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    Crime & Punishment

    North Texas teen pleads guilty to murdering little girl and setting family's house on fire

    Claire St. Amant
    Sep 4, 2014 | 3:35 pm

    The disturbing case against accused child murderer and rapist Tyler Lane Holder came to an abrupt end September 4. Tarrant County prosecutors reached an agreement with the now 18-year-old in which he pleaded guilty to murder, arson and attempted capital murder in exchange for a life sentence, plus 40 years.

    Holder was 17 years old when he allegedly raped and killed 6-year-old Alanna Gallagher in Saginaw. He was due to go to trial for capital murder in October, but because he was not 18 years old at the time of the crime, a legal loophole would have prevented him from serving the mandatory life sentence without parole in Texas.

    "Rather than navigate unchartered waters, which would delay justice, it was decided to proceed on the murder charge," the Tarrant County District Attorney's office said in a release.

    Under the terms of the plea deal, Holder will serve a minimum of 50 years before he is eligible for parole.

    About two weeks after killing Alanna, Holder set fire to her family's house and car. Police quickly identified the teenage neighbor as a suspect, and his DNA matched evidence at both crime scenes. In addition to Alanna's murder, Holder also faced charges of arson and attempted capital murder for shooting a police officer who tried to arrest him on July 23, 2013.

    After Holder pleaded guilty and was sentenced, Alanna's mother, Laura Gallagher, read a lengthy victim impact statement. In it, she called Alanna "a treasure."

    "She was loved and loving more in her brief life than many are their whole life. She cared about people. She brightened every room she was in," Gallagher said, adding, "that's been taken away from the world. And it's your fault."

    Alanna's body was found wrapped in a tarp with her ankles and wrists bound with duct tape. Plastic bags covered her head, and her official cause of death was asphyxia. It was also determined that her body had been immersed in water for a period of time surrounding her death.

    "No matter how much suffering you undergo in prison, it won't be as much as all the people who knew and loved Alanna have been, and will continue to be suffering," Gallagher said. "I hope you remember this, and that you live with shame for what you have done, every day that you live, every day that Alanna is gone from us."

    Tyler Holder killed Alanna Gallagher in July 2013.

    Tyler Holder mugshot
    Photo via Saginaw Police
    Tyler Holder killed Alanna Gallagher in July 2013.
    unspecified
    news/city-life

    Hottest headlines of 2025

    The 10 hottest CultureMap stories that had Dallas talking in 2025

    Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Dec 31, 2025 | 11:30 am
    Flower Mound is known for its outdoorsy offerings in places like Stone Creek
Park.
    Facebook/Flower Mound Parks and Recreation
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    Editor's note: What was Dallas reading this year? Let's take a look. We've already covered the hottest headlines in dining, arts & entertainment, real estate, society, and city life, as well as the year's best and worst movies. Now we turn our attention to the most-read stories of all.

    This year, news about suburbs dominated our list; readers clamored to know which local cities were both the wealthiest and most affordable, the most "livable," and the best for working from home. They were also eager to keep up with local billionaires. And, of course, everyone wanted to know which restaurants had the most coveted reservations in town.

    Here, we present the most-read stories of 2025 in Dallas:

    1. Dallas-Fort Worth suburb blooms as No. 1 best place to live in U.S. One Dallas-area city took the top slot on a list of "the 100 Best Places to Live in 2025." The list — from relocation marketing platform Livability.com — put Flower Mound at No. 1 for its appealing size and affordability.

    2. Blooming Dallas suburb ranks as America's 7th most livable small city. Similarly, Flower Mound also claimed the No. 7 spot in a ranking of America's most livable small cities for 2025.

    3. North Dallas neighbor ranks as No. 1 most affordable city in U.S. A Dallas suburb landed on top of a list of the most affordable places to live: McKinney ranked No. 1 based on its relative cost of living and high median household income.

    4. The 2 Dallas restaurants where reservations are now impossible to get. Cafe Dior by Dominque Crenn is the restaurant inside the new Dior boutique in Highland Park Village, which opened at the start of the year. Zodiac Room is the about-to-close restaurant inside the storied downtown location of Neiman Marcus, which has had several imminent closure scares but now states it will remain open past the 2025 holidays.

    Dior Cafe interior Cafe Dior was a hard-to-get reservation when it opened in Dallas. SevenRooms

    5. 27 Dallas billionaires land on new Forbes list of world's richest people. More billionaires have made it onto the 2025 World's Billionaires List than ever before, according to Forbes. This year, 27 Dallas billionaires are among the richest people in the world, including Elaine Marshall, Lyndal Stephens Greth, and Jerry Jones.

    6. 5 Dallas high schools rank among America's best in 2025, per U.S. News. Five prestigious Dallas-area high schools are living up to their reputations for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings.

    Dallas ISD The School for the Talented and Gifted The School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas ISD is the 9th best high school in the country, and the top high school in Texas. tagmagnet.dallasisd.org/

    7. Techy Dallas suburb is No. 1 hot spot for remote workers in U.S. A SmartAsset survey of cities with the biggest remote workforces has revealed Frisco is the No. 1 city with the highest share of remote workers in the nation. The study found over 40,000 Frisco residents work from home, which is more than a third of all of the city's workers aged 16 and older (117,193 total workers).

    8. 3 affluent Dallas neighbors dominate new list of wealthiest U.S. suburbs. Three well-to-do Dallas-area communities — University Park, Southlake, and Colleyville — are among the wealthiest suburbs in America in 2025, a report confirmed. The three affluent Dallas neighbors were lauded in GoBankingRates ranking of the 50 wealthiest U.S. suburbs, based on 2022 and 2023 average household income data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.

    9. Dallas Caramel Company founder Rain McDermott dies at 52. Dallas entrepreneur Rain McDermott, who founded artisan caramel maker Dallas Caramel Company when she was only 34 years old, died in June after a battle with breast cancer; she was 52.

    Rain McDermott Dallas Caramel Company founder Rain McDermott Courtesy

    10. Award-winning Dallas burger joint opens location in Forney. Blues Burgers is from Howard and Catherine Baldwin, who opened the original Blues Burgers near Love Field in Dallas in 2014 (it closed in February 2025 so they could focus on this venture). They use Angus beef for their burgers, and make their own sauces and spreads in-house. They fry in beef tallow, and their sodas are made with cane sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. They also do fried pies, made in house.

    hot headlinesmost popular storiesyear in reviewflower moundfriscobillionaires
    news/city-life

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