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Man Gets 2 Life Terms For 1994 Rape-Killing Of Las Vegas Girl

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty is headed to prison for two life terms with no chance of parole for raping and killing a 7-year-old girl in Las Vegas more than 25 years ago.

Court officials said Monday that 47-year-old Gregory M. Wallen Jr. was sentenced Oct. 2 according to terms of his August plea agreement in the death of Diana Hernandez.

 

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Police found Hernandez's body in a box in a trash bin in April 1994.

Wallen was arrested in 2009, 15 years after the crime, after DNA and fingerprint evidence tied him to the crime.

 

Wallen remained in custody for 10 years while attorneys investigated and found that he suffered a traumatic head injury as a child and was diagnosed with autism in 1985.