In December 2020, 43-year-old Jilly Todaro was a resident of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she lived in an apartment on Franklin Street with her boyfriend, Brian Giles. The circumstances leading to her disappearance began on December 11, 2020, when Johnstown police were called to their residence for a domestic violence incident. Todaro reported that Giles had punched her in the face and neck. Following the assault, Todaro left to stay with a friend. The last confirmed transaction using her Electronic Benefit Transfer card was on this same day. Surveillance footage captured Todaro the next day, December 12, walking with Giles toward their home; this would be the last time she was seen alive. A witness later reported hearing Todaro yelling in the background during a phone conversation with Giles, which was the last time she was heard from. A few days later, when Giles appeared alone for an appointment with the Cambria County Probation Bureau, authorities became suspicious and officially listed Jilly Todaro as a missing person.
The investigation into Jilly Todaro's disappearance was fraught with difficulty from the start, as her phone was either turned off or had a dead battery. Detectives reached out to places she was known to frequent, such as the Women’s Help Center and the St. Vincent de Paul Family Kitchen, but these efforts yielded no new leads. Giles was arrested on assault charges related to the December 11th incident and gave conflicting accounts of Todaro's whereabouts to police, claiming she had left town with a new boyfriend. A significant break in the case did not come until January 2022, when new tenants in the Franklin Street apartment discovered some of Todaro's prescription pill bottles hidden in the ceiling. The investigation gained further momentum in connection with another case involving Brian Giles—the disappearance and murder of his wife, Nancy Giles, in 2018.
A major development occurred in June 2024, just one day after Brian Giles was convicted of murdering his wife, Nancy. Acting on 'very specific information,' investigators conducted a search of Giles' former residence on Franklin Street and discovered human remains buried in the basement. The Cambria County Coroner later confirmed the skeletal remains were those of Jilly Todaro. Her death was ruled a homicide, with the cause later determined to be strangulation. Following the discovery, it was revealed that Giles had told law enforcement where Todaro's body was buried but attempted to blame her ex-husband. The case of Jilly Todaro, which began as a missing person report following a domestic violence incident, concluded with the tragic discovery of her remains and the anticipation of further legal proceedings against the man already convicted of another murder. Her family remembers her as a good person with a trusting nature who, despite facing a difficult adult life, longed to love and be loved.
Last Seen: Dec 11, 2020
