Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Cop & evil stepmom force 8-year-old Thomas Valva to freeze dead in cold garage

Episode Date: March 5, 2021

Emergency services are called to a New York home after reports of an unresponsive 8-year-old boy. His father says he fell in the driveway. Medical technicians and cops are suspicious considering the boy's body temperature is just 76 degrees. Thomas Valva dies and now his policeman father and the stepmother are charged. Investigators say the couple left him overnight in a cold garage. The outside temperature was 19 degrees.Joining Nancy Grace Today: James Shelnutt - 27 years Atlanta Metro Area Major Case Detective, Swat officer Lawyer www.ShelnuttLawFirm.com Dr. Jeff Gardere - Board Certified Clinical Psychologist, Prof of Behavioral Medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine www.drjeffgardere.com, Author: 'The Causes of Autism” @drjeffgardere  Steven Lampley - Author, Speaker, Retired Police Officer and Undercover SVU Detective, Author, "12 and Murdered," www.stevendavidlampley.com, Facebook.com/StevenDavidLampleyPage Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet" featured on "Poisonous Liaisons" on True Crime Network  Ray Caputo - Lead News Anchor for Orlando's Morning News, 96.5 WDBO Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. What would you do to save the life of an eight-year-old little boy? Would you jump in a river and swim to save him and pull him to the shore? Would you run into a burning building to pull the little boy out to safety? Would you fight to keep an attack dog from attacking the little boy? What would you do to save an eight-year-old boy's life? What if it was as simple as calling 911? What if it was as simple as giving him something to eat? What if it was as simple as giving him a blanket.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Why did eight-year-old Tommy have to die? Take a listen to our friends at CrimeOnline.com. It's a cold February morning in the teens when Long Island police get a call about an unresponsive child. Just 9.40 a.m., according to police dispatch, the boy fell in the driveway at his home. When detectives arrive, Thomas Valva's father is performing CPR on the eight-year-old. Valva is taken by ambulance to Long Island Community Hospital, where he dies. Doctors determined the boy's head and facial injuries are inconsistent with the account of what happened. What's more, the boy's body temperature is just 76 degrees. Joining me, an all-star panel to try

and apply logic to this scenario with me. 27 years on Metro major case, including SWAT, now turned lawyer, James Shelnut at ShelnutLawFirm.com. Dr. Jeff Gardier, board-certified clinical psychologist, professor of behavioral medicine at Truro, at Dr. Jeff Gardier with an E.com, author of The Causes of Autism. Stephen Lampley, author, speaker, former cop and undercover, author of Twelve and Murdered on Amazon, and you can find him at stephendavidlampley.com.

Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, star of a brand new hit series on the True Crime Network, Poisonous Liaisons, Joseph Scott Morgan with us, death investigator, and lead news anchor for WDBO, Ray Caputo. Ray Caputo, tell me who, what, where, when, why. Let's start with who. Who is the dead child? Well, the dead child is a precious little boy named Thomas Vulva. He was just a little eight-year-old boy. He lived on Long Island. You know, if you know eight-year-old kids, you can imagine what they're into, things like video games and playing with their friends. So this is a little eight-year-old boy who's into regular things like every other eight-year-old boy.

I know I remember when John David was eight years old, living life with his family, his brothers and sisters there on Long Island. And then we get a 911 call that he's dead in the driveway. Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator. It was a developing story and it was full of disturbing information. To fall in the driveway and get lacerations on your head and skull and die from them, that's one thing. But for your body temperature to be 76 degrees, that's a whole nother can of worms right there. How does your body get down to 76 degrees?

Well, it all goes to environment, what we call the ambient environmental temperature, that air that kind of surrounds your body from above, below, and from the sides, if it is low, all right, and you're not shielded, your body's not shielded other than, say, your layer of fat and maybe a thin layer of clothing, your body, and this is horrible to think about, literally assumes the environmental temperature or struggles to get down to that level because you can't generate, your heat pump within your body can't keep up. The little furnace in your body can't keep up any longer. And so if you're talking about a small child, as Ray had just mentioned, remember, this little boy is only eight years old, Nancy. We have to assume he doesn't have a lot of insulation on him. So his little body is struggling all the time.

And at the end of the day, you said your body is struggling to get down to the ambient temperature. In other words, the temperature of your surroundings. But I thought your body struggled to keep your temperature up to protect your internal organs. It does. Well, which one is it, Joe Scott? I mean, I'm just a trial lawyer, but even I can hear it can't be both. Well, no, it can't. But there is a paradoxical, it's paradoxical that occurs.

Your body is fighting, but you don't have the ability to fight, particularly at this age and with this low body weight, lack of insulation. So it's being driven down by the forces of nature. So you've got this paradox that's going. As a matter of fact, interestingly enough, did you know that there's a condition that's called paradoxical undressing with hypothermic people? They literally begin to peel their clothes off the colder they get. And it's this real weird thing that happens in kind of a fight or flight mode. So there's a lot to unpack here relative to how your body interacts with the environment, particularly a cold environment. Okay, to clear up my question to you, I believe your body struggles, as you called it, your furnace, to keep your temperature around 98.6. It does not struggle

to get your body down to the ambient temperature in the room. But paradoxical undressing your body in its effort, that little furnace you referred to, in its effort to keep your body warm, your brain starts thinking you are warm and people start taking their clothes off. I remember the first time I saw that phenomenon, Joe Scott Morgan, I couldn't believe that the person had died of hypothermia because they had taken all their clothes off. I thought someone had to have done that to them. But no, people very often start removing their clothes because their body temperature, their furnace tells them, their brain, that they're overheating because the body is trying

to overheat to protect the internal organs. Did I say that correctly, Joe Scott? Yes, ma'am, you did. And you're absolutely right. It's one of the, out of all the death investigations that I've conducted over, you know, gunshot wounds many times are very simple compared to something like hypothermia, because it's not just what's going on externally with the body and those things that are kind of impacting the body. It's what's going on at a psychological, from a psychological perspective, somebody that's attempting to get warm and they can't get warm or they perceive themselves to be too warm. And so it's an interesting way we're kind of engineered and it's a very difficult kind of death investigation to

conduct. And Stephen Lampley, author, speaker, former cop, undercover, author of 12 and Murdered on Amazon. Steve, right off the bat, the cops think it doesn't jive because based on the nature of the injuries, the lacerations to the face and the skull versus the cold temperature of the little boy, those two don't jive. What do you do in that situation where you get to the home, you find a child who allegedly fell in the driveway, but it's not jiving with the manner of death? Well, Nancy, it depends on the injuries. And in this case, it's my understanding that the police officers saw the injuries, but it's my understanding when they saw the injuries,

right off the bat, red flags popped up. You know, when you fall, your injuries are going to be in a certain location, depending on where or how the circumstances that you fall. Apparently, these injuries right off the bat did not jive with a fall. And it's interesting, Steve Lampley, I want to follow up on what you're saying. To fall on a driveway, which in this case is a smooth, albeit asphalt,

surface, is different from falling down, let's just pretend, a flight of brick stairs. You fall down brick stairs, you could get cuts, lacerations all over yourself. But when you take a single fall on a driveway, you would expect, for instance, one blow, one major laceration, or at least on one side of the face or head. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about the death of an eight-year-old little boy. Take a listen to our friend Stone Grissom at News 12 Long Island. Disturbing information about the death of an eight-year-old boy released by police just a short time ago. Police now say Michael Valva and his fiancee Angela Polina left Thomas Valva in an unheated garage, unheated and unfinished, overnight in freezing temperatures. They say when he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead,

his body temperature was 76 degrees. As we first told you, police responded to reports that the child fell in the driveway of the home. This was on Bittersweet Lane last week, but investigators say the eight-year-old suffered head and facial injuries inconsistent with those reports. The couple also have five other children, including two other sons and Polina's three daughters. So that's six children in all. What, if anything, can we learn from them? Take a listen to this. Was Anthony and Tommy try to ask for help, call, or when they were inside the garage, did you hear them? Yeah. Did you hear the noise? Mom, they were crying and they said that they really had to go pee.

Okay, and what happened that they couldn't go inside the house? They had to hold their pee in. They had to hold it? Sometimes Angela and Dad stayed out all day and and auntie thomas stayed home with the door locked with the door locked so they weren't able to get out from the garage nope and they had to hold their pen all day until they came back home did anthony and tammy said about this to any anybody in school no because then okay because they would be punished for like three days. And what will be the punishment? What will happen to them? They will be staying in the room for three days, not going to be nodding and not doing anything. Getting slapped in the butt.

Slapped in the butt? Would it hurt? You're hearing the little brother. That's Andrew speaking, and he's being asked by Justina Valva if he ever heard his brothers in the garage. The little boy, I don't know if you can make it out, would say they would cry when they had to go to the bathroom, but they were forced to hold it in. The little boy, the little brother Andrew, says that the parents would be gone all day and lock the children in the garage till they got home. But they would be beaten if they told anyone at school about it. Take a listen to more of what the little brother has to say.

Was there any other reason why Dada and Angela put Anthony and Tommy in the garage? Well, because they kept on peeing in themselves. Kept on peeing in themselves? Yeah, because in the middle of the night they had to go pee. And Mom and Dad wasn't allowing them. Oh, my God. Okay.

And then they kept on peeing in their pants because they weren't allowed to go in the bathroom. And one time I stayed up all night just in the bathroom just to brush my teeth. Why? I had to brush my teeth. I didn't brush my teeth and I had to. And I almost stayed in the bathroom for like three hours when everyone was sleeping. But who told, who, who, who, you had to stay in the bathroom?

Uh-huh, until I finished brushing my teeth. Who said that? Angela and Dad. Angela and Dad? Oh, my God. The voice you're hearing speaking to little brother Andrew is their biological mother. That's Justina Zubko-Valva.

And there's more. Brace yourself. Listen to this. When Tommy and Anthony were in the garage, did they get any food from Dada and Angela? Only once a day. Only once a day? Uh-huh. And what was the food? What did they get to eat? Just a sandwich. Only once a day? Uh-huh. And what was the food?

What did they get to eat? Just a sandwich, that's it. Just a sandwich? Uh-huh. Were they saying that they were hungry? Yeah. So when they were in the garage, were you able to go and visit them or you couldn't? No, I couldn't.

Why? Because I would get in trouble too. Get in trouble too? Uh-huh. Did you ever see Anthony and Tammy on a video camera from inside the garage? Uh-uh. But there was cameras in the garage too. There were cameras in the garage?

Uh-huh. There was one at the ceiling and one by the doorsteps. Okay. Uh-huh. There was one at the ceiling and one, like, by the doorsteps. Okay. So when Anthony and Tammy were coming from school... They had to go in the house and then go in the garage. They had to go where? They had to go in the house to get through and then go in the garage. But for what? What was the reason that they would have to go in the garage immediately?

Because they kept on peeing in their pants. Oh, God. But did they have accidents in school? No. So why, why, so if they didn't have accidents in school... That's because we go to the bathroom in school. The teachers allow them. Okay. And what happened at Dada's house? The opposite.

The opposite? You're safe now, aren't you? You're safe. I love you. I can hardly stand to listen to it. Let me go out to the professor of behavioral medicine at Truro College, author of The Causes of Autism. We know that Tom is just eight years old, was under the spectrum. Dr. Jeff, you know what? You and I have gone through a lot of cases together,

but when I hear the little brother, Andrew, talking about what his brothers endured, here you have an eight-year-old boy that's wetting his pants. And you know, Dr. Jeff, classic sign, classic of child abuse. Of course they're going to wet their pants when they're put in a garage overnight. Absolutely. And so what we're seeing here are a couple of things going on very quickly. First of all, don't be quick. I want to hear every last word. OK, well, you know, first of all, they're not even allowing them to use bathroom facilities properly.

Number two, when just like any child sometimes they may wet themselves here they absolutely torture them and as part of that they are now these kids are fearful absolutely horrifically in fear which then is that feedback loop which causes them to continue to go to the bathroom on themselves. So it's a no-win situation for them. And the worst thing of all of this, of course, is the constant, and I'll say the word, the constant torture of these children. Look, there are kids, of course, who experience bedwetting and who are potty trained in their own time. But the constant pressure and again, the torture on these children were driving them to a point of not only psychological exhaustion, but physical exhaustion and complete and total fear.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the death of this beautiful 8-year-old boy, Thomas Thalva. 911 gets a call that he fell in the driveway and died. But when cops get there, the wounds to little Thomas' head are not consistent with a single fall in the driveway. And his body temp is 76 degrees. James Shelnut, you were on the force for nearly 30 years before you go to law school. Way in. Yeah, this situation is just absolutely heartbreaking.

You know, I've got a child that's on the Asperger's spectrum of autism. And just to look at this story and read this story is just heartbreaking. You know, these kids, Nancy, are especially sensitive to things as well. The autistic kids are sensitive to touch, heat, cold sometimes, being yelled at. And, you know, that just magnifies the torture of what it would be for even a child that doesn't have Asperger's. It's just heartbreaking. To you, Dr. Jeff, you actually wrote the book, The Causes of Autism. You can find Dr. Jeff at Dr. Jeff Gardere, and that's G-A-R-D-E-R-E.com. Longtime friend, expert. We go all the way back to court TV days. Dr. Jeff, I'm just listening to what James Shelnut is saying.

What would it have been like for not just a regular eight-year-old little boy, but a little boy that's on the spectrum of autism? Let's just say just a very mild case. We see that he's mainstream. He's going to regular school. But what would that be to be in a freezing cold garage at night all night long with no food and you can't go to the bathroom or you'll be beaten? Absolutely. correct that for a child on the spectrum, having sensory issues at times or issues communicating in a way that verbally that they may want to and that they're not able to makes it difficult

enough for them. So this was a child, obviously, who may not have completely understood the reasons that he was being tortured and that others in his home were being tortured, but absolutely felt the effects and may have felt it a million times over, given that we know children that are on the spectrum look for us as their parents to protect them, to give them support, and to just have that warmth. And that was missing from the parents. Certainly, it wasn't part of living in a garage. And so what happened here was murderous, unconscionable, absolutely horrific. It brings tears to my eyes as I speak to you about this right now.

Well, I hope Shelna, Gardere, Lampley, Morgan, and Caputo are sitting down. You may need to lay down to hear this one. This is Hour Cut 14, Jackie. Take a listen to our friends at WABC7 New York. This is Kristen Thorne speaking. Listen. Prosecutors say investigators reviewed surveillance cameras from inside the couple's home that the couple had a camera inside the garage that was labeled kids room and that two days prior to thomas's

death video showed thomas and his brother sleeping inside the garage shivering it shouldn't get to the point that you know my son lost his life to actually you know for, for somebody to do something. These two pervs put their children in a freezing cold garage and then watch them shivering on the nanny cam. Okay, do I have that right, Ray Caputo, WDBO? Did they have a camera focused on the garage titled Kids Room? Nancy, you're correct. And it's just astonishing because if you've ever lived in New York or cold climate, you know that garages become freezers, refrigerators in the wintertime. In fact, you don't even, if you have soda, you don't even need to put it in the fridge. You just leave it in the garage.

Okay, Gardeer, we need to shrink. What the hay? They've got it on video. You know how many times I chase my daughter to make her wear a hoodie, to try to entice her into wearing tights or long pants and not be bare-legged out in the cold? Do you know how many times I go in their room at night and check the temperature? They haven't complained ever. But I'm constantly checking to make sure they're okay and they're comfy. And it just makes me happy on the inside to see them all snuggle down in their beds and everything's fine. I just can't believe that they watched them on video freezing, literally freezing to death, but also the entertainment from watching the suffering day to day to day.

These were obviously not just murderous individuals, but certainly sadists in every way one can imagine. Sick freaks rot in hell. That is a technical legal term that only these two deserve. To watch your baby freeze dead in the garage on the nanny cam, and you've got the garage labeled kids room, and that's not intent. I don't know what it is. You label the garage kids room on the nanny cam feed that you get on your cell phone or your laptop. But as you may have guessed, this ain't the first time. Take a listen to our cut 10 this is kristin thorn wabc7 it was no secret the eight-year-old had been suffering cbs2 obtained abuse complaint records and custody hearing transcripts those judges seemed like they just didn't care what about the case workers the cps case workers also, they extremely responsible for what happened to Tammy. 2014 to 2019, 21 911 calls to Nassau police from the couple's Valley Stream home,

mostly visitation disputes. 2015, contentious divorce battle begins. Court transcripts 2017, judge admonishing the mother Justina, who is representing herself, desperately raising her hand. He has failed to pick up our children 29 times stop talking says the judge attorney for the children i believe it might be time for this court to make a change in custody mother attempts to provide flash drive of documented abuse children starving accusations of physical abuse daddy said to to wave away flash drive, not at this time. She's not complied with

any order, says the judge, scolding Justina for failure to bring boys to court-appointed attorney and dragging her feet on doctor's evaluation. September 2017, judge awards temporary custody to the father. Order of protection issued against Justina without explanation or without being required an explanation. Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Did you hear how many 911 calls there were? Take a listen now to Shirley Chan, Pixie Lovin' News. My children were basically starved to death. Justina Valva can't bring back her eight-year-old son Thomas, a special needs student with mild autism, but she can demand accountability from the child welfare workers and judges

who gave custody of her three sons to ex-husband Michael Valva and his girlfriend Angela Polina. What do you have to say for yourself? Valva said her 10-year-old son was also forced into Michael Valva's freezing garage. He had frostbites on his hands, on his legs. The East Moricha School District had expressed concern about the two oldest boys in this letter sent in April 2018. They were looking for food on the classroom floor in the garbage. They were coming

to school wearing diapers. Angela Polina, a one-time hospital biller, also had three daughters living in the house. Gino Cali is dad to the youngest, who's now eight. I would watch Angela physically abuse her twin girls before the boys were involved, before my daughter was even born. She would beat one of the girls. I would break it up. Didn't get threatened that she was going to call police. How can a judge leave children in this situation? I want to go out to Ray Caputo, lead news anchor, WDBO. I'm hearing the children were visibly dirty.

They were starving. They would show up dirty and hungry to school. There were all sorts of red flags, but nothing was done. Why in the world would the judge leave custody with this dad? Well, Nancy, I mean, they also smelled like urine too, because they're wetting themselves. But you know what? The obvious reason is because the dad was an NYPD cop and he was in the know. I mean, I can't find any other explanation for that. We have somebody who works within a system that also has people that are deciding on things that pertain to his life. So that's the only thing I can think of.

But on top of that, judges have a lot of work on their hands and they have to make, you know, this subjective decision sometimes. And it seems like this guy just—and the people involved, the different people involved, because it wasn't just one person. They just—they took their eye off the ball. And it's just absolutely crazy what happened to this kid because of that. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about the death of an 8-year-old little boy, Thomas Valva. In addition to multiple custody disputes, visitation calls. There were 17 emergency calls that were all explained away and dismissed. The mother in court begging the judge, saying Anthony is sleeping in the garage. His hands and feet are bright red, Your Honor. He's not getting food. And the judge

says, Ms. Valva, move along. I can't remember everything you're saying because you're saying so much. She says, judge, CPS, Child Protective Services, not doing their job. They're closing the report the very next day. And it goes on and on and on. What's going to happen to this judge? Apparently, he has been brought up under the Judicial Conduct 11 member panel. I guarantee you nothing's going to happen to him even after he did this and the little boy is dead. I want to go to you, Joe Scott Morgan, weigh in on what you're hearing. Well, you know that from an investigative standpoint, Nancy, there is a lot that we can do as investigators to kind of paint the picture of

what these children, and not just poor little Thomas, but all of these children moving forward. Because what happens is, is that the body literally leaves you little clues along the way. And at Thomas's autopsy, for instance, when they were examining him, you know, if we can go back to those injuries that he had on his head, those aren't the only injuries he had, Nancy. I can almost guarantee you that they're not. So what you can do is actually age these injuries. There's also going to be evidence of things like, in my understanding,

the word malnourishment has come up. You're going to have changes in the teeth. The teeth will rotten. Sometimes they'll fall out because of lack of food. You'll get receding gum lines as a result of this. And the aging of the bruising. Remember that interview that we heard just a moment ago where mom was talking to one of the kids and she was talking about smacking them on the bottom. Well, how many of these injuries have occurred? And we can age those bruises. And then finally, going back to malnourishment, and this is what I'll say about it, you'll see things with malnourishment.

First off, obviously in Tom's case, you could see an absence of fat. People talk badly about fat. We need fat. We need fat as energy storage, and we need fat as insulation. This kid would not have had this there, and you would have seen a diminishment. There would have been skin changes where skin looked literally like an old person, if you will, and he's supposed to be vibrant, young, Nancy, eight years old. So there's going to be a horrific picture that will be painted in court relative to all, not just Thompson, but all of these kids to show that there is something very insidious here.

Dr. Jeff had mentioned just a moment ago how, you know, they have these cameras in there and this picture that we're painting. Nancy, I want to use a word here. These people seem like sadists, not Satanists, but sadists where they're literally watching their kids go into total and complete physical and mental diminishment. Guys, take a listen to our friend Jennifer McLogan at CBS2. Still, the three sons moved in with NYPD father Michael Valva and fiance Angela Polina. 2018 to 2019, 20 calls from East Moriches teachers to child protection hotlines. Missing school, black eye, lacerations, hungry, visible dirt on body, urine-soaked clothing. Father blamed

this on playground mishaps. The special ed teacher wrote, not allowed to eat breakfast because they did not use their manners. Five Suffolk CPS caseworkers investigated the series of reports in 2019 and concluded, did not rise to level of immediate or impending danger of serious harm. No controlling interventions are necessary at this time. Over and over and over, Child Protective Services drops the ball. Now the mother says no one would listen. No one would listen. Back out to you, Ray Caputo.

What was the judge thinking, and what do we know about what's happening to that judge? Well, the judge is being reviewed right now, I believe, as you mentioned. But I don't know. It's just astonishing. I don't know how anybody can have faith in a person like this. You know, it wasn't just a mom crying out. The mom even had like a city school teacher who was her neighbor come out. You know, I find it hard to believe that this person could have ignored all these flags and still been virtuous over this. I mean, to me, none of this makes sense, Nancy. Absolutely none of it.

And, you know, just to tell you, with that torture that was going on, you know, that's reserved for rogue countries, what they do to prisoners of war, not an NYPD officer doing it to an eight-year-old autistic kid. And it's hard to believe that this judge couldn't have caught wind of any of this stuff going on from the cries of the mom. It's just all astonishing. Even with the bio mom begging the judge to give her custody, the judge kept telling her to be quiet, stop talking, that she was the one that was not complying. Why? Because daddy was on the police force? Why has this happened? I want you to take a listen. Here she is talking to Kristen Thorne, WABC 7. Justina Zupko-Valva says no one listened to her or her eight-year-old son, Thomas Valva, about alleged abuse at the hands of Thomas' father, Michael Valva. The 40-year-old NYPD officer and his fiancée, Angela Paulina, have been charged with murder.

Police say last week the couple left the boy, who had autism, overnight in the garage of their Center Moriches home when it was only 19 degrees out. At the time of his arrival at the hospital, Thomas's body temperature was 76 degrees. In the last days, we learn of a multi-million dollar lawsuit, a 200 million dollar lawsuit filed by the mom and names the principal at Thomas's school, the East Mauritius Union Free School District, the district superintendent as defendants, along with Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Judge Hope Schwartz Zimmerman, that reportedly made that fateful decision to give the boys back to dad. Attorneys Donna McCabe, Ethan Halpern, who had been appointed to represent the children in court. The lawsuit also names the county attorney for Suffolk County Department of Social Services, including Thomas's father, Michael Valva, and his fiance, his live-in, Angela Polina. Why? D-Facts, Department of Family and Children's Services, judges, enablers,

court-appointed lawyers can't get hard jail time for standing by and watching this little boy literally starve and freeze to death? I don't know. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.