Family speaks out in Danielle Stislicki missing-person case

A June 3 preliminary exam is scheduled in Farmington Hills for Floyd Galloway Jr., charged in the murder of Danielle Stislicki, The Oakland Press reports.

During the preliminary exam, 47th District Judge James Brady will hear evidence and decide if the case should proceed to Oakland County Circuit Court.

FULL STORY: Danielle Stislicki's accused killer, Floyd Galloway, Jr., gets next court date - The Oakland Press

UPDATE March 6, 2019:

Floyd Galloway Jr. was arraigned by video Wednesday, March 6, before Judge James Brady of Farmington Hills' 47th District Court on one count of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of Danielle Stislicki, The Oakland Press reports.

The charge is punishable by life in prison on conviction. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. Galloway said little at the arraignment other than that he understood the charge he faces.

The charge against Galloway was filed Monday by Attorney General Dana Nessel, who decided to pursue the case soon after taking office in January. After reviewing it, Nessel said she determined there was sufficient evidence to move forward.

FULL STORY: Floyd Galloway, Jr. arraigned on murder charge in death of Danielle Stislicki - The Oakland Press

UPDATE March 4, 2019:

Floyd Galloway has been charged with first degree pre-meditated murder in the two-year disappearance of Danielle Stislicki, WXYZ-TV reports.

Danielle was last seen on Dec. 2, 2016, at the Raleigh Officentre complex at 10 Mile and Telegraph in Southfield where she worked. Her body has never been found.

Galloway was sentenced 18-35 years in prison prison in December 2017 for the kidnapping, assault with intent to commit sexual conduct and assault by strangulation in connection to an attack on a Livonia jogger in September 2016, about two months before Stislicki went missing.

Galloway used to work as a security guard at Stislicki's place of work. After her disappearance, police searched his home, taking away a mattress as possible evidence.

September 29, 2017:

Crime Watch Daily has a major update on a troubling missing-persons case we first told you about a few months ago.

Detectives in Farmington Hills, Michigan now have a person of interest in the disappearance of Danielle Stislicki. Stislicki was last seen in Southfield, Michigan on Dec. 2, 2016.

Today in their first national TV interview Danielle's parents are speaking with Crime Watch Daily.

Obsessive thoughts. Dark deeds. It's the shocking case of a missing woman and the manhunt for a monster. But catching this Jekyll and Hyde won't be easy.

It's three weeks before Christmas in Farmington Hills, Michigan. A winter storm is on its way -- and something else much colder.

Danielle Stislicki, 28, is hard at work at a local insurance company where she works with her mother, Ann.

"She was very welcoming to everyone," said Ann Stislicki. "She's vivacious, she's beautiful, kind. Big heart."

And she has big plans for the coming weekend.

"Saturday she had to work, and then we were going going Sunday to decorate my mom's and dad's Christmas tree," Ann tells Crime Watch Daily.

But that leaves Friday night open, so Danielle makes dinner plans.

"She was supposed to be meeting with Sarah," said Ann.

Sarah is Danielle's best friend. Anxious to get cooking, Danielle leaves work that Friday evening around 5 p.m., according to texts she sent to Sarah.

"Said 'I got off early, I just need to stop home quickly and I'm on my way,'" said Ann.

But when 6 p.m. rolls around, Danielle is a no-show for dinner.

"So Sarah called. Sarah had actually gone to Danielle's apartment and said 'I have screamed, I have honked, I have thrown pebbles up to the windows to get Danielle's attention, and there is no answer from Danielle,'" said Ann. "And she said 'I'm nervous, I'm scared and I think you need to come.'"

When they finally arrive, Danielle's parents Ann and Rich Stislicki were surprised to find that Danielle's car was still there. Could this all be some big misunderstanding?

"Hopefully everything was fine, or that she was there," said Rich Stislicki.

And when they use spare keys to unlock their daughter's apartment:

"She's not there, which is terrifying," said Ann.

Inside, the apartment appears eerily undisturbed. Except that two things are notably missing.

"The car keys, her cellphone," said Ann.

Danielle Stislicki's parents call police.

"Once I made the 911 call, it was the reality that she's missing," said Ann.

Danielle's friends, family, volunteers and Farmington Hills Police search all day. Sadly, there's no sign of Danielle.

Then there's a big break: Witnesses come forward with information about Danielle and a mystery man seen together on the night she went missing.

"It has been reported by some people that work at the building that there was a car out there with its hood up," said Rich.

And a man standing next to it was seen talking to Danielle. The mystery man under the hood? Turns out he's no mystery at all.

"Floyd Galloway was a security guard that worked for the building complex," said Ann.

In the months leading up to Danielle's disappearance, Ann begins to wonder about Floyd -- call it a mother's intuition.

"The frequency in which he would seek her out, you know, walking around the office, particularly showing up by her cubicle," said Ann.

Ultimately, Ann chalks it up to an innocent office crush of some sort.

"Danielle was friendly with Floyd and that was it," said Ann.

And Danielle was determined to keep it purely platonic -- especially when she found out some disturbing information about the smooth-talking security guard.

"He was married and that his wife was very sick," said Ann.

Floyd Galloway Jr. is married with a wife in and out of the hospital for cancer treatment. But being married and flirtatious isn't a crime. Still, police want to know why Floyd was with Danielle at her office building parking lot on the night she disappeared.

"Mr. Galloway was the last person to be seen with Danielle Stislicki. It raise serious questions," said Livonia Police Chief Curtis Caid.

Floyd's gets an attorney and lays low.

"At that point he was represented by counsel and he was made well aware of the Constitutional protections of the Fifth Amendment, the right against self-incrimination and the right to remain silent," said Jim Williams, Galloway's attorney.

Danielle's parents speculate that perhaps their daughter gave Floyd a ride home after his car reportedly broke down.

"Out of her kindness to want to help others, she was probably fooled and taken advantage of, and things escalated to a point that there was no way out," said Danielle's father Jim

So far, it's only hearsay. Cops need physical proof.

"There were search warrants executed at Floyd's home," said attorney Jim Williams.

"And the house is being searched, not once but three times," said Danielle's mother Ann.

Brad Kadrich, community editor at the Farmington Observer, covered the details of the ever-evolving case, including some interesting items seized from Floyd's bedroom.

"We know they've taken some evidence out of Mr. Galloway's house, a mattress, some floorboards," Kadrich tells Crime Watch Daily. "I mean they wouldn't have taken the floorboards if they weren't evidence of something they suspected happened in that room."

During the police raids, Floyd Galloway Jr. and his wife move out of their house and in with his wife's parents.

"I know Floyd Russell Galloway Jr. because he's married to my sister," said Elizabeth Newton. "That would make me his sister-in-law, and I've known him for over 10 years. We've always loved him."

So as you can imagine, Floyd's trouble with police came as a huge shock to his Elizabeth Newton.

"I just thought that it was one big misunderstanding, and that we just need to find this lady, we need to find Danielle so we can clear his name," said Newton.

So she decides to share one of Danielle's missing-persons posters on her Facebook page.

"That's when a whole mess got started for me," said Newton. "The next morning my sister Iley calls me and she is so upset, she's furious that I shared this flier. My mom called me, furious. And that's when I started thinking differently about it."

And thinking differently about her family.

"It was very suspicious to me how my family was behaving, and that's when I started getting the feeling that they knew something that I didn't know," said Newton.0

After police searched his house several times, Floyd Galloway Jr. was not charged in connection with Danielle's disappearance.

Still, his own sister-in-law was convinced he had something to do with it.

"What if Floyd is someone else and I didn't know about it?" said Elizabeth Rose Newton, Floyd's sister-in-law.

Immediately after finding out about the police raids, Newton heads down to the Farmington Hills Police Station. She meets with a sergeant, who confirms the recent searches at her brother-in-law's home. And then he mentions something else -- and it's a game-changer for Newton.

"The reason they were searching Floyd and Iley's house was because there had been witnesses that saw Floyd and Danielle at Floyd's house together on the day she disappeared," said Newton. "And then they said that was the last time she had ever been seen."

Because it's an open investigation, cops can't confirm or deny these witness accounts. But if true, what happened inside that home?

Elizabeth Newton leaves the police station and recalls a conversation she had with her brother-in-law a year and half before Danielle went missing.

"It turned into a conversation about sex addiction," said Newton. "He admitted that he had an addiction to porn and had thoughts of cheating, and my sister was just then starting her chemo treatment. I was like 'Just don't cheat on my sister, dude.'"

But now Newton believes her brother-in-law wasn't just looking to cheat.

"He was just waiting for the right victim," said Newton.

But Floyd Galloway Jr.'s attorney denies that his client has any involvement in Danielle Stislicki's disappearance.

"I know him to be a fine upstanding citizen," said attorney Jim Williams. "I'm certainly surprised and troubled by the accusations. I wish I had a magic wand to return Danielle Stislicki to her home."

While Farmington Hills Police continue their investigation into Danielle's disappearance, cops in the neighboring town of Livonia have their hands full. It begins when a frantic 911 coming into Livonia P.D.'s dispatch.

Caller: "This guy just tried to rape me.

911: "Why are you saying that he tried to rape you?"

Caller: "Because he tackled me while I was running and tried to pull my pants down."

The jogger gives a detailed description of her attacker.

Caller: "African-American, big build. He was wearing a black shirt, black or really dark gray shirt, muscular guy. He was really athletic. Clean face, short hair. That's all I got."

And it's more than enough for the police sketch artist, who releases composite to the public.

Then just a few months after the jogger was attacked, Livonia Police are reviewing cases in their city and neighboring jurisdictions -- that includes Farmington Hills, where Danielle went missing.

"The photo of Mr. Galloway was put up on the screen next to the composite photo. And one of our people said 'Hey, those could be the same guys,'" said Farmington Hills Assistant Police Chief Matt Koehn.

The sketch of the man who attacked the jogger is eerily similar to the photo of Floyd Galloway Jr. But there's one big problem: When cops ask the jogger to pick Galloway out of not one, but two separate line-ups:

"She was unable to pick him out in either one of those two line-ups," said Livonia Police Chief Curtis Caid.

It's a huge blow to the case, but Galloway's attorney says he's not surprised.

"He didn't do this, that's his position," said Jim Williams.

Undeterred, cops try another avenue -- a more scientific one.

"They checked DNA they found on the victim with DNA they found in the Stislicki case," said local community editor Brad Kadrich.

And the results?

"There was a match between the two cases," said Chief Caid. "This is the right guy."

Floyd Galloway Jr. was arrested and charged with four felony counts in connection with the attack on the jogger: kidnapping; criminal sexual conduct - assault with intent to commit sexual penetration; assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder by strangulation; and assault with intent to murder.

Galloway maintains his innocence.

"I was shocked. That's not Floyd, not at all," said Galloway's attorney Jim Williams.

Then, in a stunning courtroom moment, the victim, with her identity protected, faces her accused attacker Floyd Galloway Jr. for the first time since the alleged crime.

"I felt someone grab me from behind. He took his arm and swooped it around my neck and held tight around my neck. He started to drag me towards the woods off of the path," the woman testified.

The young mother goes on to testify how she was dragged into the park's thick foliage, where the attack escalated.

"He became more forceful and got himself on top of me. I started yelling 'What do you want, why are you doing this? What do you want?'" the woman testified. "'I just want sex.' I thought he was going to rape me."

"She was fighting for her life," said Livonia Police Chief Curtis Caid.

And thankfully, lives to tell her story, which is an especially terrifying tale for Danielle's mother.

But law enforcement isn't giving up when it comes to solving Danielle's case.

"We're moving forward," said Farmington Hills Assistant Police Chief Matt Koehn. "We are obsessed with finding Danielle and bringing the person responsible to justice."

In an unprecedented move, investigators organize a massive search at Hines Park, where the jogger was attacked.

More than 20 local and federal agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, scour the expansive wooded area hoping to find Danielle. Sadly, at this time police confirm they are looking for her body.

"People who commit these types of crimes, if they dispose of a body somewhere, it's usually somewhere they're familiar with," said Farmington Hills Police Chief Charles Nebus.

Floyd Galloway Jr. remains behind bars on $750,000 bond awaiting trial on charges of attacking the Livonia woman.

Crime Watch Daily has learned Galloway's wife filed for divorce just last month.

Galloway's next court appearance is expected in late October.

For now, searchers haven't been able to find Danielle Stislicki. It's a heartbreaking realization for her family.

"I didn't get to say my last 'I love you' to Danielle," said Ann Stislicki. "I didn't get to say goodbye to my daughter."