A Yale professor is speaking publicly for the first time since her 81-year-old father was arrested in connection with the 1982 killing of her mother, a case that remained unsolved for more than four decades.
According to a Nov. 24 press release from the Foster City Police Department in California, Patrick Galvani was taken into custody in San Francisco and booked in the San Mateo County Jail on a murder charge tied to the death of his wife, Nancy Galvani.
Alison Galvani, an epidemiology professor at Yale who was around 5 years old when her mother was killed, told the Los Angeles Times in a Dec. 3 interview that she is grateful to investigators and prosecutors for “pursuing justice for my mom.”
“With an extraordinary combination of compassion and resolve, they are working tirelessly to ensure that light is shone upon even the darkest of cases,” she said in a text message to the outlet.
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Nancy’s body was found in August 1982 “floating inside a sleeping bag near the San Mateo Bridge” in Foster City, police said. Although the case was reviewed several times over the years, authorities said it “remained unsolved until recent developments allowed investigators to move forward.” Officials did not specify what those developments were.
Patrick had been considered a suspect early in the investigation, the L.A. Times reported, but charges were dropped due to a lack of witnesses and usable evidence. His attorney at the time said he had passed a polygraph test, and Patrick said in court filings that his wife was experiencing a “mental illness.”
Following Patrick’s arrest, his current attorney, Douglas Horngrad, told the L.A. Times that his client is innocent.
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“This murder charge was filed against him years ago and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence,” Horngrad said. “As I understand it, the evidence is the same, and we believe the outcome will be the same. Mr. Galvani will be exonerated again.”
Prosecutors expressed a different view.
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe told the L.A. Times, “We think we have enough to convict and we have an ambitious prosecutor who can accomplish that.”
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At the time of Nancy’s death, she and Patrick were separated. She had filed for divorce, secured a restraining order, and moved out of their Pacific Heights home to a residential hotel in San Francisco, according to the L.A. Times.
On Aug. 8, 1982, Patrick allegedly asked Nancy to pick up their daughter Alison a day earlier than scheduled under their shared-custody arrangement. Nancy disappeared that evening, and her body was later discovered. Her yellow Buick was found inside Patrick’s garage.
Alison told the L.A. Times that she had long feared “my father used me as bait to lure my mother to her death.” The uncertainty surrounding her mother’s final hours, she said, has haunted her for decades, even overshadowing her wedding day, when she asked her father to walk ahead of her so she did not “have to touch him.”
She also recalled confronting him during a 2008 visit to her home in Connecticut, telling him, “You killed my mother.” According to Alison, he replied, “It wasn’t my fault.”
According to jail records, Patrick Galvani is being held without bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 15.
Alison Galvani, Horngrad’s office and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
