her from us, I know she will want us to be happy and still be there for people because that's how she was and I'm so thankful that she embodied it into us."
Walker was an entrepreneur and was busy running several businesses, including working with people to build their credit and managing rental properties.
"As minority black business owners a lot of us didn't know the process that we needed to know to get started," said Gordon. "When I met her, I had my business and she had hers and a lot of people were asking us how to start a business, if we could train them. We researched and were like we should turn this into a nonprofit, get grants, so that we can help other women, not just women of color, but we want to help our women to go forward because a lot of people don't know the proper paperwork or the things it takes to start a business and be successful."
It's that process that Gordon said she is continuing to work on in Walker's legacy.
"This new next year, we are putting everything into work, continuing her legacy," she said. "We had notes together, events and things we wanted."
As for Walker's two daughters, Gordon said they are making sure they are there to support them and that they have a bunch of aunties who care.
Gordon said justice is what they want to see.
"We want justice because she did not deserve this at all and the family, the kids, and we want peace and until justice is severed, I don't think we will have peace," said Gordon.
Ingram Bell is also a good friend and business partner of Natasha Walker. She agrees.
"Hopefully justice will be served sooner than later because he was a monster especially with us working and with domestic violence victims," said Bell. "For her life to be taken because of the work means that the work can't stop, you can't let up on the work now and so hopefully he gets what he deserves, sooner than later."
Bell said this time of year is difficult.
"It'll never be the same for us and throughout the year we continue to work," said Bell. "We continue to do our back-to-school drives that we did every year for her, we continue to do our trunk or treats that we did every year with her and we made sure that we did our Natasha Toys for Tots drive, helping more than 150 kids, would keep going every year. Our year was in a fog but we still got to work because we know that's what she would have wanted us to do, but we're just numb."
Bell said she had known her for nearly 10 years and that seeing her dreams become a reality was incredible.
"To watch her plans come to fruition and to watch our plans with MCOF and the things that I wanted to do unfold, it's amazing," said Bell. "It's amazing and you know we're keeping her babies close because that's what was important to her, nothing else matters other than family and that's all we got, we got us."
Both Gordon and Bell said the plan is to keep chasing their dreams like Walker always told them to do.
"Keep kicking, keep moving, and keep going," said Bell. "Don't stop, there is no stop. There is no let-up and she said it was a million dollars last year, so we're gonna continue going, we're gonna keep making everything that she wanted, go on."
Greensboro police said Vashon Sigler used a 9mm semi-automatic handgun to shoot inside Walker's SUV that was near Cridland Road and Parkway Street.
Shortly after the shooting, Sigler was hit by a car. Court documents reveal that the driver of that car was Walker's husband, Jesse Walker.
Sigler was taken to Moses Cone Hospital where he had to be intubated and diagnosed with severe road rash to 10% of his left side, a cervical spine fracture, a thoracic spine fracture, and a left pelvic fracture requiring surgical repair.
Because of these injuries, Sigler will have physical restrictions and will require ongoing physical therapy and significant assistance with his basic activities of daily living, according to court documents.
The court found it medically necessary to transfer Sigler to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction where he is held in a prison medical facility in Raleigh. He will remain here pending the complete disposition of his criminal charges or further orders of the court.
Sigler was charged with First Degree Murder, Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, and Discharging a Firearm into an Occupied Vehicle, according to police.
Sigler was previously convicted of felony Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon back in 1998 which he pled guilty.