Richard Christopher Found Guilty of Two 2014 Aggravated Murders

Last night, a Third District Court jury found Richard Christopher guilty of eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of two men in 2014.

On November 2, 2014, the Salt Lake City Police Department took a missing persons report stating Danny Gallegos and Levi Collins had not returned from an outing. The next day, Braden Emerson was reported missing by a family member; the person reporting said he was last seen with Mr. Gallegos and Mr. Emerson. On that same day, Salt Lake County Animal Control asked Salt Lake City Police to help them with a dog abandoned in a vehicle; the vehicle had bloodstains. That vehicle was later identified as Mr. Gallegos’, and the blood found in it was determined to be from Mr. Collins and Mr. Emerson.

A witness told police that Mr. Gallegos was planning to meet him on November 1, 2014, to give him approximately $200,000 cash so the witness could purchase a home for Mr. Gallegos. The defendant was at the prearranged location with the witness. The witness said when the men arrived for the cash, Mr. Gallegos got out of his vehicle, and the defendant got into it a short time later. When the defendant got into the car, he asked Mr. Collins and Mr. Emerson to take him to a nearby RV. When they arrived at the defendant’s destination he shot and killed them. Mr. Christopher and the witness then cremated the bodies at a Utah County cremation retort typically used for large animals.

The defendant was found guilty of two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder, one count of first-degree aggravated robbery, one count of second-degree felony obstructing justice, three counts of third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a dead human body, and one count of third-degree felony use of a firearm by a restricted person.

Sentencing for Richard Christopher is scheduled for March 27, 2024.

“This is a horrible case of greed that led to the deaths of multiple men. We hope these convictions will help the victims’ families the chance to start healing from the tragic loss of their loved ones,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “I commend the work of our prosecutors Marc Mathis, John Ham, Shantelle Argyle, and our victim counselor Pari Vroman, as well as the rest of our staff for their dedication to this case over the last ten years. We appreciate the work of Salt Lake City Police detectives who thoroughly investigated this case.”