UT Joyce Gallegos and Gabriel Distefano, Sheriffs re-investigating two 35-year-old cold

[Tulessa]

Mod's I searched but could not find a thread for these two cases. If I missed them, please unite. Thanks!

OGDEN — The Weber County Sheriff’s Office says it is actively investigating a pair of cold case murders from the 1980s it believes may be related.



http://kutv.com/news/local/weber-county-sheriffs-connect-two-35-year-old-cold-murder-cases

 

[aThousandYearsWide]

Weber detectives probing 2 related killings from 3 1/2 decades ago

"On Aug. 11, 1982, Joyce Tina Gallegos, 21, was last seen alive in the Weber County area. Her body was found Aug. 22 in the Ogden River. She died from two gunshot wounds to her head.

Four days after Gallegos disappeared, 14-year-old Gabriel Distefano was last seen going to a party in Riverdale. It was the last time she was seen alive. Her body was found, wrapped in plastic, on Sept. 16, 1982, in a ditch near a construction site in Harrisville. She had been shot once in the head, according to police.

Police believe the two cases are related. No one has ever been arrested for either crime.

Hutchinson said detectives are taking advantage of advancements in forensic technology that weren't available in 1982, as well as re-interviewing everybody who was associated with the victims more than three decades ago.

While investigators don't believe Distefano and Gallegos knew each other, they had common acquaintances. Detectives have been busy interviewing people who "ran in the same circles," Hutchinson said.

Recently, detectives traveled to Texas to interview a man on parole there. That man was dating Distefano at the time of her death, the warrant states.

On Aug. 15, 1982, Distefano was last seen in a car at the Paramount Theatre in Ogden with a group of people, including two men, according to the affidavit. The group then went to a party in Riverdale.

A witness who was with the group claimed Distefano left the party with one of the men. The witness "also claimed that she saw a handgun in the glove box of the red car," the warrant states.

Distefano was dating the man she left the party with, according to the warrant. Another witness said the two "were having an argument."

That man was interviewed by police in 1984 "and denied having dated or seen Gabriel Distefano at any time in 1982," police wrote.

In 2008, "the bullet recovered from Gabriel Distefano's body and the bullet recovered from Tina Gallegos' body … were sent to the northern Utah crime lab. It was determined by the crime lab that the bullets in both homicides were fired from the same gun," the affidavit states."

 

[dotr]

Aug 29 2022

The Justice Files: 40-years and still counting

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Utah) – Forty-years have passed and two families are still waiting for answers. Joyce Tina Gallegos and Gabrielle DiStefano were both murdered days apart in August 1982. …

www.abc4.com

''SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Utah) – Forty-years have passed and two families are still waiting for answers.

Joyce Tina Gallegos and Gabrielle DiStefano were both murdered days apart in August 1982. Weber County authorities eventually discovered their bodies. They were shot to death.''

''According to Montoya and others, Gallegos left in a red Impala. Montoya said the owner of a red Impala sold it to Gallegos’ sister right after the shooting.

“There was blood in the trunk, there was blood on the carpet and the police came and took it,” Montoya claimed. “They took the whole carpet. We never heard nothing after that.”

One person was arrested and even charged in the murder of Gallegos. But weeks before he was to go to trial, the state dropped charges. The alleged suspect had a solid alibi according to prosecutors.''

2019 rbbm.

The Justice Files: Red car may be key in solving cold case murders

OGDEN, Utah (ABC4 News) – Gabrielle Di Stefano left to visit her friend back in 1982.

www.abc4.com

''Jensen is also a private investigator hired by the Di Stefano’s family. He also learned Di Stefano’s mother saw her return.

“She saw her outside the home, about to enter into the house and she saw her turn around and get into a candy apple red Chevy Impala,” said Jensen.

Several weeks later, Di Stefano’s body was found in a vacant field in Harrisville.''

 

[dotr]

Sep 16, 2022 rbbm.

Candlelight vigil, cold case update for Utah girl, 14, found dead 40 years ago

RIVERDALE, Utah — Gabriel DiStefano was 14 when, while heading to a party in Riverdale, she disappeared. The following day, Sept. 16, 1982, her body was

ksltv.com

''RIVERDALE, Utah — Gabriel DiStefano was 14 when, while heading to a party in Riverdale, she disappeared. The following day, Sept. 16, 1982, her body was found with a gunshot wound to the head, wrapped in plastic and placed in a ditch near a construction site in Harrisville, Utah.

Forty years later her life will be commemorated while the continued mystery about who killed her will be highlighted Friday at a candlelight vigil at Harrisville’s Millenium Park at 7 p.m.

A press release promises a private investigator and co-founder of the Cold Case Coalition will update those at the vigil with the latest on the case. Family members will also be in attendance.''

''Joyce Tina Gallegos
Investigators believe the two crimes are related and in 2008 an affidavit stated that the bullets recovered from each of the bodies were fired by the same gun. In 2012 DNA swabs of Gallegos’ purse found forensic evidence of the combination of more than two males, according to the documents.

“Because the murders of Tina and Gabriel occurred in or near the same month of August 1982, because both bodies were shot in the same fashion, and because the bullet fired into each girl was fired from the same gun as determined by the state crime lab, it is my experience that most likely the same perpetrator was at least involved in each homicide,” the warrant states, as reported by Deseret.com.''

 

[Anonymom]

Investigators are now asking for help understanding a towel with Apartment 15 on it and a light yellow shower curtain with green markings In order to help solve these murders.

New evidence unveiled in 40-year-old cold case involving homicide of two young women

More than 40 years after a pair of women were found dead in Weber County, investigators have unveiled new information in the cold cases in hopes it may spark someone's memory.

www.fox13now.com

 

[Fede]

We have then some leads:
- candy apple red Chevy Impala in the Di Stefano case
- DNA in the Gallegos (more than 2 males)
- the same bullets in both murders
- Towel (white with letters spelling "Apartment 15") and shower curtain (light yellow with light green markings at the bottom) close to Di Stefano´s body