Credit: Bucks County District Attorney's Office
Anna Maria Tolomello killed Giovanni Gallina by shooting him in the head inside the home they shared in Hilltown Township.
A Hilltown Township woman who co-owned Pina’s Pizza in Chalfont is headed to state prison for 18 to 40 years for murdering her longtime partner two years ago after being sentenced in Bucks County Common Pleas Court Tuesday.
Anna Maria Tolomello, 51, of Limekiln Pike, pleaded guilty in April to murdering Giovanni Gallina, 65, by shooting him in the head and leaving his body in their home wrapped in a tarp for 13 days.
Tolomello was sentenced on charges of third-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Hilltown Township Police and Bucks County Detectives charged Tolomello in March 2022 with shooting and killing Gallina. The two operated Pina’s Pizza in New Britain and lived together.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, prior to sentencing, Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman heard an impact statement written by Gallina’s children.
In the letter, his children described Gallina as a hard-working man, who was loved by all. They also said Tolomello’s actions were “motivated by greed.”
“All his hard work was for his family, his grandchildren and the future,” the letter read. "That legacy was destroyed by someone who only thought of themself."
On March 29, 2022, police arrived on the scene for a checkup on Gallina, at the request of his concerned son, who had not heard from his father for two weeks. Tolomello would tell the son that his dad left his cell phone behind and was away on business whenever he called the shop, authorities said.
The son told police Gallina would not travel for any extended period, aside from going to Atlantic City or New York City for a couple of days. And even on those trips, he would maintain near daily contact with his son. Following the call, investigators went to the pizza shop, where employees said they hadn’t seen Gallina "in a while,” according to charging documents.
Later that day, investigators spoke with a source who claimed that Tolomello had reached out to them on March 19, 2022, requesting they dig a hole in the driveway of her home, located along the 1400 block of North Limekiln Pike in Hilltown Township. Tolomello told the source that she wanted to bury a couple items in the hole, and she would backfill the hole herself with a shovel afterwards before having it covered with blacktop.
With police monitoring the text exchange, the source confirmed with Tolomello that she wanted to have them use an excavator to dig a hole in her yard, and that she intended to backfill it herself. They then went to the home and dug the hole, and Tolomello later met them at the pizza shop and paid $350 in cash. When asked about Gallina’s whereabouts, Tolomello told the source, "He is away.”
Police would execute a search warrant on the home a short time later, encountering Tolomello in her driveway as they arrived. Tolomello said she knew why police where there, and, unprompted, confessed to shooting Gallina in self-defense and added his body was "wrapped up” in a bedroom, per charging documents.
Investigators found Gallina’s body wrapped in a blanket and blue tarp in the home’s master bedroom.
In an interview with police, Tolomello waived her right to remain silent and stated that during the evening of March 16, 2022, she had shot Gallina in his left temple as he was strangling her inside their master bedroom. She also confessed to attempting to bury Gallina’s body in the hole, adding that an inquiry she had made on March 18, 2022, regarding masking a skunk odor was actually an effort to cover up the odor of Gallina’s decomposing body, according to the criminal complaint.
Tolomello told police she disposed of the bloody mattress in the dumpster at the pizza shop, and the firearm used in the killing was located in a vehicle in her driveway, police said. She also confessed to attempting to clean up the blood inside of the home and wiping down the nightstand from which she retrieved the firearm.
On March 30, Gallina’s body was removed from the home. Personnel from the Bucks County Coroner’s Office confirmed an injury to the upper left side of Gallina’s head was consistent with an entry bullet wound, according to the complaint.
This investigation was conducted by Detective Louis Bell, Detective James Towhey, and Sergeant Timothy Murphy of the Hilltown Township Police Department and Detective Eric Landamia with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, according to the DA. Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees and Deputy District Attorney Brittney Kern represented the prosecution.
