The Silvia Galva spear murder case ended in August 2025 when a Broward County jury convicted Adam Reechard Crespo of second-degree murder for the 2019 killing of his 32-year-old girlfriend, who was impaled by a 12-inch double-sided blade attached to a decorative spear that formed a bedpost on the couple’s bed. Jurors deliberated less than two hours. On October 31, 2025, Judge Andrew Siegel sentenced Crespo to life in prison.
What Happened on July 12, 2019
Galva and Crespo were arguing in their Hallandale Beach, Florida, apartment around midnight. A friend in the living room heard the fight and heard Crespo tell Galva to leave the bedroom. The bed itself was the weapon waiting to be used: each corner held a five-foot ornamental spear tipped with a double-sided metal blade.
By the time paramedics arrived, Galva had no pulse. A blade had pierced her sternum at an angle, and a second wound to her back showed a puncture as well. She was pronounced dead at Aventura Hospital.
Crespo’s Account
Crespo told Hallandale Beach detectives that Galva was intoxicated and refused to leave the bedroom, so he grabbed her by the ankles and tried to pull her off the bed. He said he heard a “snap,” turned around, and found a blade in her chest. He said he pulled it out “hoping it was not too bad” and yelled for the friend to call 911.
Police did not accept that version. Their report stated that Crespo’s actions caused Galva to grab the spear to stay on the bed, and that the force he used to pull her off broke the wooden shaft and drove the blade into her chest. He was charged with second-degree murder and released on a $65,000 bond. The case then sat for six years before going to trial.
The Evidence at Trial
Proceedings opened in Broward County in late July 2025. Assistant State Attorney Jaclyn Broudy led the prosecution.
The state’s most damaging piece of evidence was a cellphone video recorded moments before the stabbing. In it, Crespo told Galva, “I can shoot you.” Galva answered, “So shoot me.” Prosecutors used the footage to establish his state of mind in the minutes before her death.
The prosecution also brought the actual bed into the courtroom. Tom Hill, a former police officer and crime scene reconstructionist, testified on July 29, 2025, that the physical evidence did not fit Crespo’s story. The wooden handle had snapped in a way that showed it had been “bent in the direction of the bed,” the opposite of what would happen if Galva had pulled the spear toward herself while resisting being dragged off. Broudy also lay on the courtroom floor to show jurors where Galva’s body should have ended up if Crespo’s account were true.
A medical examiner testified that the angle and depth of the wound pointed to a deliberate impalement and classified the manner of death as homicide. Prosecutors noted that the blade had gone through Galva and into the bed sheets beneath her, consistent with intentional downward force. In closing, Broudy told jurors: “There is no scenario, no speculative possible imaginary scenario that exists where this was an accident. This was an intentional act by that man.”
The Defense
Defense attorney Christopher O’Toole argued the death was a tragic accident and that no physical evidence tied Crespo’s hands to the spear. “There is no physical evidence, there is no evidence Adam gripped that spear and used it,” O’Toole told jurors. “Why is there no physical evidence? Because it was an accident.”
The defense called one witness, forensic pathologist and former medical examiner Dr. John Marraccini, who testified that the manner of death was “undetermined” and that accidental impalement was “a possibility.” Marraccini demonstrated a possible sequence by being pulled off a chair. Prosecutors argued the reenactment did not match the account Crespo himself had given detectives. Crespo did not testify.
Verdict and Life Sentence
The jury returned its guilty verdict on August 11, 2025.
At sentencing on October 31, 2025, Crespo told the court, “I still love her and I regret my actions that night.” His parents asked for mercy and pointed to his 911 call. The defense asked for a 20-year term as a downward departure from the guidelines. Judge Siegel rejected the request, said he agreed with the jury’s verdict, and imposed a life sentence.
Galva’s sister Veronica told reporters afterward: “It’s been six years and he got life, so that, it’s only, not equal because we lost my sister and we lost a life and we love her and we miss her a lot.” The family said Crespo had never shown genuine remorse, and Judge Siegel said he agreed with that assessment.
As of available reporting through late 2025, no appeal had been publicly filed.