{"id":2250358,"date":"2026-01-26T01:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T01:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2250358"},"modified":"2026-01-26T01:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T01:57:06","slug":"reality-dating-show-contestant-jardyn-pee-wee-walker-dies-at-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/reality-dating-show-contestant-jardyn-pee-wee-walker-dies-at-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Reality dating show contestant Jardyn &#8216;Pee Wee&#8217; Walker dies at 23"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jardyn Walker, a former contestant on Erica Mena&#8217;s reality dating series <em>Two Ways with Erica Mena <\/em>who went by the nickname &#8220;Pee Wee,&#8221; was found shot to death in Missouri on Jan. 21.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department laid out the sequence of events that led to the discovery of Walker&#8217;s body in a Thursday news release, per <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/two-ways-with-erica-mena-contestant-pee-wee-is-found-slain-suspect-arrested-11890948\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:PEOPLE;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">PEOPLE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Walker was reported missing on Jan. 20 after failing to meet his sister at an Amazon facility in Hazelwood, a northwestern suburb of the St. Louis Metropolitan area. She was to give her brother a ride home, but he never showed, according to a University City Police statement obtained by local news outlet\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ksdk.com\/article\/news\/crime\/police-find-dead-body-search-missing-delivery-driver\/63-487b07f5-e889-4ec9-86fd-eaa32c7cc3f4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:KSDK;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">KSDK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The former reality star, who recently competed for a shot at love with <em>Love &amp; Hip Hop: New York<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Atlanta <\/em>alum Mena, was working as a delivery driver in the area. Hours after Walker&#8217;s sister reported him missing, University City Police enlisted St. Louis Metro P.D. to aid in the investigation, which ultimately led them to an alley where a body was discovered in the early hours of Jan. 21.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<div style=\"max-height:none;overflow:visible\">\n<p>Jardyn Walker\/Instagram<\/p>\n<p> Jardyn Walker<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The individual was pronounced dead at the scene and later identified as Walker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The SLMPD statement claimed that officers had already responded to a call reporting shots fired in that area late the night before, where they saw and followed a vehicle quickly fleeing the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officers eventually apprehended 27-year-old Jamaal Jones, who was allegedly traveling in the vehicle with a weapon. Jones was taken in, questioned, and arrested early on Jan. 21. He faces charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and tampering with evidence, the SLMPD told PEOPLE.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong><em>Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/ew-dispatch-newsletter-11812417\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:EW Dispatch newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.<\/em><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Premiering on the Zeus Network in Feb. 2025, <em>Two Ways with Erica Mena <\/em>featured 18 contestants divided into two groups \u2014 nine men and nine women \u2014 all competing for the attention of the reality star. Walker nearly made it to the finals, placing fourth overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mena mourned the losses of both Walker and Saiveon Hopkins, whom she chose on the finale of <em>Two Ways <\/em>and who was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ketv.com\/article\/omaha-men-arrested-in-connection-to-shooting-death\/62630950\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:killed in Sept. 2024;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">killed in Sept. 2024<\/a>, in a post <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DT8gPApCQOW\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:shared to her Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">shared to her Instagram<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;You were both so young, so gifted, so full of dreams,&#8221; she wrote over an AI-generated video of the men hugging. &#8220;The world failed you. Your lives were taken in ways that will never make sense, and you did not deserve that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/reality-dating-show-contestant-jardyn-pee-wee-walker-dies-at-23-11892163\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Entertainment Weekly;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jardyn Walker, a former contestant on Erica Mena&#8217;s reality dating series Two Ways with Erica Mena who went by the nickname &#8220;Pee Wee,&#8221; was found shot to death in Missouri on Jan. 21. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department laid out the sequence of events that led to the discovery of Walker&#8217;s body in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2250359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[435637,435639,435641,435643,435642,435640,347489,435638],"class_list":["post-2250358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-erica-mena","tag-jardyn-walker","tag-pee-wee","tag-st-louis-metropolitan-area","tag-st-louis-metropolitan-police-department","tag-university-city-police","tag-walker","tag-zeus-jardyn-walker"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Reality-dating-show-contestant-Jardyn-Pee-Wee-Walker-dies-at.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2250360,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250358\/revisions\/2250360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2250359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}