CHALFONT, Pa. — A Bucks County woman has been accused of shooting her longtime partner to death and arranging to bury his body in their yard, according to a criminal complaint filed this week by Hilltown Township Police and Bucks County Detectives.
Anna Maria Tolomello, 48, is charged with criminal homicide, possessing the instrument of crime and tampering with evidence, according to the complaint.
Police say she shot and killed 65-year-old Giovanni Gallina at the couple’s home on Limekiln Pike in the Chalfont section of Hilltown Township, Bucks County.
The two owned Pina’s Pizza in New Britain.
Tolomello allegedly told police she shot Gallina in self-defense has he was in the act of strangling her on March 13 — almost two weeks before investigators showed up at her home to execute a search warrant, according to the complaint.
Police say after shooting Gallina, Tolomello paid an acquaintance $350 to dig a hole in her yard with an excavator. She told the acquaintance she wanted to bury some items in the hole and would fill it in and pave it over herself, police say.
Tolomello also allegedly asked another friend if they knew any "tricks" to mask the smell of a skunk in her garage, and whether a certain store sold incense, the complaint states.
Tolomello later confessed to police that she was trying to mask the scent of Gallina's decomposing body, which police found wrapped in a down comforter and a blue tarp in the master bedroom of the couple's home, according to the complaint.
When police showed up at her home to execute the search warrant, the complaint states, Tolomello abruptly confessed to shooting and killing Gallina, claiming it was in self-defense.
Police began investigating when Gallina's son, who lives in Italy, became concerned that he hadn't heard from his father in several days. The two communicated daily via WhatsApp, Gallina's son told police.
When he contacted Tolomello to ask about his father, the son told investigators, Tolomello would only tell him his father was "out of town" on business and would provide no further details, police say.
After police arrived at her home and found the body, Tolomello initially claimed she had commissioned her acquaintance to dig a hole so she could bury her dog, but later admitted that the hole -- which she asked to be 7 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, was to hide Gallina's body.
Tolomello said she disposed of the mattress she shot Gallina on by throwing it in the dumpster at the couple's business. She also disposed of the spent shell casing and the remainder of the magazine from the .38 she used to shoot Gallina, police say.
Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage ordered Tolomello held in lieu of bail at her arraignment.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 19.
