A California survivalist has been sentenced to three life terms without the possibility of parole for killing a sleeping couple camping on a beach in 2004 and his own brother two years ago.
Shaun Michael Gallon, 40, on Monday was handed three consecutive life sentences. Judge Robert LaForge of Sonoma County Superior Court also added more than 94 years in prison for the defendant’s other crimes.
Gallon shot and killed Lindsay Cutshall, 22, of Ohio and Jason Allen, 26, of Michigan in 2004 on a secluded beach in Jenner, California, about 80 miles north of San Francisco, authorities said.
Shaun Gallon, 40, was sentenced on Monday (pictured) to three consecutive life terms for murdering Lindsay Cutshall, 22, and Jason Allen, 26, in 2004, and his own brother in 2017
Gallon (pictured left in court Monday and right in his mugshot) also received more than 94 years on top of the life sentences for his other crimes
Cutshall and Allen were asleep on a Northern California beach during a camping trip when Gallon walked up to them and shot both to death
In March 2017, Gallon shot and killed his 36-year-old brother, Shamus (pictured), without any provocation on their family’s ranch
The engaged couple’s double homicide remained unsolved for more than a decade until police identified Gallon as a suspect in 2017, when he was arrested in his brother’s killing.
Gallon didn’t know the couple, both counselors at a Christian camp in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills who were on a sightseeing trip, authorities said.
Both were found dead from gunshot wounds to the head next to each other on a driftwood-strewn beach near Jenner, California, on August 18, 2004.
Last month, Gallon pleaded no contest to the killings and other crimes, including the shooting death of his brother, 36-year-old Shamus Gallon, and a 2004 bombing intended for a man he once fought with at a Guerneville bar but instead maimed the man’s wife in Monte Rio.
‘It’s crystal clear to me you deserve to spend the rest of your life in prison and then some,’ LaForge said, according to the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.
At an emotional, more than two-hour hearing before the sentencing, Cutshall’s parents shared how their faith helped them through the loss of their daughter.
While delivering her impact statement, Kathy Cutshall held up her late daughter’s wedding dress and showed it to Lindsay’s killer seated at the defense table beside his attorney.
Kathy and Chris Cutshall, parents of murder victim Lindsay Cutshall, shared how their faith helped them through the loss of their daughter
A memorial cross of stone for Lindsay Cutshall and her fiance is bolted to a cliff above Fish Head Beach in honor of the two who were found murdered in 2004 just north of Jenner
‘I brought this because it is empty,’ she told him.
Lindsay was set to wear the white and pink beaded gown at her wedding a month after her slaying.
Chris Cutshall also read aloud a letter written by their would-be in-laws, Bob and Delores Allen.
‘Shaun Gallon broke our hearts beyond description,’ the letter from Jason Allen’s parents read. ‘Our family changed forever that horrible night. A huge part of us was gone.’
In court on Monday, the Cutshalls were shocked to learn for the first time that contrary to what they had believed for 15 years, their daughter was not fully asleep at the time of her murder.
Prosecutors played an audio of Gallon’s confession, in which he described how he shot Allen first, which prompted his fiancee to sit up in her sleeping bag for a moment.
‘We always suspected that she was murdered second because of how cowardly this act was, but then to hear that she actually sat up from the killer himself, that was hard to hear,’ Chris Cutshall told KGO-TV.
John Robles, the man whom Gallon attempted to kill by planting a homemade bomb in his car, which ended up injuring his wife, also delivered an impact statement.
Gallon’s defense lawyer spoke of his client’s long history of untreated mental illness. The 40-year-old was known for being a survivalist
‘This is the most freedom you’re ever going to see again,’ Robles told the defendant.
Gallon did not speak during the hearing, but his lawyer asked the judge to take into consideration his client’s history of untreated mental illness when deciding his fate.
Gallon has a long criminal record and served time in prison for firing an arrow at two men through a car roof in 2009.
He was also known for being a survivalist and killing animals in the woods.