OXFORD – More than three years after Starkville Academy student Walker Montgomery took his own life following an online sextortion scheme, the Nigerian man accused of targeting him has been extradited to Mississippi.
Adebola Festus Adekumle, 26, of Lagos, Nigeria, is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, the production of child sex abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor and interstate threats with intent to extort.
Adekumle faces up to life in prison for the charges, if convicted.
In a Friday press conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi, Brian Montgomery, Walker’s father, joined representatives from investigative agencies in the case, including Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard, Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins, Robert Eikhoff, FBI special agent in charge, Attorney General Lynn Fitch and U.S. Attorney Scott Leary for the announcement of the arrest.
Brian Montgomery said Friday’s announcement was a bittersweet milestone in his son’s case.
“The uncertainty of knowing if a person would ever be held accountable … has been another aspect of our daily lives which we have had to contend with in addition to Walker being gone, missing him (and knowing) there’s a person responsible for that,” he told The Dispatch after the press conference. “… We’ve still have lots of other things to happen, but the fact that he’s here, he’s been extradited – that’s a huge milestone.”
Walker Montgomery, 16, died in December 2022 after falling victim to an online sexual extortion scheme, known as sextortion.
Financially motivated sextortion involves an offender coercing a minor to create and send explicit materials. The offender then threatens to share the materials unless they receive payment from the victim, according to the FBI.
During the press conference, Leary said local investigating agencies – SPD and LCSO – worked quickly to preserve digital evidence of the crime alongside the FBI and Attorney General’s Office. Evidence led investigators to Nigeria and ultimately helped secure Adekumle’s arrest in August 2023, roughly seven months after Walker’s death, Eikoff said.
Adekumle made his initial appearance in federal court Friday, though Billie L. Eubanks, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District, said bond will not be discussed until a Tuesday arraignment.
Leary and Brian Montgomery both credited law enforcement’s ability to work together to move the case forward.
“This is a tragedy that will never go away, but by bringing this suspect to justice, it might prevent another family from going through the same thing that the Montgomerys have,” Hawkins said during the press conference.
Ballard encouraged parents to take an active role in their children’s social media usage.
“If there’s ever a point to take from this, from Walker’s death, please let it be: get involved, get engaged,” he said during the press conference. “Don’t have your child to teach you how to work social media. As a parent, take on that task and become the expert in social media.”
Adekumle’s arrest was made as part of Operation Artemis, an FBI initiative intended specifically to apprehend sexual extortionists in Nigeria targeting minors in the United States.
Between 2024 and 2025, Eikhoff said the FBI saw sextortion related complaints increase by nearly half, climbing up to more than 75,000 in 2025, with more than 60% of those tracking back to Nigerian-based IP addresses.
“So for us as the FBI, as law enforcement, it is critical that we first talk to our communities, talk to the families (and) bring this awareness because it’s only growing,” Eikhoff said during the press conference. “The perpetrators are overseas. It’s difficult for us to affect them at scale, and while we will work the cases that we work, we still have to try to protect people (at home) from these predators.”
Brian Montgomery, who has advocated for stronger protections for minors on social media including with the 2025 Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act, agreed. Noting settlement announced Wednesday between Meta and 47 states including Mississippi as another motivator, he said he plans to continue that advocacy “more so than ever.”
“This is just the start. It’s got to be,” he said in the press conference. “These companies are partially to blame for the loss of our son – Meta specifically. This trial we just came through is a signal things are changing. … We absolutely must take this opportunity to regulate these companies. There is no world that we exist in that they will ever self regulate. They will always choose profits over protection.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.