Police solved a cold case on the 40th anniversary of the woman’s death. But the murder suspect died two years ago

One spring evening, 40 years ago, a Utah teenager told her loved ones she was hitchhiking to work in downtown Salt Lake City. An hour later, the 18-year-old was dead.

Christine Gallegos had been sexually assaulted, beaten, shot and stabbed to death on May 15, 1985, Salt Lake police said.

But despite an extensive investigation and forensic testing, there were no viable leads, no answers and the case went cold. Until now.

On Thursday, the 40th anniversary of the night Gallegos vanished, police announced at a press conference they had identified a suspect in her case.

With the help from Othram, a Texas-based DNA lab, and a renewed effort in 2023 by police to use DNA technology and genealogy in the case, Ricky Lee Stallworth was identified as a “likely suspect,” Detective Cordon Parks said.

A voluntary DNA sample from one of his sons confirmed the match, police said.

Stallworth was a 27-year-old airman stationed at Hill Air Force Base in May 1985 when Gallegos was killed.

He will not face criminal charges, however, because he died of natural causes in 2023 at the age of 65, just a few months before he became a person of interest and could be questioned.

“Unfortunately, in this case, we don't have a suspect to put handcuffs on or anyone to charge,” Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent Steve O’Camb said at the press conference Thursday. “But we hope our efforts achieved some measure of justice for her and the family and friends that loved her.”

Gallegos’ mother, Leah Gallegos, thanked police for continuing to investigate her daughter's murder.

“You never quit thinking about it, you never quit crying about it,” she said about the daughter she lost.

“It's just always there.”

The night Christine vanished

On May 15, 1985, Gallegos told her fiancé and other family members she was hitchhiking to work. She was last seen on 4000 West walking toward the freeway about 10:30 p.m., Det. Parks said.

About an hour later, Gallegos was killed. Her body wasn’t found until about 3:50 a.m. the next morning by a passerby in the area of 1384 South Jefferson Street, police said.

Parks said investigators believe Stallworth likely picked Gallegos up and instead of taking her to work, he took her to a secluded location by old Derks Field, before assaulting her behind the location where her body was later found.

But Gallegos did not give up without a fight, Parks said.

“They had a big fight where she was stabbed outside of the car,” he said.

“She left a blood trail up to the gutter of Jefferson Street.”

Multiple people were interviewed, but no one was ever named a suspect or arrested. Stallworth's name was never brought up and Parks said there is no indication that Stallworth and Gallegos knew each other.

The ‘State Street Stalker’

Stallworth’s name wasn’t on the police department's radar until 2023, when the department launched a renewed effort to solve the case.

The state’s Cold Case Review Board suggested to Parks that investigators try “forensic investigative genealogy” or “forensic ancestry investigation,” which compares DNA with a database of civilians’ DNA samples collected for genealogical purposes, KSL reported.

Results of that test are what led police to Stallworth as a likely suspect. They interviewed Stallworth’s family, and after they collected DNA from his sons and compared that DNA with forensic evidence collected in 1985, they had a match.

The former U.S. Air Force airman had been stationed at Hill Air Force Base in Layton, Utah, at the time of Gallegos' murder, police said.

An investigation also revealed that Stallworth was the “State Street stalker,” and that during the last two years of his life, police had contacted him over his alleged interactions with sex workers on State Street.

Stallworth would tell his wife he was going out for the night, be gone all night and then return in the morning “without explanation,” Parks said.

He told KSL when he interviewed one of Stallworth's four ex-wives and explained to her why he was there, “she was not surprised that we would be collecting DNA for other criminal acts he may have committed,” he said.

‘They took so much away when they took her away’

Leah Gallegors remembers her daughter as a special, sweet and outgoing girl who she misses every day.

“She was just special. She was outgoing, she was sweet, she was in love with her fiancé, Troy. They had a family planned,” she said Thursday.

“I wonder about the kids that she would have, and I watch other people with their daughters, their grandkids. They took so much away when they took her away.”

The heartbroken mother credited the police for solving her daughter’s case.

“They have never given up,” she said. “Even though I had thought they had given up, they'd never given up.”

“I just know that I sure miss this girl every day.”