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Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 | 5:44 p.m.
Greg Wallen Jr.
Sun Archives
A man accused of raping and killing a 7-year-old girl in 1994 could face the death penalty.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas told District Court Judge Elissa Cadish today that his office intends to seek capital punishment for Gregory Wallen in the death of Diana Hernandez.
Wallen, 37, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17 but was back in court Monday to schedule a trial date. Cadish set the trial for Sept. 7, 2010.
A jury will decide if Wallen is guilty and whether he should die by lethal injection.
Metro Police found Hernandez’s naked body in a box in a trash bin at her apartment complex on April 3, 1994, the day after her mother reported her missing.
Hernandez was suffocated and sexually assaulted, according to the coroner’s report.
Detectives initially suspected her mother’s boyfriend but DNA that was found didn't match his.
Wallen wasn't a suspect at the time and even joined in the door-to-door search of the Sandpiper Apartment complex, 3955 Algonquin Ave., near Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway, where Hernandez lived. The case went cold for 15 years.
In January of this year, detectives re-examined the case and discovered that Wallen since had been convicted of sexual assault and was a registered sex offender.
A search of apartment records showed Wallen lived downstairs from Hernandez and her family.
Police have said the DNA and a partial fingerprint lifted from the box she was found in matched Wallen.
Barney Fife, Andy Griffeth deputy must have been the initial investigator on this case. It took 15 years for them to stumble on this evidence? Let us hope they have better detectives working now.
mayberrys finest are mensa members compared to the idiot detectives who focused on the wrong person to begin with and overlooked this obvious creepy white-trash mope
Really nice neck tattoo. THAT might have been a clue.....
There shouldn't be any question. Execute this scum!
He killed another little girl ten years before that -- the daughter of a friend of mine. But even though they knew who it was, nothing ever happened to him. We are all cheering now! Finally he has been stopped.
At the time of Diana Hernandez's death,i lived in las vegas.I went to school with her.I remember her and what happend to her.I remember she had sisters.Im sure there where twins and she was one of them.Ive always wondered if they caught the piece of **** who killed her.Im glade i finally know they caught him and i hope they kill him for what he did to her.How could someone do that to a little girl and have a daughter of there own and walk around knowing what they did?What a sick Basterd.Im glade that Diana Hernandez's family can finally have some closure after all these years.
I am quite familiar with this guy, I've known him for about 15 years. I've seen him move around from vegas, arizona, nevada, and so forth. At one point in time, he even stayed in my garage(transformed into a room)He had an outstanding attitude, and was a very conflict seeking conversationalist. But it was a huge surprise when I found out he was being charged. He loved his own daughter, and it was never hinted that he would have raped a 7 year old, then suffocate her.