On a tragic day in June of 2010, the life of 19-year-old Caucasian female, Paige Janine Gallo of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was cut short. On June 11, she was shot and killed in a rural farmhouse near Lake City. Paige, a graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School, was a student at Des Moines Area Community College in Carroll and was known for her love of life and the time she spent with her family and friends.
The events of that fateful day unfolded in a horrifying sequence.
Authorities were alerted to the situation after the mother of Paige's friend, 20-year-old Heather Campbell of Urbandale, received a chilling voicemail. The message captured the sounds of a verbal altercation followed by gunshots. When officers from the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office arrived at the residence, they discovered a grim scene. Paige, Heather, and Paige's 20-year-old fiancé, Luke Schleisman of Lake City, were all found deceased.
Subsequent investigations and autopsies confirmed that both Paige and Heather died from gunshot wounds, and their deaths were ruled as homicides. Luke Schleisman's death was determined to be a suicide, also from a gunshot wound. Investigators recovered the weapon at the scene and concluded that Schleisman was the sole individual responsible for the double murder-suicide. It was later revealed that Schleisman had a history of domestic violence and had been released from probation for threatening a previous girlfriend with a gun just a month before the killings.
There were no preceding arrests directly related to the murders, as the suspect took his own life at the scene. The incident left the community in shock and the families of the young women devastated. Paige's mother later became an advocate, speaking out about her daughter's murder to raise awareness about domestic violence.
