On September 21, 2007, 3-year-old Neveah Janey Gallegos of Denver, Colorado, was m*urdered by her mother’s boyfriend, Angel Montoya. The year prior to the mur*der, the man was accused of se*xually mol*esting Neveah. Her mother refused to cooperate with the investigation in that case.
After the mur*der, mother Miriam Gallegos called 911 claiming Neveah had been kidnapped. She told police that an unknown man grabbed her out of her arms as she walked down the road. She claimed the man was the passenger inside a red car, but said she did not see the driver.
Officers visited the family’s home after Miriam reported the kidnapping. Inside the home, officers discovered a paper towel lying on the living room floor. The paper towel was covered in blood or another type of bodily fluid.
Miriam Confesses During Police Interrogation
Miriam was asked by the police to come to the station and talk.
She told the police that her boyfriend had called her at work and told her to come home when she got there. There was no breathing in Neveah when she got there. Miriam tried to bring her back to life but said she couldn’t “put air into her.”
The body of Miriam’s beautiful daughter was put into a white trash bag, then stuffed into a larger black trash bag. The two bags were then folded into a duffel bag. She gave Montoya the duffel bag, and he threw away Neveah’s body.
Neveah’s body was found under a tree in a ravine on September 24, 2007. It was about two miles from the apartment she shared with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend.
Neveah died of asphyxiation, according to an autopsy that was done later.
Angel’s Criminal History Includes Prior Se*xual Ab*use Allegations Against Neveah
Angel was a se*x offender who was found guilty of indecent exposure to minors in 2000. He was given a jail sentence because he failed to register as a se*x offender in 2003.
Angel was charged with child ab*use and false imprisonment in 2006. He admitted to one count of misdemeanor child abu*se and was sent to jail for 270 days. The judge took away his jail time and put him on 18 months of supervised probation.
Even worse, Angel was investigated in July 2006 because it was said that he se*xually as*saulted Neveah, who was 23 months old at the time. The charges against Montoya were dropped because Miriam refused to help the police.
Montoya was charged with mur*dering Neveah, and Miriam was arrested on charges of mur*der accessory, false police report, and fatal child abu*se. However, both of them were released while the autopsy was being done. In the same month that Montoya got out of jail, police issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of failing to register as a s*ex offender.
By March 2008, he was on the run, but the police quickly caught him.
Trial & Sentencing
After the autopsy was done on April 22, 2009, Montoya and Gallego were charged with Neveah’s de*ath. Each said they were not guilty. She was given a 12-year prison sentence with five years of parole afterward. Monteya was found guilty of murd*er, child abu*se that led to dea*th, and abu*se of a corpse in 2012. He was given a sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole.
My Thoughts
Please take it easy, sweet little Neveah. I am sorry for your loss. I hope that your life is now sweet and pain-free.
The woman is not worthy of being called a mother. How could she stay with a man who she knew had raped her child? She and her partner should both spend the rest of their lives in prison without the chance of parole. Do the trash part until d*eath.
