The State : Killer Father Gets Life Term

A 34-year-old Sparks, Nev., man who was convicted of killing his two young daughters and then burning their bodies was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gerald Hollek showed no emotion as Nevada County Superior Court Judge Frank Francis sentenced him. Francis rejected a plea for a lesser penalty from Hollek’s attorney, Public Defender Greg Hodges. Hollek was convicted in November of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the deaths of his daughters, Anna, 7, and Alyssia, 5. Hollek had pleaded innocent and innocent by reason of insanity to charges that he shot the girls and then burned their bodies inside his van at a campground east of Nevada City on July 31, 1987. Hollek was involved in a bitter custody battle with his estranged wife at the time.