His mother was a sex worker, while his estranged father was a criminal who in 1955 became the first man executed in the Mississippi gas chamber, for the killing of a police officer during a prison escape.

Because of her overly flirty behavior with her male co-workers, Charlene was disliked at work and developed a reputation as a nymphomaniac.

Although Charlene later claimed in court that she detested the painful experience, Gerald engaged in rough intercourse with her and particularly enjoyed sodomising her.

Charlene felt Gerald was sleeping with his patrons when he was working as a bartender because he had lost interest in having a sexual relationship with her.

Butler was seen as a probable runaway at the time of her disappearance, and police authorities took minimal action to conduct an investigation and track her down.

Charlene tricked them into going to the back of the couple's van as they were both shopping at Sacramento's Country Club Plaza, where the pair then kidnapped them.

Vaught moved and made an attempt to flee as Gerald was leaving because the gunshot had only lightly grazed her skull.

On June 24, 1979, 14-year-old Brenda Judd and 13-year-old Sandra Colley were abducted from the Washoe County Fair in Reno, Nevada.

Over the next couple of hours, Gerald rested and watched Charlene force the girls to perform sexual acts on each other.

Colley was then dragged towards a dry stream bed by Gerald after he removed a shovel from under their van's seat and yanked her out of the car.

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, placed the two girls' naked bodies inside of it, and covered it with a rock.

After some time spent driving around, he came upon two teenage girls exiting a bookstore: Stacy Ann Redican and Karen Chipman-Twiggs, both 17-year-olds.

After he finished, 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.

Three months later 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.

[3] While hitchhiking on June 6, 1980, in Port Orford, Oregon, 21-year-old Linda Teresa Aguilar was abducted, murdered with a blunt object, and buried in a shallow grave.

The victim's wrists and ankles were bound with nylon cord, and her skull was broken, but an examination revealed that she may have been buried alive, since sand had been found in her mouth, throat, and nose.

On July 17, 1980, 31-year-old Virginia Mochel was abducted from the parking lot of a West Sacramento tavern, where she worked as a bartender.

[11] While leaving a fraternity party on November 1, 1980, 22-year-old Craig Miller and his fiancée, 21-year-old Mary Elizabeth Sowers, were forced into the Gallegos’ car.

As he turned to approach the front of the car, Gerald pointed his pistol at Miller and shot him in the back of the head while his fiancée watched.

Gerald then fired two more shots into Craig's head, as he lay lifeless on the ground; his body would later be found near Bass Lake, California.

[2] In June 1983 Gerald was sentenced to death in California for the murders of Mary Beth Sowers and Craig Miller.

In June 1984 Gerald was convicted in Nevada for the murders of Karen Twiggs and Stacey Redican, and subsequently sentenced to death.

"[15] On July 18, 2002, Gerald Gallego died of cancer in a Nevada prison medical center while awaiting execution.