Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Gerald and Charlene Gallego
American serial killers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Gerald Armond Gallego (July 17, 1946 – July 18, 2002) and Charlene Adell Gallego (née Williams; born October 19, 1956), also known as Stephen and Charlene Feil and nicknamed the Sex Slave Killers, were American serial killers who abducted, raped, tortured and murdered at least ten people between 1978 and 1980.
The couple abducted their victims from areas near the Interstate 80 freeway running through California and Nevada with the exception of a victim killed during the couple's honeymoon in Oregon. Typically, Charlene would lure victims to the couple's vehicle with an offer of selling drugs, invitations to a party, or a request for help distributing flyers. Gerald would then restrain, abduct and rape them before killing them with a variety of methods, most commonly by shooting. They were nicknamed the "Sex Slave Killers" because of the prolonged torture the victims suffered which prosecutors asserted was due to the couple scouting for an ideal sex slave.[2]
Charlene accepted a plea bargain in Nevada whereby she agreed to testify against Gerald, and was sentenced to sixteen years and eight months imprisonment in February 1983.[3] After a four-month long trial in California, during which Gerald acted as his own attorney, he was found guilty and sentenced to death on June 21, 1983. Following his second trial in Nevada, he was again found guilty and received a death sentence on June 25, 1984. He attempted to appeal his sentence on numerous occasions and won a new penalty hearing in 1997 after his Nevada death sentence was overturned, although a new jury would reimpose the death penalty.[4] Suffering from colorectal cancer, Gerald refused all efforts to prolong his life and died in 2002.[5]
Charlene was released from prison in 1997 upon the conclusion of her sentence and moved back to California, where she maintains a low-profile. She continues to deny culpability in the murders and claims she only participated in them out of fear.[2]
Remove ads
Early life
Summarize
Perspective
Gerald Gallego
Gerald Armond Gallego was born on July 17, 1946, in Sacramento, California, to Gerald Albert Gallego and Lorraine Evelyn (née Pullen, later Bulgar and Davies).[6] Gerald's mother was a sex worker while his estranged father was a criminal who was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison for auto theft at the time of his birth.[7]
In June 1954, Gerald's father was sentenced to death in Mississippi for the murder of Ocean Springs police officer Ernest Beaugez, whom he killed the previous May during a prison escape.[8] While on death row, he and another inmate bludgeoned corrections officer J.C. Landrum to death.[9][7] On March 3, 1955, at age 26, Gerald's father was executed in the gas chamber at Mississippi State Penitentiary, becoming the first person in the state's history executed with such procedure.[10] Gerald was initially informed that his father had died in a car accident,[11] and it would not be until the age of 16 that he learned his father's identity.[6] Years later, after his own conviction for murder, Gerald told a court-appointed psychologist, "I have the feeling that my father is inside of me".[12]
Gerald spent much of his childhood in the Sacramento suburb of Del Paso Heights before moving to Yolo County and then to Nevada County.[13] During his formative years, his mother and her multiple boyfriends subjected him to constant physical abuse; several of her clients sexually abused him. Gerald often begged for physical affection such as hugging, and was frequently left unclean and hungry. At age 10 he was arrested for his first known felony offense—robbing a neighbor's home.[14] Two years later, he sexually abused a six-year-old girl which resulted in him being sentenced to a youth facility, from which he was released in 1961.[15]
As a student at Sacramento High School, Gerald was suspended numerous times for profanity, tardiness and violating closed campus rules.[16] He dropped out of school in the eleventh grade.[17] In his teens, he developed a sexual relationship with his mother's sister-in-law, who had been a mistress to his father.[18] In 1962, Gerald and his half-brother, David Raymond Hunt, were convicted of armed robbery and served one year at a youth facility.[16] At age 18, he was arrested for auto theft and chose to represent himself in court, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year at the Deuel Vocational Institution. During his imprisonment, he learned the fate of another half-brother, which led to a mental breakdown and him exclaiming, "The only thing I care about is killing God."[19] One day after his release, he and Hunt robbed and assaulted an acquaintance, a crime for which he served six months at the Sacramento County Jail.[16] In 1968 or 1969, Gerald was involved in a car accident that damaged his frontal lobe and embedded him in a coma for a week.[20]
In October 1969, Gerald and Hunt were arrested for participating in the armed robbery of a motel in Vacaville. While awaiting trial at Solano County jail, Gerald, Hunt and another inmate managed to escape by sawing through their cell door and climbing down one of the prison balconies with a white sheet.[21] The escape was short-lived, as a police tactical unit captured the escapees in a San Francisco apartment three days later.[22] Gerald served three years in prison and was paroled in September 1973.[23] He was discharged from parole in December 1975 and found employment as a truck driver.[14] Following Hunt's release, he led an illegal marijuana operation in Oregon until his arrest and conviction for attempting to murder a couple near Fort Lewis, Washington.[24]
Gerald was married a total of seven times, including two marriages to the same woman, beginning at the age of 16.[16] He would often abuse and abandon his partners when they ran out of money. In one marriage, he fathered a daughter whom he sexually molested and orally raped over an approximate seven-year period, as well as one of her friends.[25] Gerald was still married to a previous wife when he married Charlene.[15]
Charlene Williams
Charlene Adell Williams was born on October 19, 1956,[n 1] in Stockton, California, to parents Charles and Mercedes (née Whorton) Williams.[28] Raised in Sacramento, she was described as a smart, shy child from a supportive home with a steady source of income.[13][29] Her father was a well-known businessman who served as the vice president of a chain of supermarkets. As part of their professional lives, he and his wife frequently traveled.
Charlene was lauded in her early years for her academic performance, but at around 13 years old she started abusing amphetamine, marijuana, alcohol, and engaging in sex.[12] She graduated from Rio Americano High School in 1974 and opened a furniture store in Folsom with the financial assistance of her grandmother. She then enrolled at California State University but dropped out after one semester.[30] At age 17, she married her first husband, a United States Army soldier, but the marriage was annulled after one year after the man was deployed thousands of miles away to West Germany.[30]
Because of her overly flirty behavior with male co-workers, she was disliked at work and developed a reputation as a nymphomaniac. Charlene married a wealthy heroin addict who later asserted that Charlene was desperate for a threesome between the pair and a prostitute because she was enamored with lesbian sex. The marriage fell apart, and the pair divorced because the husband was unhappy that Charlene's parents interfered in their relationship.[30]
Charlene next married a soldier whom she described as a "mother's boy;" she soon became bored with him, and they separated. Soon after she embarked in an extramarital affair with a married man, but this relationship ended after she asked whether the pair might have sex with his wife. Charlene attempted suicide after the breakup but survived. Not long after, she met Gerald.[31]
Remove ads
Relationship
Summarize
Perspective
On September 29, 1977,[n 2] Gerald and Charlene met in a poker room at the Black Stallion club in Orangevale, California, and he invited her back to his home that night.[34] The following day, Charlene received a dozen long-stemmed roses and a card reading, "To a very sweet girl – Gerry."[35] Within a week she decided to move in with Gerald. Charlene acted as the submissive partner in their sadomasochistic relationship, and although she later testified that she detested the experience, Gerald engaged in rough intercourse and sodomy with her. Charlene allegedly became enamored by Gerald's machismo and started partaking in his deviant fantasies.[31][14]
After the couple had been living together for a few months, Gerald brought home a sixteen-year-old exotic dancer to Charlene, and they had a threesome together. Gerald made sure Charlene and the teenager did not touch each other and only touched him, but afterwards when he arrived home from work as a bartender, he discovered that Charlene and the teenager were having sex alone. After throwing the teenagers out of an open window in a rage, he beat Charlene. Afterward Gerald refused to have intercourse with Charlene, claiming he had lost his libido and had become impotent; she suspected he was sleeping with female bar patrons and had lost interest in her as a result.
Eventually, Gerald told Charlene that he required a pair of "sex slaves" to keep him excited.[30] This knowledge did not alarm Charlene, however, and she purchased a .25 Automatic pistol in December 1977. The following month, Gerald sought to divorce his wife so he could marry Charlene.[30] In the summer of 1978, Charlene informed Gerald she was pregnant but was met with dissatisfaction and had an abortion not long after.[36]
Remove ads
Marriages
Summarize
Perspective
In September 1978, Gerald's daughter and her friend reported their sexual abuse to a detective sergeant in the Butte County Sheriff's Office. A warrant for Gerald's arrest was issued the following month. Gerald initially told his mother-in-law that he wanted to surrender, but when her husband came home and became enraged at the sight of him, he and Charlene fled the premises and drove to Reno, Nevada.[37] Days after fleeing California, Gerald and Charlene married in Reno on September 30 in a wedding ceremony held at the Washoe County Courthouse.[28] Around this time, he assumed the alias "Stephen Robert Feil" — named after one of Charlene's cousins whom she felt resembled him[n 3] — to avoid the charges.[28]
The couple briefly lived in Houston, Texas, from late 1978 to early 1979.[40] There, Gerald found work as a bartender; coworkers described him as quiet, sometimes angry, but often nice. He quit his job after beating a fellow bartender in a drunken state.[37] Afterwards, under unclear circumstances, Gerald reconciled with his father-in-law, who offered him a job as a truck driver for a meat firm in Reno, and Charlene a job as a receptionist. The couple only held their jobs for a few months before quitting.[37] They returned to Sacramento in October 1979 and rented an apartment on Woodhollow Way. Gerald soon obtained a job as a bartender at the Bob-Les club, where he was recalled often firing his gun into the ceiling to wake up sleeping patrons.[41][37] Around this time, Charlene would want to take on the alias of "Charlene Feil", and the couple married for a second time under the Feil alias on June 1, 1980.[42] Charlene soon became pregnant with another child; the baby, Gerald Gallego Jr., would be born after the couple's arrest for murder.[36][43]
Domestic violence
Charlene later alleged that Gerald regularly abused her by slapping her, pulling her hair and grabbing her throat, abuse that began before they were married.[34] Around 1978, Gerald attempted to strangle Charlene, but stopped when her mother hit him over the head with the butt of a gun. In August 1980, Gerald and Charlene had an argument that escalated into physical violence, waking up neighbors and resulting in Charlene's parents conducing a rescue of her and forcing her to move out of Gerald's apartment.[42] Despite the abuse, Charlene made no attempt to alert law enforcement and later acknowledged that she lured young women to Gerald to become the "No. 1 woman in his life."[35]
Remove ads
Murders
Summarize
Perspective
Between 1978 and 1980, Gerald and Charlene Gallego murdered at least ten people in three states. All of the victims were aged between 13 and 34, all but one were female and most were killed in California.[44][45][46] The couple typically cruised around the West Coast along Interstate 80 in Charlene's 1973 Dodge Ram Van and observed young women and girls as potential victims.[47][48] Typically, it was Charlene who lured their targets into the van using various ruses, including duping them into thinking they were only selling drugs.[49]
In later years, prosecutors would assert, along with Charlene herself, that the couple were on the hunt for an ideal sex slave so that Gerald could indulge in his sexual sadism.[50] The couple would restrain their victims, drive to secluded locations and kill them after prolonged periods of continuous sexual assault and psychological torture. The victims were killed usually by shooting, bludgeoning and on one occasion strangulation.[44]
First victims
Gerald and Charlene killed their first confirmed victims on September 11, 1978. They had staked out the Country Club Plaza in Sacramento and noticed two Vista Nueva High School students, Kippi Jacquelyn Vaught (16) and Rhonda Lee Scheffler (17), leaving a shoe store.[51][52] Charlene approached the two, said she was inviting them to a party, and brought them to the van, where Gerald brandished his pistol and forced them into the back.[53]
The girls were bound with tape around their arms and ankles and then were repeatedly sexually assaulted by Gerald while Charlene drove to a secluded area in the Sierra Foothills near Baxter, sixty-five miles east of Sacramento. When they arrived, Gerald ordered Charlene to return to Sacramento alone, clean out the van, switch vehicles and come back at around midnight. She did what was requested and also visited a friend during that time.[20] Now alone with Vaught and Scheffler, Gerald forced the girls into a clearing and repeatedly raped Sheffler for hours as Vaught was forced to watch.[54][n 4]
Charlene returned to Baxter at around 10:40 p.m. and signaled Gerald to come out from hiding by honking the horn and flashing the car lights. Gerald told her that he was glad she came back because he was cold.[20] Vaught and Sheffler were forced into the back seat of the car as the Gallegos drove to Sloughhouse, where Gerald ordered them out of the vehicle. He asked that Charlene stay in the vehicle and turn up the radio and subsequently forced the girls to cross a field to a ditch, where he struck Vaught with a tire iron before swinging around and assaulting Scheffler. Finally, he pulled out his pistol and shot each girl once in the head.
Vaught made an attempt to flee as Gerald was leaving because the gunshot had only lightly grazed her skull; she was killed when he went back and fired three more shots into her head.[14] He shot several more times at the bodies after noticing they were "still wiggling".[20] Afterwards, Gerald and Charlene ransacked their purses and returned to Sacramento later that day, discarding their firearm, the tire iron, and the purses in a river; the girls' bodies would be found fifteen yards apart two days later by a farmer.[55][56]
Nevada murders
Nine months later, on June 24, 1979, Gerald and Charlene staked out the Washoe County Fair in Reno, Nevada, during an annual rodeo. Gerald, who opted to wait in the van, instructed Charlene to approach any petite female with preferably long dark hair and lure them back to the van with the ruse that they would earn money by distributing flyers.[57] Charlene first attempted to persuade a young girl, who eagerly accepted the offer but said she had to get permission from her uncle, who was working as a security guard at the fairground. The girl left, and later came back saying she had gotten permission. Fearing that the uncle might later give crucial details to police, Charlene told the girl that someone else had accepted the job, and the girl walked off.[58]
Eventually, Charlene managed to dupe 14-year-old Brenda Lynne Judd and 13-year-old Sandra Kaye Colley to follow her to the van, where Gerald forced them inside at gunpoint and Charlene took control of the vehicle.[53] On Interstate 80, Charlene drove the van northeast of Reno as Gerald sexually assaulted the girls in the back. Charlene eventually parked the van in the remote Humboldt Sink area. Over the next several of hours, Gerald rested and watched Charlene force the girls to perform sex acts on each other. He then dragged Colley towards a dry stream bed after he removed a shovel from under their van's seat and yanked her out of the car. He then crept up behind Colley and repeatedly struck her in the head with a shovel. Charlene would later recall in court the assault, describing it as "a loud splat like a flat rock hitting mud, and the girl sank to her knees and slowly toppled over on her face."
After killing Judd, Gerald dug a large pit in Hallelujah Junction, California, placed the girls' naked bodies inside, and covered the pit with a rock.[59] The Reno Police Department initially listed the teenagers as runaways, citing an incorrect reported sighting of one of the girls alive days after their disappearance.[60] It would not be until Charlene confessed to their murders in 1982 that foul play would be determined, but their bodies remained missing for more than two decades.[n 5] At a certain point in 1979, Gerald and Charlene abducted and robbed a lone male from a parking lot. They ultimately spared this victim and dropped him off at a different location.[20]
On the afternoon of April 23, 1980, Gerald and Charlene engaged in another domestic dispute.[63] The following morning, Gerald awoke Charlene demanding "I want a girl! Get up!" While he remained irritated at her throughout the day, the couple spent some time together driving around Citrus Heights, California, until they came upon two girls exiting the Sunrise Mall: seventeen-year-olds Stacy Ann Redican and Karen Lynn Chipman-Twiggs, two high school dropouts from Del Paso Heights.[64][65] On the pretext of smoking some marijuana, Charlene approached the two females and invited them to travel with her in the van, to which they enthusiastically accepted. Gerald met the girls with a .357 Magnum pistol as they entered the van. He quickly commanded Charlene to drive and ordered the girls to undress. Gerald tied both up with a macramé rope, pocketed $77 from one of their purses, and then raped both.[63]
After he finished, he had Charlene drive to a store where he purchased a hammer, then ordered her to drive to Limerick Canyon in eastern Pershing County, Nevada. The Gallegos were familiar with the area as they had gone camping there the previous summer.[63] He led the girls one at a time into the woods carrying the hammer and a shovel, bludgeoning both to death.[66] Afterwards, Gerald forced Charlene to view the graves. Charlene claimed that she saw movement, but Gerald insisted that both girls were dead. The following morning, he purchased breakfast for him and Charlene with the victims' money, remarking that "breakfast was on them."[63] Later that day, the couple traveled to Stateline and stayed at Harrah's Lake Tahoe hotel for one night before returning to California.[67] The animal-revenged bodies of Redican and Chipman-Twiggs would be found over three months later by picnickers. They were fully clothed and badly decomposed, and an autopsy confirmed they were raped and suffered massive and fatal head injuries from a blunt instrument.[15]
Oregon murder
Shortly after, Gerald and Charlene returned to California and settled back into their Woodhollow Way apartment in Sacramento. In early June 1980, around the time of their second marriage,[42] Charlene informed Gerald she was pregnant. Ecstatic to hear the news, he took her on their second honeymoon in Southern Oregon.[44] On June 6, as they were passing through Gold Beach, the Gallegos offered a ride to hitchhiker Linda Teresa Aguilar (21), the mother of a one-year-old and four-months pregnant.[68]
Aguilar had accepted the couple's offer and was traveling with them in their van until Gerald brandished a revolver while Charlene was driving. The couple eventually stopped just off of U.S. Route 101, where Gerald told Charlene to get out and "walk around for a while" while he tied Aguilar's wrists and ankles with a nylon cord, raped her and then bludgeoned her into unconsciousness.[69]
After obtaining a spare hubcap from his vehicle, Gerald used it as a shovel to dig a shallow grave on Myers Creek Beach, where he placed Aguilar's body and attempted to conceal it by kicking sand and placing a large driftwood log over her.[15] Relatives reported Aguilar missing on June 20 and German tourists found her body two days later. An examination revealed that she may have been buried alive since sand had been found in her mouth, throat and nose.[70] An eyewitness to her abduction gave a detailed description of the van she was last seen getting into.[71]
Return to California
On July 17, after spending several hours fishing in the California Delta, the couple stopped by the Sail Inn bar in West Sacramento, where they abducted cocktail waitress Virginia Maxine Mochel (34), whom they were acquainted with as she had frequently served drinks to them.[72] After sexually assaulting Mochel in the back of the van, Gerald ordered Charlene to turn up the radio and not turn around as he strangled Mochel.[20] They couple discarded her body near a pond outside Clarksburg.[73] Two weeks after the murder, the couple sold their van to an Orangevale couple for $2,300.[74]
During the investigation, a detective contacted Gerald, who was still under the alias "Stephen Feil", as he was believed to be one of several patrons present at the bar the night of Mochel's disappearance. He told the detective he had been drunk that day and remembered hardly anything other than fishing. Charlene would later vouch for Gerald by telling the detective he was a truck driver who was frequently out of town.[20] Mochel's skeletal remains, still bound with nylon fishing line, were found three months later by two fishermen. Loops of cord from the victim's neck were admitted as proof of death by strangulation.[75]
On November 1, Gerald and Charlene prowled through the Arden Fair Shopping Center parking lot in Charlene's silver Oldsmobile[76] and abducted Craig Raymond Miller (22) and his fiancée, Mary Elizabeth Sowers (21), who were leaving a fraternity-sponsored dance at a nearby restaurant.[77] Gerald approached them while brandishing a .25 caliber Beretta and ordered the couple to enter the Gallegos' vehicle. After taking them to a remote location near Folsom State Prison, Gerald ordered Miller out of the car.[44] As Miller turned to approach the front of the car, Gerald shot him in the back of the head, which was followed by two more shots as he lay lifeless on the ground; his body would later be found near Bass Lake, California.
After reentering the vehicle, Gerald and ordered Charlene to drive to the their apartment. There, he took Sowers, whose hands were bound by her hair ribbon, into the bedroom and raped her for hours as Charlene waited in the living room.[35] After reemerging, Gerald ordered Charlene to drive him and Sowers to a rural area near Roseville, where he forced Sowers out of the car, walked her into the woods and fatally shot her three times at point blank range.[14]
A friend of Miller and Sowers who had witnessed their abduction memorized the car's license plate number and alerted authorities. Police used this information to track down the vehicle, which was registered to Charlene, to her parents' home in Sacramento. On November 2, police visited the home and questioned Charlene, who claimed to have no knowledge of the missing couple, and police did not arrest her. That same day, Miller's body was discovered at Bass Lake.[78] A witness to the abduction identified Gerald in a photo lineup.[79]
Remove ads
Fugitives from justice
Summarize
Perspective
By the time police went to arrest Gerald and Charlene, they had fled to Reno and ditched their car at the Circus Circus Reno parking lot.[80] Shortly after, the couple emerged as suspects in the murder of Mochel due to their past acquaintance with her.[81] Detectives soon realized that they had unknowingly interviewed the Gallegos during the initial investigation into her disappearance, while Gerald was using the alias "Stephen Robert Feil," and both offered an alibi claiming to have either been fishing or out of town around the time she disappeared.[74]
Detectives tracked down an Orangevale couple, who had purchased Charlene's van in August, and took it into possession; at first nothing was found, but the couple notified detectives that when they had first purchased the vehicle, they had discovered dark stains on a sheet and a foam-rubber mattress, and had kept those items in their garage. When turned over to authorities, forensic analyses on the items would determine the stains were of human blood.[74] Police subsequently issued a search of Gerald's residence and uncovered a box of .25 caliber Winchester Western shells, with nine shells missing.[82] The FBI assisted in the manhunt and were able to track Charlene to Salt Lake City, Utah, where a woman matching her description collected money addressed to her at a Western Union office.[83]
Authorities suspected that Charlene's parents were aiding her and Gerald, and the FBI began surveillance on them. During the weekend of November 15–16, the parents were observed driving from Sacramento to Sparks, Nevada, where they entered a Western Union office and transferred $500 via wire to Omaha, Nebraska.[84] With the knowledge that the Gallegos were expecting a wire transfer to Omaha's Western Union office, authorities alerted the bureau's Omaha field office.[19]
Remove ads
Arrest
Summarize
Perspective
On November 17, FBI agents detained Charlene as she entered the Omaha Western Union office. Gerald, who was waiting outside in his car, was detained as well.[85] He refused to cooperate with the arresting agents and verbally insulted them. He later complained at a court hearing that the agents had "viciously pulled me off the streets" and tightened his handcuffs to the extent he lost blood circulation.[86] At the hearing, United States magistrate judge Richard C. Peck imposed a $100,000 bond for the couple,[19] despite pleas from Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Thalken for bond to be set at $500,000 each, arguing that the brutality of the charges weighed against them.
The couple waived extradition and were returned to Sacramento three days later.[87] Both denied any involvement in the murders and maintained that their alibi at the time of Mochel's death was genuine.[88]
Indictments
Gerald and Charlene were arraigned for two counts of first-degree murder on November 21, 1980. Due to discrepancies regarding whether or not Mochel was abducted within the 500-yard line of Sacramento County, a third murder charge was not filed despite physical evidence pinpointing the Gallegos.[89] During the arraignment, Gerald, growing increasingly tired of spectators and reporters watching him, stood and shouted, "We're not animals! What happened to a fair trial?" followed by Charlene yelling, "Why are you doing this to us?" Charlene pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder while Gerald refused to enter a plea, and a not guilty plea was entered by Judge Edward Garcia on his behalf.[90] Gerald was held without bail; Charlene's lawyers attempted to get a $25,000 bail for her, which Garcia denied.[91] Gerald maintained innocence in interviews with the media, but in private, notably during a conversation with Charlene's mother, he told of being on LSD when he and Charlene killed Miller and Sowers.[92] Forensic analyses on a pair of Charlene's shoes revealed minute traces of human blood.[93]
Charlene's parents initially hired an attorney named Dan Sullivan to represent her and remortgaged their home to pay for the services. However, after they failed to obtain a second mortgage, Manning withdrew, and former U.S. House candidate Joseph Murphy agreed to take over Charlene's defense.[94] Charlene, who at this point was nine-months pregnant, requested to be moved to a correctional center in Elk Grove to obtain medicine for her upcoming birth.[95] On January 17, 1981, Charlene began experiencing labor pains and was rushed to UC Davis Medical Center. Soon enough, when it became clear that the baby's slow heartrate could become a problem, doctors were forced to perform a caesarean section and Charlene successfully delivered the baby.[43]
Gerald was appointed public defender Donald L. Manning as his lawyer.[96] In March 1981, he asked the court to dismiss Manning because he wanted to represent himself, but after a hearing on the matter on April 6[97] the request was denied and Manning stayed on his defense.[98] Manning sought a change of venue several times, arguing that the extensive publicity near Sacramento could affect jury selection, but his attempts were denied.[99]
During proceedings, Gerald and four other men awaiting trial at the Sacramento County Jail were linked to an alleged plot to overpower a rooftop correctional officer as part of an escape attempt.[100] The plot was thwarted because the men were initially expecting one officer guarding the roof but were met with five.[101]
Confession
Although Charlene initially denied involvement,[102] in mid-1982 she consulted her lawyers, Hamilton Hintz Jr. and Fern Laethem, about additional crimes her and Gerald committed. Over the next several weeks, she affirmed her role in the murders of Miller, Sowers and Mochel, and additionally confessed to the seven other homicides. Upon hearing the news, Lovelock District Attorney Richard Wagner filed murder charges against Gerald for the murders of Redican and Chipman-Twiggs, while Charlene was given immunity.[103] Her attorneys were eventually able to convince prosecutors in several jurisdictions to allow her to testify against Gerald in a plea bargain that reduced her prison sentence, and a judge in Nevada proposed a plea bargain where Charlene would testify and receive a sentence of sixteen years and eight months' imprisonment.[10] Around this time, Charlene dropped Gallego from her name and reembraced her surname after being informed that her marriage to Gerald had never been valid.[104]
Charlene also spoke about several failed abductions, including the girl who she had encountered the day of Judd and Colley's murders, along with those of a boy and another unidentified female.[57] She also recounted assisting Gerald in kidnapping and robbing a man in 1979.[20]
In September 1982, Superior Court Judge John Boskovich accepted a venue change motion by Manning, and Gerald's trial was moved to Contra Costa County.[105] The following month, during a closed hearing, Gerald fired Manning, and Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Norman Spellberg allowed Gerald to act as his own attorney.[106] In his first action, Gerald sought to restrict Charlene from testifying against him at trial, contending that the judge who had originally granted her plea bargain lacked authority because a new one had been assigned to the case, and that her proposed sentence of sixteen years and eight months was too short for a death penalty case. Ultimately, a three-member judge panel ruled unanimously to deny his request.[107]
Remove ads
California murder trial
Summarize
Perspective
Gerald Gallego's trial began on December 12, 1982, at the Contra Costa County Superior Court Building in Martinez, before Judge Spellberg.[108][109] Sacramento Chief Deputy District Attorney James I. Morris, acting as prosecutor, sought the death penalty for Gerald.[110]
During opening statements, Morris outlined the murders of Miller and Sowers and Gerald's sexual fantasies of abducting and raping young women. Morris called up Jeff Benner, an acquaintance of Miller and Sowers who had witnessed their abduction, who identified Gerald as the perpetrator. In his rebuttal, Gerald repeatedly asked Benner if he was positive about the identification because of an earlier incident at a preliminary hearing where he accidentally identified a separate attorney as the kidnapper.[111]
A centerpiece of the prosecution's evidence was the ballistics evidence tying Gerald's firearm to the bullets recovered at the crime scenes.[112] At his workplace at the Bob-Les club in Sacramento, Gerald was known to have fired his gun into the ceiling to wake up sleeping patrons. On January 4, criminologist Alfred Biasotti testified on behalf of the prosecution that bullet shells recovered from the club's attic were matched to the bullets pulled from Miller's head. That same day, Torrey Johnson of the California Department of Justice testified that he analyzed the bullet shells and determined that distinctive markings proved they were fired from the same weapon.[112] In his rebuttal, Gerald claimed that Johnson was referring to Charlene's .25 caliber pistol which was never located, although Johnson would clarify that a .25 caliber pistol was not used in the murders of Miller and Sowers, but said it may have been used in the murders of Vaught and Scheffler.[113]
Gerald acknowledged he abducted both victims but claimed he only killed them out of self-defense, claiming that Miller had attacked and tried to disarm him and he was forced to kill him, and claimed Charlene had killed Sowers to "cover-up the crime."[114] While attempting to persuade the jury that he was too intoxicated at the time of the murders to be fairly judged, he called up psychiatrist Delbert Wilcox, who argued that Gerald's excessive drinking could have caused amnesia and hence why he could not remember exact details of the murders. Wilcox cited his conversations with Gerald, and when asked if he believed him, Wilcox responded "substantially."[115] In his rebuttal, Morris called up another psychiatrist, Lee Coleman of the University of California, Berkeley, who dismissed Wilcox's claim and remarked that psychiatry "simply does not have the tools necessary to make such a judgement."[116]
Charlene's testimony
Charlene was slated to testify on behalf of the prosecution in January 1983. A month prior, her lawyers had visited the courtroom before the trial adjourned for the holiday break and spoke of being unhappy with their client's current security measures, citing Gerald's ability to roam free in the courtroom and his access to pens and water pitchers — which could potentially be used as weapons — when recommending extra protection.[82] Due to her status as a key witness, Charlene was held in protective custody at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center. Fourteen prisoners filed complaints alleging that she was receiving unfair special treatment as her cell contained a special television set that no other inmates had access to.[117]
On January 10, Charlene took the stand. She testified that during their marriage Gerald had expected her "to be the lure for a young and beautiful woman" to fulfill his sexual fantasies.[118] While she readily admitted to being an active accomplice in the kidnappings, she denied having participated in the murders and even claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol during a majority of them.[119] When it was Gerald's turn to question Charlene, he promptly asked her, "Mrs. Gallego, did you kill Craig Miller?" followed by, "Did you kill Mary Beth Sowers?" Charlene responded in the negative to each of the questions. Gerald also asked her what she thought about his sexual fantasies; "I thought you were crazy," she answered.[120]
On January 17, Charlene returned to the stand, and Gerald promptly asked her why she had lied to investigators and engaged in a coverup, to which she responded, "Gerry, you know very well that you shot and killed those two kids." Gerald replied, "Isn't it a fact you entered this coverup willingly because you are in fact murderess?" As Charlene was replying loudly that Gerald was a liar, Spellberg interrupted the exchange and threatened to hold both in contempt of court if they continued.[121] Supposedly, at one point during the trial, Gerald hid in one of the building's bathrooms in an attempt to avoid further questioning.[122] After six days of questioning, Charlene left the courtroom sobbing.[123]
Charlene would take the stand again during the trial's penalty phase, where she recounted the murder of Aguilar, how Gerald raped her in their van before burying her alive and how he "had no tears in his eyes" after the fact. She also testified that, shortly after killing Mochel, Gerald bragged that "it was easy – just like the other one."[124] Under cross-examination, however, Charlene acknowledged that she could have called for help during the time both victims were alive but claimed she was afraid of Gerald's "emotional control."[69]
Conviction
Following closing arguments, on April 6, the jury began deliberations,[125] and during that time Gerald sat in his cell read John Norman's Gor book series, which depicts an alternate world populated by slaves and women.[126] After five days, the jury convicted Gerald on two counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping, with the jury finding that his convictions had met the special circumstances allowing him to be eligible for the death penalty.[127] At the start of the penalty phase, Gerald requested an attorney and hired Richard Fathy, who attempted to portray his client as having a child-like mindset to the jury.
On May 12, Morris called up Gerald's nineteen-year-old daughter, who testified that she had suffered sustained sexual abuse by him over a seven-year period.[128] In his final statement to the jury, Morris urged them to sentence Gerald to death, saying, "The man ought to have the opportunity, the sooner the better, to meet Gerald Albert Gallego. Then God can deal with his soul, whether or not he can swap stories with the man that he respects so much."[129] On May 24, the jury took less than two hours to recommend a death sentence,[130] which Spellberg formally imposed on June 21.[131] At the sentencing, the judge cited Gerald's prior criminal offenses as representing "the failure of our system."[132]
Following his sentencing, Gerald was moved to death row at San Quentin State Prison. Three months later, California Governor George Deukmejian signed an executive agreement ordering Gerald's extradition to Pershing County, Nevada, where he was to stand trial for the murders of Redican and Chipman-Twiggs.[133] He was flown to Nevada on January 18, 1984,[134] and arraigned for the murders on March 23. Gerald chose not to act as his own attorney and agreed to the appointment of public defender Thomas Perkins as his representing attorney.[135][136]
Remove ads
Nevada murder trial
Summarize
Perspective
Gerald was brought to trial in Nevada on May 23, 1984, at the Pershing County Courthouse, before Superior Court Judge Llewellyn Young.[137] Lovelock District Attorney Richard A. Wagner served as prosecutor.[138] For his first witness, Wagner called up Mildred Vaught, the mother of victim Kippi Vaught, who testified that she had become enraged with Gerald to the point that she made a plan to kill him, but did not follow through.[139] Charlene took the stand on May 24, where she recounted the murders in detail and said the victims, who were aged 16 and 17, were "too old" to satisfy Gerald's sexual fantasies.[140]
Besides Charlene's testimony, the prosecution presented four other pieces of evidence that implicated Gerald: a rope used for macramé found in his car was identical to the one used to tie the victims' wrists; records at Harrah's Lake Tahoe hotel showing that Gerald and Charlene had been in Nevada at the time; statements made by a cellmate of Gerald's which matched what Charlene had told authorities; and a photograph found in his possession which was found to have been taken at the exact site where the victims were buried.[67][141][142]
The defense focused largely on attacking Charlene's credibility. Perkins mentioned that Charlene's statements regarding the murders of Kippi Vaught and Rhonda Scheffler contradicted the statements of four witnesses, who had initially told police that the girls were last seen getting into a car with Michigan license plates at around 3:15 p.m. the day they were kidnapped.[143] In his rebuttal, Wagner argued that the witnesses had misidentified two separate girls as the kidnapped duo by presentencing a receipt that proved Sheffler was still present at the shoe store after 4:00 p.m. and that "Type A" seminal stains from a positive secretor located at the crime scene was consistent with Gerald's semen type.[20] During closing arguments, the defense called up a desk clerk for the Harrah's Lake Tahoe who testified that she could only produce a receipt that showed a "Charlene Williams" was at the hotel the day after the murders, although room service records showed that another person was staying with her.[143]
The trial lasted for three weeks and was the most expensive trial in Pershing County history. Much of the trial costs consisted of donations by residents of Pershing County and other nearby cities, states, and even one from Papua New Guinea.[144] The jury deliberated for three hours and forty minutes before returning their verdict. They found Gerald guilty on two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.[145] He stared intently at the ceiling and heaved a loud sigh as the verdict was announced.[146]
Second death sentence
A plea by the defense to consider Gerald's possible brain abnormalities ultimately did not persuade the jury, as they recommended a death sentence on June 12.[147] The jury also rendered two life sentences for the kidnapping convictions.[148] Gerald's death sentence was formally imposed by Judge Young on June 25. As the sentence was announced, Gerald reportedly stood and shouted, "You sentenced me to death with no damn evidence at all!"[149] During his imprisonment, Gerald accused Wagner of selling his life story to enrich himself and asked that the Nevada Attorney General and the State Bar of Nevada investigate him.[150]
Remove ads
Subsequent developments
Summarize
Perspective
Shortly after his convictions in Pershing County, the remaining charges for the murders of Judd and Colley were dismissed over concerns that Washoe County could not cover the costs for a death penalty case, and that their bodies still being missing weighed against a murder trial. Judd's mother nevertheless said that she felt justice had been served with Gerald's conviction for other cases.[151]
Gerald was imprisoned at Nevada State Prison and was later moved into solitary confinement after informants linked him to an escape plot.[152] On March 25, 1988, Gerald and convicted robber Robert Toston got into a physical alteration in the prison's exercise yard. He bit off a chunk of Toston's ear before guards fired multiple rounds of birdshot at them.[153] In 1989 or 1990, he was transferred to death row at Ely State Prison.[n 6]
Following her conviction, Charlene was transferred to Nevada Women's Correctional Center in Carson City to serve out the entirety of her sentence.[156] While in prison, she studied psychology, business and Icelandic literature.[157] She regularly communicated by telephone with Richard Wagner, the prosecutor at Gerald's Pershing County trial. Wagner, who had assisted in the plea bargain for Charlene, dismissed the claim that she had been directly involved in the murders, calling it a "damnable lie" and offered no regret about the plea bargain, but also said that in a "perfect world" Charlene "should have the death sentence".[158]
Post-sentencing appeals
Between 1985 and 2001, Gerald filed numerous appeals, citing issues such as jury prejudice and judicial errors. His first appeal, alleging that widespread publicity diminished his chances of getting a fair trial, was unanimously dismissed in December 1985 by the Nevada Supreme Court.[159] He was scheduled to be executed on February 6, 1987, by lethal injection; three weeks prior, the U.S. District Court of Nevada issued an indefinite stay following an appeal to the federal court.[160]
In 1993, Gerald filed a seventeen-page appeal seeking to overturn his convictions in Nevada, citing issues such as jury prejudice and errors on the judge's behalf. Despite the Nevada Attorney General urging the court to deny the request,[161] District Court Judge Howard D. McKibben issued a hearing on the matter in October 1995 and ordered an investigation into Charlene at the request of Gerald.[162][163] McKibben ultimately rejected the appeal after four months of hearing arguments.[164] Gerald further sought to appeal on the grounds that the trial had been unfair due to the extensive publicity tampering jury selection.[165]
In September 1997, Gerald's death sentence in Nevada was overturned by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after it was discovered that jurors had been incorrectly informed that he could have been eligible for parole if not sentenced to death.[166] The United States Supreme Court subsequently denied a motion by Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa to reinstate his sentence, and motions for a new penalty hearing were allowed to move forward.[167] Clark County District Judge John S. McGroarty ordered Gerald to undergo a psychological evaluation to determine if he was competent enough to move forward to a new penalty hearing. During court appearances, Gerald often argued with McGroarty and ignored some his questions, and during one appearance sat facing an exit door with his back turned to the judge.[168] A subsequent mental health evaluation conducted on behalf of Gerald's defense council reported that he endured severe organic brain damage that had deteriorated markedly from 1984 onward.[169] At an April 1999 evaluation, psychologist Dr. Myla Young would determine that Gerald was delusional, psychotic and possibly schizophrenic, a similar result that she had originally reported during a 1994 evaluation.[170] Nevertheless, McGroarty ruled that Gerald was competent enough to participate in the hearing but rejected his proposal that he represent himself.[171]
The new penalty hearing began on September 20, 1999. Gerald's defense opted for the minimum sentence of life with the chance of parole, arguing their case that he was no longer a danger to himself or others, while prosecuting attorney Brent Kolvet outlined the murders in detail and moved swiftly through a string of witnesses that included former homicide investigators and forensic specialists.[172] On September 21, Kolvet called up Donald Redican, the father of victim Stacey Redican, who stated that his daughter had suffered before her death, that she had never lived long enough to accomplish any of her goals and that his other three daughters viewed Gerald as a real-life monster.[173] The defense, who called up no witnesses, tried to paint Gerald as having had an upbringing riddled with abuse. Reportedly, Gerald showed dissatisfaction with his lawyers as he wanted them to call up numerous witnesses, including Charlene.[174] The defense raised questions surrounding Charlene's plea bargain regarding whether it minimized her involvement in the murders, while Kolvet defended the plea bargain, saying it was "essential".[175]
Gerald chose not to take the stand in his own defense after learning he would be prohibited from denying his guilt or rebutting certain facts, so when the defense rested its case, he opted to make a statement to the jury. In his statement, he admitted his guilt and apologized to the victims' families.[176] On September 23, the jury deliberated for one hour before finding that Gerald should again be sentenced to death, and Judge McGroarty formally imposed the death sentence on November 16.[4] A new execution date was set for January 17, 2000, which was stayed due to an automatic appeal.[177] His final two appeals, filed in May and July 2001, were both denied by the Nevada Supreme Court.[178]
Charlene's release
By 1991, Charlene had amassed enough good time credit to warrant early release,[179] and she was due to be released on September 3 of that year, sparking criticism from Gerald's legal team. Charlene herself maintained that she wanted to stay imprisoned until the end of her sentence, but Nevada prison officials stated they had no choice but to release her.[180] Because her plea deal stated she had to serve out the entirely of her sentence, California prosecutors planned to issue an arrest warrant for Charlene in relation to the murders of Miller and Sowers upon her release.[181] To avoid this she consulted her court-appointed lawyer, who asked that she remain in prison for another six years. In August, the courts accepted the request, and her release date was quickly rescheduled.[182] Her next scheduled release date of June 13, 1996, would too be rescheduled.[183]
Charlene was released on the morning of July 17, 1997, and assumed a new identity.[31] She was bound by a law to register as an ex-felon in the community she chose to reside.[158] She remarked to an interviewer after her release that "there were victims who died, and there were victims who lived. It's taken me a hell of a long time to realize that I'm one of the ones who lived."[184] She appeared in a 1998 episode of the talk show Leeza, where she claimed to have also been a victim, and that "it wasn't by choice" that she assisted Gerald in the crimes. The interview was conducted without a live studio audience, but portions of it were played to an audience who were recorded booing, hissing and laughing at Charlene's statements.[185]
Remove ads
Potential for more victims
Summarize
Perspective
| Sex Slave Murder victims |
| 1. Kippi Jacquelyn Vaught (16): September 11, 1978 |
| 2. Rhonda Lee Scheffler (17): September 11, 1978 |
| 3. Brenda Lynne Judd (14): June 24, 1979 |
| 4. Sandra Kaye Colley (13): June 24, 1979 |
| 5. Stacey Ann Redican (17): April 24, 1980 |
| 6. Karen Lynn Chipman-Twiggs (17): April 24, 1980 |
| 7. Linda Teresa Aguilar (22): June 6, 1980 |
| 8. Virginia Maxine Mochel (34): July 17, 1980 |
| 9. Craig Raymond Miller (22): November 1, 1980 |
| 10. Mary Elizabeth Sowers (21): November 1, 1980 |
During her imprisonment, Charlene told The Sacramento Bee that she strongly believed Gerald had committed more murders than the ten she had been present for. She recalled various instances where he would randomly disappear for hours with no explanation, how he would discuss how to get away with "a perfect crime" in conversations prior to their first confirmed murders and recalled an incident while the couple lived in Houston where he berated her for snooping through his briefcase and uncovering numerous Polaroid pictures, the contents of which he could not explain.[40][186]
Both Charlene and law enforcement speculated a link between Gerald, who resided in Sacramento for much of his adult life, and a serial rapist who perpetrated around fifty sexual assaults in the area during the 1970s. That criminal was known as the East Area Rapist, and his crimes ceased around the same time Gerald and Charlene were apprehended. Ultimately, DNA evidence cleared Gerald as a suspect in the 2000s.[187][n 7]
In 2004, The Charley Project weblog speculated that Gerald and Charlene may have committed the presumed murder of 16-year-old Sandra Kaye Butler, who disappeared on June 26, 1978, while making her way to the Greenbrae Shopping Centre in Sparks, Nevada. Butler was seen as a probable runaway at the time of her disappearance, and police took minimal action to investigate and track her down.[188][189] Butler's mother had given her permission to ride her bicycle to the rodeo at the Washoe County Fair on the day she vanished. It is known that the Gallegos were present at the fair on that day. The couple were never interviewed then by police who were investigating Butler's disappearance. Her remains have never been located, and there is suspicion of foul play. One year after she disappeared, on June 24, 1979, the Gallegos kidnapped Brenda Judd and Sandra Colley from the same fairgrounds where Butler had been cycling to one year earlier.[190][191]
Remove ads
Aftermath
Summarize
Perspective
In 1989, Gerald's half-brother, David Raymond Hunt, was charged with the 1980 murders of John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves in Davis, California, a crime investigators long suspected a copycat had committed to deflect suspicion from Gerald and Charlene.[192][193] Hunt's wife Suellen and two acquaintances were also charged. While awaiting trial, Suellen filed a $1.5 million lawsuit alleging libel in the 1990 book A Venom in the Blood, which she claimed falsely accused her of murdering Gerald and Hunt's mother, even though her 1986 death had been officially ruled a suicide.[194] All four defendants were eventually cleared of murdering Riggins and Gonsalves by DNA evidence.[195][n 8]
Gerald and Charlene were cited as the source of inspiration for serial rapists James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud, who kidnapped and sexually assaulted seven women, killing one, in Northern California in the mid-1990s. They had even purchased the couple's trading cards in a serial killer-themed deck as well as the book The Sex Slave Murders, which detailed their crimes.[197][198]
Gerald Gallego died at Renown Regional Medical Center on July 18, 2002, from advanced colorectal cancer.[199] He had been seriously ill for approximately four months but refused to accept any treatments aimed at prolonging his life, instead opting to be sedated with painkillers.[5][200] He was 56. His death was among a series of inmate deaths mentioned by assistant federal public defender Michael Pescetta[201] during an investigation into Ely State Prison management, which had been accused of not providing adequate medical care to inmates suffering from poor health, though prison officials persisted that Gerald was an exception because he had been offered treatment but refused.[202]
In 2013, Charlene was discovered living in the Sacramento area. During an interview, she continued to distance herself from Gerald and bragged that she was the reason he was sentenced to death. She offered sympathy towards the victims and claimed she "tried to save some of their lives."[2]
Remove ads
Media
Bibliography
- Berry-Dee, Christopher (2010). Shared Madness: True Stories Of Couples Who Kill. London: John Blake. ISBN 978-1844548422.
- Biondi, Ray; Hecox, Walter (1988). All His Father's Sins: Inside The Gerald Gallego Sex-Slave Murders. Rocklin, CA: Prima Pub. & Communications. ISBN 978-0914629344.
- Davis, Carol Anne (2001). Women who kill: Profiles of female serial killers. London: Allison & Busby. ISBN 978-0749005351.
- Flowers, R. Barri (1996). The Sex Slave Murders. New York: St. Martins Press. ISBN 978-1461191001.
- Van Hoffmann, Eric (1990). A venom in the blood. New York: Pinnacle Books. ISBN 978-0786006601.
Television
- The History Channel documentary series, Infamous Murders, analyzed the case in the an episode in 2001.[203]
- The television program Crime Stories aired an episode about the Gallegos in 2008.[204]
- The Investigation Discovery series Wicked Attraction aired an episode about the case in 2008.[205]
- The documentary series Born to Kill? featured an episode focusing upon the case in 2014.[206]
- The Oxygen Network series Snapped: Killer Couples examined the case in an episode in 2015.[207]
- The 2018 television series 35 Serial Killers the World Wants to Forget analyzed the case along with the Grim Sleeper in their eighth episode.[208]
See also
Notes
- Some sources list her date of birth as October 10, but the California Birth Index and a 1956 issue of The Record confirm she was born on October 19.[26][27]
- Stephen Robert Feil is Charlene's third cousin who at the time was an officer with the California State Police. He would later become aware that his identify was stolen after having his license suspended due to an accident Gerald was involved in under his name. He had previously only met Charlene once at a funeral.[38][39]
- When confessing to the murders, Charlene could not remember the exact location of the bodies but stated they were buried near Susanville, California. Judd and Colley's remains would be discovered roughly fifty miles south of Susanville on November 20, 1999, by a tractor operator, and formal identification was concluded in 2000.[61][62]
- The East Area Rapist was eventually identified as Joseph James DeAngelo.
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads