(dramatic music) - Cherry and Chuck's love story, it was like something
I had never seen. He just loved her so much. They just had a
happy, happy marriage. Two weeks before she was killed, she told me she was
gonna make me a Grandma. She never got to
have the grandbabies. She didn't get to live her life. I miss everything about her. As a mother, I felt like I
should've known something. Something should have
clicked somewhere. I felt like I let her down, and if I would've known, I would've been there. Most definitely. I told Sherry, I'm gonna find out
who did this to her, and that I would never
give up until I did. (gentle music) - [Narrator] There's an
autumn chill in the air in Aurora, Illinois,
a Chicago suburb that's home to high
school sweethearts, Chuck and Cheryl Lynn Hall. - Chuck and Cheryl met
through a mutual friend, and just hit it off right away. They were just made
for each other. - I think it's the first
time she fell in love. I mean, she had
other boyfriends, but she knew Chuck was the one. All she wanted to do was get
married and start a family. - [Narrator] Chuck proposes
to 18 year old Cheryl, and they marry just a few weeks after she graduates high school. - October 6th, 1979, Chuck
and Cheryl were married. I was the flower girl. I got to wear the pretty dress. My brother, I had
never seen him happier. Cheryl Lynn was
absolutely beautiful. She was like a princess. She never stopped
smiling the whole day. This is my favorite
photo of their wedding. Just the two of them
thinking about the future and everything that
it holds for 'em. - She was excited about the
new chapter in her life. Being married,
getting a new home, planning for children. As long as I can
remember, that's what
was important to her, having a family,
having her own children and living a happy life. - [Narrator] The couple
moves into a townhome in a quiet Aurora neighborhood. They have family nearby and
a close network of friends. - I thought the
neighborhood was very safe. It was just like kids, playing in the neighborhood and everybody just
seemed to get along. - Their condo was
super, super nice. They would have
friends over a lot. We started hanging
out more together. Her favorite group
was The Eagles. So we would always
listen to music, and just have some
time together. - [Narrator] It's Wednesday, Cheryl's regular
day off from work. - Every Wednesday was
her house cleaning day, laundry day, cooking meals
for the rest of the week. Everybody knew the
fact that she was home all day on Wednesdays. - Chuck went to work, went home for his lunch, so he
could have lunch with Cherry. Was there for a while, and then he left and
went back to work. - [Narrator] Chuck
arrives home after work. There's no sign of Cheryl. Right away, he notices
something unusual. - There was something
laying by the front door, was outta place. There was also some laundry
that was kind of knocked over. He called out to her. He walked up the steps
is when he found her. - As he got to the
top of the stairs, he saw her hanging
from the doorknob, with an iron cord
around her neck. He attempted to do CPR on her, and then he ran downstairs and he ran to the
neighbor's house. The neighbor was a nurse
and they called an ambulance or the police. He continued to do CPR on her
until the paramedics arrived. - About eight o'clock, the doorbell rang over and
over and over and over. So I go to the door, and Chuck's standing there. And the look on his face was something I have
never seen before. And I said, "What's wrong?" And he said, "It's
Cheryl. She's dead." And I said, "What?" He says, "She's dead.
Somebody killed her." But I don't remember a whole
lot after that happened. - I was only 16 at the time. Chuck and my mom came
to my dad's house and told me that something
happened to Cherry. My mom just hugged me and said, "It's Cherry, she's gone." We were just so in shock. - My brother, wasn't never
gonna be the same person again. - It was like a nightmare
after that, a nightmare. (dramatic music) Cheryl was my daughter,
my first born. I called her "Cherry,"
from the time she was born. She was always a mama's girl. She wanted to be
with me all the time. I will never forget
the dress she had on her first day of school. She looked adorable. And then when I left
her, she started crying. She wanted to come back with me. She was just perfect. She
made me proud to be a mom. And then when Lisa came along, she was just the
best sister ever. - We were about
four years apart. We always got along, even
though there was a big age gap. She would play Barbies with me. We were really close. She was so sweet. I don't really think there
was a mean bone in her body. - Cheryl was very much
like an older sister to me. She always made time for me. She never treated me
just like a little kid. - Every weekend,
the three of us, Cherry, myself and my mom, would go shopping and spend
the entire day together. It was the highlight
of our week. - The week before
Cherry was killed, the three of us went shopping and she bought all of these
new clothes for her job. And she was so excited. That was the last time
we got to go shopping, a week before it happened. I mean, we were so
close, the three of us. Now we're not three anymore. - After the call is received, the officers and
medics arrive on-scene. They check the upstairs
bedroom and locate Cheryl Hall. It looked to be a
very brutal murder. The cord was still
wrapped around her neck. The other portion of the cord was wrapped around the doorknob. - There appeared to
be strangulation marks around Cheryl Lynn's neck. Her husband was visibly
and emotionally distraught. - Chuck was one of the last
ones to see Cheryl alive, so he was one that we
wanted to speak to. - [Narrator] Investigators
focus on Chuck right away. They bring him to Aurora
police headquarters for questioning. - You have to look
at the husband first because he's the closest one, and that's tough
because they're grieving at the loss of a loved one. So you have to use
a lot of compassion, letting them know that
we're just doing our job. - Family members live
under a cloud of suspicion, but that's the cruel reality of law enforcement
investigations, that until somebody is charged, nobody is really
completely excluded. - Not only was Chuck the spouse, he was also the last
person to see her alive, and he was the one
who found her body. So he fit all three criteria of what would make the
number one suspect. (somber music) - Mr. Hall is the one who
discovered Cheryl Lynn deceased, and so understanding Mr.
Hall's movements is important to determine whether he
should become a suspect or whether he's a
person of interest. - Chuck went through many,
many hours of questioning, interviews with the police. They would go over his story
again and again and again. And it took a toll on him. - Chuck was very angry
with the police department, because in his mind he
loved this woman so much, how could you ever
consider me as a suspect? - It never crossed my mind
that Chuck ever hurt her. Never crossed my mind. Even though they interviewed
him for a long time. I never suspected that
Chuck ever hurt her. - I had people ask me,
"What do you think?" And without a doubt, I knew that Chuck had
nothing to do with it. He loved her. He would
never have hurt her. - We spoke with Chuck, who obviously said that
he was working that day. We checked into his whereabouts
between 2:30 and 6:00 PM and confirmed that he
was seen on job sites. - [Narrator] Investigators
rule Chuck out, and scour the crime
scene for clues. - They looked for
evidence of latent prints on door handles, on her purse, on some of the items
that were collected. A lot of the prints
were smeared, smudged, and they had overlays. So they didn't
identify a suspect. Hairs and fibers
and trace evidence was collected at the scene. She had abrasions on her
hands and knees and torso, indicating that
there was a struggle and she fought off her attacker. During her autopsy, her
fingernails were clipped and there was an
apparent blood stain under one of the fingernails. One thing we know is
that the murder weapon was something that was close by and that the
strangulation was brutal. - Cheryl was such a tiny little
thing fighting for her life. She had to have fought so hard. She did not go down easily, but she had to have gone
down in sheer terror. - [Narrator] Still in shock,
Cheryl's family and friends come together to say goodbye. - We needed to get
something special for her to be buried in. It had to be something
that covered her neck. So I went to the
mall and I found a really pretty light blue
turtleneck for her to wear. I was only 16 and that really
was a hard thing to do. - I remember seeing
her laying there... Never in a million years
would I have ever dreamed I would be looking
at her like that. And I made it through somehow. I don't even know how I made it. I held her hand and just told
her how much I loved her, and how much I miss her. - Chuck just stood at the
casket for hours and hours. I remember him trying to
take her out of the casket. He didn't wanna
leave without her. And I was rushed away
quickly after that. - [Narrator] Detectives speak
with those closest to Cheryl, trying to piece together
a timeline of the hours leading up to her murder. - Her sister said that she last
spoke with Cheryl at 3:00 PM that day on the phone. And then at 3:30 neighbors
of the adjacent apartment heard a door slam. And then they heard
several loud thuds. And then at 6:00 PM is when
Chuck gets home and finds her. So the timeline was
basically 3:00 PM to 6 that we were looking at. - This looked like
a very brutal, randomized act of violence. And if it happened to
Cheryl in her home, I think there was a real
fear that this crime could be repeated or a similar
crime could occur again, somewhere else in
that community. - [Narrator] Detectives
look for a connection between Cheryl's murder
and a string of burglaries in her neighborhood. - Part of their
initial investigation was to determine whether
somebody had encountered Cheryl Lynn at home when
they were attempting to burglarize her home. - [Matt] The Halls recently
had a deadbolt installed on their door. That deadbolt was intact. - There did not seem to
be anything disturbed within Cheryl Lynn's apartment. And there really wasn't items
of value that were missing. - This did not appear
to be a burglary. This appeared to be a
very personal crime. Murder committed by
strangulation is a very intimate crime. It's one where high emotions
factor into that killing. So it was clear that it was
someone that Cheryl either knew or had some level of trust with, to allow them into
the residence. - [Narrator] Detectives
find out about a recent visitor
to Cheryl's home. - Larry Galloway worked at the
same cable company as Chuck. Larry and my sister went
to high school together. Him and his wife would
socialize with Cherry and Chuck and other friends. - They became casual friends. I think she always thought
of him as a little bit odd. - He showed up there about
two weeks before her murder while Chuck was at work, and he stayed for
approximately 20 minutes. - She said that he just
made her really nervous. She just got really
bad vibes from him. - He made her feel
uncomfortable so much so, that she told a friend
about his unexpected visit. - [Narrator] Investigators
bring Larry Galloway to police headquarters. - Mr. Galloway answered
questions about his whereabouts, his relationship with Cheryl
Lynn Hall and her husband, his whereabouts on the day
of Cheryl Lynn's murder. - He advised them that
he was not involved. He had no knowledge
of her murder. Between the hours of the murder, he was at his parents'
home mowing the grass. - [Narrator] Galloway
establishes an alibi. He also tells police why
he visited Cheryl's home before the murder. - He was there to talk
about some union business. Chuck was a union steward. - Larry Galloway had been
fired from his position at the cable company. And my brother was able to
save his job through the union. There was another
time that my brother was unable to save Larry's job. And so I think that they
may have been looking at him early on for that aspect. Was he holding a grudge? - Larry Galloway was
questioned by law enforcement, never excluded, but never
able to really collect sufficient evidence
to bring charges. - They weren't able to
get any more information from Galloway and there
were no other leads for them to follow. The cops really had no
choice but to move on. - There were still
people out there who truly thought
that my brother had committed this crime. (somber music) - It was really hard on Chuck, just knowing what
he went through too, as far as the public,
people wondering. - Chuck more than anyone, his life was impacted the most
by the murder of his wife. The fact that people
looked at him as a suspect, was almost as crushing to
him as losing his bride. - He had promised her family that he was going
to take care of her, and then this terrible
thing happens. And he felt like he
didn't protect her. He didn't keep his promise. He didn't know who he
was anymore without her. - [Narrator] As Chuck
struggles with losing Cheryl, investigators look for
connections between Cheryl's murder and a killing that happened
nine months earlier. - Susan Jabczynski was
murdered in her home, not all that far from Aurora. - Sue died a violent
death, similar to Cheryl. She was about the
same age as Cheryl. - There was such rage
in whoever murdered her. And I think that same rage
was absolutely displayed with Cheryl Lynn as well. Two young women,
very similar in age, very similar in
lifestyle are murdered in a very similar fashion,
just a few miles apart. Of course that's going
to give the impression of something really bad going
on like a serial murderer. That was probably a pretty
scary time for people in this area to
have this going on. - There were some parallels
between Ms. Jabczynski's murder and Cheryl Lynn Hall's murder, but none that law
enforcement was able to draw a definitive connection between. - [Narrator] With no new
suspects to investigate, detectives take
another look at people they've already talked to. - Initially the investigator
spoke with Larry Galloway and he gave his alibi and
said he had no knowledge of the murder. Again, his name kept
coming up as someone that could've possibly
been involved. There were several
people that were asked to take polygraph tests, including her
husband, Chuck Hall, and all of them agreed, and Larry was the
only one that did not. - Mr. Galloway declined
and ceased any cooperation with the investigation
moving forward. - Not voluntarily
taking a polygraph is not an admission of guilt. - Refusing a polygraph is a
person's constitutional right. That was another dead end. This is really
hard on the family. - [Narrator] Detectives
work every angle, but still the case stalls. - They threw all the
resources they could at this in order to find out
how she was killed. - They interviewed
everyone that was mentioned that could possibly be involved. - They interviewed
everybody at the bank, all the neighbors around her, her friend that lived next door. They interviewed her as well. - They looked at a lot
of people's alibis. "Where were you?" Just trying to check
people off the list. - Once Larry Galloway
refused to cooperate, once Chuck had been
ruled out as a suspect, then that's where I
think they hit that wall. - [Narrator] Leads dry up. The case of the young
woman murdered in her home goes as cold as an
icy Chicago winter. - There was one officer that
actually told my brother, "Unless somebody comes in, we will probably never
know who did this." That was very hard for
my brother to hear. - The first anniversary
after she was taken from us, it was really hard. So many emotions, sad, anger that this person is out
there just living their life. Her life was taken away. - There was very little
investigative activity, and I can imagine that
was incredibly painful for the Hall family
and for the community. - There began to be
doubt that this case was going to be solved, but I
felt connected to the family. And every time I saw them, I just saw their
pain fresh again, and their frustration and
their unwillingness to give up. Garnet and her family, they
never let the police department forget Cheryl Lynn's name. They were like, "Please
don't forget Cheryl Lynn. We know her murder
can be solved." (gentle music) - We would go down to the
police station once a month. "Have you made any progress?
What's going on with this?" They would talk to us
about what they had done, but it wasn't going anywhere. It was eating at me
every day that went by. So I called Larry and
I said to him, "Larry?" And he said, "Yes?" I said, "You're going to get
what's coming to you one day." And he said, "Bring
it on," and hung up. It was like an
explosion inside of me. He just didn't seem to
care what happened to her, and that just broke my heart. I did feel like Larry Galloway
had done that at that point, because if he had not done it, he would've said, "I
didn't do it," or, "I'm sorry, what
happened to her." He never said anything. It
was just, "Bring it on." - [Narrator] Years pass
and police have no answers. Cheryl's family
turns to the media, desperate to keep
the case alive. - I have been a columnist
for the "Tribune" newspapers for close to three decades. That phone call came in
from the family saying, "Hey, we wanna talk to you
about our daughter's case." Her death left such a hole
in the fabric of that family. - We felt like we were
backed into a corner until we met Denise and she
just took it from there. She was our voice. - Denise Crosby's
article about the murder gives Cheryl's
family a ray of hope. - We thought, wow,
this is important, people are thinking this is
a big deal because it is. - Denise Crosby helped open
the eyes for the police. It got everybody's attention. - [Narrator] Police decide
to take a fresh look at this cold case. - In 1997, a new investigator
looked at the case start to finish, all the
evidence that was collected back in 1981 to identify
whether there was something that was overlooked by the
original investigators. - When I knew that they
were looking into it again, I thought, "Please let
it happen this time." - [Narrator] Investigators
again focus on Larry Galloway. - The investigators start
re-interviewing witnesses. Some give information
that discredits his alibi. Some of the witnesses feel
Larry would be capable of committing a violent
crime like this. He had made comments that
he could kill someone and it wouldn't bother him. At the time they felt like
they had enough probable cause to get his DNA standards, to compare them to some
of the trace evidence and the suspected blood
stain under her fingernails. - In 1997, advancements
in technology and DNA had started to evolve. - [Narrator] Larry Galloway
refuses to give police a DNA sample. - He says he didn't do it. So if you didn't do
it, give up the hair, give a blood sample,
take a polygraph. That's all we needed and
he just absolutely refused. - Prosecutors take the
case to a grand jury, which issues a subpoena
ordering Galloway to provide a DNA sample. His lawyers appealed
the order to a judge. - A judge ruled that there
was insufficient evidence to force Mr. Galloway
to provide a DNA sample. - He got away with
not giving his DNA. I was thinking, "If I could
just get my hands on you..." - Our hopes were once again,
just absolutely shattered. There was nowhere else for
it to go without this DNA to either prove that
he did or didn't do it. - [Narrator] Police have
one suspect, Larry Galloway. Without his DNA there's
no way to tie him to Cheryl's murder. The case goes ice
cold once again. - When you have a setback like
that, it is disappointing. You don't pack your stuff
up and go home though. It's a setback, but it
doesn't mean it's over. - We waited, but my hope
never, never went away. - We always had
hope that one day something, something
would come up, someone would talk that he
may have said something to. We've waited for many years. - Larry Galloway embeds
himself in the community. He doesn't try to leave. - Larry becomes active
with the school, becomes active with his church, becomes active with Boy Scouts. People like this guy. That certainly wasn't
how Cheryl's family felt about Larry. There is just so much pain. Grief is one thing, but
grief without justice, the hole gets bigger and the
bitterness gets more intense. And I think that's what was
happening with this family. Chuck was dealing with
guilt and grief and anger, lots of really deep anger. - Chuck, I believe
wholeheartedly, suffered from PTSD. He would just start
crying for no reason. It could be the smallest
thing and it would just bring a flashback of him
finding her body. - Chuck was always
haunted by the fact that some people suspected
him as the killer. He tried to move on with
his life. He remarried. - He had two boys and he loved
them with all of his heart, but there was still in
the back of his mind, this terrible thing that
had happened to him. - He was just battling
so many demons. And I know his wife was
frustrated because she felt like she was competing with a ghost. He would visit her
grave so often. And I think it had obviously
had hurt the marriage and they ended up breaking up, and his life of
loneliness just continued. - It takes 26 years, but
finally this cold case heats up when a new detective
joins the investigation. - I had 10 years of law
enforcement experience, when I began looking into
Cheryl Hall's murder case. As I'm going through
the case file, I was going to let
the investigation and the facts steer me. And it pointed me in the
direction of Larry Galloway. In my mind, there's
only one person that knows what happened
and that person is Larry. - I was more determined
then than ever, that you will pay for this. Somehow you will pay for this, and I'm not giving
up until you do. - [Narrator] Since
Cheryl's murder DNA science has dramatically advanced. Detectives want to
test Galloway's DNA, but they'll have
to get it first. - I felt our only
option was to set up a surveillance detail. And so I met with
the state's attorney and let them know
what our plans were. - We tried to identify a way
to creatively collect evidence from Mr. Galloway
that would exclude him or really solidify
him as a suspect. - We set up surveillance on
Larry Galloway's residence and sat there for about
two and a half hours, until he left the residence
with another gentleman. He drove to the
Chili's restaurant. We maintained a visual on him
while he was eating his meal. After he left the restaurant, that's when we went up to the
table to collect his straw and utensils and napkin. - It's like something
out of a TV show, right? The way that it was done. - Mr. Galloway left this
evidence for anybody to collect. Once it was there in the public, we could go preserve it and
then submit it for analysis. - [Narrator] Forensic
specialists test the utensils and straw Galloway used and
discovered a match to DNA the killer left at the scene. - The swabbing from the
straw matched the blood stain under her fingernails. This was the break
that the case needed. This was what the family
had been waiting for. - [Narrator] With the DNA match, a judge grants an arrest
warrant for Larry Galloway. - We knew that he was a
train conductor in Chicago. So my partner and I went down
to the Ogilvie train station. We walked up to Larry Galloway, and I advised him that
he was under arrest. Larry had no emotional reaction.
Didn't ask any questions. I told him the warrant
was for murder, and he put his hands behind his
back and was very compliant. There was no surprise. It was almost as if he
knew this day was coming. - 12:30 at night,
the doorbell rang. And when I got to it, I saw the detectives with these
huge smiles on their faces. And they said, "We got him." I could not believe
it. I said, "Finally." - I was so happy. I thought, "Okay, now maybe
he's gonna pay for what he did." - That was the first
time I had seen the light in my brother's eyes. And I got to witness
him with Lisa and Garnet and they were just
hugging each other. And they're like, "We did
it. We finally did it." - It was a good feeling
to put handcuffs on him, but I knew that the
job was far from over. - DNA is an important piece
of evidence in criminal cases, but it's one piece of a puzzle. Oftentimes there is more to
the story that needs to be told to really sustain
our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. - Just because you
arrest somebody doesn't mean that it's gonna
be a successful conviction. - We had gone to the police
department and he was handcuffed and it was the best
thing I've ever seen. - I didn't know where it
was gonna go from there. All I knew is they had him. - [Narrator] Just
hours after the arrest, detectives question
Larry Galloway. - He showed no remorse. We both knew without a doubt
that we had the right guy. - [Narrator] Galloway's
arrest shocks many in his tight-knit community, where he's a well
known train conductor. - Everybody really thought he
was just such a good person. It made me sick. He
had everybody fooled. The people on the
train stood by him, even after all this happened. - All the people that rode
the train with him thought, "He couldn't have done
that. He's a nice guy." But no, he's a monster. - [Narrator] Prosecutors
prepare for trial and quickly realize their
case is far from airtight. - There were a number of
obstacles in this case. One of the challenges
was the volume of DNA that was recovered
from the crime scene. - They had such little DNA, such a very, very small amount
that once they'd tested it, then they didn't have
hardly anything left. So we were worried about that. - The investigator and
the evidence technician that collected
fingernail clippings from Cheryl Lynn Hall's
hands passed away as we approached our trial date. It was an important witness. This was a case that
was built on DNA, so any inconsistency was
a significant concern. - [Narrator] With a
possible acquittal looming, prosecutors decide to
cut a deal with Galloway. - We made a decision
to resolve the case by way of a plea agreement
to hold him as accountable as I believe that we could
based on the evidence. - We took the plea deal
because we're not gamblers. Justice for Cherry was
definitely not worth gambling, because it'd been too many
years and she deserved justice of some sort. So we were not willing
to take that chance. - My brother had a lot
of emotions going on, anger, sad, happy, relieved. Something was
better than nothing. A jury trial could have
gone the other way, and I don't think
anybody in the family would have done well with that. - [Narrator] With Cheryl's
family looking on, Larry Galloway pleads guilty
to voluntary manslaughter. - I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness,
this is really happening." And I thought, "Okay,
it's gonna be a while before you are
outta there again." - It was good to
hear him confess, but it wasn't bringing her back. We still had that
hole in our heart, even though we knew
that he was gonna pay. - [Narrator] As part
of his plea agreement, Galloway must admit that
he murdered Cheryl Hall, but he doesn't have to say
why he killed the young woman. - There were several
theories about what happened. The fact that Larry
lost his job and Chuck was a union steward. I don't know if there was
any hard feelings there. - I've had thoughts
myself that Larry Galloway
was interested in her. He might've made a pass
and it went very wrong. - Why? Why would
you do that to her? Why would you harm her? If I could just know why, then I think maybe I could
live with it a little better, but I don't even
know why he did it. - What happened that day? Was it intentional?
Was it an accident? We don't know. But a light definitely
went out the day that he took Cheryl's life. - A judge hands Galloway
a 10 year prison term. But according to
laws at the time, he will only have to serve
about half his sentence. - We got a call saying that
Larry Galloway was outta jail and I'm thinking, "How
could he be outta jail? He hasn't even served
his five years." - It was shock,
absolutely shock. Especially that time of year, we didn't have her to
celebrate Christmas with. And then to know that he got out right before Christmas, to what? Spend it with his family? It was tough. - [Narrator] Larry
Galloway is released a year and a half early, under a program that
eases prison overcrowding. He also gets credit for
good behavior behind bars. - Mr. Galloway was
released without any input from either Cheryl Lynn
Hall's family or my office. It was difficult
for them to accept. It's difficult for me to accept. - I just felt like there
was no justice for her. We never moved
forward with anything because we just had so
much pain and we still do. - Just a few months later, the family faces
another heartbreak. Cheryl's widower, Chuck
Hall, succumbs to the cancer he'd been fighting
for several years. - My brother got
to die knowing that the world knew that
he was not a murderer, and that brought peace
to him and to me. And losing my brother
was very hard, but I knew he was
gonna be with his wife, with the love of his life. - After it happened, I went to her grave every
week and I took flowers and we still do that. We'll never stop going there. - Cheryl Lynn's favorite
flower were yellow roses. I still go and get her a
bouquet of yellow roses, and I take them out
to the cemetery. The world lost a beautiful
soul when they lost Cheryl. - I miss Cherry dearly. I'm constantly thinking
about what we would be doing. Just having a sister to talk to. I don't have her anymore.
I don't have that. And it's just not fair. - Cherry made me happier than
anything that's ever made me. There's a part of me that
I could never get back because she's not there.
