The residents of Babbling Book Drive in Saginaw, Texas, often noticed two people who roamed the streets alone. One was 6-year-old Alanna Gallagher, a friendly little girl who loved Veggie Tales and the colour purple.1 She was much too young to be outside alone but she could often be spotted on her purple bicycle in pursuit of finding friends.
“Alanna was a gregarious child, known to many neighbours. She was also known to walk the neighbourhood alone, calling on friends to play,” recalled a neighbour. She lived at home with her mother, her father, and her mother’s other boyfriend. They were in a polyamorous relationship and co-parenting Gallagher and her siblings. While the family were mostly well-liked, the fact that they allowed their young daughter to play alone unsupervised raised many questions from neighbours.
The other person who roamed the same neighbourhood was 17-year-old Tyler Lane Holder who lived several doors away. Former classmates and friends of Holder would describe him as a “socially awkward” teenager who often joked about rape and made people feel uneasy.2 “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,” recalled Mikayla Dawson, one of his classmates. Much like Gallagher, Holder could also frequently be spotted wandering the streets alone.
On the 1st of July, 2013, their paths collided.
On that fateful afternoon, Gallagher had been on her usual pursuit of finding somebody to play with. At around 2PM, she knocked on a neighbour’s door and asked if she could play with their grandson. “She just loves my grandson. She really wanted to play,” recalled the neighbour. The grandson, however, was going to the mall with his grandmother and couldn’t play with Gallagher. She said she would wait for him to get back and continued to wait outside their house. This was the last time she was never seen alive.
Gallagher hadn’t even been reported missing when a couple of boys found her body at Roundrock Drive and Cindy Lane, just a few short miles from her home, at around 7PM that evening. She was partially naked and wrapped up in a grey tarp and a brown leather belt. Plastic bags were wrapped around her head with duct tape around her neck. Her hands and feet had been bound with duct tape and she had been stuffed inside a black trash bag. She had been raped and then suffocated. Her body showed signs of head and face trauma as well as abrasions and bruising on parts of her body including fingertip injuries to her lower abdomen. Her autopsy concluded that at some point either before or after her murder, Gallagher had been immersed in water, potentially to wash away any evidence. Nevertheless, sperm and other DNA was retrieved from the crime scene.3
The body remained unidentified until later on that night when Gallagher was finally reported missing. It was 9:15PM when her mother flagged down a police car to inform them her daughter was gone. Despite this, Holder was reportedly telling people that the body that had been found was Gallagher. As police and neighbours gathered on Gallagher’s street, Holder was acting suspiciously. He was spotted pacing up and down the street.
His peculiar behaviour arose suspicions amongst neighbours and police and a search warrant was issued for his home. Several items were removed from the home and Holder provided a DNA swab. Days later, the DNA test came back as match to that found at the crime scene. In addition, his DNA was found on a belt buckle found at the crime scene and dog hair found inside the plastic bag matched dog hair found inside Holder’s home. Police also retrieved trash bags from his home which matched the trash bag Gallagher was found in.4
When the DNA match was made, police rushed to Holder’s home with an arrest warrant. As they approached the door, Holder said he wasn’t going to speak to them before he produced a handgun from behind him and opened fire on the officers. He shot Arlington Police Detective Charles Lodatto in the groin before being tackled to the ground by another officer. During the scuffle, Holder received a gunshot wound to the head before being apprehended. The officers had hoped Holder would surrender peacefully which is why they didn’t think it be necessary to use a SWAT team to serve the arrest warrant. Both Lodatto and Holder were rushed to hospital where they made a full recovery.
As it soon became known, Holder had lured Gallagher to his home when his mother was out at work. Once inside, he sexually tortured the youngster before strangling her to death with his belt and some plastic bags.5 Alanna Gallagher’s funeral was conducted at Calvary Lutheran Church in Richland Hills and she was subsequently buried at Greenwood Cemetery.
Due to his young age, Holder avoided the death penalty. In 2012, the Supreme Court declared that life sentences without parole were unconstitutional for defendants under 18. Holder pleaded guilty to a murder charge and was sentenced to life in prison. He also pleaded guilty to an attempted capital murder charge for shooting the officer and received a 40 year sentence. Holder must serve at least 50 years before getting a chance at parole.
During his trial, Gallagher’s mother, Laura Gallagher, gave a victim impact statement: “It does not bring her back to us. No matter how much suffering you undergo in prison, it won’t be as much as all the people who knew and loved Alanna have been and will continue to be suffering. I hope you remember this and that you live with shame for what you have done, every day that you live, every day that Alanna is gone from us.”6
Footnotes:
- The Dallas Morning News, 28 July, 2013 – “Girl’s Slaying Shatters Quiet Street”
- The Dallas Morning News, 24 July, 2013 – “Alanna Gallagher and a Neighbourhood Troublemaker”
- The Star Telegram, 13 November, 2013 – “Autopsy: Slain Saginaw Girl Had Been Immersed in Water”
- The Dallas Morning News, 28 July, 2013 – “Girl’s Killing Shatters Quiet Street”
- Las Vegas Examiner, 5 September, 2014 – “Alanna Gallagher’s Killer Gets Life in Prison”
- Fort Worth Star Telegram, 4 September, 2014 – “Saginaw Teen Pleads Guilty to 6-Year-Old Neighbour”
Comments:
I lay 50% of the blame on this perv murderer and 50% on this poor baby’s parents. THEY should have kept a closer rein on a 6 yr old. Alanna was on this planet roughly 2100 days-what did SHE know about perverts? Obviously no one told her to avoid older kids, not that this perv male could in any way be considered a kid except chronologically. I’m so sorry that mama cared more about the 2 males in her life than she did her own flesh and blood. HIS parents had to know he was an untrustworthy loser who needed… Read more »
This, right here. The second I read “polyamorous” I thought, here’s some parents who care more about their sex lives than their kids.
no. bad things happen because of bad people. if it wasn’t Alana, it would have eventually been someone else. although she was clearly too young to be out by herself, this happened because psychopaths like Tyler exist, not because she was out alone, because like the article says she was out by herself all the time and nothing bad happened until she came across the path of someone like Tyler. you blaming her parents for this is like blaming an adult rape victim for their rape because they were out alone late at night. I personally wouldn’t give my child… Read more »
I have a fenced in yard and I’ll let my nearly 7 yr old son and 5yr old daughter play relatively unsupervised. My home office’s 4 bay windows looks out on them and with those windows and the front door open I hear everything. They’re only allowed to play outside the yard if an adult is watching them. I remember when I was growing up in Baltimore, my parents let me roam around when I was 6. My friends and I would hop on our bikes and ride for miles and we never had any close calls or scary interactions.… Read more »
This is such a horrible case…. She didn’t stand a chance. I am not blaming the parents at all but how could they let her be outside alone and not notice her missing? She was just a baby 🙁
Good parenting… Not even noticing your kid was missing until that late.
In the 80s? Fine. We as kids regularly hopped on our bikes and the rule was be home when the streetlights came on. Now? My kids text me every half hour and I have GPS on their cells (our whole family does) and bikes (we’ve had a few stolen). They also have to be home in time for dinner and chores…6:30pm. There’s no way in hell I wouldn’t be missing my kids til damn near 9:30pm. The thing is, if she was 6 years old…she’d have never left my sight or my property. There were THREE adults allegedly co-parenting her,… Read more »
Took the words right out of my mouth. I was an 80s kid and you nailed it. We’d ride our bikes for miles and just had to be home by dinner. Never had any problems – outside of a few minor scapes & cuts from falling off the bike. What happened to society that kids, even in the “safe” suburbs, can’t enjoy that kind of freedom anymore?
Tyler was definitely a weird one.I knew him personally. He was just a child himself, but already such a strange and devious person..He spent too much time alone. His mother was always at work. I blame all of the parents in this case: his and Alanna’s. And of course I blame Tyler. He often spoke of rape, and he told me he wanted to be famous… He deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life. The anniversary of her death is in a couple of months. The death of this beautiful child had impacted Saginaw in such… Read more »
17 years old is not a child. He’s a psychopath. My mother was always working, what is your point?
yes he’s a psychopath. yes 17 is a child. that’s why he wasnt given the death penalty, even though he deserves it… 17 is a child. at 17 you couldn’t even buy cigarettes. i dont even think you’re offically an “adult” until you can rent a car at 25… he was a teenager. hell, you’re still a kid at 19 and 20. but anyway. his mother ignored him. left him alone all the time. she was really weird and so is he. he had a taste for extreme violence and he had unlimited access to violent video games, p*rn, movies,… Read more »
In the UK he would have been on trial as an adult not a kid anerica has it wrong when it comes to this stuff 16 years is adult in the UK and that works
And you guys in the UK would have given him 5 years and let him go home early. Please don’t compare you weak criminal justice system to ours. I can’t believe you believe “that works.” What a joke.
You are seriously gonna try to comment that someone who actually knew the perpetrator personally doesn’t know maybe just a bit more about this case than someone like yourself who didn’t know the killer at all? Pretentious much?
That victim impact statement is infuriating. She doesn’t deserve to say any of that. Letting their 6 year old roam free without supervision and not noticing she’s gone until far too late.
How were the parents not charged with neglect 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
I hope every single day in prison is made a living nightmare..I hope he too is r@9ed and strangled by other prisoners & he experiences ‘ve years..I live in the UK & was sexually abused 50 yrs ago when I was he same age as this beautiful little girl ..may she rest in peace