In the summer of 1978, sixteen-year-old Sandra 'Sandy' Kaye Butler was living with her mother in an apartment in Sparks, Nevada, having moved from California. On the morning of June 26, Sandra's mother left for work while she stayed home. Later that day, Sandra called her mother to ask for permission to ride her bicycle to the Reno Rodeo, which was being held at the fairgrounds across town. Her mother agreed, and Sandra set off.
She was last seen that afternoon, not on her bike, but walking toward the Greenbrae Shopping Center, which was located just across the street from her family's apartment on Fourth and Greenbrae Streets. Sandra never made it to the rodeo and was never seen or heard from again. At the time of her disappearance, she was a student at Reed High School, and summer vacation had just begun.
Initially, law enforcement treated Sandra's case as a teenage runaway. This classification significantly hindered the early stages of the investigation, as authorities did little to search for her or interview potential witnesses. Consequently, her disappearance received minimal media attention at the time. This was despite her family's firm belief that she would not have run away from home. As time passed, her case was eventually reclassified as a missing person investigation. Over the years, the case has been passed through the hands of numerous detectives within the Sparks Police Department. In an effort to generate new leads, her family's DNA and Sandra's dental records were eventually entered into national databases.
A significant theory in Sandra's disappearance involves the notorious serial killer couple, Charlene and Gerald Gallego. The Gallegos were active in California, Oregon, and Nevada and were known to have been in the Reno area on the day Sandra vanished. Their horrific crime spree included the kidnapping and murder of several teenage girls. Disturbingly, almost a year to the day after Sandra went missing, on June 24, 1979, the Gallegos abducted two other teenage girls, Brenda Judd and Sandra Colley, from the Sparks fairgrounds. Gerald Gallego was eventually sentenced to death and died in prison in 2002, while Charlene received a reduced sentence for testifying against him and was released in 1997. Authorities have not been able to formally interview Charlene about any potential involvement in Sandra's case. The investigation into what happened to Sandra Kaye Butler remains open, leaving a painful void for a family who has waited decades for answers.Last Seen: Jun 26, 1978
