Aurora man pleads guilty 30 years after murder

Two weeks after 20-year-old Cheryl Lynn Hall was found strangled in her Aurora apartment in 1981, her mother, Garnet Bailey, called up the chief suspect, Hall’s acquaintance Larry Galloway, and said he would eventually pay for what he did.

“He told me to ‘Bring it on’ and hung up,” Bailey recalled.

Nearly 31 years later, Hall’s relatives and friends got some measure of justice, as Galloway pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Galloway, 50, of Aurora, will serve about five years of that term, under Illinois law.

The former Metra conductor, who was arrested in August 2008 after police followed him to a restaurant and got his DNA off a straw, was set to go on trial on first-degree murder charges.

Galloway’s DNA matched the DNA obtained from under Hall’s left-hand fingernails in nine out of 13 analysis points, according to prosecutors. Two of the points were inconclusive and in the other two, the DNA sample had degraded over time.

“It would not be fair to say it was a match. It was consistent with his DNA,” said Greg Sams, Kane County assistant state’s attorney and lead prosecutor in the case.

Prosecutors were prepared to take the case to a jury Monday, but Galloway over the last few days indicated he would be willing to plead guilty to a lesser charge. The voluntary manslaughter charge, which was on Illinois books in 1981, is equivalent a to second-degree murder charge today.

“We’re not gamblers. This was a sure thing. Even a short amount of time is better than nothing,” Bailey said after Galloway, who had been on electronic home monitoring, was led away to prison.

“It sure felt good with him not walking out of that courtroom,” Bailey said, adding if she had her way, “As long as (Cheryl) is in that grave, (Galloway) should be in jail.”

Defense attorney David Camic said the state’s offer was “one that (Galloway) in good conscience could not reject.”

“Both sides were concerned about 1981 evidence collection and the 21st century evidence analysis,” Camic said.

Galloway did not apologize to Cheryl Hall’s family nor give any statement during the court hearing in which Judge David Akemann accepted the plea.

Hall’s husband, Chuck, found his wife wearing only a sweatshirt and hanging by her neck from a doorknob at 6:15 p.m. Sept. 9, 1981, in an apartment they shared on the 1600 block of Shamrock Court.

Although Galloway admitted his guilt, Chuck Hall wanted to know why.

“It’s not enough time,” he said. “I hope every damned day he’s (in prison) he remembers what the hell he did.”

According to prosecutors, the Halls and Galloway were acquaintances who occasionally played cards. Galloway had visited the apartment about eight weeks earlier, knowing Chuck Hall was at work but that it was Cheryl Hall’s regular Wednesday off from a local bank. The visit made her feel threatened and uncomfortable.

On Sept. 7, Chuck Hall came home for a quick lunch with his wife and returned to his job at a cable company. Cheryl Hall had talked to her sister that day on the phone around 3:15 p.m. and Chuck Hall returned at 6:15 p.m. Sometime between then, Galloway visited and strangled her with the cord from an iron and left out a window, according to prosecutors.

Sams said the cord left “deep indentations” in Cheryl Hall’s neck and she was found wearing only a sweatshirt, and a pair of her shorts were torn, leading one to conclude “she had rejected an unwanted sexual advance.”

Sams said Galloway’s alibi was that he was mowing his parents’ lawn, but Sams said the state had evidence to refute that. Prosecutors and Cheryl Hall’s relatives credited Aurora police, particularly Detective John Munn and Sgt. Matt Thomas, for pursuing the case and hatching the plan to retrieve Galloway’s DNA.

“It was great police work. I’m very pleased we’re finally able to hold Larry Galloway accountable,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said.

McMahon said prosecutors took into account the incomplete DNA evidence, testimony from a day more than 30 years ago, and Galloway’s willingness to plead out.

“We put all of that together. We had to make s decision.” McMahon said. “I don’t think any decision we made, short of going to trial and getting the maximum sentence, we’d feel great about.”