LODI, Calif. — A San Joaquin County jury found Randall Allenbaugh guilty of two counts of murder with "special circumstances" in deaths of 16-year-old Chimera Skaggs and 17-year-old boyfriend Skyler McConnel.
"I loved her so much. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her," said Roxanna Eberhard, Chimera Skaggs mother. "He had no right to take them away from us. He had no cause. They hadn't done anything to him. It was so horrible."
The bodies of the two teens were found near railroad tracks north of Harney Lane by Salas Park in Lodi Nov. 16, 2021.
The two teens were living in a tent.
The families say the teens were together for close to six months and were inseparable.
Despite doing all they could to stop them, the parents say the pair constantly ran way to be with each other.
The parents of both teenagers sat through the week long trial hearing gruesome testimony about how their children were killed.
"He sat there so smug like it was nothing," said Eberhard, referring to Allenbaugh.
"I'm just glad that justice was served and that you know he gets to be held accountable for what he had done to our children," said Carla Stamos, Skyler's mother.
Eberhard says the teens were assaulted three weeks before they were killed by Allenbaugh, who was a transient living near them.
She says evidence heard in court also revealed he attacked the kids the night before the murders.
The parents say police could have done much more.
"It could have been avoided, but I don't understand why he wasn't arrested for attacking two juveniles," said Eberhard.
While both families are thankful justice has been served, nothing will replace the loss of their children, whose lives were lost so tragically.
"It's just senseless. It's senseless," said Eberhard.
Allenbaugh faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced June 12.
