Steven Galloway

HILLARY GALLOWAY’S STORY

Child Abuse Leads To Murder

On October 25, 1990, Steven Galloway’s wife returned from work and found her four-month-old daughter, Hillary, unresponsive in a car seat inside their home. The only person she had been with that day was her father, Steven Galloway. Hillary’s mother rushed her to Riverside Methodist Hospital, where she was almost immediately placed on life-support systems. Hillary never regained consciousness and passed away on October 28, 1990, at 1:40 pm.

Police determined that Hillary died from being shaken so hard her brain swelled and hemorrhaged. Franklin County Coroner William Adrion ruled the cause of Hillary’s death was swelling of the brain and brain damage. The medical and autopsy reports also showed that both of Hillary’s legs had been broken at the knee on two separate occasions, seven to 14 days prior to her murder.

A Child Rapist Is Revealed

A family friend of the Galloways reported to police that his 12-year-old daughter told him that Galloway had been sexually assaulting her for five years. The abuse consisted of digital penetration, fondling, and oral sex. The victim also informed her father that Steven Galloway had been taking naked pictures of her. The photographs of the child were found by Galloway’s wife, and per police reports, she then showed some of the pictures to the victim’s father. Galloway stated in a letter to our organization in 2019, “I personally destroyed all of the photos using gasoline as an accelerant.”

Plea Deal Nets 15-40 Years In Prison

Facing overwhelming evidence, Galloway decided to accept a plea bargain. He pled guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter for murdering Hillary, one count of rape, and one count of endangering children for taking and keeping pornographic photographs of a nine-year-old female child. Galloway was sentenced to 15-years to 40-years in prison for his crimes against children. In 2001, Galloway was adjudicated to be a sexual predator, the most dangerous of all sex offender classifications.

A Child Killer and Child Rapist Speaks

Very rarely do we receive correspondence from inmates. This is likely because the Ohio Parole Board recommends that inmates not give interviews or make posts online. Some inmates are so arrogant that they cannot help themselves. Steven Galloway is one of them. In June 2019, we received a long, oftentimes rambling letter from Galloway. He makes excuses for both his crimes, denies his guilt, has no issue disparaging people involved in his cases, and portrays himself as the victim. He also blames our organization for his being in prison.

We are unable to post the letter in its entirety because Galloway spends much of his letter discussing people involved with the cases. We have listed below a few of the quotes from the letter that cause us serious concern. We have highlighted the points we found deeply concerning.

“It looks as if I will not be released until I serve every year of my sentence. Thus, I am now petulantly of the opinion that I have no further need for additional rehabilitation programming, re-entry plans, mental health and legal records; in short, no need for over 150 lbs of archived material including a comprehensive Relapse Prevention Plan.”

“I grew up fantasizing about being a vigilante since knights were no longer in fashion.”

“Personally, I would much rather we bring back the arena, public hangings, liberal use of the guillotine, and execute criminals en masse. I’ll volunteer to be the first to the guillotine.”

Statements regarding Hillary’s murder:

“An unintentional catastrophe precipitated by emotional breakdown and outburst of irrational temper while suffering from the flu.” (This is how he describes Hillary’s death).

“I did not learn of the hairline fractures in one or both of her legs until ten years after the event and verified the allegations when I obtained a copy of the autopsy in 2003, Any attempt to reconstruct history and account for such injuries failed to persuade anyone that I was being honest.”

“I reported a fall event that preceded her death wherein I tripped over my toddler son while navigating a tight corner of the home (having lost sight of him while carrying Hillary from a bath). [Redacted] had disappeared out of my line of sight and I tripped over him. I had to pivot and attempt to land on my side or back and retract my legs to not impact heavily upon [Redacted]. I hit hard and kept Hillary crushed to my chest with both arms to absorb the shock. The accident did not result in seeking medical attention because no visible evidence of injury was apparent and none would be discovered (apparently) with a corresponding etiology until autopsy no more than 11-12 days later. I have no other explanation and no memory of anything that account for separate occasion fracture injuries other than this fall.”

“In addition, he characterized a pattern of interpersonal strife between me and [redacted] – much of it because of [Redacted}, my secret life of shame and guilt- one or more argunents, at least one act of violence against [Redacted} when she was drunk and aggressively confrontational (I struck her); unorthodox and overly harsh disciplinary measures against my two cats; mentions my weapons collection; claims [Redacted] and I, more than once, took [Redacted] to work and left the babies at home still asleep (which was sadly a true statement). I am, of course, cast as a dictator. I do not remember it that way at all and marvel that [Redacted} may have perhaps told [Redacted] any of this or whether I did. I can’t recall.”

Statements regarding neighbor girl’s rape:

“I have consistently reported that they were NOT all nudes and [still] have detailed clinical descriptions available among my records. There were (13) total photos; (5) depicted some nudity and only one (1) was a total nude. None of the photos depicted any sexual activity. One did depict me kissing [Redacted] on the cheek. Further, only the last two of the semi- nude photos depicted any nudity of her upon a bed. Incidentally, the photo of me kissing her on the cheek was one where both of us were fully clothed. None of the depictions were graphic as people probably assume.”

“I have never possessed a Hustler magazine in my life and considered it a repulsive publication, Further, I did not possess “tons.” I possessed perhaps (40) magazines total—accumulated over twelve (12) years since 1979 and it didn’t required 4-5 hours to burn.”

“I did express suicide ideation subsequent to the discovery of [Readacted]’s photos”

“Digital penetration is patently false, Such invasiveness could easily have been determined by physical examination.“ (NOTE: This is untrue. Not every sexual assault of this nature leaves physical evidence that it occurred.)

At no point while reading Galloway’s 31-page letter did we get any sense that he had any remorse for killing his baby daughter and raping a young child. His time was spent minimizing his crimes, blaming others for his incarceration, and talking about himself.

No Parole

Steven Galloway should serve every day of his 40-year sentence. He murdered his own baby daughter and raped a young girl. Based on a letter he sent to our organization, Galloway clearly shows he has not taken responsibility for his horrific actions. Rather than show remorse, he spends his time trying to minimize what he did to the child victims.

Releasing Steven Galloway will pose a serious risk to the community and will endanger any child who comes into contact with him, as confirmed by his sexual predator adjudication. In addition, paroling Steven Galloway would not further the interests of justice and would deny justice for Hilary Galloway and the other child victim.

Based on the fact that Steven Galloway tortured and murdered his own infant daughter, and the fact that he raped an innocent child from the time she was seven to 12-years old, we believe Steven Galloway should be required to serve his maximum sentence of 40 years in prison for his heinous and vicious crimes.