Alvaro Calambro

Case record: Alvaro Calambro

Status

Alvaro Calambro was executed by lethal injection on April 5, 1999. He stated, “I regret it,” and died at 9:06 p.m. on Monday evening.

The offence

Alvaro Calambro pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death for the killing of 2 people at a U-Haul business in Reno.

On the evening of January 3, 1994, Alvaro Calambro and Duc Cong Huynh arrived at the U-Haul store. They hog-tied Peggy Crawford, 37, and Keith Christopher, 21. Duc Huynh had been fired from his job at the center just before the murders. Both clerks were bound and gagged, then beaten to death with a hammer and a crowbar.

A $2,400 robbery occurred during the killings, and $2,435 was obtained when the cash drawers were emptied.

Calambro took over the robbery, grabbed twine and masking tape at the U-Haul counter, and bound the two clerks’ wrists and ankles behind their backs in a hog-tied position with twine, then gagged both with tape. In recorded confessions to police, Calambro stated that Huynh left him in charge of the helpless clerks while Huynh, with the money, went out to the parking lot for a smoke.

Calambro described being amused during Peggy’s praying while he bound her wrists and ankles together as he knew that she would soon be with God anyway. He also expressed amusement as Peggy helplessly strained against her bonds and was unable to scream while she watched Keith being murdered, knowing that her turn would come next. Calambro also expressed fantasising that it would be fun to watch his victims’ brains run out of their skulls and to possibly eviscerate his victims.

Calambro used a ballpeen hammer to crush Keith’s skull while Keith was bound and gagged next to Peggy. After ten hits with the hammer on the skull, Keith was dead. Calambro then took a tire iron lying in the store and used it to try to pry Keith’s skull apart, producing a fissure wide enough to allow his hands inside the skull. Calambro abandoned the dead Keith and turned to Peggy.

Peggy was killed with three whacks on the skull with a hammer. Calambro stated that he was gratified to see brains and blood emerge from the skull and then forced the tire iron through one of Peggy’s eye sockets, leaving the tire iron protruding from the socket as he exited the store to rejoin Huynh.

Keith Christopher left behind a 1-year-old son.

Investigation

A day later, Reno police came looking for Huynh. Huynh was hiding in the ceiling of his mobile home. Calambro met the police at the door of the mobile home and successfully sent them on their way by telling them that Huynh had disappeared several days earlier.

The killings led to subsequent robberies by Calambro and Huynh. Shortly after police tried to contact Huynh about the killings, they robbed a Reno gun store at gunpoint and drove to Southern California. They were spotted by police, and a chase ensued. The two exchanged gunfire with police and drove into downtown Los Angeles, where they took a woman hostage. After a 9 1/2-hour standoff, the men surrendered. During the final siege by SWAT on the building, Calambro accidentally shot himself in the foot, and he later denied that the self-inflicted wound was intentional.

Arrest and confinement for evaluation

After extradition back to Nevada in March 1994, Calambro was sent to a psychiatric facility for evaluation.

In December 1994, a psychiatrist found Calambro to be competent, an antisocial personality, not very bright, and a danger to the community.

Trial

Both Calambro and Duc Huynh pleaded guilty to the U-Haul slayings and were sentenced to death.

On June 19, 1996, both Duc Huynh and Alvaro Calambro were convicted and sentenced to be executed.

Calambro’s death sentence for the murder of Keith Christopher was upheld earlier by the Supreme Court, and he received a separate death sentence for murdering Peggy Crawford.

The state Supreme Court, in upholding the death penalty for Calambro, said that:

“Christopher's head had been crushed with a ball-peen hammer. Crawford's skull had been impaled with a crowbar/tire iron.”

Sentencing and competency for execution

A district judge signed a death warrant stating that Alvaro Calambro would be executed the week of July 27.

Washoe District Judge Steve Elliott found that Calambro was sane enough to be put to death despite evidence that he had been treated for schizophrenia and may have thought he was a vampire. Elliott’s warrant authorized state prison officials to execute Calambro anytime during the week of July 27, with the exact day to be determined by the prison director or his representative.

Calambro’s appeal concerning competency to be executed was pursued to the Nevada Supreme Court. A U.S. District Court hearing was scheduled in Reno. Calambro’s lawyers appealed the competency ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Calambro was scheduled to be executed by injection in Carson City on June 13, but the state Supreme Court ruled the day before that he was entitled a hearing to determine whether he was sane enough to make his own decisions about whether to appeal the death sentence.

For legal arguments related to competency, Michael Pescetta, a federal public defender handling the case, argued that Calambro was mentally disabled and could not make informed decisions concerning his legal rights. Pescetta said that Calambro believed that:

“he will `go to sleep and wake up' in the manner of a vampire,”

A hearing on a motion to stay the procedure was scheduled for Wednesday before District Judge Steven Elliott.

Calambro’s mother, Lydia Calambro, attempted to stop the execution and sought permission to represent Calambro’s interests. After forensic psychiatrist Franklin Master found Calambro competent for execution, the request was denied.

After an evening of speaking with family members for several hours on the telephone, taking communion, and having a last meal of steak, rice, corn, apple pie and Sprite, Calambro walked to the execution chamber, was given a lethal injection, stated “I regret it,” and died at 9:06 p.m.

Appeals

Calambro resisted appeals in his behalf.

Calambro’s mother’s efforts included challenges based on competency and representation. The request to represent Calambro’s interests was denied after Calambro was found competent for execution by forensic psychiatrist Franklin Master.

Philippine officials argued that the execution would violate the Vienna Convention treaty because they were not immediately notified of Calambro’s arrest in 1994, leaving him with inadequate legal representation. Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said the U.S. Supreme Court had made clear that a foreign national imprisoned in the United States must raise alleged treaty violations in a timely manner, and that did not happen in Calambro’s case.

Calambro refused to file his own appeal. Philippine officials sought intervention, and authorities rejected those pleas.

Calambro also changed his mind at least once before, in 1995 after his mother intervened.

Outcome

Alvaro Calambro was executed by lethal injection in Nevada on April 5, 1999.

Other details

People and relationships

• Peggy Crawford was 37 (also described as age 38 in a later account). She was a U-Haul employee at the U-Haul center and was hog-tied and beaten to death with a hammer and a crowbar.
• Keith Christopher was 21. He was a U-Haul employee at the U-Haul center and was hog-tied and beaten to death with a hammer and a crowbar. He left behind a 1-year-old son.
• Duc Cong Huynh was Calambro’s accomplice and had been fired from his job at the U-Haul center just before the murders. Huynh received a death sentence and hanged himself at Ely State Prison on December 19, 1996.
• Calambro was 25 at the time of the execution.
• Clarence Crawford, father of Peggy Crawford, stated he would attend the execution.
• Lydia Calambro was Calambro’s mother and attempted to stop the execution.
• Franklin Master was a forensic psychiatrist who found Calambro competent for execution.
• Michael Pescetta was a federal public defender handling the case.
• Frankie Sue Del Papa was Attorney General in the discussion of Vienna Convention issues.
• Lea was Huynh’s common-law wife and Calambro’s brother-in-law through Huynh. Lea attempted to kill both herself and their four-year-old son, Binh, in a suicide pact with Huynh; Lea survived and was convicted of murdering Binh. Lea was serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in Southern Nevada.
• Maria was Calambro’s sister. Maria killed their four-year-old son, Binh, after the U-Haul killings, and Maria was serving time at the Southern Nevada Women’s Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas.

Additional statements and claims

Calambro had said in the past that he wanted to be executed for his role in the murders.

Lydia Calambro said that during a recent prison visit Calambro told her that he did not understand what an execution is.

Clarence Crawford said:

“There's nothing worse for a mother and father than losing a child,”

He also said:

“People say to put it behind you. Sure, we'd like to put it behind us. ”

He stated:

“If the execution happens, there will be closure,”

and added:

“But there is a big `if.' We still have five days to wait.”

A quote from Crawford included:

“It's awfully difficult for the family to think of this man being fed and housed and given free medical care,”

and:

“What does his IQ have to do with it. So he had a bad childhood, a lot of people did. This just really twists the knife in our family.”

Huynh’s confession included:

“I feel God will forgive me if I do this,”

and Huynh also said of his suicide that:

Huynh said in his confession that both he and Calambro wanted to die for their crimes.

Timeline details with real dates

• April 5, 1999 — Alvaro Calambro was executed by lethal injection in Nevada and died at 9:06 p.m.
• June 19, 1996 — Duc Huynh and Alvaro Calambro were convicted and sentenced to be executed.
• December 19, 1996 — Duc Huynh hanged himself at Ely State Prison.
• January 3, 1994 — Huynh and Calambro arrived at the U-Haul store, hog-tied and killed Peggy Crawford and Keith Christopher during a robbery.
• March 1994 — Calambro was extradited back to Nevada and sent to a psychiatric facility for evaluation.
• December 1994 — A psychiatrist found Calambro competent, assessed him as antisocial and not very bright, and found him a danger to the community.

Timeline

• January 3, 1994 — Huynh and Calambro entered the Reno U-Haul during closing, robbed the store, and killed Peggy Crawford and Keith Christopher.