On June 24, 1979, 13-year-old white female Sandra Kaye Colley and 14-year-old white female Brenda Lynne Judd were abducted from the Washoe County Fair in Reno, Nevada. Charlene Gallego lured the girls into a van under the pretense of offering them jobs distributing flyers. Once inside, Gerald Gallego held them at gunpoint, bound their hands and feet, and sexually assaulted them while Charlene drove.
They were taken to a remote area known as Humboldt Sink, where Gerald bludgeoned them to death with a shovel and buried their bodies in a shallow grave.
At the time, the girls were reported as runaways, and their disappearance remained a mystery for years. In 1982, Charlene Gallego, in exchange for a plea deal, confessed to her involvement in the murders and provided details about the crimes. Her testimony led to the conviction of Gerald Gallego, who was sentenced to death in both California and Nevada. He died in prison in 2002 from rectal cancer before the sentence could be carried out. Charlene was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison and was released in 1997.
Northern Nevada Business Weekly
In November 1999, the skeletal remains of Sandra Colley and Brenda Judd were discovered along U.S. Highway 395, approximately 25 miles north of Reno. DNA testing confirmed their identities in February 2000, providing closure to their families after two decades of uncertainty.
