Shivangi Sinha
In April 2020, Kore Bommeli reported her roommate, Talina Galloway, missing in Wagoner, Oklahoma. At first, the investigation was treated as a missing-person case, but as more evidence came to light, it took a different direction. Kore was named a person of interest the following month. After Galloway’s remains were found, Kore was charged in connection with her killing, but before she was brought to trial, she took a lesser plea deal for manslaughter. NBC’s ‘Dateline,’ particularly the episode ‘Heartless,’ gives an account of the evidence that detectives based their charges on and the criminal investigation that followed in the case.
Kore Bommeli Was Living With Her Husband Before She Moved in With Talina Galloway
Kore Bommeli, also known as Kore Adams, was born in the early 1960s and is believed to have been a longtime resident of Wisconsin. Her lawyer stated that she had an extensive career in microbiology and cancer biology. However, at some point, she was convicted of a felony in a credit card theft and fraud case involving a burglary. As part of her sentence, she was barred from owning guns. By 2014, Kore was living in Middleton, Wisconsin, with her husband. Their house was next to a couple named Mike and Sharon Ziegler. Her husband later testified in court that Kore did not get along well with the couple.
According to prosecutors, in 2014, Kore broke into the Ziegler home while they were out of state and scattered a powder in their bathroom and sock drawer. An investigation began, but nothing came of it at the time. By 2020, Kore was living in Wagoner, Oklahoma, in a house she shared with 53-year-old Talina Galloway, also known as Talina Zar. Kore had been given power of attorney over Talina’s medical decisions, was named the executor of her estate and was also a beneficiary of her life insurance, suggesting that the two had a close friendship. On April 17, 2020, Kore reported that Talina had gone missing. At first, she told police that her roommate had contracted COVID-19 and had gone to a lake to quarantine because she did not want to go to the hospital.
Kore Bommeli’s Account of Her Roommate’s Disappearance Did Not Match the Evidence
However, as detectives looked into Talina Galloway’s disappearance, several details began to raise questions about Kore Bommeli’s account. Police found scraps of a mattress that appeared to have been burned in the backyard of the house the two women shared. Investigators believed the mattress had been burned around April 15, just two days before Talina was reported missing. They also believed that furniture inside the house had been rearranged to make it appear that Talina slept in a different bedroom than the one she actually used. When the house was treated with a forensic reagent, large areas of the bedroom and the garage showed signs that they had been scrubbed clean.
There was also no record of Talina having tested positive for COVID-19, despite Kore’s claim that she had contracted the virus and was left to quarantine. Investigators also looked into a missing white cargo trailer and a freezer from the kitchen, which were reportedly no longer at the property after Talina disappeared. These details, along with the other evidence collected at the house, increasingly cast doubt on the account Kore had initially given detectives. By June 2020, Kore was named a person of interest in the case. She was first arrested in the middle of 2020 on charges of obstruction and being a felon in possession of a firearm. She was soon released on bond. In January 2021, after Talina’s remains were found, Kore was arrested in Dane County, Wisconsin, on charges of first-degree murder with deliberate intent and desecration of a corpse. She faced 14 charges in total.
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Kore Bommeli is Behind Bars in Wisconsin Today
In 2021, the investigation into the 2014 case in Wisconsin also picked up. The evidence against Kore Bommeli had begun to add up after her husband told a detective that Kore had admitted to having ricin “for use against their enemies.” According to reports, a male associate also claimed to have seen her making homemade ricin to “punish her enemies.” Investigators reportedly found a ricin recipe among computer files, while castor beans were discovered in a lockbox at her home. The FBI later tested some of the leftover powder found at the Zieglers’ home and confirmed that it was ricin. In August 2021, Kore was charged with two counts of attempted homicide in connection with the Wisconsin case.
In February 2023, Kore’s trial in Oklahoma for Talina Galloway’s killing was put on hold as she was called to stand trial in Wisconsin. In June 2023, she was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and handed a sentence of 25 years in prison, followed by 15 years of extended supervision. Kore later returned to Oklahoma, but before her trial could resume, she pleaded no contest in March 2026 to first-degree manslaughter, desecration of a human corpse and possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction. She was sentenced to 35 years, to run concurrently with her Wisconsin sentence. Kore is currently being held at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Her maximum discharge date has been set for 2063, while her parole eligibility date is not publicly available.
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