Man sentenced for rape, murder of 85-year-old woman

A drug addict who beat, sexually assaulted and murdered an 85-year-old woman after breaking into her apartment at a Moreno Valley assisted living center will spend the rest of his life behind bars, authorities said Thursday.

Frank Gabriel Galvan, 26, was sentenced last week to 30 years to life for burglary and rape and life without parole for killing Evelyn Ruth Ryan.

Prosecutor Ambrosio E. Rodriguez said Galvan broke into Ryan’s apartment in January 2006, looking for drug money. He turned up the volume on the television to drown out the elderly woman’s screams as he raped and sodomized her and beat her on the head, Rodriguez said.

“She died during the course of it,” the prosecutor added.

Galvan was arrested almost two years later on drug charges and authorities were able to match his fingerprints and DNA to the Ryan case, according to authorities.

Rodriguez said Galvan told authorities that he murdered Ryan because he didn’t want any witnesses to his crime, and he raped her simply because he felt “horny.”

Pleading guilty to the crimes allowed him to avoid the death penalty, authorities said.

“I feel very passionate about this case because Evelyn was two weeks away from meeting her great-grandchildren,” Rodriguez said. “Instead ... her great-grandchildren came to her funeral.”

Rodriguez said the only positive thing to come out Galvan’s plea deal is that “the family has finality.”

ALSO:

Carmageddon: LAPD says no bike rides, parties on 405

Inappropriate relationship possible motive in penis severing

Girlfriend of Dodger Stadium beating suspect arrested in Las Vegas

-- Ann M. Simmons