Infamous serial killer Thomas Creech connected to 1974 shooting on I-40

Investigators have reportedly closed a decades old cold case in San Bernardino County, connecting the incident to infamous serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech. 

The incident originally happened back on Oct. 1, 1974 at around 6 a.m. when Daniel Walker, who was parked in his van along I-40, more than 60 miles from Needles, was woken up by an unknown suspect who opened fire on he and a passenger. 

Walker was taken to a nearby hospital after the passenger was able to escape and flag down another driver in the area for help. He later died of his injuries. 

The suspect, who was unidentified for nearly 50 years until investigators broke the case, fled from the area and was never located. 

Investigators with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Homicide Detail investigated at the time but exhausted all leads. They attempted several times over the years to review the case, hopeful that they would be able to develop leads, but proved unsuccessful. 

On Nov. 15, 2023, the SBCSD Cold Case Team again resumed investigation into Walker's murder. They were able to obtain additional information related to the case, and successfully identified the suspect as Thomas Eugene Creech. 

"While working with the Ada County District Attorney's Office in Idaho, Cold Case Detectives were able to corroborate intimate details from statements Creech made regarding Daniel's murder," said a statement from SBCSD. 

Creech is Idaho's longest-serving inmate on death row for several different murders, which he was convicted of the same year that he killed Walker. He has five total convictions, but some believe that he could be responsible for more than 40 different killings due to his confession at a trial in 1975, where he admitted to killing 42 people in more than a dozen states across America.