ALANNA GALLAGHER - 6 yo (7/13) - / Convicted: Neighbor, Tyler Holder - Saginaw, TX

Horror as body of girl, 4, is found bound and naked under tarp in middle of suburban intersection...as the FBI searches her parents' house nearby


   Teens playing in the street found the body of the girl

   Her hands and feet were bound and she was naked except for a pair of purple underwear

   FBI has joined the investigation and deemed the case a murder

   Police looking for red pickup truck with green splotch that was seen in the area when the girl's body was found

By Michael Zennie

PUBLISHED: 08:25 EST, 2 July 2013 | UPDATED: 14:11 EST, 2 July 2013


The body of a little girl, age 4 or 5, has been found under a tarp in the middle of a suburban intersection outside Fort Worth, Texas.

Teenagers who found the girl in the city of Saginaw, Texas, on Monday night say the girl's hands and feet were bound. She had a plastic bag over her head and she was naked, except for a pair of purple underwear.

By Tuesday morning, the FBI and local police executed a search warrant at her parents' house - about a mile and a half from where the girl's body was found.

Authorities say her parents reported the girl missing, though they are not sure whether that was before or after her body was found



Horror in Texas: A little girl's body was found bound and naked under this plastic tarp in Saginaw, Texas, outside Fort Worth on Monday night





This aerial image shows the tarp where the girl's body was found, lower right corner, in the middle of a quiet intersection


Searching: Police executed a search warrant on the girl's parents' home on Tuesday morning. The house is located about a mile and a half from where the body was found

Teenagers playing in the street made the chilling discovery about 7.30pm after their parents told them to clean up a tarp that had been dumped in the road.
The children assumed that a passerby had dumped garbage in the neighborhood. Instead, to their horror, they found the girl's body.

'At first, I just thought it was some rubber stuff at first, and then I got a closer look and all I saw was a bag and I saw some hair sticking out and so, I was like, "Oh my God! It’s a girl!"' Josh Smith, 18, told KXAS-TV.

'And that’s when I dropped to my knees and just started crying.'
Smith says he never again will be able to leave his house without thinking about the little girl he found near his front door.

The news shocked neighbors in the quiet community.

Murder: The FBI has joined the investigation after the horrifying discovery. No children from the area have been reported missing, so the case starts with few leads


FBI agents combed the area searching for evidence. The body was dumped in a conspicuous spot in a suburban neighborhood in Saginaw


'I was panicking. I was freaked out. How can somebody hurt a little girl?' said Katie Whiddon, the mother of one of the teenagers who discovered the body, told KTVT-TV.

The FBI and Texas Rangers have joined Saginaw police in investigating the case, which is being called a murder.
The cause of death is not yet known.

Ms Whiddon told [b][b][b]KDFW-TV[/b][/b][/b] that the girl was naked and bound and had a plastic grocery bag over her head.

By daybreak on Tuesday, authorities discovered the identity of the girl and were interviewing her parents.They also executed a search warrant on the house.

Neighbors told KDFW that the girl's father went door-to-door last night about 8pm asking if anyone had seen his daughter.

Her body was found about 7.30pm. It is unclear whether her parents reported her missing before or after her body was found.

The girl's home is located about a mile and a half from the crime scene where her body was found.


The girl's body was found in Saginaw, Texas, a city of 20,000 outside Forth Worth


Coping: Neighbors quickly set up a makeshift memorial on the curb for the little girl, whose identity remains a mystery
Pink toys belonging to a small child could be seen in the front yard of the home.

Police do not know why the body was dumped in such a conspicuous spot. They say it may have accidentally fallen out of the vehicle that was carrying it.

Neighbors say they noticed a red pickup truck with a green splotch on the rear passenger-side panel in the neighborhood shortly before the body was found.

Investigators believe the driver may have something to do with the body and have asked anyone with information about the truck to come forward.

FBI agents could be seen Monday night combing the block where the body was found, searching for possible clues.

Neighbors set up a makeshift memorial of flowers and teddy bears on the curb near where the girl was found in an attempt to cope with the disturbing discovery.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2353525/Saginaw-Texas-Horror-body-girl-4-bound-naked-tarp-suburban-intersection.html#ixzz2Y7GCIuTj

Teen accused of killing Alanna Gallagher, 6, and shot in the head by police was 'awkward teen with love of weapons'
By Stuart Woledge
PUBLISHED: 05:50 EST, 24 July 2013

The prime suspect in the murder of little Alanna Gallagher was 'weird and creepy' with a violent past, according to those who knew him.

Classmates of 17-year-old Tyler Holder, who remains in a critical condition after being shot in the head by police, have described how the socially awkward teenager had a love of weapons, carried knives, and would crack sick jokes about rape.

Holder opened fire on police yesterday when they arrived to arrest him, hitting officer Charles Lodatto in the groin.

Mikayla Dawson, 16, remembered him as an 'angry person' from their days at Wayside Middle School.

She said: 'He was the kid that you were always really nice to because you didn’t know if he was going to come shoot up the school.'

Police have now confirmed neighbours have described Holder to them as a 'troublemaker' and that he had been involved in 'criminal mischief' in the area.

One neighbour even claimed to have seen a gray tarpaulin in Holder's back garden two or three months ago, similar to that covering Alanna, 6, when she was found dead just yards from her home on Babbling Brook Drive.

Lauren Allen, 15, recalled a confrontation between her older brother and Holder a few years ago after a rare snowfall, when Holder destroyed a snowman her brother had built.

In retaliation,Lauren’s brother threw a snowball at Holder, who 'just turned around and pulled out his pocket knife'.

Lauren added: 'He was weird and creepy, and he’s been violent in the past.'



'Creepy': Those who knew prime suspect Taylor Holder have described a socially awkward teenager with a love of weapons



Tragic: Six-year-old Alanna Gallagher was found bound and gagged. The youngster had been raped. Right, Charles Lodotto, who he opened fire on hitting the officer in the groin



Boyfriend: Patricia Hustede banned Holder from her home after he started dating her daughter, Cassie

Cassie Hustede dated Holder until earlier this year.

The 20-year-old is currently being held in Tarrant County jail on a burglary charge, but her mother, Patricia, said that she had concerns about Holder from the beginning.

'I said to Cassie, "There’s something bad about him, keep him away from my house".'

She explained Holder would visit the house even after Cassie had gone to jail to see how she was doing.

She added: 'He fooled me. It just freaks me out that I allowed him in my house, around my kids and my grandkids.'



Weapons: Holder was said to have carried knives and pulled one on a teenage boy after destroying his snowman, according to one source

The probable cause affidavit for Holder’s arrest, obtained by WFAA-TV (Channel , offers new details about the suffering inflicted upon Alanna, who went missing on July 1.

The little girl, who was known for riding on her purple scooter in search of playmates, had been brutally raped.

Her partially clothed body was found by 14-year-old Owen Whiddon bound and wrapped in a grey tarpaulin in the middle of a street about a mile from her home later in the day of her disappearance.

Genetic evidence was matched through DNA tests to a sample that Holder voluntarily provided to police earlier this month, the documents say.

His DNA was also found on the buckle of a belt used to wrap Alanna’s body in the tarp.

Four Wal-Mart bags were taped over the girl’s head with red duct tape secured around her neck.

Her wrists and ankles were bound with the same tape and her body and clothes were wet with an unknown liquid.

Police later found what is believed to be the same kind of duct tape in rubbish bags outside the home Holder shared with his mother just two doors from where Alanna lived with her family.

Originally, Saginaw Police had said they had no specific suspects, but the affidavit suggests Holder was under suspicion almost immediately.

Within hours of Alanna’s body being found officers reported seeing Tyler Holder 'pacing up and down the sidewalk', the affidavit says.

Residents informed police Holder had told them that it was Alanna’s body that had been found, even before the authorities had revealed the identity of the victim.

The next day, as officers searched the Gallagher home, Holder was seen standing across the street watching.

Holder was questioned early in the investigation and told police on the day of Alanna's death he woke up about 2pm, watched television and went to apply for jobs, having recently been made unemployed by Sonic.

The affidavit reads: 'Holder stated that he had no contact with Alanna Gallagher and that she had never been in his house,'



Belt: A DNA sample taken by police of Holder matched DNA found on Alanna's body and on a belt found at the scene

Holder also denied having a tarpaulin in his back garden.

But video surveillance obtained from the north and south ends of Babbling Brook Drive did not show Holder driving his vehicle that day as he had said.

When they analysed his mobile phone, they found pictures of him with a garden hose in a sexual position.



Scene: Five officers arrived at the home in Saginaw, Texas and watched as Holder pulled out a gun from his wasitband. He shot one officer, hitting him in the groin, before he was shot in the head

During an interview, Holder had admitted that he had sex with other men.

On July 5, officers took a DNA sample from his mouth and were notified on Saturday it matched evidence found on Alanna's body.

At about 9am on Tuesday, officers arrived Holder's home in unmarked cars.

Neighbours heard them pounding on the door shortly before multiple shots rang out.

Lodatto was shot in the groin, and the bullet hit an artery and broke into pieces.

Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said he was recovering from his injuries, although he had a long road ahead of him.



Heartbreaking: The arrest comes after Alanna's body was found tied and partially naked with a bag over her head under this tarp in the street. A 14-year-old boy came across her body

Holder was shot in the head when another officer opened fire. He was taken John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

Holder's mother Kim was contacted on Tuesday evening. When asked about the condition of her son, she replied 'not so good'.

Her lawyer Lance Evans later added: 'Mrs Holder is in shock and is extremely worried about the condition of her son, as any mother would be.

'I ask that the Holder family’s request for privacy be honored as they come to grips with today’s events.'

Alanna's family claim they have been targeted in the aftermath of the horrific incident.



'The three of us': A Facebook image shows Alanna's parents, Laura and Karl (left) Gallagher with Miles McDaniel (right), who are in a polyamorous relationship

Alanna lived with her siblings, their parents Laura and Karl Gallagher, and a second male, Miles McDaniel, who was in a polyamorous relationship with her parents.

Police have said that the Gallaghers and McDaniel were home while Alanna played outside alone. They are not sure when she was abducted from the neighborhood.

Although her body was discovered at about 7.30pm, her father did not report her missing until two hours later.

Last week, a memorial set up for the little girl outside her home was set on fire along with the family's car.

Saginaw Police Chief Roger Macon added that officers were not judging the parents' polyamorous relationship.


Coping: Neighbors set up a makeshift memorial on the curb but it was torched along with the family's car

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2375785/Prime-suspect-Alanna-Gallagher-murder-Saginaw-Taylor-Holder-creepy-weird.html


From the DNA tests the parents are not involved just this monster.  The media and others ridiculed the parents for their relationship and that they were involved.  Burning the car was just pure hate not concern for little Alanna.  I hope this monster gets what he deserves.  William

What a horrible, evil boy. 

He's too young to be executed.

Alanna Gallagher: Body of murdered 6-year-old found under a tarp on Texas street ID'd

Stripped naked — apart from her underwear — her killer had bound her hands and feet before tying a plastic bag over her head.


Published: Thursday, July 4, 2013, 4:36 AM


via Facebook
The body of a 6-year-old girl found on a Texas street has been identified as Alanna Gallagher, authorities say.

A little "angel" found murdered under a tarp in a quiet suburban Texas neighborhood has been named as six-year-old Alanna Gallagher.

She was discovered by kids a mile from her home in Saginaw, Fort Worth, on Monday night - hours after she went missing.
Stripped naked — apart from purple underwear — her killer had bound her hands and feet before tying a plastic bag over her head.

Saginaw Police
Alanna was tortured before being killed.

The tarp containing her corpse was then dumped in the middle of an intersection, tightly sealed with a belt.

The FBI is now offering $10,000 for information that helps catch the "monster" who abducted the tiny student from her parents' home.

Cops are tracking down several leads, saying a red pick-up truck with a green splotch could have been used in the murder.

Kaylee Bryant/AP
Gallagher, 6, was a resident of Saginaw, Texas where her body was found.




So far ruling out her parents as suspects, they are also trying to figure out exactly when Gallagher was taken from her home.

The Star-Telegram writes she was reported missing by her dad at 9:15 p.m. Monday.

Karl Gallagher via Facebook
Alanna Gallagher was stripped naked — apart from her underwear — and her hands and feet were bound.
The defense contractor engineer, who has two other children, went door-to-door searching for his daughter.

But two scooter-riding teens — Owen Whiddon, 14, and Josh Smith, 18 — had already found her body hidden under the tarp by around 7:30 p.m.

Whiddon's father called 911.

FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth/myfoxdfw.com

Horrifying: Alanna Gallagher's body was found under a tarp outside her home on Monday night.

“I think it’s a little girl in plastic bag someone dropped it off,” he told the dispatcher. “I haven’t even opened it all the way up but I can see the legs and everything. There’s a belt around it. Tape.”
RELATED: VIGILS HELD FOR GIRL FOUND DEAD IN TEXAS
Shocked neighbors have paid tribute to the curly brown haired child, who they described as an "inquisitive spitfire" who appeared older than she was.

CBS Dallas-Fort Worth/dfw.cbslocal.com
Father Karl Gallagher speaks to the media about his daughter.

"She seemed smarter than the average, just because of the questions she'd always ask," said John Janus.

"She was a precious little girl. I usually just saw her on her scooter," neighbor Kay Stief added to the Dallas Morning News.

Hundreds attended a candle-light vigil at a Methodist church on Tuesday night. A make-shift street memorial dedicated to the girl is stretching around the block.

Uriel J. Garcia/AP
A teddy bear memorial has been set up for young Alanna Gallagher.

Alanna was a kindergartener at Willow Creek Elementary School. She turned six less than three weeks before she was murdered.

Police currently have no suspects and have not yet determined the cause of death.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 682-888-3682 or 682-888-3684.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/6-year-old-murdered-tarp-texas-named-alanna-gallagher-article-1.1389968#ixzz2f6LD701k

Alanna Gallagher case: Arrest warrant reveals grisly details of 6-year-old’s murder

Tyler Holder, 17, is suspected of sexually assaulting and killing his young neighbor. The arrest warrant reveals horrific details of the crime.

William, when updating this, I noticed we had a duplicate so I merged the older one with the earliest one.

August 8, 2013 12:23 PM



Alanna Gallagher Update: Tyler Holder, teen suspected in death of 6-year-old Texas girl, moved from hospital to jail


Tyler Holder
/ Tarrant County Jail via CBS DFW


(CBS) TARRANT COUNTY, Texas - Tyler Holder, the teenager suspected of killing his six-year-old neighbor in Texas, has been released from the hospital and transported to jail, CBS DFW reports.

Holder, 17, was booked into the Tarrant County Jail shortly after midnight on Wednesday. He is reportedly still under hospital care after being shot July 23 by police serving an arrest warrant in Alanna Gallagher's death.

Authorities said Holder opened fire and seriously wounded a police detective when they went to arrest him at his Saginaw home. An officer with the Arlington Police Dept. was allegedly shot by Holder in the incident. The officer, Charles Lodatto, received a non-life threatening wound and has since been released from the hospital.

Police allege Holder sexually assaulted and suffocated Alanna before wrapping her nude body in a tarp and dumping it along a residential road in Saginaw. The girl was found July 1 with plastic bags taped around her neck, according to the capital murder arrest warrant affidavit. Holder's DNA matched evidence found on the girl's body and on a belt wrapped around the tarp, according to the affidavit.


Holder's arrest was the culmination of weeks of investigation and turmoil in the Tarrant County neighborhood where Alanna had lived, and it followed the discovery that someone had set fire to a makeshift memorial for the girl and torched a car owned by her family. Authorities have not said whether Holder is responsible for the fire.

He is being held on a million dollar bond.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57597584-504083/alanna-gallagher-update-tyler-holder-teen-suspected-in-death-of-6-year-old-texas-girl-moved-from-hospital-to-jail/

Why did the POS have to torture her before murdering her?  This makes no sense to me.  Evil, pure evil.

Teen who raped and murdered Saginaw 6-year-old must serve at least 50 years


By JULIE FANCHER
Staff Writer


Published: 04 September 2014 09:42 PM
Updated: 04 September 2014 09:42 PM




Tyler Holder
Photo:  Uncredited / AP


A Saginaw teenager charged with raping and killing his 6-year-old neighbor reached a deal with prosecutors Thursday that will keep him in prison for at least 50 years.

More than a month before his trial was set to begin, Tyler Holder, 18, pleaded guilty to the murder of Alanna Gallagher and the attempted capital murder of an Arlington detective.

Holder was sentenced to life in prison for Alanna’s death and 40 years for trying to kill Officer Charles Lodatto. The sentences will be served consecutively.

Holder also pleaded guilty to arson and will serve 20 years concurrently on that charge.

According to his plea agreement, Holder must serve a minimum of 50 years in prison.

“Today a dangerous killer was brought to justice,” Tarrant County Deputy Chief District Attorney Bob Gill said in a written statement. “The family of Alanna Gallagher and Officer Charles Lodatto are very satisfied with this resolution.”

Holder, who was 17 at the time of Alanna’s murder, was originally charged with capital murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors dropped the capital murder charge to a lesser charge of murder after a 2012 Supreme Court ruling said mandatory life sentences for defendants younger than 18 are unconstitutional.

Holder’s trial was set to begin Oct. 20.

“This case has been a tragedy for everyone involved,” his attorneys Mark Daniel and Tim Moore said in a written statement. “This resolution is in the best interests of all concerned.”

Alanna’s body was found in July 2013 after she disappeared from her Saginaw home on Babbling Brook Drive.

She was found less than a mile from her home wrapped in a tarp bound with red duct tape. Her head was covered with four plastic bags. She had also been sexually assaulted.

A few weeks later, Holder set fire to a vehicle parked outside the Gallagher family’s home. Days later, Holder shot Officer Charles Lodatto when authorities came to his home to arrest him.

Lodatto has since returned to work at the Arlington Police Department.

Holder was linked by DNA evidence to the asphyxiation and sexual assault of Alanna, according to police records. Days after his arrest, police found a sealed note at his home that told his mother: “I love you. I’m sorry.”

Among other evidence found in the home were bloody paper towels, latex gloves, condoms and red duct tape.

Alanna’s mother, Laura Gallagher, addressed the court and Holder after his sentencing.

“Alanna was a treasure, and a treasured child,” Gallagher said in a written statement. “She was loved and loving more in her brief life than many are in their whole life. She brightened every room she was in.”

Gallagher said that she and her family had been “grieving terribly” since Alanna’s death and that she hoped Holder would “live with shame for what you have done.”

She said it was good he would not be able to harm more children while he was in prison, but his sentence “does not repay for what you have done.”

She said her daughter had made the world a better place as a child.

“And I am certain she would have continued that as an adult,” she said. “The world has lost that. And it’s your fault.”


http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20140904-teen-who-raped-and-murdered-saginaw-6-year-old-must-serve-at-least-50-years.ece