A man suspected of stabbing a 74-year-old Gilroy woman to death is scheduled to submit a plea Jan. 13, after he turned himself in earlier this month.
David Galvez, 60, is accused of killing Doris Mae Knapp, who was found suffering from multiple stab wounds to the upper torso next to a bed in the couple’s Gilroy home on Bristlecone Court April 1 before she was pronounced dead.
Gilroy police initially arrested Knapp’s husband, Dr. German Baldeon, and charged him with hiring a hit man—who police put forth was his friend, and Ecuadorian native, Galvez. Prior to her killing, Baldeon—also an Ecuadorian native—sold Galvez a piece of property in Ecuador, and police suspected Galvez of murdering Knapp in exchange for the property.
But in a complete turn of events in October, the District Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against Baldeon and he was set free.
Baldeon’s attorney, Paula Canny, helped reveal that Knapp took out insurance policies totaling more than $440,000 before she died—not Baldeon.
The focus then shifted to Galvez, who was wanted on a $1 million arrest warrant.
In mid-December, Galvez turned himself in at the America Embassy in Ecuador. It was an attempt to clear his name of a crime he didn’t commit, his brother, Gallo Galvez, told the Dispatch.
“The truth is going to come out,” Gallo said. “They want to have a scapegoat and put somebody who is innocent in jail—it’s happened before.”
Gallo said his brother and Baldeon used to be best friends and they would frequently visit each other. By the time Knapp was found dead, the piece of property in Ecuador had already changed hands, and David didn’t flee the country to avoid anything, Gallo said.
After answering questions from police, David traveled to Ecuador—only to find out later he was wanted on a $1 million arrest warrant, Gallo said.
David turned himself in at the embassy and flew from Ecuador to Panama, and from Panama to Los Angeles, before landing in San Francisco and being taken into local custody, Gallo explained.
“My brother didn’t ask for all this. He just wanted to buy a piece of property after living there for so many years,” he added. “If my brother wanted to do something like this, he’d have to leave his family and stay by himself over there (Ecuador). He just turned 60 and his kids are all in this country.”
But Baldeon’s lawyer is preparing to sue David and his brother Gallo, who has declared his brother’s innocence to local media, for slander for falsely implicating him, according to news reports.
Still, even nine months since Knapp’s killing, much of the court file remains a mystery.
During an arraignment Dec. 18—David’s first court appearance—Judge Edward F. Lee ordered the affidavit unsealed, one that’s been sealed since June. Shortly after the hearing, the District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to have the document re-sealed.
David Galvez is currently being held in Santa Clara County Jail on no bail, and he’s scheduled to submit a plea at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 13 in Dept. 106 of the Morgan Hill Courthouse.
“It’s going to be about proving who killed her,” Gallo said, of the upcoming court date. “That’s the bottom line: who killed this poor lady who lost her life because people wanted to get some more money, they were greedy or whatever.”
