CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – Randy Patrie, age 41, of Charles City, Iowa, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced today to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Ken Gallmeyer and a litany of firearms offenses. The sentencing Judge found Patrie directly responsible for Gallmeyer’s death during a callous home invasion gone wrong.
The crime unfolded in October 2012 when Patrie burglarized the Nashua, Iowa, home of 68-year-old Ken Gallmeyer. Evidence presented in court revealed Patrie found Gallmeyer asleep in his bed and shot him in the head with a sawed-off .410 gauge shotgun. He then ransacked the home, desperately searching for a rumored stash of cash. The motive? Pure greed, leaving a family shattered and a community reeling.
The break in the case came in July 2013 when a Charles City Police Officer arrested Patrie for a separate burglary – this time, his own stepmother’s home. A subsequent search of Patrie’s residence turned up a horrifying collection of stolen goods, including three firearms and a large screen television belonging to the murdered Gallmeyer. But that wasn’t all. Authorities discovered a staggering 32 firearms within Patrie’s home, 22 stolen from a Floyd, Iowa, sales yard and another two from a separate residence near Gallmeyer’s. Crucially, they also recovered the .410 gauge sawed-off shotgun believed to be the murder weapon.
Patrie initially pleaded guilty in September 2013 to possessing sawed-off shotguns and being a felon in possession of firearms. However, the court held a February 2014 sentencing hearing to delve into the full scope of Patrie’s crimes. Following the hearing, Chief Judge Linda R. Reade took the case under advisement, issuing written findings on June 12, 2014, that definitively concluded Patrie was responsible for Gallmeyer’s murder. These findings qualified Patrie as an Armed Career Criminal, triggering a mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years, but ultimately leading to a life sentence.
Today’s sentencing, delivered in Cedar Rapids, brought a measure of closure to the Gallmeyer family. “This was a horrible crime,” stated U.S. Attorney Techau. “The sentence is just and will certainly ensure that Randy Patrie never inflicts such intolerable and unspeakable cruelty on anyone else again. It is a measure of justice for Mr. Gallmeyer and his family.” There is no chance for parole in the federal system, meaning Patrie will die in prison.
Patrie is currently in the custody of the United States Marshal’s Service and will be transferred to a federal prison. The investigation was a collaborative effort led by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Chickasaw and Floyd County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Charles City Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams prosecuted the case. Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl, case file number 13-2016.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime|Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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