Her husband found her strangled in their bed. 39 years later, the killer is arrested, Texas cops say
It's been nearly 40 years since 18-year-old newlywed Debra Sue Reiding was found murdered in her bed in Austin, Texas.
Her husband, Robert Reiding, came home from work to find her under the covers with a pillow over her face on Jan. 22, 1979, according to the Austin Police Department. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
The pair, originally from Montana, had been married for just two months, according to the Great Falls Tribune.
One of Debra Reiding's coworkers at the Montana Mining Company restaurant, 25-year-old Michael Anthony Galvan, became a suspect shortly after the murder, according to an APD news release. But there wasn't enough evidence to charge him then.
Now, 39 years later — and with the help of DNA evidence uncovered in 2017 — authorities have made the arrest they couldn't then. Galvan is behind bars.
He's now 64, and he's been charged with one count of murder and one count of capital murder. He remained in the Travis County Jail Friday with bond set at $750,000, according to jail records.
Galvan never left town, either. Police say he's lived and worked in Austin ever since the murder, reported the Austin American Statesman.
Galvan frequently gave Reiding rides home from work, but early on in the investigation, he told police he didn't know her and had never been to the couple's apartment, KXAN reported.
Less than two weeks after Robert found his wife dead, however, the case went cold, according to the station.
It was reopened in 2013, though, according to KVUE. Travis County prosecutors teamed with the APD's cold case unit and went back over all the evidence.
In August 2017, investigators matched Galvan's DNA with a semen stain found on the robe Reiding wore at the time of her death, KXAN reported.
Debra and Robert had planned to go back to their home state of Montana in just a few months at the time of her death, a family member told the station.
The APD cold case unit and the Travis County DA's Office have solved 28 similar cases, the release said.
This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Her husband found her strangled in their bed. 39 years later, the killer is arrested, Texas cops say."