Gerald and Charlene Gallego
 

by David Lohr

Gerald Armond Gallego was born on July 17, 1946, in Sacramento California. Gerald was the product of a long line of career criminals stemming from both sides of his family.

Gerald’s criminal record began at an early age. By the time he was six years old he had charges of burglary, and sex offenses. At age twelve he was placed on juvenile probation for burglary, and later charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts with a six-year-old girl. He was placed in a boy’s school in 1959.

In July of 1961, Gerald was paroled. Less than a year later, along with his half brother David Hunt, Gallego was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to the Preston School of Industry in Ione, California. Gerald escaped shortly after beginning his sentence. However, he eventually turned himself in. He was eventually paroled in 1963.

In December of 1963, Gerald married his first wife. He was sixteen, she was twenty-one.

In April of 1964, Gerald’s first child Krista was born. The marriage was short lived and Gerald somehow managed to gain custody of his daughter and sent her off to live with his mother.

On July 12, 1966, Gerald again married. His bride was a twenty-four year old waitress form West Sacramento. However, just twenty-six days after it began, the marriage fell apart. It appears Gerald enjoyed beating the shit out of his new bride and chasing her around with knives.

On October 25, 1969, Gerald and his Half-brother David were again arrested for armed robbery. They had targeted a motel in Vacaville, California. Shortly after their arrest, the two brothers and another inmate escaped the Solano County jail. Nonetheless, they were recaptured four days later. Gallego was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the robbery.

On October 14, 1967, Gerald took his third wife, a laundry worker. This marriage lasted one month. He seemed to enjoy kicking the shit out of her as well.

Gerald’s fourth marriage took place in March of 1969, in Reno. His new wife, nineteen-year-old Harriette, was pregnant by the time their marriage ended less than a month after it began. The family of Harriette referred to Gerald as Jekyll and Hyde. To this day, the daughter does not know the identity of her father.

On October 5, 1974, Gerald went down the aisle a fifth time in Butte County. His new nineteen-year-old wife was a laundry worker.

On December 12, 1975, Gerald was discharged from parole.

In August of 1977, Gerald and his wife separated.

In the fall of 1977, Gerald met a young, two time divorced woman, Charlene Adell Williams, at a poker club in Sacramento. The two immediately hit it off. Thus began the couple’s infamous relationship....

Gerald and Charlene had their share of problems. He had difficulty achieving and maintaining erections, and frequently blamed this on her. It would seem that no matter how hard she tried she could never satisfy her man. He would constantly abuse and demean her to no end.

In early 1978, Gerald was quite pissed off when he came home early from work and discovered Charlene in bed with a young woman (not quite eighteen). He went into a rage and physically abused Charlene and her young lover while berating and shouting at them.

On July 17, 1978, Gerald celebrated his thirty-second birthday by sodomizing his daughter Krista. Apparently, he had been molesting her since the age of six.

By July of 1978, much to Gerald’s chagrin, Charlene was pregnant.

On September 11, 1978, Gerald decided it was time to turn fantasies that he had been harboring into reality. He and Charlene hopped into their 1973 Dodge van and drove off in search of a sex slave for Gerald. They soon spotted two young girls, seventeen-year-old Rhonda Scheffler, and sixteen-year-old Kippi Vaught. Gerald pulled the van over a short distance away and had Charlene approach the girls on the pretext of joining them in the van to smoke some Marijuana. Unfortunately for the young girls, they quickly agreed and followed Charlene back to the van. When Rhonda and Kippi stepped into the back of the van they were greeted by Gerald and a .25 caliber pistol. The girls were forced to lie face down as he bound their hands and feet with adhesive tape. Charlene was then commanded to keep and eye on them while he drove to a more secluded area. Once satisfied he had found a quite area, Gerald brought the van to a stop. He quickly unbound the girl’s ankles and led them out of the van and into the cover of trees, warning Charlene to stay put. Hours later Gerald returned to the van without the young girls. He looked at Charlene and recanted the chilling words, "Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies." Eventually Gerald and the two girls got back into the van, and Gerald ordered Charlene to drive to another area he had chosen. Once they arrived, Gerald ordered the girls out of the van and shot them dead.

On September 13, 1978, just two days after the young girls disappeared, two migrant farm workers discovered their lifeless bodies. It was also around this time that Gerald took Charlene to an abortion clinic and forced her to abort their unborn child.

On September 27, 1978, Gerald's daughter Krista filed charges of incest, sodomy, oral copulation, and unlawful intercourse against her father.

On September 30, 1978, Gerald and Charlene were wed. Not wanting to face the charges his daughter had filed, Gerald decided it was best to get the hell out of dodge.

By December of 1978, the couple was staying in Houston Texas, and Gerald took on the alias Stephen Feil.

On June 24, 1979 (fathers day), Gerald decided he wanted to abduct another girl(s). The couple went to the Washoe County Fair and Gerald sent Charlene off to find the new victim(s). Charlene soon came upon fourteen-year-old Brenda Lynne Judd, and thirteen-year-old Sandra Kay Colley. She approached the girls and offered them money to distribute handbills and place them on the windshields of parked cars. The two girls quickly agreed and followed Charlene back to the van. However, once they arrived at the van, Gerald and a .44 caliber pistol greeted them. He immediately forced them into the van and bound there feet and wrists. He then commanded Charlene to drive as he began to sexually assault the two young girls in the back of the van. Hours later, Gerald had Charlene drive into the high Nevada desert. Once there, Gerald led the girls off one at a time, carrying with him a hammer and a shovel.

In September of 1979, the Gallego’s moved back to Sacramento, continuing to use the aliases of Mr. and Mrs. Feil. Gerald eventually got a job as a bartender and soon began having an affair with a woman by the name of Patty, whom eventually, unbeknownst to Gerald, became pregnant with his child.

On the morning of April 24, 1980, Gerald awoke Charlene and demanded, "I want a girl! Get up!" After driving around for awhile, he spotted two girls, seventeen-year-old Karen Chipman Twiggs, and seventeen-year-old Stacy Ann Redican, coming out of a book store. Charlene approached the two girls and offered them to join her in the van on the pre-text of smoking some weed. The girls eagerly agreed and followed her back to the van. As the girls got into the back of the van, Gerald greeted them with a .357 Magnum pistol. He quickly commanded Charlene to drive and ordered the girls to undress. Gerald took turns raping and sexually assaulting them. After he was content, he again had Charlene drive to a secluded area and led the girls one at a time into the woods carrying a hammer and a shovel. However, this time he forced Charlene to view the graves. She claimed that she saw movement but Gerald insisted that they were good and dead. Then they left.

On July 27, 1980, picnickers discovered the coyote-ravaged remains of Karen and Stacy in two shallow graves in an area twenty miles outside of Lovelock, Nevada. They had both been raped, and suffered massive and fatal head injuries by a blunt instrument.

In May of 1980, Charlene was again pregnant by Gerald, and he was again pissed off.

On June 1, 1980, Gerald and Charlene married each other for a second time. However, this time they were wed as Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Robert Feil.

On June 7, 1980, while traveling down the highway, Gerald and Charlene spotted a lone pregnant woman hitchhiking, twenty-one-year-old Linda Aguilar, four months pregnant. The young woman gladly accepted the ride and joined the couple in the van. Charlene was soon driving and Gerald was pointing his .357 in Linda’s face. After a short drive to a remote area, Gerald raped Linda, and then beat her over the head with a rock. To satisfy himself that she was dead he strangled her corpse for good measure.

On June 22, 1980, German tourists walking the beach discovered Linda’s badly decomposing body. After an autopsy was completed, it was determined that Gerald was unsuccessful in murdering Linda, she actually had awaken after her captors left, and in her panic and struggle to get free suffocated in the sand.

On July 17, 1980, Gerald’s thirty-fourth birthday, he abducted thirty-four-year-old Virginia Mochel as she walked from the tavern where she worked as a barmaid. The strange thing about this victim is the fact that Gerald and Charlene knew her and had been served drinks by her on numerous occasions. At any rate, Gerald raped Virginia, and afterwards she begged him to kill her. He gladly obliged and strangled her. He then dumped her body by a pond.

On October 3, 1980, a fisherman discovered the nude decomposed remains of Virginia Mochel in some brush near Clarksburg.

On November 1, 1980, Gerald told Charlene, "I’m getting that feeling", he did not need to explain further she knew exactly what he meant....

In the early morning hours of November 2, 1980, Gerald saw a young couple, twenty-two-year-old Craig Miller, and his fiancée, twenty-one-year-old Mary Elizabeth Sowers, standing on the side of the street. In his most brazen attempt yet, Gerald got out of the car, walked right up to them, pulled out a .25 caliber Beretta, pointed it in the couples face, and ordered them into the car. Unfortunately for Gerald, friends of the young couple saw them get into the vehicle and wrote down the license plate number. After driving to a secluded area, Gerald commanded Craig out of the car, as the young man turned to walk towards the front of the vehicle, Gerald aimed his pistol and shot the boy point blank range in the back of the head while his fiancée looked on in horror. Gerald then fired two more shots into Craig’s head, as he lay lifeless on the ground. Gerald got back into the vehicle and ordered Charlene to drive to their apartment. Once back at the apartment, Gerald took his new sex slave into the bedroom and raped her for hours on end. After he was satisfied, he ordered Charlene to drive to a rural area. Once there, Gerald ordered Mary out of the car. He then shot her three times at point blank range.

When the two sweethearts never came back to meet there friends, they turned over the license plate number to the police. The police questioned Charlene and obtained a search warrant for their vehicle and house. It did not take long for investigators to find substantial evidence such as bullet casings and other suspicious tools. After mercifully interrogating Charlene, she spilled her guts and told all.

While awaiting trial in California, due to a shortage in funds, the public raised nearly $28,000 to help prosecute Gerald Gallego.

On January 17, 1981, Charlene, while in a prison ward, gave birth to Gerald Armond Gallego Jr. Custody of the child was given to Charlene’s parents.

On June 21, 1983, after six months of hearings, Gerald Armond Gallego Sr., was sentenced to death for the murder of the college sweethearts.

In November of 1983, due to a plea-bargain struck with prosecutors to testify against Gerald, Charlene was sentenced to sixteen years and eight months in prison, with the understanding that no other charges in ANY other state could or would be pressed against her, as long as she gave full cooperation, which she did.

On June 25, 1984, after being extradited to Nevada, Gerald was again sentenced to death for the murders of Twiggs and Redican

In August of 1997, at the age of forty, Charlene Adell Williams Gallego, was released on parole from the Department of Prisons Woman’s Center in Carson City, Nevada. Her lawyer says that she will pursue positive goals in an undisclosed location.

In 1987, Gallego filed a state petition for writ of habeas corpus. However, the petition was denied by the Pershing County District Court, and Gallego's appeal from that denial was denied by the Nevada Supreme Court.

On June 8, 1988, the United States Supreme Court decided that they would not review an appeal submitted by Gerald Gallego.

In 1989, Gallego filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court. Gallego raised new issues, which had not been decided on by the state courts, the petition was dismissed without prejudice to re-file.

In 1990, Gallego filed another state petition for writ of habeas corpus in the 7th Judicial District Court in White Pine County. The petition was dismissed, on November 18, 1991.

In 1992, the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed Gallego’s subsequent appeal from that denial. He then requested a rehearing, which was also denied.

In May of 1993, Gallego requested a review by the United States Supreme Court. The request was denied, Gallego then made his appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

On September 15, 1993, Gallego filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court raising 40 claims for relief. U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied all his claims and Gallego went to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Judge McKibben on all grounds except one issue regarding the executive clemency jury instructions. The Ninth Circuit determined that the jury was inadequately informed as to whether or not it was necessary to sentence Gallego to death in Nevada to ensure that he could not be released after serving only a relatively brief period. "This situation is especially tragic when you take into consideration the nature of the Gallego case and the fact that Gallego has already made four trips up the appeals ladder, delaying justice for almost 14 years," Attorney General for Nevada Del Papa said.

In 1997, Gerald won his fight and a federal appeals court ruled that his Nevada death sentence was invalid because the judge wrongly suggested to the jury that Gallego - who also was sentenced to death in California - might eventually be paroled if he was spared execution.

On March 22, 1999, a competency hearing was held to determine the mental state of Gerald Gallego. Gallego, 52, has been undergoing a court-ordered evaluation by doctors since exhibiting bizarre behavior at a hearing in November that was supposed to be the first step toward a penalty-phase retrial of his 1984 murder convictions. That evaluation has been concluded, and attorneys from both sides conferred and settled on the starting date for the hearing that will decide if Gallego is competent to proceed. During much of his competency hearing Gerald Gallego slept under a table in his cell and communicated with doctors through a food slot in the door. According to Dr. David V. Foster, such behavior, combined with evidence of organic brain dysfunction, is indicative of a mental state that renders him incapable of assisting counsel in a retrial of his penalty-phase proceedings. Foster, an Auburn psychiatrist hired to assist Gallego's appellate defense team in California in 1994, added that Gallego's behavior is a result of a "delusion that there's a herd of people from the dark side who are his enemy." Claiming that Gallego suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from an extremely abusive childhood, and is afflicted by brain damage caused by head injuries sustained in his youth, the good doctor declared it would, "inhibit his ability to plan, problem-solve, comprehend and make judgments.