Name: Ruben Gallegos
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: May 1, 1992
Location Last Seen: Pearl Harbor, Honolulu County, Hawaii
Date of Birth: Circa 1972
Age: 20 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Dark brown
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Gallegos was last seen at the Pearl Harbor Navy Exchange in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on May 1, 1992.
At 8:45 on May 1, 1992, Gallegos received $80,000 for the purpose of cashing Navy payroll checks.
Two armed military escorts went with him to the Navy Exchange Administration Building at Pearl Harbor, where Gallegos locked himself inside the cashier's cage.
Witnesses said that some time after that, Jenaro Torres, a former Pearl Harbor police officer, who was armed with a handgun, was seen escorting Gallegos from the building. They had a brown satchel.
Military police were notified and arrested Jenaro Torres when he tried to enter Pearl Harbor about 15.00 that day.
Investigators found a brown satchel in the trunk of Torres' car containing all but $1,998 of the stolen money. They also found a Smith & Wesson handgun with one live round and three spent cartridges that had recently been fired, an electric shocking device, a portable police scanner and Gallegos' wallet and hairbrush.
Torres was initially charged in 1992 with kidnapping, but pleaded no contest to reduced charges of theft and carrying a firearm without a license. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison and three years' probation.
In December 2005, an Oahu grand jury indicted Torres for the 1992 murder of Gallegos, whose body was never found.
This case was originally investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and adopted by the Cold Case Unit within the Department of the Attorney General after the unit was established in February 2005.
Gallegos had no passport, no money from his accounts cashed, and no credit movement since his disappearance.
Jenaro Torres was convicted of killing Ruben Gallegos in 2007.
Agency Name: Hawaii Attorney General
Agency Contact Person: Deputy Attorney General Susan Y. N. Won
Agency Phone Number: 808-586-1160
Agency E-Mail: susan.y.won@hawaii.gov
Agency Case Number: N/A
Hawaii Attorney General
The Honolulu Advertiser - 12/9/05
The Honolulu Channel 9/17/2007
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 11-13-2021 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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