On a summer morning in New York City, 45-year-old Marisa Galloway’s life was tragically cut short in a shocking act of violence on the Upper East Side. On July 26, 2024, as she was loading a stroller into her car after securing her one-year-old daughter in the backseat, Galloway was fatally shot by her former mother-in-law, 65-year-old Kathleen Leigh. Leigh then turned the gun on herself in a murder-suicide that stunned the neighborhood, just a short distance from Gracie Mansion.
The preliminary motive for this horrific event was an ongoing and bitter custody dispute over Galloway’s four-year-old daughter, who she shared with Leigh’s son, Zachariah Reed. The contentious situation had resulted in five domestic incident reports and two complaint reports being filed with the NYPD, although no arrests were ever made. Leigh, a retired probation officer from Chicago who was reportedly terminally ill with cancer, had been living in New York with her son.
In the wake of the murder-suicide, further details emerged suggesting a premeditated act. A seven-page note was found on Leigh’s body addressed to the police. In the note, Leigh made accusations against Galloway, claiming she was alienating her son from his daughter and alleging child abuse, allegations that had been previously investigated and dismissed by child protective services.
Friends and neighbors remembered Marisa Galloway as a devoted and loving mother to her two young daughters. She was a special education teacher and a volunteer track and field coach at Fordham University, her alma mater. The tragic event left a community in mourning and sparked a subsequent legal battle over the custody of her older daughter.
