Alanna Gallagher Update: Teen charged in death of 6-year-old Texas girl may have had accomplice, sources say
(CBS) SAGINAW, Texas - Police discovered evidence suggesting the teen charged in the sexual assault and murder of his 6-year-old neighbor in Texas may have had an accomplice, sources tell CBS DFW.
Those sources reportedly say that person may have helped 17-year-old Tyler Holder move the body of Alanna Gallagher and dump it about a mile from her neighborhood in Saginaw, Texas.
Saginaw Police Spokesman Officer Damon Ing said Wednesday that they won't stop until all of those responsible are taken into custody.
Holder was shot by police Tuesday after authorities say he opened fire and seriously wounded a police detective when they went to arrest him. The teen was hospitalized as a result of the shooting and his condition has reportedly been upgraded from critical to serious. The wounded officer, Charles Lodatto of the Arlington Police Dept., is recovering in a hospital.
The attempted arrest was the culmination of weeks of investigation and turmoil in the Tarrant County neighborhood where Alanna had lived, and it followed the discovery last week that someone had set fire to a makeshift memorial to the girl and torched a car owned by her family.
Authorities suspect that Holder sexually assaulted and suffocated his young neighbor, who was found July 1 with plastic bags taped around her neck, according to the capital murder arrest warrant affidavit. Holder's DNA matched evidence found on the girl's body and on a belt wrapped around the tarp, according to the affidavit. He is charged with two counts of capital murder; one for Alanna'a death and another for shooting officer Lodato.
Kimberly Holder lives at the home in Saginaw with her son.
"Mrs. Holder is in shock, and is extremely worried about the condition of her son, as any mother would be. I ask that the Holder family's request for privacy be honored as they come to grips with [Tuesday's' events," her attorney, Lance T. Evans, wrote in an e-mail to CBS DFW. He declined further comment.
On Wednesday night, Alanna's mother, Laura Gallagher, spoke to the station about her 6-year-old daughter.
"I miss her bubbly affection. She was the most loved and loving person I think I ever met," she said. "She was very sweet and affectionate with her family. She would draw little stick figures, and surround them with purple hearts and tell me, 'that's you momma and that's me. I drew all the hearts because I love you and you love me.'"