Four years ago, Christy Ann Galvin was found slain in her bed. The 26-year-old former UNC Charlotte volleyball star had been strangled and her left wrist cut. Her car was missing – and so was her boyfriend.
Fourteen hours later, authorities in upstate New York found the boyfriend, Seyi Tayo Odueso, trying to cross into Canada. He was driving Galvin’s 2003 silver Nissan 300Z.
Odueso is now on trial for the July 2005 killing, with jury selection expected to last much of the week.
Prosecutors said initially they would seek the death penalty but have since changed their minds. But Odueso, 31, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.
Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Glenn Cole declined to say why prosecutors decided not to seek death.
Odueso’s lawyers have said self defense might be one of their client’s defenses.
Galvin’s parents, Michael and Ernestine Galvin, sat in the back of the courtroom Tuesday as a prosecutor questioned potential jurors. Michael Galvin, 63, declined comment.
Also in court were Odueso’s mother, brother, aunt and uncle. Godwin Odueso, 39, told the Observer his brother is innocent: “We’re just praying for him. Praying for the best outcome. That the truth will be known.”
The day before Galvin’s body was discovered, someone at her University City apartment called 911. When the dispatcher answered at 1:22 p.m., no one spoke. An operator called back, and a man answered.
The man said “everything was fine. It was just a kid playing on the phone,” a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman said at that time.
Galvin, who was from San Carlos, Calif., played on the Charlotte 49ers volleyball team from 1997 to 2000 and ranked among the school’s all-time leaders in several categories. She had helped her high school team win state titles in 1996 and 1997.
She graduated in December 2001 with a degree in international studies. She stayed close with the 49ers volleyball team, attending games, working at the scorer’s table and playing in alumni matches.
She met Odueso in college, friends said. She had worked two jobs, as a restaurant hostess and as an assistant property manager at the apartment complex where she lived.
Friends said Galvin broke up with Odueso about a week before she was slain.
By Gary L. Wright
gwright@charlotteobserver.com
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