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The Slaying of Debra Sue Reiding · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Concold podcast may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion is advised.
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In the nineteen seventies, police in Austin, Texas couldn't get a break
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from the savage and seemingly motiveless homicide cases that they began calling faceless crimes due
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to the lack of evidence. As soon as the trail of leeds dried up
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on one case, another almost always followed. A handful of murders in the
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capital city's south and southwest ends proved to be especially difficult. First, in
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February of nineteen seventy five, at the Southwest Austin apartment she shared with her
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husband, twenty one year old Phyllis Lee Bhutto was found brutally stabbed to death
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nearly a dozen times in her hand, arms, chest, back, and
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neck. Not a soul had seen her her anything, and the story quickly
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disappeared from news reports, until when in June of the same year, eighteen
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year old Martha Lynn Reid was slain. Martha had also been repeatedly stabbed in
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her upper body and her throat slashed by a still unknown man who had pretended
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to be interested in viewing an apartment at the complex she lived in and managed.
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Phillis Bhutto also managed the apartment complex where she lived, and Austin police
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detectives discovered evidence that a man who seemed disinterested in renting or deceptive in his
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desire to rent, had tried to lure other apartment managers into vacant units.
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Police also considered the fact that both Phillis and Martha were killed on Mondays in
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the morning hours a significant similarity. Neither woman was sexually assaulted, though a
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witness provided a description of a suspect. In the case of Martha Reid,
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her case also went cold relatively quickly. In June of nineteen seventy seven,
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the charred remains of twenty three year old Victoria Sue Palmer were found after firefighters
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responded to the scene of ablaze in south central Austin. She'd been shot and
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her throat slashed before the depraved perpetrators set fire to her apartment. The following
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year, within the two square mile perimeter of where all three of these slangs
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took place, the body of sixty six year old widow Hazel Oletta Ivy was
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found. She'd been suffocated as her killer raped her because she didn't fit the
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victim profile. Considering both specific descriptors and cause of death, police discounted a
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connection between Hazel's murder and those of Phyllis Bhutto, Martha Reid, and Victoria
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Palmer. Within months, however, the heinous crime against another woman would have
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the cops scrambling when the body of eighteen year old Deborah Reading was discovered at
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her South Austin apartment. Deborah Sue Wilt was born in Enid, Oklahoma,
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on October eighteenth, nineteen sixty, to parents Harvey and Dolores Wilt. Less
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than a year and a half later, Dolores and Harvey welcomed a baby boy
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into their lives, Deborah's brother, Rodney. As a military family, the
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Wilts moved around the United States semi regularly until nineteen seventy three, when Harvey
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retired from service. The family settled in the Sunny Slope area of Montana,
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near the heart of the Rocky Mountains. In Shodo, Montana, the Wilts
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operated a hamburger joint called the Log Cabin Drive in the establishment was a popular
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hangout for locals, a staple in the quaint and idyllic northwestern Montana town and
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in nineteen seventy seven, Harvey Wilt became a partner in the business. Deborah
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attended Fairfield High School her freshman, sophomore, and junior years, where she
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was in the Pep club, sang in choir, and worked on the yearbook
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staff. Her senior year, Deborah transferred to Shoto High School. After she
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graduated in nineteen seventy eight, Deborah Sue Wilt was ready to escape small town
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life. Her dream was to become a cosmo pologist. Under her senior yearbook
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photo, Deborah's nicknames are listed Debbie and Trouble. The latter was perhaps an
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endearing moniker given to the warm, outgoing teenager for a predilection for pulling pranks,
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but most of her classmates, friends and family referred to her as a
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cheerful and loyal friend who was always willing to help someone out of a jam.
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Also under her senior picture, Deborah's after graduation plans could be found.
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They were simple and read quote work at the log cabin till I have enough
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money to move out of this town end quote. Whether she knew it or
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not, when she submitted those words to the Shouto High School yearbook staff,
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that plan was set in motion when on November eighteenth, nineteen seventy eight,
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she married local young man and ex high school football star Robert Reading, who'd
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graduated from Shoto High a few years before her. Seeking to escape the bitterly
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cold Montana winter, and since his uncle owned an air conditioning parts manufacturing plant
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down in Texas, newlyweds, Robert and Deborah Reading headed to the state's capitol
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to enjoy the moderate climate and make some money while they did. The drive
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down was their honeymoon, in fact, and they took their time getting there
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as they checked out the sites along the way. Upon arriving in Austin in
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early December nineteen seventy eight, Debrah and Robert Reading moved their few things into
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the Cascade's apartments on the twelve hundred block of Algorida Avenue in the city's south.
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They planned to go back to Shoto eventually, but for now the couple
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was settling into life in Austin. The weather notwithstanding, there was plenty there
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to remind the couple of home. Cowboys or ropers could be seen practically everywhere,
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and the nightlife, even at the rock and roll joints, had a
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Western feel. Perhaps another attempt to ward off home sickness, Deborah landed a
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job hosting at local bar and grill style restaurant, the Montana Mining Company,
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working their lunch rush shift eleven am to two pm. Though the establishment was
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founded in Opaso, Texas, the name alone might have been a comfort.
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Most likely, Debrah chose to work there because of the restaurant's close proximity to
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where the couple lived, and because she'd been passed on when she applied for
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an assistant manager position at the Cascade's apartments due to her age and inexperience.
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Every now and then she'd pick up a four to nine pm shift, but
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because Deborah and Robert did without a telephone in order to make meat, she
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was hard to get a hold of. The job at Montana Mining Company wasn't
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much anyway, but it supplemented Robert's salary just enough to get by and save
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some. The winter of nineteen seventy nine proved to be a little colder than
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most in Austin, but it was still a relief from what they would have
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seen had they stayed in Montana. Deborah was getting along with her neighbors and
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co workers well. All found her to be a delight. Even the manager
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of the apartment complex where she and Robert lived was taken by the young woman.
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She said Deborah was the type of person you fall in love with immediately
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upon meeting them together. Neighbors described Deborah and Robert as a friendly and loving
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couple. They'd taken in a small dog, a Peka poo, which gave
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Deborah a good company while Robert was away at work. While their young romance
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was all hearts and flowers, seemingly, getting by was difficult. Like most
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young folks setting out to make it on their own, the couple struggled some
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as they pinched every penny and made do with the scant amount of items they
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brought from Montana, little more than their clothes, a couch, and a
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bed. Despite all this, and by all known accounts, the newlyweds were
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getting along fine in their new surroundings and with each other. At about five
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forty pm on Monday, January twenty second, nineteen seventy nine, Robert Reading
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turned the knob on the front door of Cascade's apartment one thirty seven. Deborah,
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who was most often close by or at least making her way toward the
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door when she heard it open, had not made herself known. All Robert
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heard after entering was the whimpering of their new dog as he walked through the
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door. It was not the canines usual excited whimper, the young man knew,
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but instead an anxious and alerting one. Robert quickly made his way down
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the short, narrow apartment hallway toward his Endeborah's bedroom. There, in the
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bed under the covers, he saw the obvious outline of his wife's body,
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a pillow placed atop her head. Robert removed the pillow, then pulled back
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the covers. He was shocked and horrified to find Debrah deceased, bound,
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gagged, and positioned on their bed in a way that suggested rape was the
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motive. Robert reading ran to a convenience store pay phone about a block away
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get fifty percent off. When the Austin police arrived at the scene of eighteen
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year old Deborah Sue Readings murder, they were in disbelief. It wasn't as
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though they hadn't seen many brutal, senseless, and frankly bizarre homicides in the
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past several years. To the contrary, they'd seen plenty, but this one
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detectives thought was different. An experienced sex crimes unit officer told a reporter for
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the Austin American Statesman that sexual bondage was the key to finding the killer.
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A police photographer tactlessly described the scene as ghoulish. One anonymous source who claimed
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familiarity with the evidence collected at the scene. Told the newspaper that the killing
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was ceremonial, likely a descriptor that's more a sign of law enforcement leafs at
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the time then something that has any bearing on reality. Still, there is
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no denying the depravity with which the sadistic crime was carried out. When she
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was found, Deborah was laying face up with her hands bound behind her back.
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She wore only her lightweight flannel nightgown and robe. Her legs were apart,
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and there was evidence that each one had been bound separately. At some
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point. The killer used a markedly sharp blade to cut Deborah, once across
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her shoulder and twice across her neck. It wasn't meant to cut deep enough
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to cause her death, only to torture her. Deborah's death was caused by
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a combination of manual strangulation and asphyxia by gagging. Travis County medical examiner doctor
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Roberto Bayardo told the press that he found no conclusive evid the young woman had
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been raped, though he had sent some to be tested. Austin police detectives,
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meanwhile, wholeheartedly believed Deborah was sexually assaulted. Post mortem, her face
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and eyes covered. They thought as the monster performed his sick act. Doctor
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Bayardo never alluded to such. Before too much time had passed, the newspapers
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began reporting the Deborah was indeed raped. Robert, reading police, made clear
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to reporters relatively quickly, was not a suspect in his wife's murder. Although
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it seemed strange at the get go that the young man went all the way
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to a convenience store pay phone to report Deborah's violent death to police instead of
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simply alerting a neighbor, it was easily and reasonably understandable when he saw the
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body of his partially unclothed wife, the unusual bindings and strange cuts, police
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figured, he immediately went into shock, unable to make sense of what he'd
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seen, let alone collect and hold a single thought. It never occurred to
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him to go to a neighbor's apartment. He was, after all, accustomed
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to using the convenience store payphone. Detectives, theorized and the medical examiner estimated
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that Deborah was killed between seven and eleven am. Robert left the apartment for
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work at approximately six fifty AM, and Deborah was supposed to be at work
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by eleven. She probably would have been at the apartment office using their phone
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to call the Montana Mining Company to ask for a ride in. Well before
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that, a relative, presumably of Roberts, came by the newlywed's home in
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the early afternoon, but there was no answer at the door. Virtually every
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apartment neighbor of Debrah and Robert Reading reported that the complex seemed especially quiet on
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the day of the murder, even the woman who lived directly above the couple.
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Since there were no signs whatsoever a forced entry, detectives were working under
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the assumption that either Deborah knew and trusted her killer, or she'd answered a
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knock at the door and he forced his way in. They also discovered that
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the patio door was unlocked, which provided a third theory, and considering the
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fact that there wasn't evidence of a struggle anywhere in the apartment, it seemed
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just as plausible the perpetrators snuck in while Debrah was in bed. It should
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be noted that the Readings had very little furniture or belongings, so it was
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possible a struggle occurred without leaving telltale signs. Whatever the case, and whether
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he knew the couple or not, police commented the suspect was almost certainly familiar
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with their routine. Every possible scenario seemed to indicate at least that much.
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Within days, Robert Reading was given a polygraph examination and was determined to be
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telling the truth when claiming no knowledge of the death of his wife, Deborah
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Sue Reading. Although they'd considered many facets of the case quite different than the
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others they'd seen in recent years, it was also similar in many ways.
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There were no witnesses. Deborah's profile matched that of victims Phyllis Bhutto and Martha
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Reid, both slain in nineteen seventy five, and Victoria Sue Palmer, who
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was killed in nineteen seventy seven. All women were young, petite, and
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known to be friendly and trusting. All the terrible crimes took place in South
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or southwest Austin, Austin, Pol East. Detectives expressed optimism as far as
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finding the person who murdered Deborah Su Reading within a reasonable period of time,
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but newspaper and television reporters could read between the lines. Using the go to
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everyone's a suspect often meant detectives had no good suspect at all, and everyone's
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a suspect is exactly what they said. They viewed the killing as ritualistic and
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commented that they were sure this person had struck before and will strike again.
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Ultimately, the cops decided there was no connection between Deborah Reading's case and the
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others slain within the two mile radius of south and southwest Austin they were looking
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at. Though the police were diligent and checking out the few leads they had,
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Deborah's murder case grew cold, as was the situation with all the other
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area solved murders. They began pleading with the public to come forward with information.
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Someone saw something, whether they knew it or not. Lawman believed it
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was becoming a pattern. It seemed that the department's officers and detectives were neither
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equipped nor trained to handle such cases. Debrah Sux Reading's case was at least
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partially stifled by the fact that she was new in town. Though she and
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Robert had made plenty of acquaintances during the two months they'd been in Austin,
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they hadn't necessarily made close friends yet, and in all probability had not had
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time to make any bitter enemies. Though detectives did a good job withholding information
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from the press and in turn, the public. It became apparent much later
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that a coworker of Debrah's at the Montana Mining Company restaurant was on a short
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list of suspects. Twenty five year old Michael Anthony Galvon quit his job at
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Montana Mining Company about a week before Deborah's murder and began working at a different
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establishment. As police tracked down everyone who knew the slain woman, Galvan denied
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ever having met her, something detectives discovered was not true. Deborah almost always
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asked her colleagues for rides to and from work, and on at least a
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couple of occasions, police learned Galvan was happy to oblige. But lying to
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the cops hardly makes someone guilty of murder, and the Austin Police had absolutely
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no evidence that put Michael Anthony Galvon at the scene of the crime. The
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case was officially cold. Multiple series of rapes and murders continued taking place in
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the Texas State Capitol in the following decades. The murders of Susan Lee Wolf
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in nineteen eighty and Connie Jane Bibb in nineteen eighty six were among the cases
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that still awaited justice. They still do today in twenty twenty three. Surprisingly,
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there appear to have been no attempts by the Austin Police to seek a
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confession from Henry Lee Lucas for Deborah Reading's murder, even though his whereabouts during
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this period of nineteen seventy nine are almost completely unaccounted for. It's the exact
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opposite of how law enforcement jurisdictions usually used Lucas and or his friend Otis tool.
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Through the years, Deborah's little brother, Rodney Wilt, continually reminded police
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that his sister's case was still unsolved, prompting some fresh eyes to give it
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a look, but there were never any results. But after a few decades
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there finally were. About a decade after the formation of the Austin Police Department's
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Cold Case Unit, the nineteen seventy nine unsolved murder of Deborah Sux Reading was
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reopened. It was spring of twenty thirteen when Detective Jeff Gabler picked up Debrah's
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case file. He quickly became interested in a man who had never been ruled
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out as a suspect, a co worker of Deborah's at the Montana Mining Company.
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Though different detectives had visited and questioned this man many times in the past
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thirty six years, Michael Anthony Galvaughan always refused to provide them with a DNA
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sample. In fact, he was the only person of interest in Deborah Reading's
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murder who'd refused. The man's prior record added to Gabler's enthusiasm that he'd gotten
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his guy. It included a nineteen eighty one arrest for peeping into residential windows
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and a charge in nineteen eighty seven for assaulting his girlfriend. The detective wasted
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no time. In mid April of twenty thirteen, he asked the Texas Department
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of Public Safety to review evidence, in which they determined plenty was suitable for
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DNA testing. By the end of the month, Gabler had Galvan surveilled when
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he discarded a toothpick after eating at a restaurant. Officers collected it and it
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was sent to DPS Labs for testing. In the meantime, during the four
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year period the case was awaiting movement, Austin dot Com included Deborah Sux Reading
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as one of the city's most notorious cold case murders. It might sound sensational,
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but the list was actually beneficial because everyone listed was far lesser known than
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the actual most notorious crime in the Texas capital City. Deborah's name accompanied Esther
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Broberg murdered May twenty second, nineteen eighty three, Ernest Vasquez Junior murdered April
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twenty seventh, nineteen eighty five, Natalie Antonelli murdered October thirteenth, nineteen eighty
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five, and Steve Longoria murdered March seventh, nineteen ninety three. For whatever
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reason, it was four years until a search warrant was obtained for Michael Anthony
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Galvan's DNA in July twenty seventeen, which police said positively matched a DNA profile
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lifted from a semen stain on the robe Debrah Sue Reading was wearing when she
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was slain, but the match took time as they awaited the results. Detectives
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questioned the suspect for a while he continually denied he knew Deborah, but the
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man finally admitted to knowing her and told police he'd dropped her off at home
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after her shift a few times. When the results of the DNA test came
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back as a match, Galvon changed his story again and told the cops that
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he and Deborah had been having an affair. Sixty four year old Michael Anthony
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Galvan was arrested on May twenty fourth, twenty nineteen, after a jury indicted
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him on one count of capital murder and one count of murder. Galvan had
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lived in Austin practically the entire passed four decades and had long worked as a
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barber. The suspect's bond was set the previous month at seven hundred and fifty
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thousand dollars. Although her father had died in nineteen ninety eight without seeing the
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man who killed his daughter put behind bars, the rest of Deborah Reading's family,
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brother Rodney and mother Dolores, were thrilled that justice was on the horizon,
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But then everything flipped. In September of twenty nineteen, with the scheduled
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trial date only days away, Michael Anthony Galvon was released from the Travis County
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jail. Prosecutors announced that they were testing other items of evidence and that the
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trial could not proceed without the results. Then came the final nail. A
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new trial for Michael Anthony Galvon was set to take place in April of twenty
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twenty, but the COVID nineteen pandemic shut down Travis County criminal trials. It
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didn't matter. On Thursday, November fourteenth, twenty twenty, the Travis County
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District Attorney's office announced that they had concerns about the strength of the case against
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Galvon. They filed a motion to dismiss all charges. Galvan's lawyer, known
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as one of Austin's top criminal attorneys and colloquially as the Queen of Acquittals,
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Amber Vasquez, refused to accept. Vasquez had done plenty investigating of her own
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by hiring independent crime scene experts and exploring alternative suspects by methods that included old
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fashioned boots on the ground detective work. The investigation took her across her city,
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to Montana, and even to Washington, d c. She looked forward
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to exonerating her client in a court of law, telling District Judge Brad Yurusha,
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she wanted to shut down the DA's chance of being able to try Galvan
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again and that he deserved his day in court. Vasquez asked that the trial
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go forward. Ultimately, however, the charges were dismissed. After reviewing the
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evidence, attorney Amber Vasquez uncovered Deborah Reading's brother believes Michael Anthony Galvon is innocent
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of the murder of his sister. He told us over email that neither the
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Travis County District Attorney's office nor the Austin Police Cold Case Unit are willing to
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pursue the evidence Vasquez uncovered. It also appears authorities have no other avenues to
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pursue concerning Galvon. After charges were dismissed, then sixty seven year old Michael
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Anthony Galvon started the go fund me donate to Michael Galvan's documentary. Donate.
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The campaign says, so I can tell my story of how I was wrongly
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charged, arrested, and persecuted by Travis County, Texas District Attorney and Austin
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Police Department. He raised seven hundred dollars. If you have any information about
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the murder of eighteen year old Deborah Sue Wilt Reading in January of nineteen seventy
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nine, please call the Austin Police Homicide Tipline at five one two four seven
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seven three five eight eight, the Homicide Unit at five one two nine four
29:18
seven five two one zero, or Capital Area Crime Stoppers at five one two
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four seven two eight four seven seven. If you have not already, look
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