Man Convicted of Murder by Impaling Girlfriend with Bedpost Argued It Was Accidental

Adam Crespo, 49, is set to be sentenced on October 31 after he was found guilty of second-degree murder this week. The jury was out for "just under two hours," according to NBC affiliate WTVJ, but Crespo could find himself behind bars for life.

The death of Silvia Galva, 32, occurred in the couple's bedroom in Hallendale Beach in July 2019. According to the affidavit reviewed by People, Galva had spent the day with a friend of hers before meeting up with Crespo around midnight. They spent some time at a popular bar in Hollywood before returning to Crespo and Galva's home around 1 a.m.

Galva's friend told detectives in an interview that it wasn't long after their arrival that she heard the couple arguing in their bedroom. She wasn't able to hear clearly enough to know what they were fighting about, she told police, but did hear Crespo ask Galva to leave the room.

That was right before she said she heard "the victim scream and state if [Crespo] wanted her to make a scene," per the affidavit. A few moments later, the friend says that Crespo began yelling out to her to call 911.

According to the affidavit, the friend called 911 and the entered the bedroom, where she saw "the victim on her back and began CPR until rescue arrives. She observed the wound in the chest area and advised the victim did not have a pulse or respiration when she began CPR."

After police responded, arriving to find Galva "on the bedroom floor with a chest wound," per the affidavit, Crespo waived his right to an attorney and gave a sworn statement. In it, he detailed how he still maintains Galva died -- in a freak accident while they were arguing.

His recorded interrogation was played in court, with the jury hearing Crespo's assertion that when the trio returned to the apartment, all he wanted to do was go to bed. Instead, he found himself embroiled in an argument with Galva, who he described as "intoxicated." He said that he asked her to leave the room several times, but she refused.

Finally, Crespo said he grabbed her by the ankles and began to pull her off the bed, per the recording. He said that Galva grabbed onto one of the bedposts at the foot of the bed, which was in actuality a "five-foot spear with a 12" double sided metal blade."

As she held on, per Crespo's statement, he continued to pull while "turned away." He didn't look back, he claimed, until he "heard a snap." At that point, he said he turned and saw that she'd become impaled on the bedpost.

He said that upon seeing what had happened, he pulled the bedpost out of Galva's chest, "hoping it was not too bad." Police described finding Galva impaled entirely through her body by the spear, with the bed beneath her also pierced by the blade.

While Crespo did not testify at his trial, his defense attorneys attempted to explain to the jury how Galva could have managed to impale herself on the bedpost. They brought forth a single witness, a retired medical examiner, who said that the manner of Galva's death was "best left undetermined," per Law&Crime.

"There is no physical evidence, there is no evidence Adam gripped that spear and used it," said Crespo's defense attorney, Christopher O'Toole, as detailed by WTVJ. "Why is there no physical evidence? Because it was an accident. There’s not going to be physical evidence that there was a murder."

In response, the Broward County State's Attorney's Office brought to the stand an expert who testified that the angle and depth of the wound through Galva's chest made it clear that the only way she could have suffered this injury was to have been deliberately impaled with enough force to kill

"There is no scenario, no speculative, possible imaginary scenario that exists where this was an accident," said Assistant State Attorney Jaclyn Broudy in court, per Law&Crime. "This was an intentional act by that man."

The specialist also noted the way the wood of the spear bedpost had snapped, arguing that it had to have been bent in the direction of the bed. That was in contrast to Crespo's statement that Galva had pulled the bedpost forward in her direction, per CBS News.

Prosecutors played a cellphone video captured just before Galva's death that included audio of the couple's argument. In the clip, Crespo can be heard repeatedly telling Galva to leave, as he had stated. But when she refuses, he's heard telling her, "I can shoot you." To this, Galva replied, "So shoot me."

The prosecution also made the audacious move to recreate the crime scene in the courtroom, which included bringing in the couple's bed, per WTVJ. With this, a former police officer and crime scene reconstructionist showed the jury just how Galva died. They even presented the spear itself at trial.

Prosecutors said that Crespo gave six different versions of how Galva became impaled on the bedpost along the way. Broudy said, "This was a person who very clearly is guilty of second-degree murder, very clearly had an ill will, a hatred, a spite against her. He was pissed off and wanted her out."