Report: New York grandma committed gruesome murder-suicide to give her son sole custody

A court report from Manhattan, New York, reveals a terrifying plot involving a murder-suicide staged by 65-year-old Kathleen Leigh in order to gain custody of her granddaughter.

Court records state that Leigh killed her granddaughter's mother, Marisa Galloway, before taking her own life just to ensure that her son, Zachariah Reed, would have sole custody of the child.

The murder occurred last month when Leigh shot and killed Galloway, a 45-year-old special education teacher, on a quiet Manhattan street. New York Post reported. Leigh then took her own life, leaving the victim's family with a heartbreaking situation.

According to court documents, Leigh's motive was to manipulate custody in favor of her son. “Obviously, (Reed's) mother had a premeditated plan to kill Marisa in order to gain custody of her son,” the court documents say, according to the New York tabloid.

“Unfortunately, (Reed) has shown that he is determined to pursue the same goals as his mother, as he has denied us any access to Lili for nearly three weeks.” Galloway's parents, Nancy and John Galloway, have now filed an emergency motion with the court demanding custody of their granddaughter Lili.

The Galloways claim that Reed took Lili to his “multimillion-dollar home” in Chicago under the pretense of grief and has since barred them from having any contact with the child. The Galloways claim Reed's actions are consistent with his mother's sinister plan. In their petition, the Galloways are asking Manhattan Supreme Court to award them custody of Lili, as stipulated in a 2022 custody agreement between Marisa Galloway and Reed.

They also demand that Reed be required to stay in New York City until Lili turns 18 to maintain her relationship with her grandparents and her half-sister, Mariel, who was born from Marisa's relationship with a sperm donor. Nancy Galloway described her close bond with Lili in an emotional affidavit. “When we weren't seeing Lili, we FaceTimed almost every day,” she said. “We had a close relationship with her and saw her two to three times a month.”