Suspect in Slayings of Wife, Sister Described as Divorced From Reality

George Gallagher was deteriorating, believing his life and the world would end soon, an acquaintance said Tuesday in speaking of the slayings last weekend of Gallagher’s wife and sister.

Gallagher, 28, is being held on suspicion of murder in the slayings. He was arrested Sunday after being found nude in an Anaheim neighborhood. Officers then followed a trail of clues that led to the body of Gallagher’s sister in her home and to his wife, wounded and dying in the motel where they were living.

It began about 1 p.m. Sunday, when California Highway Patrol officers discovered a car that had struck the center divider on the Costa Mesa Freeway just south of Lincoln Avenue in Orange. The officers found two children, ages 4 and 5, unhurt in the car, police said.

Wife Found Unconscious

About half an hour later, Gallagher was arrested by police responding to a report of a nude man in an Anaheim neighborhood half a mile from the wreck. A search of his clothing, which police said had been discarded as he ran from the wreck, turned up papers leading to the Twin Cypress Hotel at 319 S. Main St., Orange, where Gallagher and his family lived, according to Sgt. Timm Browne of the Orange Police Department.

There, police found Gallagher’s wife, Barbara, 22, unconscious. At about the same time, Brea police officers, at the request of the CHP, went to the Yorba Linda home of the suspect’s sister, Mary Audrey Gallagher, and found her stabbed to death, Browne said.

“We were looking for someone to care for the children, and everytime we went someplace else, it got worse,” he said.

On Monday at 2:35 p.m., Mary Gallagher died at Western Medical Center of “trauma to the head,” Browne said.

George Gallagher has been booked at Orange County Jail on two counts of suspicion of murder.

Police said no drugs were found at the scene and they did not know a motive for the slayings.

But Kelly Sandoval, who worked as a court reporter with Mary Gallagher and had known her for three years, said George Gallagher had been losing touch with reality. Recently, Sandoval said, Mary Gallagher had often taken care of the two children, a boy and a girl, as Barbara Gallagher became hesitant to leave the children with her husband.

“She could see him deteriorating as time went on and getting out of touch with reality,” Sandoval said.

George Gallagher recently began believing “his own interpretation” of the Bible, and was convinced that the world would end soon, Sandoval said.

Mary Gallagher had worked at M & M Certified Court Reporting in Santa Ana for about two years, according to company co-owner Harvey Melman, and was a top employee. Customers even requested her specifically.

“She had a wonderfully cooperative attitude and we all loved her,” Melman said. “It was a terrible loss.”

Worked at Rockwell

Melman said Mary Gallagher often brought her niece and nephew to the business, and a collection was being taken for the children. They are being cared for by a relative.

George Gallagher has been an electronics assembler at Rockwell International in Anaheim since May 10, 1982, according to Tony Longo, a company spokesman. He was put on medical leave Thursday due to absences from illness, Longo said. Gallagher and his wife and children had lived at the Twin Cypress Motel since January, according to the motel’s manager, who asked not to be named. “They were wonderful tenants,” he said. “There wasn’t anything wrong with the Gallaghers.”

Funeral services for Mary Gallagher will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Church of our Fathers in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cypress.