Roommate charged in Oklahoma woman's death takes last-minute plea deal

WAGONER COUNTY, Okla. — The woman accused in the death of her roommate took a last-minute plea deal ahead of her murder trial that was expected to start this week.

Kore Bommeli pleaded "no contest" on Friday to an amended charge of manslaughter in the death of Talina Galloway. Bommeli was originally charged with first-degree murder and dismemberment of a body. 

Bommeli was arrested in Jan. 2021 in connection with the disappearance and death of Galloway.

2 News spoke with her legal counsel to get more details as to how this all happened.

Bryan Cannonie was co-counsel on Bommeli's team. He said no one expected her to take a plea deal.

“Kore is steadfast in her claim that she did not do this," he said. "I think we even told the DA, we did not believe that Miss Bommeli would enter any plea to the case. We thought we were going to trial."

He said with the case being over six years old, there are more limitations on evidence and witnesses that could have been presented in court.

Cannonie also said while he can never predict the future, he thinks Bommeli did what she needed to in order to have the best outcome for herself.

“This case is a tragedy, no matter how you look at it, I will say, I believe my client in what she says," he said. "You're happy for when your client makes a decision you think is in their best interest, but there's a part of you that always wishes you could go ahead and go to trial because there's a lot of elements in this case that the public just doesn't know. There's a lot of statements and evidence that are now probably not going to get known except to a select few people, and that's one thing on Miss Bommeli's side I wish was known. But when it comes down to it, she lost a friend. People lost an aunt. This was a very, very tragic case.”

2 News also spoke with District 27's District Attorney Jack Thorp.
He said he believed all evidence pointed to Bommeli being guilty.

“We provided them with a plea offer after we had checked with the family to make sure that that's something that they were good with, they were," he said. "I think that they wanted to see this case finally come to a conclusion.”

District Attorney Jack Thorp said Bommeli is already serving 35 years in Wisconsin for another case. He said she will be getting a sentence of 35 years from Oklahoma law enforcement as well, seven years of which she will be serving at the same time.

“She will be serving probably for the rest of her life in Wisconsin," he said. "But should she outlive that, then she still has to come back to Oklahoma and conclude that. So our hopes are that she spends all her time in custody behind bars, and she thinks about the harm, the pain that she caused.”

Galloway was last seen April 17, 2020. At that time, her roommate, Kore Bommeli, said Galloway disappeared after being diagnosed with coronavirus. 

Watch previous coverage: Suspect arrested in missing woman case

During a press conference, Wagoner County deputies announced on Jan. 19, 2021 they received reports from Arkansas State Medical Examiner identifying human remains, found in a freezer deserted in an area of Arkansas, as Talina Galloway and classified the manner of death as a homicide.

Bommeli is already serving 35 years for attempted murder out of Wisconsin in a separate incident. The new plea agreement is also 35 years and is set to run concurrently in Wisconsin, where Bommeli also has family.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.