Photo: Bucks County Corrections
A Pennsylvania pizza shop owner is accused of fatally shooting her longtime partner and hiring a contractor to dig a hole in their driveway, where she planned to bury him and pave over his body.
Around the same time, she allegedly asked a friend for “any tricks” to get rid of a skunk odor from her garage, according to the complaint.
Police began investigating Gallina’s disappearance on March 29 after his son, who lives in Italy, reported him missing. Their daily WhatsApp text conversations had ceased, and he hadn’t heard from his father since March 16 or 17.
Tolomello allegedly told him that Gallina was out of town “but did not provide any details of where Giovanni went or how long he would be gone,” the complaint states. “[His son] asked Tolomello where Giovanni went, and she refused to provide those details except to say Giovanni was away on business.”
Giovanni Gallina.GoFundMe
Employees at Pina’s Pizza told police that Gallina had not been around in a while.
Investigators spoke to the contractor on March 29.
The contractor alleged Tolomello reached out over text on March 19 and “requested [the contractor] dig a hole in her driveway, the complaint states.
“The [witness] asked why Tolomello needed the hole dug, but Tolomello would not provide any reason for needing the hole, only that she wanted to bury one or more items,” according to the complaint.
Tolomello allegedly told the contractor that she “would fill the hole back in herself with a shovel when she was done and have it covered with blacktop and turned down [the contractor’s] offers to help.”
When investigators executed a search warrant on the home, she admitted that she shot Gallina but said she acted in self-defense after he tried to strangle her on the bed.
Investigators found Gallina wrapped in blue tarp and a comforter in the master bedroom. His head was covered in a black plastic garbage bag.
Tolomello said she cleaned up after the murder and tossed the bloody mattress in a dumpster behind the pizza restaurant.
Pina’s Pizza.Google Maps
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Tolomello is charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and possession of an instrument of a crime.
Tolomello was arraigned Wednesday and is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 19.
It’s unclear if she has entered a plea or retained an attorney.
source: people.com
