Yale Professor Speaks Out After Her Dad Is Arrested in Connection to Her Mom’s 1982 Murder

A Yale professor is sharing her thoughts one week after her 81-year-old father was arrested in connection with her mother’s decades-old murder.

On Nov. 24, the Foster City Police Department announced in a press release that officers had taken Patrick Galvani into custody in connection with the 1982 killing of his estranged wife, Nancy Galvani.

Alison Galvani, now a Yale professor and about 5 years old at the time her mother was killed, told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Dec. 3 that she is grateful to the Foster City Police Department and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office for “pursuing justice for my mom” following her father’s arrest on a murder charge.

“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.

According to police, Nancy’s body was discovered “floating inside a sleeping bag near the San Mateo Bridge” in Foster City, California. Investigators had tried over the years to solve the crime, but the case remained cold “until recent developments allowed investigators to move forward.”

Authorities did not specify what those new developments were. Patrick had previously been treated as a suspect, but prosecutors dropped the case at the time due to a lack of witnesses and evidence, the L.A. Times reported. His lawyer at the time said he had passed a lie-detector test, and Patrick claimed in court filings that Nancy was dealing with a “mental illness.”

The 81-year-old was arrested in San Francisco and booked into the San Mateo County Jail on a murder charge, police said.

Patrick’s attorney, Douglas Horngrad, and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

Horngrad told the L.A. Times that his client is “innocent,” adding, “This murder charge was filed against him years ago and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. As I understand it, the evidence is the same, and we believe the outcome will be the same. Mr. Galvani will be exonerated again.”

San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, however, told the outlet, “We think we have enough to convict and we have an ambitious prosecutor who can accomplish that.”

Patrick and Nancy were separated at the time of her death. In the summer of 1982, Nancy filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order against her husband. She left the family’s Pacific Heights home and moved into a residential hotel in San Francisco, according to the L.A. Times.

The outlet reported that on Aug. 8, Patrick called Nancy and asked her to pick up their 5-year-old daughter, Alison, one day earlier than scheduled under their shared custody arrangement. Nancy disappeared that evening and was later found dead. Her yellow Buick was discovered in Patrick’s garage.

Alison told the L.A. Times she has long wondered whether “my father used me as bait to lure my mother to her death.” She said not knowing the truth haunted her for years and even influenced her wedding day, when she asked her father to walk in front of her so she would not “have to touch him.”

She recalled that during a visit he made to her family in Connecticut in 2008, she confronted him directly, saying, “You killed my mother.” According to Alison, he responded, “It wasn’t my fault.”