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More than four decades after a woman’s body was found floating inside a sleeping bag in San Francisco Bay, the cold case that haunted her family has taken a step toward a solution.
On Monday, Patrick Galvani, 81, was taken into custody on suspicion of murdering his estranged wife Nancy Galvani in 1982. Foster City Police Department announced,
His arrest marks a dramatic break in a case that seemed destined to remain unsolved.
On August 9, 1982, fishermen spotted a sleeping bag floating near the San Mateo Bridge. Inside, police found the body of a woman, wearing only underwear, tied to a cinder block and showing signs of strangulation. After some time, the body was identified as Nancy Galvani, 36, mother of five-year-old girl Alison.
At the time of her death, Nancy Galvani was in the midst of a contentious divorce from her husband Patrick and she had filed a restraining order against him two months earlier. The mother was seeking custody of her young daughter and had moved to a residence hotel in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco for safety. Friends later told him of their fear that Galvani might harm him if he was detained.
On August 8, 1982, Nancy Galvani was having dinner at her hotel when she received a call from her estranged husband, asking him to pick up Alison quickly. SF News reported. His car was later found in the garage of his Pacific Heights home.
Galvani was initially charged with the murder of his estranged wife but the investigation stalled and prosecutors dropped the case. San Mateo County District Attorney Keith Sorenson said San Francisco Examiner The case was very circumstantial at the time, and prosecutors had less than a 50 percent chance of winning a conviction.
Over the decades, the case went cold as Foster City Police Department investigators struggled with limited resources. But for the past 15 years, Nancy’s daughter Alison has been the driving force in the search for answers.
“The daughter has been trying and pushing for justice for her mother’s murder for so many years [the Foster City PD] To do this, and they will try,” said current San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. San Mateo Daily Journal This week.
When Alison was a teenager she took an interest in her mother’s case and later began searching for answers. She told the LA Times that she talked to relatives about what they knew, used social media to raise awareness, met with detectives and eventually hired her own private investigator.
In a recorded call with his daughter in 2010, when Galvani was asked about his mother’s death, Galvani denied murdering Nancy. Los Angeles Times. But reportedly said that he would have killed her but “somebody beat him to death,” adding that it was “the best thing” that could have happened to him.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Alison Galvani in 2013 was dismissed because too much time had passed.
On Monday he was informed about his father’s arrest. DA Wagstaffe said, “She was so grateful that people listened to her, she started to fear that maybe people weren’t listening to her.”
The DA said prosecutors now have evidence they did not have in the 1980s, including witness testimony that was previously unavailable.
“We had some witnesses who were not available. They could not be found,” Wagstaffe said. abc7“They have spoken to us, and we believe they will be important witnesses at trial,”
The DA said the new evidence strengthens the story around motive and opportunity, as well as the significant shortcomings that once weakened the prosecution against Patrick Galvani.
“We think this creates the circumstances around his motive for the crime, how he did it and where he placed it during the time period because we do not believe the body was disposed of for more than a few days,” he said.
“So we think we now have evidence that establishes where he was, how he did it, where it came from and why he did some things that we didn’t know about before.”
Galvani’s attorney, Douglas Horngrad, maintained his client’s innocence.
“Mr. Galvani is innocent. This murder charge was filed against him years ago, and the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence. As I understand it, the evidence is the same, and we are confident the outcome will be the same. Mr. Galvani will be acquitted again,” he told abc7,
The Foster City Police Department said the investigation is active and ongoing.
Galvani is being held in the San Mateo County Jail and is due back in court on Dec. 5.