Thread: Jail escape: Two killers on the loose in Daggett County

Jail escape: Two killers on the loose in Daggett County

By Erin Alberty
The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 9:57 AM- Two convicted murderers have escaped the Daggett County Jail and a manhunt is under way today to recapture them.

Danny Martin Gallegos, 49, and Juan Carlos Diaz-Arevalo, 27, escaped Sunday afternoon. A helicopter was being used in the search.

Gallegos admitted to guilty killing 18-year-old Tammy Syndergaard 17 years ago. The night of March 11, 1990, Gallegos hid in a closet at the South Salt Lake apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Groves, while she watched a movie with Syndergaard and a male friend.

When the movie ended, Gallegos, in an apparent jealous rage, jumped out, shot Syndergaard in the back of the head and chased the other two into a bedroom, where he fired shots through the door before fleeing.

Gallegos later pleaded guilty to capital murder, but a 3rd District judge decided against the death penalty. A psychiatrist claimed Gallegos was mentally ill and had endured years of abuse by his father.

He was denied parole in 2005, when his next hearing was scheduled for 2025.

Relatives then compared the parole board's decision to a life sentence.
Diaz-Arevalo had served one year for killing his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Lindsey Rae Fawson. On May 16, 2005, Diaz-Arevalo hid in the trunk of Fawson's car, which she drove to his Murray home with her
sister and then-3-year-old son to collect some things after leaving what was described as a violent relationship with Diaz-Arevalo.

After she drove back to her home, Diaz-Arevalo emerged from the trunk and tried to get into her car. When Fawson and her sister fought back, Diaz-Arevalo shot Fawson in the face as her son watched from the back seat.

Diaz-Arevalo pleaded guilty to first-degree-felony murder; possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony, and domestic violence in the presence of a child, a third-degree felony. At the sentencing, Diaz-Arevalo asked his judge to let him withdraw his guilty plea, claiming the shooting was an accident and he'd had inadequate legal counsel.

The judge refused, and he was sentenced to seven years to life in prison.

Diaz-Arevalo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, is a gang member and drug dealer who returned to the United States after he was deported on gun charges, prosecutors said.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6983805?source=rss

Victims' families on edge after violent felons escape Daggett County jail

A night went by before word of the breakout reached state officials

By Erin Alberty
The Salt Lake Tribune


Danny Martin Gallegos

Updated: 6:20 PM- The escape of two convicted murderers from the Daggett County jail has their victims' families asking what a criminal has to do to earn a spot in the state's crowded prisons.

"It's a blow to the family that he was even in the county jail," Jean Balliger said of escapee Danny Martin Gallegos, who killed Balliger's 18-year-old niece Tammy Syndergaard in 1990 in South Salt Lake. "He was put in there in August. Two murderers, and they escape. It didn't take them long to figure that one out, did it?"

Gallegos and Juan Carlos "Blue" Diaz-Arevalo last were seen at the jail's recreation yard about 2 p.m. Sunday, Daggett County sheriff's deputies said.


Carlos Diaz-Arevalo

Jail officials would not discuss who last saw them, when their absence was noticed, how they may have escaped, what type of barrier surrounds the rec yard, how many guards were watching them or where those guards were posted.

Deputies also would not discuss how much time the two spent in the rec area, whether other inmates knew of their plans or why law enforcement did not alert the public - or the victims' families - until media reported the escape today.

"He threatened all of us prior to him being sentenced," Tessie Seneca said of Diaz-Arevalo, who pleaded guilty in the 2005 slaying of Seneca's daughter, Lindsey Rae Fawson in Draper. "We're all in danger, and the state has failed to notify us."

Tessie and Robert Seneca care for their daughter's two sons, who they say were sent home from elementary school today because of the "risk to the other students," Robert Seneca said. The Senecas, like Syndergaard's family, live in Salt Lake County.

"I don't want to even go outside," said Syndergaard's father Jerry Syndergaard, who noted Gallegos last threatened him at a parole hearing in 2005. "I'll just stick here in the house until things get settled down."

State prison officials say communication problems left the families - and most of the prison system itself - unaware that the killers once again were at large until an entire night had passed.

"It was a little slow moving up the chain of command," said Jack Ford, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. Daggett County Sheriff Rick Ellsworth notified a prison official during a conversation Sunday night at a conference both were attending in St. George, but the word never made it back to the capital, Ford said.

As of this morning, the murderers' escape still had not been noted in prison system logs, Ford said.



As of this evening, Sheriff Ellsworth had not returned to Daggett County from St. George.

Police dogs, two SWAT teams, deputies and a helicopter with infrared sensing equipment are searching in and around Daggett County, sheriff's officials said. Law enforcement in neighboring states are on the lookout, too, Ford said.

There was another escape from Daggett County jail's rec yard just over two years ago. In 2005, Wayne Kenneth Sanchez, a Wyoming sex-offender who faced kidnapping and drug charges, was lodged there because of overcrowding in his own state; he was believed to have climbed over a 16-foot fence topped with rolled razor wire, Tribune archives show. Sanchez was caught two days later in Wyoming.

Gallegos and Diaz-Arevalo are among more than 70 state inmates lodged at the Daggett County jail, Ford said. They are not the first to escape. Ronald Humphreys, a burglar, drove away an unmarked county car in 2000, and was arrested five weeks later in Washington state.

About one-quarter of Utah's 6,500 state prisoners are lodged at county jails because there aren't enough beds in the state prisons, Ford said. Jails are considered medium-security housing, he said. Inmates with behavioral problems or who are in the middle of rehab or counseling usually aren't eligible.

"It's where we used to put third-degree [felons]; now we've got a lot more second degrees and first degrees," Ford said. "We're going to review all that in light of this escape."

That brings little solace to Robert Seneca, who is trying to hide from his grandsons, 5 and 7, the news that their mother's killer remains a threat.
"We told them, 'Blue's in prison, he'll never get out,' " Seneca said. "If they find out they're out of school because we're afraid of Blue, that's going to be devastating for them."

Diaz-Arevalo had served one year for killing his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Lindsey Rae Fawson. On May 16, 2005, Diaz-Arevalo hid in the trunk of Fawson's car, which she drove to his Murray home with her sister and then-3-year-old son to collect some things after leaving what was described as a violent relationship with Diaz-Arevalo.

After she drove back to her home, Diaz-Arevalo emerged from the trunk and tried to get into her car. When Fawson and her sister fought back, Diaz-Arevalo shot Fawson in the face as her son watched from the back seat.

Diaz-Arevalo pleaded guilty to first-degree-felony murder; possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony, and domestic violence in the presence of a child, a third-degree felony. At the sentencing, Diaz-Arevalo asked his judge to let him withdraw his guilty plea, claiming the shooting was an accident and he'd had inadequate legal counsel.

The judge refused, and he was sentenced to seven years to life in prison.

Diaz-Arevalo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, is a gang member and drug dealer who returned to the United States after he was deported on gun charges, prosecutors said.

Gallegos admitted to killing Syndergaard 17 years ago. The night of March 11, 1990, Gallegos hid in a closet at the South Salt Lake apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Groves, while she watched a movie with Syndergaard and a male friend.

When the movie ended, Gallegos, in an apparent jealous rage, jumped out, shot Syndergaard in the back of the head and chased the other two into a bedroom, where he fired shots through the door before fleeing.

Gallegos later pleaded guilty to capital murder, but a 3rd District judge decided against the death penalty. A psychiatrist claimed Gallegos was mentally ill and had endured years of abuse by his father.

He was denied parole in 2005, when his next hearing was scheduled for 2025.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6983805?source=rss

Convicted Killers Caught After Escaping From Utah Jail

MANILA, Utah — Authorities say a pair of convicted killers who escaped from a Utah jail a week ago have been caught on a Wyoming highway after leading police on a chase that ended in gunfire and left one of the convicts wounded.

A Wyoming sheriff's detective says Danny Martin Gallegos and Juan Carlos Diaz-Arevalo had stolen a vehicle and guns at knifepoint in Manila, Utah last night near the jail and fled on Interstate 80.

When authorities stopped them, the convicts climbed out of the SUV each holding a gun. Gallegos was shot in the stomach and taken to a Wyoming hospital in critical condition. Diaz-Arevalo ran but was immediately caught by authorities and booked into a county jail.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298662,00.html