Bonnie Gamboa (1955 - 1980)
Arkansas, United States
Modesto, Stanislaus County, California, United States
Bonnie Gamboa's Biography
Introduction
Note: the date of death for Bonnie differs slightly, depending on the source. Find A Grave lists it as December 25, 1980. Other sources list the date that her body was found: October 1st. (See Bonnie Gamboa: Obituary)
Bonnie was the youngest of 11 children. She was born in Arkansas but the family moved to Modesto CA in 1961. She married and began working in a nursing home but, according to her father-in-law, Bonnie became disappointed in how the elderly were treated there and went to (seasonal) work at a local nut packing plant before the birth of her baby.
The Gamboas were a close family: Bonnie visited her husband, Richard Alphonse Gamboa, for lunch at work (he was a cabinet maker) whenever she could and they both visited his father, Richard Sr., almost every day. Desperately wanting to expand their family circle, they tried for a baby for almost 3 years. Finally, on September 22, they had the child of their dreams - a baby boy.
After the birth, the local paper (the Modesto Bee) announced the happy event. Shortly after, the Gamboas received a call offering them a free photography session of the infant. A kind and trusting person, Bonnie accepted the offer. The supposed photographer's name was Mary Alice Wry. It turns out that the perpetrator "Mary Alice Wry" had targeted & solicited multiple families with this offer but Bonnie was the only one to accept.
On the day of the photo session, Richard Gamboa called his wife to remind her of an errand. She answered the phone and told him that the photographer was there. However, when he called about 30 minutes later, the phone wasn't answered. He became concerned and went home. Finding no one there, he went to the hospital fearing that the baby had become ill. They weren't at the hospital and he immediately called the police, and an extensive search ensued.
Four days after their disappearance, on September 29th, the police received a tip. Mary Alice Wry (5 foot 1 inch and 125 lbs and a mother of 3), who claimed to have been pregnant but who never looked pregnant, now had a small infant. When the police investigated, they found the baby (who they identified by some family traits) but not Bonnie. Two days later, the decomposed body of Bonnie Gamboa was found in a local peach orchard. The autopsy showed that she had 57 stab wounds. Mary Wry plead "not guilty." According to contemporaneous reports, Mary had a tubal ligation after her 3rd child and was unable to conceive with her new boyfriend. She therefore decided to kidnap an infant. She was convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. She died in prison sometime around 2016 -2017
According to records, Bonnie's husband Richard killed himself 8 years later. And what happened to baby Gamboa? Read a 2020 update on his life at What Happened to a Baby Kidnapped By His Mother’s Killer?
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Baby Gamboa Is A Father and About to Be Married
"Richard Gamboa Jr. is the proud father to a boy and a girl. He is divorced from his first wife, but he is about to remarry. According to the wedding website, on September 19, 2020, Gamboa is marrying his longtime friend Christina Moreno.
Their wedding story reads, “I met Richard 2001 at Denny’s, I was the hostess and he was a busser. He was mad that I had taken his hostess position. So he was quite the brat, he used to give me a hard time and would spray me down with the dish hose. We built a great friendship. Started hanging out then decided to stay friends. We came back together as friends in 2012, we were there for each other through some really hard times. Then life took us in different directions again. In 2017, I was sitting on my front porch as he drove by and saw me … We went out that night and have been together ever since. Third time really is a charm. We are inseparable, we love to be with each other he is my best friend, lover, and companion. We really are blessed to have each other.”
The article goes on to say:
Gamboa Was Raised by His Aunt and Uncle
"It is remarkable that Gamboa has found such happiness considering the tragedies that befell him at such a young age. When he was just an infant, Mary Alice Wry murdered his mother Bonnie, and kidnapped him. The family had no idea what had happened to Bonnie or the baby for over a week, until eventually Wry was found with the baby and Bonnie’s body later turned up in an orchard outside Modesto, California.
“I was told when I came home my dad was overwhelmed with emotion, full of joy and pain at the same time because one of us came home and the other didn’t,” said Gamboa in the Buried in the Backyard premiere, adding, “My dad was broken …. it was like a piece of him died with [my mother].”
Gamboa went on to say that eight years after his mother’s death, his father, Richard Sr., “lost his own battle with addiction.”
“I really got angry, I lashed out at the world, but eventually, I moved in with my aunt and uncle. They treat me like one of their kids,” he said, adding, “Once I got married and had kids, all that anger and pain went away.”
Family Tree & Friends
Bonnie's Family Tree
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Friends
Friends can be as close as family. Add Bonnie's family friends, and her friends from childhood through adulthood.
1955 - 1980 World Events
Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Bonnie's lifetime.
In 1955, in the year that Bonnie Gamboa was born, on September 30th, movie star James Dean, 24, died in a car accident. He was headed in his new Porsche 550 to a race in Salinas California when, traveling at 85 mph, he collided with a 1950 Ford Tudor, also speeding, driven by a 23 year old college student. Dean died, his passenger and the other driver survived.
In 1965, by the time she was just 10 years old, from August 11 to 16, riots broke out in Watts, a Black section of Los Angeles. An allegedly drunk African-American driver was stopped by LA police and, after a fight, police brutality was alleged - and the riots began. 34 people died in the rioting and over $40 million in property damage occurred. The National Guard was called in to help the LA police quell rioting.
In 1966, when she was just 11 years old, on September 8th, the first Star Trek episode, "The Man Trap," was broadcast on NBC. The plot concerned a creature that sucked salt from human bodies. The original series only aired for 3 seasons due to low ratings.
In 1975, Bonnie was 20 years old when in January, Popular Mechanics featured the Altair 8800 on it's cover. The Altair home computer kit allowed consumers to build and program their own personal computers. Thousands were sold in the first month.
In 1980, in the year of Bonnie Gamboa's passing, on December 8th, ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in front of his home - the Dakota - in New York City. Chapman was found guilty of murder and still remains in jail.