Teia Gallo Laid to Rest; Brother May Be Tried as Adult

Funeral services have been held for a northern New Jersey woman who authorities say was fatally stabbed by her teenage brother.

Hundreds of mourners filled St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Hillsdale on Monday to honor Teia Gallo. The 20-year-old died Thursday night after her 17-year-old brother, Travis, allegedly stabbed her multiple times with a kitchen knife in their family's home in Washington Township, an affluent suburb just northwest of upper Manhattan.

The Record said family members offered prayers for both Teia and Travis during the service.

"Teia, my angel, my butterfly, I will carry you with me everywhere I go," Destiny Gallo, Teia's younger sister, said during the eulogy. "And Lord, please continue to watch over our brother Travis, and hold him in your hand."

Travis Gallo appeared Friday at a closed hearing in juvenile court in Hackensack and had a not guilty plea entered by a public defender. The Bergen County Prosecutor's office will decide within the next month whether to have him tried as an adult.

Travis and Teia were among 12 children in the Gallo family, and officials have said another sibling was home at the time of the stabbing and called 911. Robert Gallo, a gynecologist with a practice in Hackensack, and his wife are the parents of nine biological children and three adopted children, including Travis and Teia.

Family members have said they don't know what may have provoked the stabbing. They have described Travis, the family's youngest child, as it quietest member and its most introverted.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)