Brenda Lynne Judd was 14 when she was abducted from the Nevada State Fairgrounds in Reno on April 24, 1979, and was killed on June 24, 1979, in Hallelujah Junction, Lassen County, California. She and 13-year-old Sandra Kaye Colley were lured by Charlene Gallego with the promise of distributing advertising leaflets, led to a van where Charlene’s husband Gerald Gallego was waiting, then bound and driven to a remote location. Gerald Gallego reportedly purchased a hammer and shovel during the trip; those tools were later used in the crime.

The girls were assaulted in the van and then taken one by one to a secluded area where they were killed and buried. Early confusion over other missing girls who had run away to join the carnival delayed the investigation. Gerald and Charlene Gallego, active between 1978 and 1980, were later arrested and convicted; Gerald received a death sentence and Charlene a lighter sentence in exchange for her cooperation.

Was anyone in the Reno or carnival community at the time able to help investigators connect the girls disappearance to the Gallegos?