GUILTY TX - Alanna Gallagher, 6, Saginaw, 1 July 2013 - #6

[SCHMAE]

Wow Lunchbox, so strange we were both on Bridal Trail on the day this sweet baby passed away.

I keep playing it over and over in my mind wishing there was something I could have done to have helped her but I just didn't see her, I just remember the vast amounts of trash all up and down the street.

I pray that whoever hurt this baby is found soon.

Hey regarding your earlier post about the red truck sifting through trash. Did you mean like a collector or treasure hunter? ( dumpster diver. finds an old chair to sell at a garage sale or keep or something)
Is it possible this person is not the perp but DID carry her inadvertently in that truck? I know you do not know the answer Texashello, just to anyone. Could he be the kind who goes through trash, saw a tarp, tugged on it and thought ' oh it's heavy , could be something good' , threw it in his truck along with a few other items and then took off for some more trash cans to look through and never really knew what he had? I wonder because from day one, it did not look like a really securely wrapped up ' package' . That tarp laid haphazardly all over the street and didn't seem it was secure or bound enough to hold anything inside of it. That would make sense if someone bound her up , put her with some trash, hoping trash would come and then someone else comes along, tampers with the tarp for a few seconds and then just decides to take the entire package and open it up at home with the rest of his' treasures' .. .. once again just thinking out loud. Tell me where I'm going wrong here.

( and I just referred to baby Alanna like a pile of trash 5 times in a row and I'm sorry honey. I really am )

 

[willowfae]

We have bulky trash pickup once/ month (end of the month for me- about 3 miles away from her neighborhood) where big items can sit on the curb for several days. Someone came by my house last month and asked if they could take my fence panels. It was odd because usually people just take stuff of any value that's waiting for pickup without knocking on our door. I wonder if it was Her area's bulky trash pickup week?


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[willowfae]

We have bulky trash pickup once/ month (end of the month for me- about 3 miles away from her neighborhood) where big items can sit on the curb for several days. Someone came by my house last month and asked if they could take my fence panels. It was odd because usually people just take stuff of any value that's waiting for pickup without knocking on our door. I wonder if it was her area's bulky trash pickup week?


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[MsFacetious]

I saw this while driving a couple days ago and thought of Alanna.
Another possibility for how she could have been transported.

 

[willowfae]

From Saginaw city web site-
--
http://www.ci.saginaw.tx.us/index.aspx?NID=378

Garbage and Brush: Each residential customer shall place garbage or brush at the curb in disposable containers or permanent containers by 7:00am. Vines and thorny bushes are to be placed in disposable containers. Garbage or brush which cannot be placed in disposable or permanent containers shall be in lengths not to exceed four (4) feet with a weight not to exceed fifty (50) pounds, tie same in bundles, and stack such brush or trash at curbside. All fence panels must be cut in half so not to exceed 4' x 6'. REMINDER: Bundled brush is onlu picked up on the resident's second (2nd) pickup day of the week.
--
Maybe someone was trying to set her out to look like brush/ yard clippings and they missed the pickup time?

 

[JaimeInLA]

Bringing this forward. I had posted it on the last thread. Feel free to update it to add Ashley.
-----------

I thought I'd put this all in one place:

Amber Rene Hagerman:
Abducted January 13, 1996
Age 9, but tiny for her age
Abducted in Arlington, Texas by a man in a black pickup truck
Four days after the abduction, a man walking his dog found her in a drainage ditch next to the road.
Cause of death = cuts to the throat
Her killer was never found, and her homicide remains unsolved.

Opal Jo Jennings:
Abducted March 26, 1999, around 5:30pm
6 years old
Abducted while playing in front of her grandmother’s home in the 200 block of N. Hampshire St. in Saginaw.
Found In late December of 2003, in a field in Northwest Fort Worth, about 10 miles from Saginaw.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Nobody was ever charged with the murder, but Ricky Lee Franks was convicted of her kidnapping (many feel this was a wrongful conviction)

Alanna Gallagher:
Abducted July 1, 2013 (late afternoon)
6 years old
Abducted in Saginaw while out playing, exact site unknown
Found the evening of July 1, 2013 at the intersection of Roundrock & Cindy Dr.
Cause of death unknown
Killer remains at large



Would love to hear thoughts/theories!!

 

[Brightbird]

Were any of the other children bound or wrapped in something?

Good question. I'm having trouble finding much info on the circumstances in which these girls were found. I'm not used to googling for this kind of stuff. When looking for info on Amber, a lot comes up about Amber alerts. And when searching for info on Ashley, a lot comes up about the man falsely convicted of her murder.

But from what I can tell, Amber was abducted from a store parking lot while riding her bike. A witness saw her grabbed and thrown in a pick up truck. She was found by a man walking his dog in Nth Arlington, naked in a ditch, and her throat had been slit. She was found four days after being abducted and had been kept alive for two days.

Ashley was abducted while attending a soccer match with family in Plano. She was found 6 miles from where she was abducted, partially clothed and had been strangled. Her body was found the day after she was abducted.

Nothing about either girl being bound or wrapped in anything. I guess we don't really know whether the killer intended Alanna to found as she was.
I hope it's ok to use these links.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/amber_hagerman/1_index.html

http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/2001/06/01/Did_This_Creep_Really_Kill_Ashley_Estell.aspx

 

[Flutterby80]

Just wanted to say great sleuthing in possibly connecting the four little girls. You guys are so good at this! I bet this is why the FBI was on scene almost immediately. Isolated? Maybe not!

 

[Magdalyn]

From Saginaw city web site-
--
http://www.ci.saginaw.tx.us/index.aspx?NID=378

Garbage and Brush: Each residential customer shall place garbage or brush at the curb in disposable containers or permanent containers by 7:00am. Vines and thorny bushes are to be placed in disposable containers. Garbage or brush which cannot be placed in disposable or permanent containers shall be in lengths not to exceed four (4) feet with a weight not to exceed fifty (50) pounds, tie same in bundles, and stack such brush or trash at curbside. All fence panels must be cut in half so not to exceed 4' x 6'. REMINDER: Bundled brush is onlu picked up on the resident's second (2nd) pickup day of the week.
--
Maybe someone was trying to set her out to look like brush/ yard clippings and they missed the pickup time?

I had thought this before. Perhaps the perp knows this area notoriously gets later than usual pick-up either on their weekly garbage, or their monthly yard debris pick-up. Or had made note the night before that people had yard debris out on the street, therefore, this would be a good street to come back to for disposal.

Side note, I know many smarter than me have explained why physics-wise, Alanna could not have rolled/slid from the back of a truck. But yesterday, my side-lying (in a not round, but not boxy plastic container) gallon of milk slid approx. 2 feet from the front of my carpeted cargo area to up against the back hatch. Less than two mile drive, no steep hills, no speedy tire burning accelerations, no corners on two wheels.

I realize a side-lying gallon of milk in the back of my SUV is not the same as a cylindrical/mildly bumpy 45-50 pound person. And I'm currently leaning towards the body being purposefully dumped. But I think when it comes to the 'could it happen?', that it's more of a 'not probable, but possible'. We don't know other variables (if she was placed in the back of a truck.) I think we're all presuming placed on her back, middle of bed or towards cab, no other objects in the back of the truck. We can't know how she was placed (not laying flat? Upright, on rump, top-heavy head up) with other junk in front of her? and where she was placed (at edge with no hatch or pressed against gate w/faulty latch.) or what was possibly placed near her that could have rolled, slid or otherwise forced her body to get nudged out. So considering all that, I'd say not probable, but not impossible. :twocents:

 

[manzana]

We have bulky trash pickup once/ month (end of the month for me- about 3 miles away from her neighborhood) where big items can sit on the curb for several days. Someone came by my house last month and asked if they could take my fence panels. It was odd because usually people just take stuff of any value that's waiting for pickup without knocking on our door. I wonder if it was her area's bulky trash pickup week?


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Here in SA we only get that bulky trash service twice a year but it does bring out all the scavengers.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Then there's THIS:

http://askville.amazon.com/Ashley-Estell-Texas-murdered/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=34073604

"... DNA testing indicates tissue found under the girl’s fingernails came from two different men..."



~I am going to look into this and find a solid source for this information. However; this goes with my theory that in the case of Alanna there may be two people involved.



...Who on here is good at ODDs? Who knows a bookie or someone who is good at gambling who can set the ODDS THAT these girls all this age and looking very similar would go missing and murdered within that small of a distance?

 

[IBsleuthin]

This is MSM, Associated Press:

http://www.tdcaa.com/node/1442

 

[SCHMAE]

Good question. I'm having trouble finding much info on the circumstances in which these girls were found. I'm not used to googling for this kind of stuff. When looking for info on Amber, a lot comes up about Amber alerts. And when searching for info on Ashley, a lot comes up about the man falsely convicted of her murder.

But from what I can tell, Amber was abducted from a store parking lot while riding her bike. A witness saw her grabbed and thrown in a pick up truck. She was found by a man walking his dog in Nth Arlington, naked in a ditch, and her throat had been slit. She was found four days after being abducted and had been kept alive for two days.

Ashley was abducted while attending a soccer match with family in Plano. She was found 6 miles from where she was abducted, partially clothed and had been strangled. Her body was found the day after she was abducted.

Nothing about either girl being bound or wrapped in anything. I guess we don't really know whether the killer intended Alanna to found as she was.
I hope it's ok to use these links.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/amber_hagerman/1_index.html

http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/2001/06/01/Did_This_Creep_Really_Kill_Ashley_Estell.aspx

I cannot promise this but I watched the Amber Hagerman case very closely because I'm local and had small kids at that time. Everyone watched it though. Now keep in mind in those days there was not 24 hr news, internet, twitter, etc., so it's not the same as watching a case closely today. There was nowhere near the wealth of information. But I am ALMOST positive that Amber was found wrapped in something like plastic. I don't know if it can be found anywhere or not. I searched a few minutes the other day and found nothing but my memory says it is true.

 

[Mitsana]

Then there's THIS:

...Who on here is good at ODDs? Who knows a bookie or someone who is good at gambling who can set the ODDS THAT these girls all this age and looking very similar would go missing and murdered within that small of a distance?

I've been looking into this a little bit but I wasn't actually planning on posting anything about it bc I am missing too much info. but here's what I've thought about (forewarning: I do not make any conclusions).

Seems like nowadays, there are 40ish, maybe as many as 50ish (if you include children never recovered), stranger abduction+murders of children under 14 a year on average in the U.S. (it used to be somewhat higher in previous recent decades).

Using the percentage of population of Texas of the US, statistically, we would expect about 4 stranger abduction murders per year in that state. These are presumably clustered geographically in the population centers. There are 4 major centers in TX, one being Dalls/Ft Worth (ranking 2nd of the 4), so we would statistically expect roughly about 1 of these crimes a year in that general area.

I don't know the actual statistics for the area. A significant deviation from baseline would be interesting.

The Opal Jennings case is very close to Alanna's geographically, with the same age and similar appearance, but the amount of time between them makes it less compelling. But there is possibly a good reason to account for a hiatus: a jail term. In crimes like these, "The suspect in the case had been arrested for prior offenses against children 53% of the time and the most common crime was sexual in nature." (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/child_abduction/3.html) so it's quite possible the criminal is an RSO who was in jail for most of those gap years.

Regarding Amber's case, once you open up the geography and age more broadly, you would probably expect to turn up cases over the years that were that similar. Brunettes are common.

But one thing I don't know, that is very relevant , is how many crimes, on average, a child abductor commits. Are serial killings the norm? That makes it more likely that any two cases are connected. Also, if we wanted to analyze these specific probabilities more closely, one needs to know the probabilities that each of these things remain constant for serial killers (appearance, age, geography, etc) as well as a likely time horizon.

In sum, I didn't get anywhere with this line of thought, but I decided to throw it out there in case anyone else wants to go further.

 

[Mitsana]

Side note, I know many smarter than me have explained why physics-wise, Alanna could not have rolled/slid from the back of a truck. But yesterday, my side-lying (in a not round, but not boxy plastic container) gallon of milk slid approx. 2 feet from the front of my carpeted cargo area to up against the back hatch. Less than two mile drive, no steep hills, no speedy tire burning accelerations, no corners on two wheels.

I realize a side-lying gallon of milk in the back of my SUV is not the same as a cylindrical/mildly bumpy 45-50 pound person. And I'm currently leaning towards the body being purposefully dumped. But I think when it comes to the 'could it happen?', that it's more of a 'not probable, but possible'. We don't know other variables (if she was placed in the back of a truck.) I think we're all presuming placed on her back, middle of bed or towards cab, no other objects in the back of the truck. We can't know how she was placed (not laying flat? Upright, on rump, top-heavy head up) with other junk in front of her? and where she was placed (at edge with no hatch or pressed against gate w/faulty latch.) or what was possibly placed near her that could have rolled, slid or otherwise forced her body to get nudged out. So considering all that, I'd say not probable, but not impossible. :twocents:

For sliding, the physics all depends upon the friction between the tarp and the bed of the truck (assuming no tail gate). If the truck bed were frictionless, everything you put in the truck would immediately fall out the back as you drove away. Friction transmits the acceleration of the truck to the body. If the friction cannot accommodate the acceleration, the body slips. Obviously, there is friction, but it seems like a tarp on bare metal could be pretty slippery. And, as you rightly point out, we know through observation that things can slide around in passenger cars and trucks.

Additionally, I think there is some possibility that rolling could occur, if the body were bundled up in such a way that it became rounded, like a cylinder.

Like you, I'm not convinced that the body fell out of a truck, but I believe it is possible. I currently don't have an opinion on which is more likely (depends on how likely I think it is that trucks are missing tail gates vs how likely someone would intentionally dump a body in the street).

 

[ArianeEmory]

Then there's THIS:

http://askville.amazon.com/Ashley-Estell-Texas-murdered/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=34073604

"... DNA testing indicates tissue found under the girl’s fingernails came from two different men..."



~I am going to look into this and find a solid source for this information. However; this goes with my theory that in the case of Alanna there may be two people involved.



...Who on here is good at ODDs? Who knows a bookie or someone who is good at gambling who can set the ODDS THAT these girls all this age and looking very similar would go missing and murdered within that small of a distance?

Hmm. Let me say in advance I am not very sold on Opal's killer having been wrongly convicted, but maybe if he really is mentally impaired, he had another person "masterminding" it, and he took the fall.

 

[SCHMAE]

Hmm. Let me say in advance I am not very sold on Opal's killer having been wrongly convicted, but maybe if he really is mentally impaired, he had another person "masterminding" it, and he took the fall.

I was always a bit skeptical of Opal's kidnapper's story but when I read last week he had one hung jury and then a 2nd trial and in it the jury was also very nearly unable to come to a decision and the judge implored them to keep trying and they finally came to a conclusion, that made me every more skeptical. No one was ever charged with her death . The man charged and convicted of her kidnapping seems to have been a real hard sell for two juries. Could he be the right guy ? Absolutely! Is he without a ' doubt' the right guy? Who knows ? The FBI's early involvement in this has my eyebrows raised, so we'll have to see what they come up with. I tell you this much though, if the FBI and LE believe there is any connection with any of these 4 cases, there is no way they would tell the public because folks would get hysterical real quick !

 

[SCHMAE]

Hmm. Let me say in advance I am not very sold on Opal's killer having been wrongly convicted, but maybe if he really is mentally impaired, he had another person "masterminding" it, and he took the fall.

That link above was from Ashley Estell's autopsy, not Opal Joe's. It can get confusing. Are we barking up the wrong tree?

 

[GingerzMomma]

don't want to entirely derail the thread, but I came across some interesting things on the internet while researching Amber Hagerman. In short, the publisher of the paper in Ennis county believes her murder may have been related to a child sex ring that was busted in 2011 in Ennis, TX with close ties to one particular family.

From US DOJ: http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel11/anderson_buddy_PSC_sen_pr.html

From D Magazine: http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2011/03/08/the-amber-hagerman-story/
* oddly, the link in this story and several others appears to have been "assumed" by LE

From Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/comm...ngton-police-say-hagerman-tip-one-of-many.ece

I'm having a really hard time finding MSM links on this story, but you can google and figure out the back story. What is most unsettling to me is that I can no longer find MSM stories about the sex ring (there were once stories including that many children, including their own, were drugged and taken to a ranch/barn where "parties", incl adults, were held). If anyone can find any of this I'd appreciate it. Very odd that the DOJ and ICE statements can be found re: Anderson's arrest, but little else now.

Also odd, the journalist who tied this all together and sent leads to Arlington PD and was publishing stories (that are now inaccessible - lead to same black LE screen), was accused of child molestation himself in late 2011 and has been found guilty & sentenced.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Smal...r-accused-of-child-sex-assault-135964108.html

All very odd, and very off the radar. Google away.....

 

[ArianeEmory]

Bringing this forward. I had posted it on the last thread. Feel free to update it to add Ashley.
-----------

I thought I'd put this all in one place:

Amber Rene Hagerman:
Abducted January 13, 1996
Age 9, but tiny for her age
Abducted in Arlington, Texas by a man in a black pickup truck
Four days after the abduction, a man walking his dog found her in a drainage ditch next to the road.
Cause of death = cuts to the throat
Her killer was never found, and her homicide remains unsolved.

Opal Jo Jennings:
Abducted March 26, 1999, around 5:30pm
6 years old
Abducted while playing in front of her grandmother’s home in the 200 block of N. Hampshire St. in Saginaw.
Found In late December of 2003, in a field in Northwest Fort Worth, about 10 miles from Saginaw.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Nobody was ever charged with the murder, but Ricky Lee Franks was convicted of her kidnapping (many feel this was a wrongful conviction)

Alanna Gallagher:
Abducted July 1, 2013 (late afternoon)
6 years old
Abducted in Saginaw while out playing, exact site unknown
Found the evening of July 1, 2013 at the intersection of Roundrock & Cindy Dr.
Cause of death unknown
Killer remains at large



Would love to hear thoughts/theories!!

Ashley Estell:
Abducted September 4, 1993
7 years old
Abducted at Carpenter Park soccer field, Plano TX
Found the next day "beside a secluded dirt road six miles from the park" (anyone know more specifics?)
Cause of death: strangled
Michael Blair convicted in 1994, exonerated by DNA in 2008.