Pizza shop owner sentenced for killing partner, hiding body in Bucks County home

HILLTOWN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) — A Bucks County pizza shop owner was sentenced Tuesday for the murder of her longtime partner inside their Chalfont home two years ago, according to the district attorney's office.

Anna Maria Tolomello received an 18 to 40-year state prison sentence after she pleaded guilty in April to third-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Tolomello killed her partner Giovanni Gallina in March 2022 and hid his body for weeks inside their home. Tolomello and Gallina owned the restaurant Pina's Pizza in New Britain, Pennsylvania.

According to Hilltown Township police, Tolomello fatally shot Gallina in the head on March 16, 2022.

Police said Gallina's son reported him missing after he hadn't heard from his father. Tolomello told him his father was out of town.

When police executed a search warrant at the couple's home on Limekiln Pike on March 29, 2022, they found Gallina's body wrapped in a blue tarp inside the main bedroom, the DA's office said.

Tolomello pleaded guilty to shooting Gallina, hiding his body for 13 days and removing evidence.

The DA's office said evidence suggests Tolomello used gambling apps on her phone within an hour of killing Gallina.

An impact statement from Gallina's family was read before Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman's court Tuesday, calling their father a "hard-working man who was loved by all."

Gallina's family also said Tolomello was "motivated by greed," according to the DA's office.

"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."