Paola Gallo was vivacious, young, dark-haired beauty. She was gregarious and seemed to always be surrounded by a gaggle of friends. She loved to sing, volunteered to work at orphanages, and was well on her way to Master’s degree in psychoanalysis. After going away for the weekend with some friends, her father realized how fast his world had changed when she went missing. Eduardo Gallo refused to let his daughter’s brutal kidnapping become just another forgotten case by the justice system. So, he took matters into his own hands and decided to solve it for himself, right up to the arrest of the alleged triggerman.
Paola’s Relaxing Weekend With Friends In Mexico City
Paola Gallo was away with friends at her parent’s weekend home in Tepoztlan, a popular weekend spot for Mexico City’s well-to-do. She and her friends were all in their third year of graduate school and had earned some time to just relax and let their hair down for a bit, little did she know that something dark was lurking in the shadows beyond her imagination.
Not Even Her Parent’s Weekend Home Could Save Her
Yet even her parents’ weekend home was not safe from the monsters that lurked all around. A Group of men jumped the fence, fiercely broke into the house, and began to terrorize the group of vacationing college girls. Paola and her friends could do nothing to stop them, and this wasn’t even the worst part of the entire situation. Paola had no idea what was going to come next.
Paola, Taken Along With Jewelry and Cars
When they had finished their assault on the young women, the men stole jewelry, the two cars the girls had parked in the driveway, and kidnapped Paola in brazen fashion. It was a truly brazen act, and one that rarely occurred in such an affluent neighborhood, but it was hardly the only kidnapping in recent years.
The Kidnapping Business In Mexico Has Began Booming
Kidnapping in Mexico is big business these days and has been for the last few decades. It’s a notorious criminal enterprise usually undertaken by way of express jobs, such as grabbing people from taxis, emptying their bank accounts, and setting them free: to far more severe forms of capture where they demand the government and victims’ families pay them millions of dollars: such was the case with Paola Gallo. It was one of a spate of kidnappings at the time in Tepoztlan, which was a popular weekend destination for Mexico City’s tourists about 35 miles south of the capital in Morelos.
Gallo Decides to Pay the Ransom
Her father, Eduardo Gallo, much like the relatives of hundreds of other kidnapping victims in Mexico, paid the $18,500 ransom to the kidnappers, along with jewelry and valuables he had in his home. He waited for her return, but she still never showed..
He Had Nothing Left To Do But Wait and Pray Until His Daughter Returned
For days after the initial kidnapping and money drop, Gallo and his family prayed that they would return Paola to them. They had given all they could and yet the kidnappers had not sent any word that they received the money, nor that they still had his daughter. He feared the worst and as it turned out, he was right to do so, seeing as he had realized only a week later what had happened to his daughter.
The Police Uncover a Terrible Crime
A week after Paola had been taken, the bodies of three men, suspected to have been her kidnappers, were found in a nearby town. It was the same town that they had dropped the ransom off in and in fact, two-thirds of the ransom money was still there, next to the bodies of the kidnappers.
He Finally Finds His Daughter, But In a Horrific Manner
Sadly, Paola’s body was also found not far from the bodies of her kidnappers. She had two gunshot wounds in her neck and back. Despite paying the ransom, Eduardo Gallo’s beautiful, smart, vivacious daughter was gone. Now all he wanted was to know who had killed his little girl, he wanted vengeance.
Was The Crime an Act Of Vengeance From Gallo?
Morelos officials began to leak false stories, suggesting that the Gallo was the one that had organized a rescue with his own gunmen, which resulted in the blood bath. They were convinced that the bodies had been Gallo’s revenge against the kidnappers who had taken his daughter.
Or Was The Crime Committed By Corrupted Police?
Of course, any such accusation against Gallo was immediately discounted by the police. But Gallo believed that it was the police who killed the gunman and split some of the money themselves so it looked like a rival gang shooting where Paola was caught in the crossfire. But how could he prove it?
He Was Going To Get Retribution
In the end, he dismissed his initial theory in favor of a much more believable one. Gallo now believed that the kidnappers executed Paola in retribution for the police killing their three accomplices. Either way, there was one killer still at large, one kidnapper who had stolen the life right out from under his daughter and he was going to find them: even if the police didn’t.
Corruption Reigns Within The Police Department
According to Gallo, the police investigation following Paola’s death was a shoddy affair, rife with errors and clear evidence of police corruption. His point was only proved a few months after the bodies were found when one of the stolen cars was discovered and processed without a proper forensic test. It wasn’t until Gallo insisted on a thorough investigation that they found his daughter’s hairs in the car, important evidence in the case. The clothes his daughter was wearing vanished before tests could be conducted on them, and Gallo could not find fingerprints in the house after the kidnapping. It seemed like he was finally going to figure this mess out..
Gallo Begins His Mission To Hunt Them Down
Paola’s father was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of follow-through in his daughter’s case. It was then that he decided to solve the case on his own. Yet, even though he gave them countless clues, they did nothing with the information. He said the subsequent police investigation was riddled with errors and apparent corruption. “The most effective form of corruption, because you can’t see it, is the incorrect or incomplete formulation of the case. If they don’t pull together all the fact, the charge remains weak and the case collapses. I gave them details, and they did nothing, or they distorted the truth.”
He Leaves His Old Life Behind To Begin His New One
Opting to continue the investigation on his own, Gallo closed his consulting firm and turned himself into a novice detective. He was going to devote all of his time, his entire life, to finding his daughter’s killer and bringing him to justice: even if he had to administer that justice himself….
He Takes On Role Of Detective
For months, Eduardo Gallo chased leads and pored over information about the case. He even managed to get ahold of cellular phone records, a difficult task in the year 2000, in order to track the killer down. Finally, after a year of tireless work, he cracked the case.
Orchestrating the Arrest
Gallo’s nearly yearlong pursuit and ceaseless detective work finally paid off when he helped the police set up an arrest of the suspected killer. In no time at all, he and the police had tracked the man down and put him into custody. But they still had to prove he was the right guy…
The Man Confesses, But It Doesn’t Make It Hurt Less
Luckily, the next day found the man confessing to all the murders, including Paola’s. The prosecutors and police commanders were so impressed with Gallo’s work, that they gave him all the credit for bringing his daughter’s killer to justice, especially since he did so without resorting to violence.
Gallos Becomes a Hero and an Honorable Man In The Eyes Of The Police
“This man,” said Morelos state Police Chief Jose Agustin Montiel, “with much bravery, put aside all his own business and carried out the investigation.” After he was finished, there was still some catharsis needed for Eduardo Gallo, so he put out an emotionally-charged eulogy in a local newspaper…
He Reaches Out To Others Who Could Have Experienced The Same
His speech read, “I will always love you, my adored child,” he wrote. “Thank you for your smile and your caresses. Thank you for your songs and your happiness and your love of life. Thank you, beautiful daughter; you always lighted the path so I could distinguish between justice and vengeance. Thank you for being my inspiration for keeping my hands clean and my soul calm, the only way I can see you again.
