12-23-2008
Two young cousins, ages 7 and 10, headed out on a walk to play at the park in their neighborhood on Christmas Eve. They never made it back. Both boys were found beaten so badly that they no longer had identifiable facial features, and police initially couldn’t even determine an exact cause of injury. Both were rushed to
St. Joseph’s Hospital in critical condition. Sadly, their injuries were too severe to overcome. Both boys — 10-year-old Edwin Pellecier and 7-year-old Jesse Ramirez — died on the same morning just a day after Christmas.

The attack happened sometime before 1:00, as kids were on Christmas break from schools. The boys were building a fort in the sand at the playground when they were attacked. There were no witnesses to the crime.

It was one of the most senseless crimes we’ve ever followed, and it shook up this Arizona neighborhood to the core. Who could do such a thing? It wasn’t long before police got their answer, thanks to a security camera mounted on one of the neighbor’s houses near the park. It showed the two boys walking along the sidewalk on their way to the park. Shortly thereafter (about a minute or so) it shows an ominous figure following the pair with a baseball bat. Approximately 4 minutes later, the tape shows the man walking back from the park. The boys were found lying bloody in the sand a short time later.

Police canvassed the neighborhood, and soon found the man they believe was responsible for the attack. When police knocked on the door where neighbor Joe Gallegos was staying, they observed a strong odor of Clorox. After questioning him, he seemed nervous. A search of the house revealed a bloody T-shirt and rags as well as blood speckles on the bathroom floor, along with what police believe was the murder weapon … a
Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Police arrested Mr. Gallegos at his home and he was being held on $1,000,000 cash-only bond.

Following this tragedy, a number of things surfaced regarding Mr. Gallegos, leaving residents to wonder if these murders couldn’t have been prevented. Mr. Gallegos appears to have a history of schizophrenia, and police were familiar with him over a recent bar fight. Approximately 6 months prior to this incident, he had
apparently falsely reported that he had murdered his own two kids, who live in Colorado with their mother and ironically are the same ages as the two boys who were murdered. Yet perhaps the most alarming close-call came when other kids in the neighborhood emerged saying that Mr. Gallegos had threatened them earlier in the week, saying “you’re lucky I don’t kill you right
now.”

This is as senseless a tragedy as they come, and the only real lesson is this: you never know where the danger resides. The idea that sex offender list with names that are more inherently dangerous than other people in the neighborhood is simply wrong, and there is no magical computer list that tells you where the danger is at.