Yale Professor Speaks Out After Her Dad Is Arrested in Connection to Her Mom’s 1982 Murder By Kimberlee Speakman

A Yale professor is speaking out one week after her father was arrested in connection with her mother’s 1982 murder.

The Foster City Police Department announced in a press release on Nov. 24 that officers arrested 81-year-old Patrick Galvani in connection to the cold case murder of his estranged wife Nancy Galvani in 1982.

Yale professor Alison Galvani — who had been about 5-years-old around the time of her mother’s death — told the Los Angeles Times in an article published Dec. 3 that she was thankful to the Foster City Police Department and San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office for “pursuing justice for my mom” after her father was held on a murder charge. 

“With an extraordinary combination of compassion and resolve, they are working tirelessly to ensure that light is shone upon even the darkest of cases,” she told the outlet in a text message.

Police said Nancy was found dead while “floating inside a sleeping bag near the San Mateo Bridge” in Foster City, California, and despite efforts to crack the case in the past, it remained “unsolved until recent developments allowed investigators to move forward.” 

Police did not elaborate on what these developments were. Patrick was previously considered a suspect, but the charges were dropped by prosecutors at the time due to a lack of witnesses and evidence, according to the L.A. Times. His attorney at the time said he passed a lie-detector test, and Patrick also claimed in court documents that his wife was suffering from a “mental illness.”

The 81-year-old man was arrested in San Francisco and transported and booked into the San Mateo County Jail on a murder charge, according to police.

Patrick’s attorney, Douglas Horngrad, and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the case.

Related Stories

Convicted Kidnapper Found Dead in Prison Cell Weeks After Arrest for 1973 Cold Case Murder

Halloween Cold Case Murder Arrest Made 41 Years Later, on Halloween

Horngrad told the L.A. Times in a statement that his client was “innocent,” adding, “This murder charge was filed against him years ago and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. As I understand it, the evidence is the same, and we believe the outcome will be the same. Mr. Galvani will be exonerated again.”

San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe told the L.A. Times: “We think we have enough to convict and we have an ambitious prosecutor who can accomplish that.” 

Patrick and Nancy had been estranged around the time of the latter’s death. Nancy filed for divorce and filed a restraining order against her husband in the summer of 1982 and had moved out of the family home in Pacific Heights to a residential hotel in San Francisco, according to the L.A. Times.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Patrick allegedly called his wife on Aug. 8 to pick up their 5-year-old daughter, Alison, with whom they shared custody, one day ahead of his scheduled time, the outlet reported. That evening, Nancy disappeared and was later found dead, and her yellow Buick was found in Patrick’s garage.

As for Alison, she told the L.A. Times that she questioned whether “my father used me as bait to lure my mother to her death.” She told the outlet that not knowing what had happened to her mom had plagued her throughout her life and even led her to ask her father to walk in front of her during her wedding so she wouldn’t “have to touch him.”

She said she even once accused him of the crime when he visited her family in Connecticut in 2008, telling him, “You killed my mother.” She said he replied, “It wasn’t my fault.”