A Los Angeles judge sentenced Joshua Reneau to two life terms without the possibility of parole this week, closing out a four-year-old case that began when the 31-year-old carjacked 63-year-old Larry Walker's SUV in Inglewood and dragged him to his death underneath it. Reneau was convicted of multiple felonies, including two counts of murder with special circumstances, four counts of assault, and robbery and carjacking charges tied to a violent crime spree that stretched from the San Fernando Valley to South Los Angeles.
According to ABC7 Los Angeles, Reneau received the maximum sentence available: two life terms without parole plus 53 years and four months on the remaining counts. Walker, a La Habra resident, died of multiple blunt force trauma injuries after he was forced from his vehicle and became entangled in his seatbelt, causing him to be dragged underneath it, according to the Los Angeles Times. LAPD investigators later located his body on North Osage Avenue in Inglewood, about three houses south of where the stolen SUV overturned, after he had been dragged for over two miles.
A Police Surveillance Operation That Spiraled Into Chaos
The October 2022 carjacking did not happen in isolation. LAPD detectives and the FBI Fugitive Taskforce were watching Reneau's residence on the 5900 block of 7th Avenue in South Los Angeles' Hyde Park neighborhood on October 13, 2022, attempting to execute a murder warrant when Reneau climbed into the backseat of a Toyota Prius driven by 34-year-old Jamal Sutherland. Sutherland fled from police before crashing near Florence and Haas avenues in Inglewood, the Times reports.
That crash triggered the deadly chain of events. Reneau then carjacked Walker's SUV, struck multiple police cruisers, and flipped the stolen vehicle on its side at Prairie and Florence avenues in Inglewood, setting off a two-hour SWAT standoff before he surrendered. LAPD officers separately booked Sutherland on felony evasion charges and a second passenger, Neosha Reneau, on an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, according to footage posted by the LAPD.
The Reseda Murder That Led Detectives to Reneau
LAPD records indicate the July 29, 2022 Reseda crime spree began around midnight when suspects stepped out of a grey four-door sedan on Sherman Way to rob victims of two large necklaces, firing multiple handguns before shooting 32-year-old Earl Hunter on Saticoy Street. Reneau was arrested on a murder warrant connected to the robbery and homicide.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged Reneau alongside co-defendants Derek Lateef Hall and Miracole Brown, who also faced murder, assault with a firearm, and second-degree robbery counts in connection with the Reseda spree. The case involved the July robbery-murder and the October pursuit-carjacking.
Family Speaks After Years of Waiting
Walker's daughter, Jamien Walker, said she could not believe somebody took her father from her family, according to ABC7's reporting on the sentencing. Gaynell Walker described the sentenced man as a stain on society who disregarded human life. Court proceedings unfolded in Los Angeles this week, four years after the crime spree first upended their lives.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2022 chase, Walker's family publicly called on California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the LAPD's handling of the pursuit, per CBS News Los Angeles. That question over pursuit policy became part of the broader public reckoning with the case even as the criminal proceedings moved toward this week's sentencing.
A Prior Conviction on Record
Reneau's criminal history stretched back more than a decade before the carjacking. California appellate court records reviewed by the California Court of Appeal show he was previously convicted of carrying a loaded firearm and assault with a semiautomatic firearm following a March 2011 gang-related incident near Crenshaw Boulevard and Adams Street in Los Angeles.
With this week's sentencing, the case that began with a jewelry robbery in Reseda and ended with a man dragged to death under his own SUV in Inglewood has reached its conclusion in the courts. Reneau will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for the deaths of both Hunter and Walker.
