Gerald and Charlene Gallego

Gerald Armond Gallego (July 17, 1946 – July 18, 2002) and Charlene Adell Gallego (née Williams; born October 10, 1956) were two American serial killers and rapists who were active mainly in Sacramento, California, between 1978 and 1980.

They murdered at least eleven victims, mostly teenagers, often kept as sex slaves before killing them.

Gerald Armond Gallego was born on July 17, 1946, in Sacramento, California.

His mother was a sex worker, while his estranged father was a criminal who in 1955 became the first man executed in the Mississippi gas chamber, for the killing of a police officer during a prison escape.

During his formative years, his mother and her multiple boyfriends beat him constantly.

Several of her clients even sexually abused him.

He often begged to be hugged and was frequently left unclean and hungry.

At the age of 10, Gallego was arrested for his first known felony offense—robbing a neighbor's home.

This was the start of his criminal career.

He had twenty-three arrests and served prison time after being convicted of robbery prior to his murders.

Gallego worked as a bartender and truck driver.

He was married a total of seven times, including two marriages to the same woman, but he would often abandon his partners when they ran out of money.

When Gerald was 12, he sexually abused a 6-year-old girl which resulted in him being sentenced to a California youth authority

facility, and would during his adulthood sexually molest his own daughter as well as one of her friends.

He was still married to a previous wife when he married Charlene.

Charlene Adell Gallego (née Williams) was born on October 10, 1956, in Stockton, California.

She was a smart, shy child from a supportive home.

Her father was a well-known businessman who served as the vice president of a chain of supermarkets.

As part of their professional lives, he and his wife frequently traveled.

After Charlene's mother was severely injured in a car accident, Charlene took over her mother's responsibilities and started accompanying her father on his business travels, where she was frequently lauded by her father's clients for being an educated and articulate youngster.

The trajectory of her life began to change when, as a young adult, she started using drugs and alcohol.

Because of her overly flirty behavior with her male co-workers, Charlene was despised at work and developed a reputation as a nymphomaniac.

Charlene wed a wealthy young man who was addicted to heroin who asserted that Charlene was desperate for a threesome with him, her, and a prostitute because she was enamored with lesbian sex.

The marriage fell apart and they divorced because Charlene's first husband also detested the fact that Charlene's parents interfered in their relationship.

Charlene's next husband was a soldier who Charlene described as a "mother's boy".She became bored with him, and they separated.

When Charlene asked whether they might have sex with his wife, the married man with whom she was having an affair ended their relationship quickly.

She attempted suicide after the breakup but survived.

It was not long after this that she met Gerald.

On September 10, 1977, Charlene met Gerald at a poker club in Sacramento, California.

Within a week of their first encounter, Charlene moved in with Gerald.

Charlene acted as the sexually subservient partner in their sadomasochistic relationship.

Although Charlene later claimed in court that she detested the painful experience, Gerald engaged in rough intercourse with her and particularly enjoyed sodomising her.

Charlene allegedly became enamored by his machismo and started partaking in his deviant fantasies.

After they had been living together for a few months, Gerald brought home a 16-year-old exotic dancer to Charlene, and they had a threesome together.

He made sure the two women did not touch each other and only touched him.

But afterwards when he got home from work, he discovered that the two women were having sex alone.

He beat Charlene after throwing the dancer out an open window in wrath.

Then he refused to have intercourse with her, claiming he had lost his libido and had become impotent.

Charlene felt Gerald was sleeping with his patrons when he was working as a bartender because he had lost interest in having a sexual relationship with her.

After a year, he admitted that he required a pair of sex slaves to keep him excited.