Chalfont Pizzeria Owner Pleads Guilty To Killing Longtime Partner

DOYLESTOWN, PA — On the day her trial was to begin, a 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty to the 2022 killing of her longtime business partner and common law husband in their Hilltown Township home.

Appearing before Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman on Monday, Anna Maria Tolomello entered a guilty plea to third-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Tolomello was charged in March 2022 with shooting and killing 65-year-old Giovanni Gallina. The two had operated Pina’s Pizza in Chalfont.

Judge Gilman set a sentencing date for June 25.

The investigation began when Gallina’s son reported he had not heard from his father since March 16, 2022, and was unable to reach him. Tolomello told authorities that Gallina was out of town and never reported Gallina missing to any law enforcement agency.

Police went to the couple’s home on Limekiln Pike in Hilltown Township. At the house, they found the body of Gallina, who had been shot once in the head and wrapped in a blue tarp inside the home’s main bedroom. Tolomello had originally claimed she shot Gallina in self-defense.

On Monday, Tolomello admitted that her killing of Gallina was unjustified, that she left his body in their home for 13 days, and that she disposed of evidence related to his murder.

The 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.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees and Deputy District Attorney Brittney Kern are assigned for prosecution.