Salt Lake City police say they solved 40-year-old murder case

Salt Lake City police say DNA and other evidence have identified the man who killed an 18-year-old woman in 1985, a case that went unsolved for 40 years.

The man responsible for sexually assaulting and fatally shooting 18-year-old Christine Gallegos, whose body was found in a field on May 16, 1985, was a 27-year-old airman who died in 2023, police said Thursday.

DNA and genealogy testing led investigators to identify Ricky Lee Stallworth as the likely suspect in the case, and a family member’s DNA confirmed the match, police said.

“I didn’t know I was going to speak — I just know that I sure miss this girl every day,” Gallegos’ mother, Leah Gallegos, said at a news conference with her adult son standing beside her.

“I wonder about the kids that she would have, and I watch other people with their daughters, their grandkids,” Leah Gallegos said.

Gallegos’ body was found near what was then known as Dirk’s Field, police said. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and fatally shot, and police said that it was clear that she struggled with her attacker.

Stallworth was a 27-year-old airman stationed at Hill Air Force Base, north of Salt Lake City, and he was never identified as a potential suspect so never was interviewed during the investigation into Gallegos’ death, the police department said. Their relationship, if any, remains unclear to this day, it said.

Stallworth was identified as a suspect after police sent DNA samples to Othram Labs in Texas in 2023. Othram is a company that specializes in cold cases and uses genealogy, police said. The effort was funded by a grant from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative organization, officials said.

Stallworth, who lived in Layton, a city adjacent to Hill Air Force Base, died of natural causes in July 2023, police said.

“We weren’t able to arrest a suspect, but hopefully we achieved some measure of justice for her and the family and friends that loved her,” Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent Steve O’Camb said.

Leah Gallegos thanked police for continuing to investigate her daughter’s murder. Gallegos was engaged to be married when she was killed and loved her fiance, she said.

“They had a family planned. They took so much away when they took her away,” Leah Gallegos said.