Leanna Walker remembered for her great kindness

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — Diane Bostedo says she's trying to remain strong.
“I have days when all I can think about is her," Bostedo said of her sister, Leanna Walker, whose body was discovered last week after a weeks-long search for the missing teenager. "The fact I will never see her again pains me. Besides her outward beauty, she had more inside her. I am still in shock. I can’t believe this is the truth. I just wanna cry out and scream how unfair this is.”
Leanna would have done things in her life had she got the chance, Bostedo said.
“She was a people person, very social and kind to everyone," she said.
Leanna, 17, was last seen on April 18, as she leaving her Sunrise Lakes home voluntarily with her boyfriend, Sky McDonough. McDonough was arrested on April 26 on unrelated burglary charges and for escaping police, and is being held in the Pike County Correctional Facility.
Last week the Pike County District Attorney, Ray Tonkin, said Leanna's case was being treated as a homicide as the investigation continues.

Bostedo said McDonough had threatened and even hurt Leanna. "But she wanted to help everyone, and she wanted to help Sky as well," she said. "She trusted him despite the threats he made on her. We are just now hearing this. We never knew before about how he was to her, but I only know of one occasion where he was physical with her.”
At the time, Bostedo was living in Maine and had never met McDonough. McDonough told a mutual acquaintance that if Leanna left him, he would kill her and burn her body, she said.
Leanna’s friend Halley Deskin described Leanna as a fun-loving girl who went out of her way to help others.
“She was one of the most caring persons I know,” Halley said. “She would go and talk to bullies. She would tell them to stop. They did stop. She stood up for everybody.”
That's one reason Halley didn't worry when Leanna left with McDonough on the night of April 18. Her mom discovered that McDonough had been staying in Leanna's room at night, and she ordered him to leave.
“She would kick his butt if he laid his hand on her, I thought," said Halley.
But there had been signs of trouble. Halley first realized something was very wrong with McDonough when, after Leanna made a remark about his breath, he ate dirt. At another time, he threw a shovel at Leanna but missed because she stepped away.
Halley said she spoke to State Troopers about the incident but doesn't know what's been happening with the case since.
Leanna was known for her kindness, a quality people sometimes exploited, Halley said. She said Leanna and Sky kept breaking up and getting back together. He’d come back even after Leanna told him, time and again, that she didn’t want to be with him, and didn’t love him. He swore they’d be together for the rest of their lives, Halley said.
Leanna sent McDonough money after one of their breakups, while he was staying in New York City. He came back, and Leanna hid him at night in her room.
A ceremony will be held next Tuesday in the Sunrise Lakes community ball field, with a balloon release at 7 p.m. and a candle lighting at 8 p.m. Participants are asked to bring a candle.
Halley said she was hurt that her school, Delaware Valley, didn’t pay much attention to Leanna's passing.
“The school did a moment of silence this morning, and nothing before,” Halley said on Wednesday.
When a boy died last year, the school organized several events to remember him, she said. Maybe, she said, it was because the boy was in sports and the whole school liked him.
“Everybody liked Leanna too, but she wasn’t like that,” Halley said with some bitterness. “So many people loved her."
The school didn’t invite outside grief counselors to help students. But when Halley had a panic attack, she did talk to a school social worker.
Delaware Valley Superintendent John Bell explained in an email that Leanna had been registered at the school in the 10th grade but switched to the cyber academy, DV's online high school, in the middle of the year.
He said the school is very large, with 375 teachers, so he couldn’t say who knew her well. In any case, he said, they would not be allowed to talk to the Courier without their parents’ permission.
“We’ve made our counselors available since she went missing," Bells said. "Students just have to go down to guidance to see their counselor. Our teachers have also been on the lookout for kids who might need some help."
“Such a sad story,” Bell said.
Debi O'Leary, the wife of school board member Jack O'Leary, was inspired to create a portrait of Leanna as a comforting gift to Leanna's family.