Between 1978 and 1980, Gerald and Charlene Gallego abducted and murdered at least 10 victims across California, Nevada, and Oregon, including Sacramento teenagers Rhonda Scheffler and Kippi Vaught, in a homicide investigation detectives came to call the Sex Slave Murders. The FBI arrested the couple in November 1980, and what followed was a controversial plea bargain, a conviction built on a co-defendant's testimony, and 2 death sentences that people still argue about today.
A friendly young woman walks up to 2 girls at a Sacramento shopping plaza and offers to get them high. She is 21 years old and she looks like somebody's babysitter. That is the entire mechanism, and it worked for more than 2 years across 3 states while investigators were still working with phone books and blood typing. This one is about the people. A boy who inherited something from a father he never laid eyes on, and a girl who had every advantage and set it on fire. It ends with an ordinary young man in a parking lot doing the one thing that stopped it.
🔔 Subscribe for True Crime Cases multiple times a week
Never miss a story. Subscribe to 10 Minute Murder for bite-sized true crime episodes delivered fresh every week.
💬 Have a Case Suggestion? Know a fascinating case that deserves coverage? I love listener suggestions and feature the best ones in upcoming episodes. Email: joe@10minutemurder.com Website: 10minutemurder.com ⭐ Help Grow the True Crime Community
Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review to help other true crime fans discover the show
Share: Send this episode to fellow true crime enthusiasts
Join the Discussion: Tag us in your episode reactions on social media
🎧 Want Even More True Crime? Check out True Crime Blueprint, also created and hosted by Joe.
