Bucks Co. Pizzeria Co-Owner Charged With Homicide In Partner's Death

HILLTOWN TWP., PA — The co-owner of a Chalfont pizza shop was charged Wednesday with criminal homicide and related charges after she killed her partner and hid his body, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

Police found the body of Giovanni Gallina, 65, inside the bedroom of a Hilltown Township home on Wednesday, officials said.

Anna Maria Tolomello claims she acted in self-defense, according to police. Tolomello, 58, faces a felony criminal homicide charge, as well as three misdemeanor charges — tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, abuse of corpse, and possessing an instrument of crime with intent in connection with his death, District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub's office said.

Gallina's son Phillip told police had not heard from his father since March 16, Weintraub said. Gallina co-owned Pina's Pizzeria with Tolomello, who had said he went out of town on business, according to Weintraub.

Police met Tolomello on Tuesday at the couple's Limekiln Pike home, Weintraub's office said.

"Tolomello told them she knew why they were at her home and, unprompted, told police she shot Gallina in self-defense," the news release from Weintraub's office said. "She also volunteered his body was 'wrapped up' in a bedroom inside the residence. She later admitted to investigators to shooting Gallina once in the head with a handgun on March 16, 2022, some 13 days earlier. Police searching the home found a large bundle wrapped in a blue tarp inside the home’s master bedroom. Inside authorities found an adult male with one apparent entry wound in the area described by Tolomello."

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Tolomello asked someone to dig a hole for her in her driveway so she could bury something. She specified the hole must be 7 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, the affidavit states.

Tolomello paid the man $350 to dig the hole the day before she was arrested, the affidavit states. She met him at Pina's Pizza to give him the money, according to the affidavit.

Tolomello had also been asking around about how to get rid of a skunk in her garage, according to the affidavit.

Tolomello originally told police the hole was to bury a dog in but confessed she intended to bury Gallina in the hole and pave over it, the affidavit states.

She told police her inquiry about skunks was really about how to mask the odor of Gallina's decomposing corpse, according to the affidavit.

Tolomello told police she used a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver to shoot Gallina while he was strangling her on their bed, according to the affidavit.

She further told police she threw away the bloody mattress in the dumpster at the pizza shop and tried to clean up the blood that spilled on the carpet, the affidavit states.

Tolomello said she left the gun inside a loaned vehicle in her driveway, according to the affidavit.

She is being held without bail at the Bucks County Justice Center, court records show.

Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 19.

A GoFundMe is set up for Gallina's son Phillip, who lives in Italy, to come to the United States. Funds raised will also go towards funeral costs.