BRUTAL MURDER

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33513, 19 April 1974, Page 11

BRUTAL MURDER

' -V ZP .4 Reuter—Copyright LOS ANGELES, April 18. The police today are hunting the killers of an Australian socialite, Mrs Patricia Galea, who was brutally murdered in her apartment in West Hollywood.

Ihe police disclosed today that Mrs Galea, the daughter-in-law of a Sydney race horse owner, Mr Percy Galea, was murdered when she returned home early on Monday morning to discover three burglars ransacking her apartment. Mrs Galea was accompanied by five friends when she entered the apartment. The group surprised three Negro burglars who turned on them and tied up all five. The burglars then proceeded to stab, shoot, or cut the throats of the five. Mrs Galea died when a shotgun was fired at her after she had been stabbed and her throat had been cut.

Mrs Galea’s companions suffered less serious wounds and are all alive. A woman member of the party managed to break away from her captors and jumped through a window, breaking her leg. She was able to warn the neighbours and contact the police.

The police detained five Negro men later on Monday, but they were released after questioning. The police said today that they had issued warrants for two Negro men and were trying to trace a third.