Tuesday, December 16, 2003

By Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

He said she did it, and she said he did it. So both of them -- Jared Moore and Melissa Galo -- were ordered held for trial yesterday on murder charges in the stabbing death last month of a Tarentum woman who, the couple said, owed them money for drugs.

Moore, 19, of Monroeville, and Galo, 26, of Arnold, were arrested on Nov. 29, the day after the body of Karen Hanyo, 40, was found.

Hanyo had been abducted from her Tarentum apartment at about 2:15 a.m. Nov. 28. Police said Moore and Galo kidnapped Hanyo because she owed them $50 for crack cocaine.

Hanyo's body was found about 9:30 a.m. by a motorist who saw her near Thompson Run Road, off Northern Pike. The road is over a steep hill next to Home Depot on Business Route 22.

James Morton, assistant superintendent of the Allegheny County Police Department, testified at a coroner's inquest yesterday that Moore and Galo were identified early in the investigation as suspects.

Morton said that after their arrests, he questioned Galo, who said that she watched Moore stab Hanyo more than 30 times. Galo said she told Moore to stop because Hanyo was bleeding profusely and clearly was dead, Morton testified.

Moore, who was questioned by county homicide Detective Gary Tallent at the same time in a separate room, said Galo stabbed Hanyo.

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