A Gilroy-based doctor was charged with the April murder of his wife, Doris Mae Knapp, June 9 and police are searching for another man wanted in connection with her death.
On June 5, Gilroy police arrested Knapp’s 68-year-old husband, German Baldeon, after serving a search warrant at the home where the murder occurred. Knapp, 74, was found in her home on the 1400 block of Bristlecone Court suffering from wounds to the upper torso and was pronounced dead just after 6:31 p.m. April 1.
David Galvez, 59 of Tracy and Baldeon’s friend according to police, is wanted in connection with Knapp’s murder and faces one count of homicide. Both the Gilroy and Tracy police departments were unsuccessful in an attempt to serve a search warrant at his home on June 5 and he remains at large, as of press time.
Knapp’s death was originally ruled a suspicious death by police and declared a homicide days after it occurred. Police are not releasing the cause of her death and a significant portion of the court file detailing with her injuries has been sealed.
Both Baldeon and Knapp were longtime Gilroyans, moving to the Garlic Capital in 1986 where Baldeon opened his private medical practice, according to Knapp’s obituary. There, Knapp worked as office manager until the practice was purchased and Baldeon began working as a physician in Salinas.
Knapp was also a teacher at the nursing department of Gavilan College and a mentor to students, the obituary reads. She was part of a Columbia University research team that ultimately received a Nobel Prize for its research on insulin.
While Baldeon remains in custody at the Santa Clara County Jail with bail set at $1 million, police are asking for the public’s help in locating Galvez.
The investigation by Gilroy detectives is ongoing, and police are asking anyone with information about the events surrounding Knapp’s murder to contact Detective Mike Bolton at 408-846-0350 or to remain anonymous, call WeTip at 1-800-782-7463.
Baldeon is scheduled to submit a plea at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill on June 20.
