Grandmother allegedly carried out murder-suicide to give son custody of child

New court documents have revealed the alleged motive of a terminally-ill grandma who killed her former daughter-in-law in broad daylight.

The grandma who killed her daughter-in-law before taking her own life did so as part of an elaborate plot to get her son full custody of their 4-year-old child, new court papers allege.

Terminally ill ex-probation officer Kathleen Leigh, 65, fatally shot Marisa Galloway – a 45-year-old special-education teacher who shared a child with Leigh’s son, Zachariah Reed – last month on a leafy New York Street before taking her own life.

Now Ms Galloway’s parents, Nancy and John, have filed an emergency court petition claiming Mr Reed has run off to his “multimillion-dollar home” in Chicago with their beloved grandchild Lili under the pretext of “mourning” his mother’s death and barred the Galloways from any contact — including even a video call — with the child.

The maternal grandparents of a little girl whose mum was killed by her former mother-in-law have launched a court case to see their eldest grandchild. Picture: Court image

“Clearly, [Mr Reed’s] mother had a deliberate plan to kill Marisa in order to provide custody for her son,” the court papers charge, according to an exclusive report by the New York Post.

“Unfortunately, [Mr Reed] has demonstrated an absolute intention to further those same goals of his mother as he has refused to provide us with any access to Lili at all in almost 3 weeks.”

The grandparents — who live a 12 hour drive away in Cape May, New Jersey — are asking a Manhattan Supreme Court judge to pass on Marisa’s parenting time, hashed out in a 2022 custody agreement with Mr Reed, to them, according to legal papers filed Friday.

They are also asking that Mr Reed be forced to live in the New York until Lili is 18 so that she can keep a close relationship with her grandparents and with her half-sister, Mariel, the 1-year-old daughter Marisa had with a sperm donor, the filing shows.

Marisa Galloway was shot dead on a New York street in July by Kathleen Leigh, who then turned the gun on herself. Picture: Court image

It’s now alleged the grandma, who was terminally ill, killed Marisa so her son – who shares daughter Lili with the deceased – could get full custody of their child. Picture: Court image

The Galloways currently have custody of Mariel, police sources have told the New York Post.

Nancy, in a heartbreaking affidavit, laid out the adoring and “hands on” relationship she and her husband had with Lili when they saw her two to three times a month, often for multiple nights at a time, when Marisa would often bring the kids to their home or when they visited Marisa and the girls in the city.

“‘When we did not see [Lili], we would FaceTime almost every day,’” Nancy wrote in an affidavit.

Nancy and John were actively involved in raising the girl, even changing her nappies and feeding her as a baby, and as she’s grown, the grandparents each have special activities they love to do with her, the filing says.

John and Lili love gardening together, and they water the flowers and pick cherry tomatoes from his garden — which he is waiting to tend to until the girl is with him, Nancy’s affidavit says.

And Nancy loves to teach French to Lili and bake cakes with the child, whose “favourite part was cracking the eggs,” Nancy says in the papers.

Marisa’s parents, Nancy and John Galloway, have custody of their daughter’s youngest child Mariel who was conceived using donor sperm. Picture: Court image

When Nancy and Lili finished a 150-piece puzzle of the United States in just over an hour, the little girl was “so proud,” the filing added.

“While Marisa was always the best mother, we would love to be involved with all aspects of taking care of an infant, toddler, and ultimately the little girl that Lili currently is,” Nancy wrote.

Nancy said she is “extremely uncomfortable” being forced to file the petition but worried Lili would become estranged from her mum’s side of the family if they didn’t intervene.

The grandmother laid out the history of Marisa and Mr Reed’s “tumultuous relationship” since the pair split and their “contentious” custody battle.

She claimed the pair dated before Marisa became pregnant but said their relationship ended — “driven by the interference of [Mr Reed’s] mother.”

Marisa and Mr Reed had lived together until she “was forced to move out” on July 25, 2021 because Marisa feared for her safety,” the affidavit explains.

The grandparents claim Mr Reed, Lili’s father, has not allowed them to see the 4-year-old since Marisa died. Picture: Court image

The pair eventually hashed out a custody agreement over Lili on November 4, 2022, where the mum had her for nine out of every 14 nights, and the other nights were Mr Reed’s time with the girl, the court papers say.

The estranged couple also agreed they would both live within the five boroughs of New York City until Lili was out of high school unless they otherwise both agreed or were ordered by a court, the filing claims.

Their custody agreement had a provision that specified that the custody terms were “binding” on Marisa and Mr Reed’s estates and executors if something were to happen to them, the suit says.

Nancy explained in the filing that Marisa “was always very concerned with Lili having a sibling” so she decided “to take on the herculean task of having a second child with an anonymous sperm donor in order to provide Lili with either a brother or a sister”.

Lili has been so “proud” to be Mariel’s older sister, and “from the second that Mariel was born, her and Lili had a very special relationship,” Nancy says in the document.

Lili sings Mariel songs, plays with her baby sister with their “stuffies” and draws her pictures, including of their family, Nancy says in the affidavit.

Court papers allege the grandparents have asked ‘numerous’ to see or speak with Lili. Picture: Court image

When Mariel would wake up from a nap, Lili would feed her Cheerios or bananas and would do funny dances and sing for her, the filing says.

“On July 26, 2024, all of our lives were changed forever,” a heartbroken Nancy wrote.

That day, Marisa — a former volunteer track coach at Fordham University and a board member of the Central Park Track Club — had packed her bags and put Mariel into her Honda Civic to go spend five nights with her parents in New Jersey.

She was going to pick up Lili from her father before heading out of town, the court papers say.

But Leigh approached Marisa as she was loading something into the boot and shot her once in the back of the head and again in the back before taking her own life.

Leigh had been terminally ill with cancer and had been living with Mr Reed at his Manhattan apartment, where Lili would also stay during Mr Reed’s visitation time.

Before her heinous crime, Leigh scrawled a seven-page letter “For Police” describing how she felt Marisa was trying to alienate Lili from her dad and saying she suspected Marisa of abusing Lili — despite child services clearing Marisa in two probes launched by Mr Reed and the accounts of friends and family that Marisa was nothing but a doting mother.

“She took away the child’s mother in order to make her son happy … it’s shocking,” a law-enforcement source had told the New York Post of Leigh right after the murder-suicide.

“I’ve seen a lot of sh*t but this is Biblical sh*t.”

Nancy says in court papers that she and her husband have asked Mr Reed “numerous” times since the horror to speak with Lili, as they are concerned with how she is doing after losing her mother and over concerns that the young sisters need to comfort each other — but claim he hasn’t even let them see her on video calls.

“We have no idea how [Lili] is doing, or what [Mr Reed] has even told Lili about her mother,” the court papers say. “This is beyond unacceptable and must be rectified immediately.”

The grandparents say they are so committed that they will remain at New York Marisa’s apartment during weekday visitations with Lili. They are also demanding Lili has daily video calls with Mariel.

The Galloways’ lawyer and the lawyer who represented Mr Reed in his initial custody case with Marisa both did not immediately return requests for comment.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Grandmother allegedly carried out murder-suicide to give son custody of child