Serial Killer H.H. Holmes Executed (May 7, 1896)

This week (May 1-7) in crime history – NBA star Jayson Williams was charged with shooting a limo driver (May 1, 2002); FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover died (May 2, 1972); Exxon executive Sidney Reso was found dead after being kidnapped (May 3, 1992); -year-old Madeleine McCann vanished while on vacation with her parents in Portugal (May 3, 2007); The Haymarket Square Riots (May 4, 1886); Three women were rescued after being imprisoned for year at a Cleveland, Ohio home (May 6, 2013); Serial killer H.H. Holmes was executed (May 7, 1896)

Highlighted Crime Story of the Week -

On May 7, 1896, serial killer H. H. Holmes, was hanged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although his criminal exploits were just as extensive and occurred during the same time period as Jack the Ripper, Holmes’ crimes have not endured in the public’s memory.

Born Herman Mudgett in New Hampshire, Holmes began torturing animals as a child. Still, he was a smart child who later graduated from the University of Michigan with a medical degree. Holmes financed his education with a series of insurance scams whereby he requested coverage for nonexistent people and then presented corpses as the insured.

In 1886, Holmes moved to Chicago to work as a pharmacist. A few months later, he bought the business from the owner’s widow after his death. She then mysteriously disappeared. With a new series of cons, Holmes raised enough money to build a giant, elaborate home across from the store.

The home, which Holmes called “The Castle,” had secret passageways, fake walls, and trapdoors. Some of the rooms were soundproof and connected by pipes to a gas tank in the basement. His bedroom had controls that could fill these rooms with gas. Holmes’ basement also contained a lab with equipment used for dissections.

Young women in the area, along with tourists who had come to see the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and had rented out rooms in Holmes’ castle, suddenly began disappearing. Medical schools purchased many human skeletons from Dr. Holmes during this period but never asked how he obtained the anatomy specimens.

Holmes was finally caught after attempting to use another corpse in an insurance scam. He confessed, saying, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing.” Reportedly, authorities discovered the remains of over 200 victims on his property.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of seven nonfiction books that includes the award winning In the Company of Evil Thirty Years of California Crime. 1950-1980. Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/Company-Thirty-Years-California-1950-1980/dp/076435003X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493656215&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

Serial Killer Melvin Rees Claimed his First Victim (June 26, 1957)

This week (June 20-26) in crime history – Mobster Bugsy Siegel was gunned down in Los Angeles (June 20, 1947); Would-be assassin John Hinckley, Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity (June 21, 1982); Mobster Whitey Bulger was arrested in Los Angeles (June 22, 2011); Mob boss John Gotti was sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and murder (June 23, 1992); The Unabomber send bomb to Yale professor (June 24, 1993); Serial Killer Melvin Rees claimed first victim (June 26, 1957)

Highlighted crime story of the week -

On June 26, 1957, Margaret Harold was shot and killed while out for a drive with her boyfriend near Annapolis, Maryland. Her killer swerved in front of the couple’s car, approached with a .38 revolver, and shot Harold in the side of the face, while her boyfriend managed to escape. Investigating police found an abandoned building nearby, filled with pornographic pictures, but its full significance would not be revealed until nearly two years later.

Early in 1959, the Jackson family was driving along a dirt road in Virginia, returning home, when they were forced to stop and abducted at gunpoint. Two months later, two men came across the bodies of Carroll Jackson and his one year-old daughter Janet, dumped in a remote area of Fredericksburg, Virginia. A short time later, Mildred Jackson and her five-year-old daughter Susan were found buried in a shallow grave, just outside the abandoned building that police had discovered when investigating Harold’s murder.

Mildred had been brutally raped in the same room where the pornographic pictures had been found two years earlier. Since investigators were reasonably certain that the same killer had committed the murders, the media jumped on the story. Tips began to pour in, and although most of them were worthless, one pointed authorities towards Melvin Rees.

Rees was eventually found in West Memphis, working as a piano salesman. Margaret Harold’s boyfriend picked him out of a lineup and a search of his home turned up a .38 pistol. The most damning evidence, however, was a note paper clipped to a newspaper article about Mildred Jackson in which Rees described his horrific crimes in detail.

Detectives found evidence that linked Rees to the slayings of four other young women in the Maryland area as well. Rees was tried in February 1961 for the murder of Margaret Harold and in September 1961 for the murders of the Jackson family. He was convicted of both and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972, and he died in prison from heart failure in 1995.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of seven nonfiction books that includes In the Company of Evil Thirty Years of California Crime, 1950-1980. Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/Company-Thirty-Years-California-1950-1980/dp/076435003X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466440572&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

Serial Killer Ted Bundy Botched an Abduction (November 8, 1974)

This week (November 2-8) in crime history – Gwendolyn Graham was sentenced for the murder of 5 nursing home residents in Michigan (November 2, 1989); South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated (November 2, 1963); Serial killer Bobby Joe Long kidnapped his last victim (November 3, 1984); Black Bart robbed his last stagecoach (November 3, 1883); Notorious gambler Arnold Roth stein was murdered in New York City (November 4, 1928); Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated (November 4, 1995); US Army Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 in Fort Hood shooting spree (November 5, 2009); Shirley Allen was arrested for poisoning her husband (November 6, 1982); The Hendricks family was brutally murdered in Wisconsin (November 7, 1983); Serial killer Ted Bundy botched the abduction of Carol DaRonch in Utah (November 8, 1974)

Highlighted Crime Story of the Week -

 

 

On November 8, 1974, Salt Lake City, Utah, resident Carol DaRonch narrowly escaped being abducted by serial killer Ted Bundy. DaRonch had been shopping at a mall when a man claiming to be a police detective told her that there was an attempted theft of her car and she needed to file a police report. Despite her misgivings, DaRonch accompanied the man to his Volkswagen and got into the car. Once inside, he placed a handcuff on her and attempted to hit her with a crowbar, but DaRonch fought back and jumped out of the car to safety.

DaRonch’s attempted abduction was of special interest to the Utah authorities at the time, who were trying to figure out what had happened to several young women who disappeared earlier in the fall of 1974. Simultaneously, Seattle area officials were looking for a young man named Ted who was the suspected culprit in many murder cases.

On August 16, 1975, an officer noticed a suspicious Volkswagen driving around his patrol area. After pulling the vehicle over, he found handcuffs in the back of the automobile and arrested the driver–Ted Bundy. Following his arrest, Bundy was identified as the man who tried to kidnap DaRonch. In March 1976, he was convicted of aggravated kidnapping, which put him behind bars while investigators tried to connect him to the many unsolved murders in Washington, Colorado, and Utah.

On December 30, 1977, Bundy managed to escape from jail. A few months later, he was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, and on February 15, 1978, he was finally captured. He eventually confessed to the murders of 28 women, and was executed in Florida on January 24, 1989.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of two true crime books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 and the soon to be released In the Company of Evil – Thirty Years of California Crime, 1950-1980. Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. His books can be purchased from Amazon through the following links:

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446485857&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

 

 

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Serial Killer Leonard Lake was Arrested (June 2, 1985)

This week (June 1-7) in crime history – Benedict Arnold was court-martialed (June 1, 1779); Opening statements began in the trial of Scott Peterson (June 1, 2004); Timothy McVeigh was convicted for the Oklahoma City Bombing (June 2, 1997); Serial Killer Leonard Lake was arrested (June 2, 1985); Joran van der Sloot  was arrested for murder in Peru (June 3, 2010); Jonathan Pollard plead guilty to spying for Israel (June 4, 1986); Activist Angela Davis was acquitted of murder and other charges (June 4, 1972); Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot (June 5, 1968); Teenager Melissa Drexler gives birth at her prom then kills the baby (June 6, 1997); Civil Rights activist James Meredith was shot (June 6, 1966); Michael Skakel was convicted of murder (June 7, 2002)

Highlighted Crime Story of the Week -

 

 

On June 2, 1985, Leonard Lake was arrested near San Francisco, California, ending one of the rare cases of serial killers working together. Lake and Charles Ng were responsible for a series of brutal crimes against young women in California and the Pacific Northwest during the mid-1980s. Lake was a former Marine who had served time in Vietnam. Ng, born in Hong Kong, was educated in England, and attended college in California briefly before being caught with automatic weapons that he had stolen from a military base in Hawaii and sent to Leavenworth federal prison. After his release, Ng hooked up with Lake in California and the two began a series of murders.

Ng and Lake shared a love of John Fowles’ The Collector, a book in which the protagonist kidnaps a woman solely to keep her in his possession, like the butterflies he collects as a hobby. Creating “Operation Miranda,” named after a character in the book, Ng and Lake began kidnapping young women and bringing them to a cinderblock bunker in a secluded area south of San Francisco. There, they tried to brainwash the women into becoming their willing sex slaves. They also kidnapped a young couple and their infant son in San Francisco while at their home pretending to be interested in some audiovisual equipment the couple was selling and later killed them.

Lake, who had been arrested in 1985 for his connection to a burglary committed by Ng, ingested a cyanide capsule while in custody, and killed himself. Ng escaped to Canada, where he successfully avoided extradition for almost six years. When he was finally returned to California for trial, he utilized other delaying tactics. By the time he was finally convicted, he had gone through multiple attorneys and judges. It was one of the longest homicide prosecutions in state history. After a four-month trial, the jury convicted Ng and he was sentenced to death in 1999.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

 

 

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949. Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433174145&sr=8-2&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

John Wayne Gacy Confessed to Murdering Dozens of Young Men in Suburban Chicago - December 22, 1978

This week (December 22-28) in crime history – Serial killer John Wayne Gacy confessed to killing over two dozen men and young boys (December 22, 1978); Bernie Goetz shot four black men in the New York Subway (December 22, 1984); French officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason (December 22, 1894); Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo and other war criminals were executed (December 23, 1948); Terrorists hijacked Air France flight 8969 in Algiers (December 24, 1994); JonBenet Ramsey was murdered (December 25, 1996); Countess Bathory’s torturous activities were discovered in Hungry (December 26, 1610): Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated (December 27, 2007); Thomas Paine was arrested for treason on France (December 28, 1793). 

Highlighted Crime Story of the Week – 

On December 22, 1978, John Wayne Gacy confessed to police to killing over two dozen boys and young men and burying their bodies under his suburban Chicago home. Two years later, Gacy was convicted of 33 sex-related murders, which had been committed between 1972 and 1978, and given the death penalty. At the time, he was the worst serial killer in modern American history.  

Outwardly, Gacy appeared to have a relatively normal middle-class upbringing; however, by some accounts, he had an abusive alcoholic father and also experienced health issues in his youth. In 1964, he married and moved with his wife to Iowa, where he managed his father-in-law’s Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. The couple had two children. However, Gacy’s wife divorced him after he was charged with sexually assaulting one of his male employees in 1968. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released due to good behavior after serving only a fraction of his sentence. 

Gacy moved back to Chicago, where he started a contracting company and remarried. However, the seemingly respectable businessman, who became involved in local politics and once had his photograph taken with then-first lady Rosalynn Carter, was leading a double life as a sexual predator. He committed his first known murder in 1972. Gacy’s victims included male prostitutes as well as teenagers who worked for his company. Typically, he lured his victims back to his home and tricked them into being handcuffed or having a rope tied around their necks. Afterward, he’d knock them out with chloroform and then rape, torture and murder them. As he was a well-known community figure, who sometimes dressed up as a clown to entertain sick children, his crimes initially went undetected. 

The heavy-set serial killer came under suspicion in December 1978 when authorities investigating the disappearance of teenager Robert Piest discovered that the boy was last seen with Gacy. After learning of Gacy’s sex-crime conviction in Iowa, police searched his Norwood Park home. They noticed a strong odor coming from a crawl space but at first thought it was from a damaged sewage pipe. Several items, including a store receipt, were later found at Gacy’s home that linked him to Piest and other young men who had been reported missing. After Gacy confessed, investigators recovered 29 corpses buried on his property, as well as four more that he’d dumped in nearby rivers when he ran out of room at home. 

After his conviction, Gacy spent 14 years on Death Row, during which time he drew paintings of clowns and other figures that sold for thousands of dollars. On May 10, 1994, having exhausted all his appeals, the 52-year-old Gacy, who the media dubbed the Killer Clown, was put to death by legal injection at Stateville Penitentiary in Joliet, Illinois. 

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

 

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of six nonfiction books that include the award winning Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949. Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link: 

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1419264109&sr=8-4&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

Serial Killer Ed Gein Claimed Final Victim - November 16, 1957

This week (November 10 – 16) in crime history – British au pair Louise Woodward’s murder sentence was reduced to involuntary manslaughter in death of Mathew Eappen (November 10, 1997); Police find first of six bodies buried in the yard of elder care home owner Dorthea Puente in Sacramento, California (November 11, 1988); Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn child (November 12, 2004); Police search home of airline bombing suspect John Graham (November 13, 1955); Ivan Boesky pleaded guilty to insider trading (November 14, 1986); Serial killer Ed Gein claimed final victim (November 16, 1957).

Highlighted Crime of the Week -

On November 16, 1957, infamous serial killer Edward Gein claimed his final victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin. His grave robbing, necrophilia, and cannibalism gained national attention, and may have provided inspiration for the characters of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Gein was a quiet farmer who lived in rural Wisconsin with an extremely domineering mother. After she died in 1945, he began studying anatomy, and started stealing women's corpses from local cemeteries. In 1954, Gein shot and killed tavern owner Mary Hogan, piled the body onto a sled, and dragged it home.

On November 16, Gein robbed Bernice Worden at the local hardware store she owned and killed her. Her son, a deputy sheriff, discovered his mother's body and became suspicious of Gein, who was believed to be somewhat odd. When authorities searched Gein's farmhouse, they found a horrifying scene: organs were in the refrigerator, a heart sat on the stove, and heads had been made into soup bowls. Apparently, Gein had kept various organs from his grave digging and murders as keepsakes and for decoration. He had also used human skin to upholster chairs. Though it is believed that he killed others during this time, Gein only admitted to the murders of Worden and Hogan. In 1958, Gein was declared insane and sent to the Wisconsin State Hospital in Mendota, where he remained until his death in 1984.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California (2012). Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:

 

Amazon -  http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415636733&sr=8-3&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

Green River Killer, Gary Leon Ridgway Pleads Guilty to 49th Murder - 2011

On February 18, 2011, Green River serial killer Gary Leon Ridgway pleads guilty to the murder of his 49th victim, 20 year-old Rebecca Marrero. Marrero’s remains were found in December 2010, decades after she was murdered, and left in a ravine near Auburn, Washington. After entering his guilty plea, Ridgway received his 49th life sentence without the possibility of parole and returned to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, where he was already serving 48 consecutive life sentences, one for each of the other women he killed.

In the 1980s, residents of Washington State were terrorized by the so-called Green River Killer, whose first five victims’ bodies were discovered in or near the Green River in King County in the summer of 1982. The strangled bodies of more victims soon appeared around King County; all were women, most of them young and many of them prostitutes, runaways and drug users. Ridgway, became a suspect after one of the victims was spotted getting into his truck. However, when questioned by police, he denied any knowledge of the slayings and passed a 1984 polygraph test. In 2001, he was finally arrested after DNA evidence connected him to some of the killings.

In a controversial 2003 plea deal, Ridgway admitted to the murders of 48 women between 1982 and 1998, and prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against him if he cooperated with police in locating the remains of dozens of his victims. Ridgway reportedly claimed to have murdered more than 60 women in King County, although authorities at the time could only find sufficient evidence to link him to the 48 slayings. Ridgway told authorities he began murdering prostitutes “because he hated them, didn't want to pay them for sex, and because he knew he could kill as many as he wanted without getting caught.” The serial killer said he picked up women off the street, strangled them in his home or truck, and meticulously hid their bodies near natural landmarks in an attempt to keep track of them. At the time of his 49th conviction, Ridgway had been linked to more murders than any other convicted serial killer in U.S. history.

 

 

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949. The book can be purchased at Amazon through the following link:    

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=la_B0035CPN70_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1361552464&sr=1-3

Albert Fish "The Moon Maniac" was Executed - 1936

On January 16, 1936, Albert Fish was executed at Sing Sing prison in New York. The "Moon Maniac" was one of America's most notorious and disturbed killers. Authorities believe that Fish killed as many as 10 children and then ate their remains. Fish went to the electric chair with great anticipation, telling guards, "It will be the supreme thrill, the only one I haven't tried."  In 1928, at his Wisteria Cottage in Westchester County, New York, Fish strangled 10-year old Grace Budd and then carved up her body with a saw. Six years later, Fish wrote Budd's mother a letter in which he described in detail killing the girl and then preparing a stew with her flesh that he ate over the next nine days. The letter was traced back to the Albert Fish. A psychiatrist who examined Fish stated, "There was no known perversion that he did not practice and practice frequently." Albert Fish was obsessed with sadomasochism. Most disturbingly, Fish was obsessed with cannibalism. He carried writings about the practice in his pockets. When he was arrested, Fish confessed to the murders of other young children whom he claimed to have eaten. Although nearly everyone agreed that he was insane, including the jury deciding his fate, he was nevertheless sentenced to die. Reportedly, his last statement was a handwritten note filled with filthy obscenities.

 

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949. The book can be purchased at Amazon through the following link:   

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=la_B0035CPN70_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1361552464&sr=1-3

Serial Killer Harvey Glatman is Executed - 1959

On this date in 1959, serial killer Harvey Glatman is executed in the California gas chamber for murdering three young women in Los Angeles.  

Resisting all appeals to save his life, Glatman even wrote to the appeals board to say, "I only want to die." Glatman had been a smart kid. As a Boy Scout, he developed an obsession with rope. When his parents noticed that he was strangling himself on occasion, they took him to a doctor who told them that it was just a phase and that he would grow out of it. As a teenager, he threatened a girl with a toy gun in Colorado. Skipping bail, he made his way to New York, where he later spent two years and eight months in Sing Sing prison on robbery charges. Following his release, Glatman moved to Los Angeles and opened up a television repair shop. He took up photography as a hobby, in addition to playing with ropes. On August 1, 1957, he combined these two interests in a sinister way. On the pretense of a freelance modeling assignment, Glatman lured 19-year-old Judy Ann Dull to his apartment, where he raped her and then took photos of her, bound and gagged. He then drove her out to the desert east of Los Angeles and strangled her to death with his favorite rope. By the time Dull's body was found, there were no clues linking the crime to Glatman. Back in Los Angeles, Glatman posted the pictures of Dull on his walls and became further obsessed with rape and murder. His next victim was Shirley Ann Bridgeford, whom he also strangled to death in the desert. In July 1958, Glatman struck again, following the same twisted procedure. But in October, his luck ran out. Lorraine Vigil, who answered one of Glatman's modeling ads, was driving with him to his studio when she noticed that he was heading out of the city. She began to struggle with Glatman, who pulled out a pistol and tried to tie her hands. After being shot through the hip, Vigil was able to wrestle the gun away from him. In the ensuing struggle, they both tumbled out of the car, just as a police officer drove past. Glatman was arrested and confessed to the three murders, seeming to delight in recounting his sadistic crimes. His trial lasted a mere three days before he was sent off to San Quentin to die.

First DUI Arrest (1897), Mob Boss Salvatore Maranzano is Murdered (1931) & Serial Killers Charlene Williams and Gerald Gallego Meet (1977)

On this date in 1897, a 25-year-old London taxi driver named George Smith becomes the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building. Smith later pled guilty and was fined 25 shillings.

On this date in 1931, crime boss Salvatore Maranzano is shot and stabbed to death in New York City by four men working for Charles "Lucky" Luciano, one of the flashiest figures in organized crime.  

At one time, Luciano was living at the Waldorf Astoria and taking in over a million dollars a year, while declaring only a small income. He was always seen with a Broadway showgirl on his arm, although he reportedly had a fondness for prostitutes in private. Luciano's main source of income was selling protection to brothels in New York City. He earned his nickname from his luck at picking winning horses. However, Luciano was also lucky with his life. In October 1929, Luciano was abducted and stabbed in the cheek and throat with an ice pick. Miraculously enough, the weapon missed his jugular vein, and he survived. When prosecutors began to gather evidence against Luciano, he fled to Hot Springs, Arkansas, a city notorious for prostitution. But the authorities managed to catch up with him, and he was extradited to New York to face extortion charges. Luciano, who was subsequently convicted, was saved from a long stretch in prison by the onset of World War II. Because the city's organized crime syndicate still controlled the waterfront at the beginning of the war, authorities struck a deal with Luciano to eliminate potential sabotage of important military operations at the docks. In return, they agreed to deport Lucky to Italy, where he lived out the remainder of his days. 

On this date in 1977, Charlene Williams and Gerald Gallego meet at a poker club in Sacramento, Sacramento, resulting in one of the worst serial killing teams in American history.

 

Before they were finally caught, the Gallegos killed and sexually assaulted at least 10 people over a two-year period. Within a week of their first encounter, Charlene moved in with Gerald. The son of the first man to be executed in Mississippi’s gas chamber, Gerald had amassed seven felony convictions by the age of 32. He had also been married five times and, it was later revealed, had been sexually abusing his young daughter. By the time Charlene met Gerald, she had already gone through two marriages and had acquired a hard-drug habit. Gerald, who had a taste for multiple women in his bed, brought home a teenage runaway so that he could indulge in a threesome shortly after Charlene moved in with him. However, he became extremely angry when he found out that Charlene and the girl were engaging in sex without him. The couple soon decided to find victims that could keep Gerald sexually satisfied. After two months of planning, they abducted their first victims in September 1978: two teenage girls, whom they sexually assaulted, beat with a tire iron, and then shot in the head. The couple, now married, waited until the following June before striking again, grabbing two young girls in Reno, Nevada. However, this time Charlene became mad at Gerald because he started raping the girls without her, while she was driving the van. When she began firing shots at him, he quickly killed the victims. The pace of the couple's killings quickened in 1980. In April, they kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered two girls from a mall near Sacramento. Two months later, they found another victim during a vacation in Oregon. This time they buried their victim alive. In July, the Gallegos kidnapped and killed a couple as they were leaving a fraternity party. However, partygoers got the license plate of their car, and a manhunt was instituted. The Gallegos managed to elude authorities for a few months but were finally caught in November in Omaha, Nebraska. While awaiting trial, Charlene agreed to testify to save her own life. Gerald Gallego was tried in both Nevada and California and received death sentences in both states. Charlene was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in jail and was released in July 1997.