Criminology - Tiffany Valiante

Episode Date: June 18, 2023

In 2015, Tiffany Valiante died in what many consider to be a very mysterious way. Just after 11:00 PM, Tiffany was struck by a train and killed in Southern New Jersey. The authorities ruled it a suicide, but Tiffany's family does not believe that to be true. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious death of Tiffany Valiante. Tiffany had graduated from high school and was set to attend college on a volleyball scholarship. She had a lot to look forward to. She did have an incident before her death where a friend accused her of stealing money. There is no doubt that Tiffany was hit by a train traveling 80 miles per hour. But there are some very odd things in her case that some believe point away from suicide. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor, moms and mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for moms and mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true-crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from heist to whodunit.

We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a Motherly Touch. Subscribe now to moms and mysteries wherever you get your podcast. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 262 of the criminology podcast. This is Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, man, how are you?

I'm doing good. Living the dream down here in Florida. What's going on up there in Ohio? The weather is getting better in Ohio. For me, I'm super busy. You know, the summer is not normally the busiest. time, but, you know, two kids graduating, one from high school, one from college, got a lot of parties, got a lot of money being shelled out, it seems like. And my daughter's dance nationals is

coming up in a couple of weeks. So just a busy time of year. So much for a summer vacation, huh? Yeah, but then after that, things start to slow down and we can, we can enjoy it a little bit more, I guess, not as busy, not that we're not enjoying it. But let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout out. So we had Lata H and MT. So that new support is great. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much for that support. It means a lot to the show.

And if you want to support criminology, you can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. All right, buddy, let's jump into this episode. And we're talking about the mysterious death of a young woman that has baffled some people, like her friends and family, but to investigators. It seems as if this case is closed and they know what happened. We're talking about the 2015 death of Tiffany Ballante. And there are some questions here. Is this a case of a loved one not wanting to come to terms with the fact that someone they loved took their own life?

Or have police got it wrong and someone has gotten away with murder? Listeners will have to decide. A few episodes back, we covered the case of Margaret Ellen Fox, who vanished from near my hometown in southern New Jersey. This week in discussing the death of Tiffany Valiente, we go about an hour south to the Mays Landing area, about 20 miles from Atlantic City, New Jersey. At 11.7 p.m. on July 12, 2015, Apprentice engineer Marvin Oliveris blared the horn of train 4693. The train was traveling 80 miles an hour in the complete darkness, approaching mile marker 45 on the Atlantic City rail line in Galloway Township. It was heading from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. Oliverus was sounding the horn because he saw something in the distance to the side of the tracks.

He couldn't tell what it was that he was seeing until it was too late. As the train made impact, he realized that it was a person. Unfortunately, due to the speed of the train, he wasn't able to stop it immediately, and the train continued another quarter of a mile dragging the body down the tracks with it. The horrified realm and notified authorities who quickly responded to the scene. It was determined that the person the train had struck was 18. year old Tiffany Valiante who lived nearby in May's Landing. Her friends and family had been searching for her since 9.30 p.m. because she had seemingly disappeared, walking off into the night. What followed was a

disagreement of the facts and clues in the investigation between Tiffany's family and the authorities. And all these years later, the disagreements and doubts still linger. Before we dive into the details, surrounding what happened to Tiffany, let's talk a bit about Tiffany. Tiffany Ida Mae Valiante was born in March 1997 to parents Stephen and Diane. She has two sisters, Jesse and Crystal. Friends and family affectionately called her Tiff, or Titi. Tiffany graduated from Oak Crest High School in Mays Landing in 2015. Tiffany was very tall, standing at 6'2 and she used that height to her advantage as a skilled

softball and volleyball player. She really excelled at and loved volleyball. She played middle hitter for O'Crest High School and also played on the East Coast Crush Club volleyball team. She was ranked eighth in the state for the number of volleyball kills. In one high school season, she had 279 kills and 39 blocks. In fact, Tiffany was so good at volleyball, she was offered five athletic scholarships from colleges to play the sport she loved, but ultimately committed to Mercy College in New York,

where she would major in criminal justice. She dreamed of representing the United States in the Olympics one day. It was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter in Tiffany's life, but it would never come. So, more if this hits pretty close to home, for me, you know, I have a daughter who just graduated college, and then I have one who just graduated high school, who is getting ready to go to college. And there's a lot of excitement around that period in a young person's life. The thought about getting away from home, starting a new chapter in your life, it is really an exciting time. And I think it makes this story all that much more sad that Tiffany never got to experience, even start that new chapter. And I want to talk about volleyball a little bit.

Obviously, she was a very gifted athlete. And volleyball was a sport that, you know, I really didn't pay much attention to until my oldest daughter started playing it in high school. And I'm telling you, I really got into it. It is a really fun sport to watch. Unfortunately, my daughter cracked a vertebrae and had to stop playing at one point. But I really enjoyed watching volleyball. It's a fun sport. Yeah, I think it's clear that Tiffany was really excited for this opportunity, too, because this college is essentially giving her this scholarship to play a sport that she loves that she's

good at. So, you know, it's sort of a win-win. She gets to do something she loves and she gets to go to college in the process. So sure, she was definitely excited about that. The night she died, Tiffany had attended a graduation party for her cousin just across the street at her uncle's house. There was a lot of family, a lot of friends there. Her uncle, State Trooper Michael Valiente, responded to to the train tracks and recognized his niece's clothing and bill. He wasn't on duty. He wasn't there as an investigator. He was solely there to help make an identification near the tracks.

An axe was found, but it was never tested. And it's unknown if it was related to Tiffany's death in any way. It was important for investigators to try and go back through Tiffany's movements from that night to see what had led up to her being struck by the train. At around 9 p.m., one of Tiffany's friends, Jamie Hay, called Tiffany's mom, Diane, and told her that Tiffany had used her debit card without her permission, spending almost 100 hours. Diane was surprised to hear that and wanted to get to the bottom of it, so she, along with Tiffany's dad, Steve, confronted Tiffany and had Jamie and Jamie and

Jamie's mom come over to their home to discuss the debit card usage. Tiffany denied stealing money from her friend, but Diane noticed that Tiffany put a debit card in her back pocket and suspected that a... was in fact Jeannie's debit card. Diane told them that she would talk to Tiffany, and if nothing else, she would pay back the $86 and make things right. So, Morve, I think we need to break down

this situation a little bit because a lot of people may look at this later on. You have an 18-year-old being confronted about stealing money. And, you know, to a young person, that's a very serious thing. She said she didn't do it, but you're being confronted not only by your mom and dad, but your best friend is accusing you, your best friend's mom is there.

She may have felt as though, you know, people were ganging up on her. Yeah, I can see how she would feel some kind of pressure and be stressed about that. At the end of the day, I mean, it's $86, so I don't know what the ultimate punishment would be here. It's not grand theft or anything like that. and her mom even offered to to pay them back for it. So I don't think anything serious would have come from this. But in that moment, it's possible that Tiffany thought something big would come from this. Yeah.

And that's something that we have talked about, right? How do young people react to a situation? And one of the things that I believe is that, you know, they often think, many young people think that a situation is far worse. than what it really is, whether it's a breakup or, you know, not making a sports team or or whatever it is in that moment in their world, it's a huge event. But if you step back and you look at it, it's really not in the grand scheme of things. But you can't tell a young person that because they're the ones going through it.

At 9.24 p.m., Jamie and her mother drove away from the valiante home at 9.28 p.m. just 4.4.m., minutes later. A trail camera at the end of the Valianti's driveway captured Tiffany walking away from the home. She was looking back behind her, wearing a headband, a black shirt, light colored shorts, and canvas shoes. She was also holding her cell phone in her hand, but she wouldn't answer the phone for any of the many calls or respond to any of the texts that would come from friends and family that night. She received almost one call every two minutes. As her loved ones tried to reach her, those close to her knew that she was deeply afraid of the dark and began to worry about her. It wasn't like Tiffany to just walk off into the darkness. Tiffany's parents

looked for her all night, but didn't find her. At around 2.30 a.m., Michael Valiente went to Tiffany's home and informed Diane and Stephen that Tiffany had been hit by a train. there were other officers with him. Her parents were told it appeared that Tiffany was the victim of a tragic accident. An autopsy was performed on Tiffany's remains on July 14th. Due to the trauma from the impact of the train, Tiffany's body had suffered great damage. Her height couldn't be determined, and all of her limbs were amputated by the collision. Her skull had been crushed, leaving her with no brain or eyes to examine.

Due to the statement of the engineers inside the train, it was believed that Tiffany had crouched down and waited for the train to approach before she jumped in front of it or tried to run across the tracks. And morph, you know, the details of this are absolutely horrific. We mentioned it earlier. This train was traveling 80 miles an hour. And to hear some of those details about the extent of the damage to Tiffany, just, you know, absolutely brutal. But there's a couple of things to really drill down on.

you know, number one, we didn't talk much about it, but Michael, Tiffany's uncle, having to, you know, be there, identify the fact that, you know, it was Tiffany who was hit by the train, and then to have to go to his brother's home, his sister-in-law's home, and deliver this devastating news. That had to be, you know, very, very tough. Yeah, I don't think there's any easy way to tell someone in your family that. that their child is dead, especially, though, as horrific as this was telling them that, that had to be really, really tough. And I'm also thinking about him having an identifier in the first place.

That probably has stuck with him ever since then. I can't imagine unseeing that. Well, and we're also, you know, hearing the beginning of the investigator's theory, based on statements from the engineer that Tiffany either purposefully, tried to jump in front of the train, or was trying to cross the tracks and got caught by the train. Either way, Tiffany's death was ruled a suicide. Investigators believe she had walked away from her home and decided to take her own life by jumping in front of the train. The Valianti family does not accept this ruling, though they tried at first. Nothing made sense to them, though.

Tiffany was happy, successful. She had recently graduated from Oak Crest High. I was. She had recently graduated from Oak Crest High School and was headed to Mercy College in just about a month, if she had any troubles at home or in the town, they would be gone in just one month. Diane Valante spent days and weeks searching the areas around the site where her daughter died, and she found Tiffany's shoes and headband on the side of the road, three miles from the site of her death. In her mind, this cemented that Tiffany had not taken her own life. According to Tiffany's family, she hadn't been depressed, and she had never threatened self-harm before. So to them, it was clear that Tiffany was the victim of foul play. Tiffany's cell phone, which she had been seen holding in the trail cam

photo as she walked away from her home that night, was later found in the bushes at the end of the driveway. To some people, it makes sense that someone who decided to end their own life simply tossed her cell phone in the bushes because they wouldn't want to be reached. They don't want anyone to know what they're about to do, and they don't want anyone to find them or stop them. But at 10.39 p.m. on July 12th, Tiffany's phone received a call from Jamie Hay. According to phone records, the call was answered, and the call stayed open for 24 seconds. If Tiffany had thrown her phone in the bushes where it was later found, as she left her house as the trail cam footage shows, and was struck by the train three miles away at just after 11 p.m., then how did Tiffany's phone answer Jamie Hayes' call at 1039?

If it was Tiffany that answered the call, the phone should have been found with her at the tracks. Phone records also revealed that at 1042, three minutes after the call from Jamie, Tiffany's phone accessed an app that took a lot of data compared to all the other app usage is recorded in the phone's information download. Who was using Tiffany's phone and what were they doing? And Morif, I think we have to talk about this. this, clarify this, phone clue, because it really could be a big one in this case. You know, could it have been Tiffany using her phone, answering Jamie's call and using the app up to 1042? Sure, because it's assumed she was a lot up until 11.07 p.m. when she was hit by the

train. But then the big question becomes, how did her phone get three miles away from her body and back to the bushes at her house. You know, a lot of people believe that the phone could have been thrown out of a passing car, just as easily as it could have been thrown down by Tiffany as she was walking. I think this is where it really becomes important to drill down on the timeline and the route from Tiffany's home to the spot where she was killed. Yeah, I think it really is important. And we use some online map tools to plot out the area.

We should point out that the layout of there is a little tough to plot out on a map, but we think we have it pretty close, and estimates using these map tools puts the walking route along the roadways from Tiffany's home to the spot she was killed at around 22 to 23 minutes. Given that Tiffany's phone last had activity on it, in the form of a call received at 1039, and data used at 1042, and then she was struck at 1107, it is possible that Tiffany could have actually threw her phone in the bushes,

near her driveway at about 1043 after it was last used and then made it on foot to the spot where she was struck by the train at 1107. But that scenario leaves 24 minutes for her to make that trip on foot. And as you just mentioned, someone walking that route along the roads, it would take them 22 to 23 minutes. But there are a couple of issues. First, she'd have to make that trek on foot with literally no time to spare unless she ran. Of course, she could have taken a shortcut maybe through the woods, through some fields to get to

the tracks and shaved off some time. But she would have been walking barefoot for much of that track because remember her shoes were found a good distance away from the spot where she died. And in the woods, there would have been very little to no light. So how much time could she really have shaved off? No matter how you look at this, the window of time from when Tiffany's phone was last used to when she was struck by the train is enough of a window of time for her to have made that walk and get there in time, but just barely. And then I think when you factor in her doing it with no shoes, that would only slow her time down to the point where, you know, a lot of people think it's highly unlikely that she would

have made it there in time. In the minds of many people, this opens up the possibility that Tiffany was driven to the spot where she was killed, if that's the case, then you have big questions. Who drove her there and why? And was she taken against her will? A lot of people go back to these shoes being found as a clue that it is impossible or unlikely that Tiffany could have walked all that way herself. Tiffany's mom is the one who found her shoes and headband in the woods. And she took photos, which you can find online. One thing that jumps out to a lot of people is that the shoes are placed neatly side by side and upright, as if Tiffany might have stepped right out of them, or placed them down after taking them off. Some people theory

is that she was chased through the woods, and that her shoes came off during the chase. But it seems as if that was the case, the shoes would be haphazardly discarded on the ground, instead of being neatly side by side. Near her shoes closer to the shoulder of the road, there's a blue Wilk sweater and a tag for a rental car key. It's never been determined whether these items had any relation to Tiffany's shoes or headband, which were found nearby. So one logical question is, if Tiffany left these items there, why? Then again, could someone else have placed them there?

So you talked about these shoes morph, and I think to a lot of people, these are a really big deal. They're found three miles away from where Tiffany was struck, by the train. Her mom finds them, takes a picture of them, and in the photo, it looks like a pair of shoes that you would find in somebody's closet, very neatly side by side. So that's something that a lot of people... In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder which emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible.

A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Struggle with the way that these shoes appear in the photo. Now, we don't know exactly how they were when Tiffany's mom found them, but if she took the photo, right away, then that's the way she found them. And I think it only leads to more questions, you know, did Tiffany take off her own shoes? If she did, why did she do it there? Or is this a sign that something happened or she was abducted from that spot? It just leads to a lot more questions. Where the authorities in this case catch a lot of heat is that they really seem to settle in on suicide very early on. But there were enough odd clues here in the, minds of many people that police should have at least considered other possibilities.

A toxicology test showed that Tiffany was completely sober at the time of her death, but no rape testing was done. Retired former Atlantic City medical examiner Donald Jason seems to agree with people that think there was a rush to judgment. According to NJ.com, he wrote in a report, this apparently unnatural death was treated with the assumption that the death was not. due to a crime. In 2016, the Valianti family filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey office of Attorney General and Medical Examiner's Office on the basis that they had miscategorized Tiffany's

manner of death as a suicide. They only asked that the manner be changed to undetermined. They didn't ask for any financial awards. According to the Daily Mail in 2017, a lawsuit was filed by the Valley Antifamily against multiple unknown doze, five Steve Doe's and five Shirley Doe's, claiming that Tiffany was the victim of a conspiracy to inflict bodily harm in which she was abducted and ultimately murdered by the defendants while attempting to flee her imprisonment. The lawsuit also claims that investigators failed to actually investigate Tiffany's mental state at the time of her death. It was basically just assumed by authorities that Tiffany was troubled and would have been upset enough over $86 to take her own life.

So let's talk about these two lawsuits. You know, the first one in 2016, I absolutely understand. The family does not believe, did not believe, does not believe that Tiffany's death was a suicide. They wanted it changed to undetermined. They weren't asking for money. That's all they wanted. But then this 2017 lawsuit was a little bit strange to me. And we have 10 people.

unknown, five male, five female, being sued for abducting and murdering, Tiffany. And unfortunately, we don't really have any more details about this lawsuit or who these people might be. Now, I'm wondering, could it be possible that they're just leaving 10 spots open for future prosecution or future lawsuits and not, and they don't have any information that points to 10 specific people? you know, that could be, I don't know. Yeah, but it did seem very strange. It's not something that I don't think I've ever heard of before in a case. In 2018, Tiffany's case was reviewed by the New Jersey Medical Examiner's Office, who again ruled the manner of death a suicide.

In 2019, the Valiante family offered a reward for information, $20,000 for any information that leads to a conviction in Timothy. Tiffany's death. It was also revealed that they had requested that the evidence from the case be released so that they could have it independently tested, but found out that it would cost them more than $10,000 to have the evidence analyzed. Unfortunately, Tiffany was cremated so her body can't be exhumed for evidence collection. The axe found near the tracks was lost. And so was the rental car key tag found near Tiffany's shoes. Other evidence like her bra and. unsure, were contaminated due to moisture. Their mildewed and therefore cannot be tested. Attorney Paul DiMato, who represented the Valiantese, has said that he expected to review the records and find information to present to the parents to help them accept that she had taken her own life.

But when he received the records, he could no longer accept the suicide ruling. Dr. Donald Jason, the former Atlantic City medical examiner, we mentioned earlier, has written a report for the civil lawsuit supporting the... the Valiantee's belief that there's enough evidence for the manner of death to be changed to undetermined. According to NJ.com, he wrote, It's my opinion with reasonable medical certainty that the cause of death of Tiffany Valante was undetermined. He also wrote that the story that the victim jumped into the tracks is suspect. This is supported by another retired senior medical investigator, H. Louise Hausman.

Hausman wrote in a report, there are enough unanswered questions, false statements, conflicting accounts regarding this fatality, and incomplete investigative information, as well as extremely important evidence that was discovered since the night of Tiffany's death, which leads me to the conclusion that the death certificate should be amended from suicide to undetermined. So this is pretty interesting. We basically have two experts giving their opinion that the manner of death should be changed. from suicide to undetermined, you know, Hausman writes that there are false statements and that there is extremely important evidence that was discovered since Tiffany's death, but doesn't

really go into detail about what all of that is. And to me, that's frustrating because I want to know what this person considers to be false statements. What is this important evidence? But we don't don't know because there's no detail around. And I think one hurdle here is that even if somehow that ruling of suicide was changed to undetermined, we mentioned earlier, Tiffany was cremated, so they can't even go back to do another autopsy or have another expert come in and check her remains because there are no remains. She's been cremated.

But I will say this. I don't have a big issue with the undetermined status. you know, if there's any doubt, I kind of am okay with undetermined because, you know, they're not asking it to be changed to homicide or anything like that. They're just saying, hey, do we really know what happened that night? Investigators and, you know, the ME said suicide. That's the ruling that was made. And these people are just saying there seems to be enough doubt that it should be

change to undetermined. Yeah, and I think changing it to undetermined would leave open the door for further investigation in the future. And then if there's anything more that can be learned, then, you know, the investigation can continue accordingly. Yeah, and I think we've talked about it many times. The ruling is important because it kind of dictates whether or not there's an active investigations, the next steps that are taken.

And so it is very important. My thought is this ruling of suicide essentially kind of closes the door. I can't imagine that there's anybody actively working on it because what is there to work on? Yeah, I think the suicide ruling really puts a finality on it and leaves and slams the door on anything else happening in the case. I think it's important to go back to the time that this mystery really started with Tiffany leaving her. home as captured by the trail cam at 928. No one saw her walk down her street that night. Many friends and family were around at both the valiante home and Tiffany's uncle's home

across the street. At six foot two, Tiffany wasn't easy to miss, even in the darkness. She was wearing a white headband, which would have further helped her visibility to anyone in a car driving down the road. On the trail camera photo, there is a. no issue, even seeing her dark top. One witness who did drive down Tiffany Street that night right around the time she should have been walking alone. Saw no sign of her. Tiffany's cell phone being thrown into the bushes near her driveway is another thing that's pretty odd to some people.

Why would Tiffany or anyone else for that matter throw it there? If Tiffany decided to take her own life, why not drop the phone in the open or discarded along the way? If someone planted the phone there, Why not leave it out in the open as a clue to find instead of hoping someone would find it in the bushes later on? If Tiffany did walk in the dark to the tracks, she could have used that phone as a light in the dark to help find her way on the moonless night. It was a rural area with not a lot of lighting.

For what it's worth, Tiffany usually took her cell phone everywhere she went, even into the shower with her. She specifically bought a waterproof case so that she could use her phone while she was taking a shower and getting ready. Why wouldn't she take it with her on a few mile walk, across town in the pitch black. No DNA testing or fingerprinting was done on Tiffany's phone to try and help determine whether anyone else had touched it recently. So we talked about the shoes earlier and a lot of people have made, you know, a big deal about the shoes, the way they were found.

And I think it's the same with this cell phone. A lot of people point to this cell phone as being a really strange thing in this case. I don't know a lot more, but one thing I know. I know. is that teenagers don't like to be without their phones. I've learned that day in, day out. You know, my girls don't go anywhere without their phones. They're always in their hands. I think one of the problems in this case is that trail cam we mentioned that captured Tiffany walking didn't capture the spot where the phone was found.

So there is no footage showing exactly how it made its way, you know, into those Bushes, whether she dropped it, someone else put it there. And then you have, you know, the, the friends, family who kind of point to police and say, why didn't you do this? Why didn't you do that? Why didn't you do DNA testing or fingerprinting on the phone? And I think it's a valid question. Fingerprinting at the very least. And one thing you brought up was how important cell phones are, especially to young people, they're usually everywhere they go, they bring their cell phone with them. They use them frequently. And the same is probably true of Tiffany. But the flip side of the argument might be, if she was planning suicide, did that phone just not mean

anything to her at that point? Was it, you know, she had made this up in her mind she was going to do this, might she just said, okay, I don't need this phone anymore and tossed it? That might be the flip side of the argument there. Yeah, and I think it's a great point. I mean, what we're trying to do is to present the known facts and maybe kind of go back and forth as far as arguments for viewing certain things one way or another. A lot of attention comes back to the one confirmed witness. In this entire case, train 4693 apprentice engineer, Marvin Olivares. After all, he said he saw Tiffany at the last seven. and that she appeared to be crouched and lunged or jumped in front of the train.

He didn't see any other people with her or around her, and she didn't seem to be running from anyone. Then again, he was going 80 miles an hour in a poorly lit area. So how well could he observe everything? It must have happened so quickly, almost in an instant. Medical Examiner Hausman also wrote a lot about the unlikelyhood that. that Oliverus saw Tiffany as far down the tracks as he said he did. And the report also mentions specifically the unlikelyhood that Oliverus actually saw her jump or run onto the tracks. Instead, Hausman's conclusion is that it's likely her six two frame gave the appearance of having jumped as it was being partially hurled into the air when struck, dragged, and dismembered. The student engineer, Oliverus, who was in training, was interviewed 10 days after the incident,

which was after the manner of death was determined to be suicide. There was no drug or alcohol testing performed on him, despite the fact he was driving a train that killed someone. I don't know if that standard procedure or not, but it seems like a logical protocol. I think it's safe to say that he was probably very shaken up, and not necessarily lying about what he saw. Houseman felt that Tiffany would have had to jump over a foot high to jump from the crouch position she was supposedly in, off to the side of the tracks, in order to make it up to the track where she was hit. It's possible that Tiffany's body was already laying on or near their left rail of the track, and as the train struck it, it propelled her into the air, into his view, giving the appearance she was jumping in front of the train.

Reportedly, there was a large amount of blood found in one spot along the tracks, but according to some that have seen it, it looks like it had pulled and not splattered, which in their minds points to Tiffany lying there are already in. injured and bleeding before the train hitter. And to me more, if this is a very interesting portion of the case and a very important one, you know, what did Oliverus see? You know, in no way do I think this guy's lying. I don't know why he would have a reason to lie.

But does he know exactly what he saw or what what he saw actually meant? You know, my first thought was, okay, you have an eyewitness. the eyewitness sees Tiffany, believes that she jumped out in front of the train, doesn't see anyone else around her, you know, that, that kind of screams out suicide. But then when you find out that, you know, he wasn't interviewed for 10 days and by that time, the suicide ruling had already been made. Okay, that seems a little odd. And, you know, I keep going back to these theories proposed by Howesman. And they really are theories because, I mean, this person wasn't there, doesn't know exactly what happened.

But could it be possible that instead of Olivera seeing Tiffany lunge in front of the train, that what he really saw was her body being propelled because it had already been on the tracks and was struck by the train? I don't know. Those two things seem very different to me. but again, when you're going 80 miles an hour in the dark, does that factor in? Now, one thing I'd really be interested in is hearing more from Oliverus, because I'm envisioning him being able to see what's coming some distance before the train actually makes contact with it. So if he saw her before the train actually struck her and he saw her starting to move before the train ever reached her, well, that to me would point to her being in motion before the train before the train. the train struck her.

And that's where we come down to this split second of all this happening. It's just a quick flash and then this happened. So I think there's still a lot to sort out with what actually happened. No, there definitely is. But I understand completely kind of the line that you're going down. You know, 80 miles an hour is quick, but we all drive 80 miles an hour in our car. You can see things out in front of it. of you. They come up very quickly. But if you think about this engineer sitting up in the front of the

train, you would think that he would be able to see something out in front of him and know that there's something there before the train actually struck it or someone there. Yeah, that's a very good point. And to your point of driving 80 miles in a car, you're right. You're driving fast. Things happen suddenly, but you do see something in front of you. If a car slams on its brakes or pulls out in front of you, even if you're going that fast, you do have some time to react to try and swerve to try put on your brakes. I'm thinking the same thing applies that even though it's 80 miles an hour,

the conductor of this train, just as if he was driving a car, could still see something out in front of them. I think the thing that really nags a lot of people in this case is the shoes. You know, if Tiffany had walked in that terrain, her feet should have been dirty and most likely damaged because she didn't have her shoes with her. They were found three miles from the impact site. One of Tiffany's feet was completely damaged by the train strike.

But a photo of Tiffany's other foot taken by the medical examiner shows what some people consider no damage at all to the bottom of her foot. While it's bloody, they don't see any dirt or debris. but some people have pushed back on that. One Reddit user even wrote, why are so many people claiming Tiffany Valianti's feet were clean? Her foot that we see on unsolved mysteries clearly has cuts and abrasions. So there's even debate about the condition of, you know, her foot.

Some people claim it was clean. Some people claim that there were cuts, abrasions. You know, if she did walk all that way barefoot, Was she able to avoid getting her feet cut or dirty, or were they cut and dirty? Or does it point to her not walking there at all? And that perhaps she was driven there by someone. These are just some of the questions that people keep bringing up in this case. Four days after Tiffany died, a canine unit was used to try and track Tiffany's scent and find her route.

Starting from the valianti home, the dog went down Drosera Avenue, down Rangel Borough Road, up Genoa Avenue a bit, then down the railroad tracks for quite some time. The dog lost assent before the scene of the impact, though. The biggest problem with this route based on the canines' movements is that it had rained multiple times between the 12th and the 16th. Other people believe that a more likely route for someone to take by foot is down Dr. Serra Avenue, all the way up Tilton Road to Prague Avenue, where a vacant lot, where the gate was found open, gives you access to the railroad tracks.

Tiffany was a mile from the nearest intersection, which strikes many as an odd spot. There's a service road, a gravel or dirt road, parallel to the tracks, but first responders used it to access the crash site, possibly destroying any evidence of the car drove Tiffany to the tracks, and someone dumped her body there, waiting for a train to cover up their crime. When Tiffany's uncle, Trooper Michael Valenti arrived at the scene, he spoke to a Sergeant DeLuca. A report by DeLuca about that conversation was used by the medical examiner as background for Tiffany's mental state. The report clearly states that Michael Valiante told DeLuca that Tiffany had gotten into some trouble the day before, as well as the day of the party,

that according to her friends, she had cut herself and that she was extremely upset. Valiante also told DeLuca that Tiffany had been having a lot of disagreements, with her mother recently and was extremely distraught over some of the things that had happened. It's certainly understandable that if these statements were made and were true, the authorities would immediately suspect that Tiffany took her own life. The issue, however, is that Michael Valiente denies making these statements. He says he didn't speak to any of Tiffany's friends that night and doesn't know if any of them were ever at the scene to talk to other investigators. He also says he didn't know of any argument or trouble the day before, only an argument a few hours before Tiffany's death.

So many people have questioned. Why is the report so detailed as to what Michael Valianti said? Is he walking back statements he did make? Or was there some type of big mistake here? Some people have wondered how he recognized her clothing when she was barefoot, didn't have her headband on. and the shorts she was wearing in the trail camera photo were never recovered. So what was the clothing? A mangled black shirt?

So there's not a lot of clothing for him to see, and his niece's body's been terribly damaged by this train strike, and a lot of people have brought up the fact that he was able to identify her, and what did he use to identify her, I think, is a logical question. On August 15, 2015, Jamie Hay, who had called Tiffany the night she died, was interviewed by Detective Acevedo, and she did not mention any instance of self-harm by Tiffany around the time of her death. She did tell Acevedo that Tiffany was stubborn and always sad, but did she have never talked about suicide. The same day, another friend Jill Higpe told Detective Acevedo that Tiffany showed her a self-inflicted cut on her leg in May.

The Valianti family denies this, and not because of her. they don't think Tiffany could have or would have intentionally harmed herself, but because it was summertime. And Tiffany played sports and was always wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts. They would have noticed a cut on her thigh or her wrist. And looking more at Tiffany's mental state the night she died, no one at the party reported anything wrong and neither did her family. She seemed fine. Despite the confrontation with Jamie over the debit card, Tiffany told Diane that they always used each other's cards, and money when needed.

And recently, she had been a designated driver for Jamie and bought her food and other things. And this was just basically Tiffany getting back the money she spent. In considering Tiffany's home life and relationships, there's some evidence that she didn't always get along with her mom, Diane. In November 2014, 17-year-old Tiffany was referred to Atlantic Care Behavioral Health by the Department of Child Protection and Permanency, after an incident. Diane allegedly grabbed or punched Tiffany's arm and bruised it during an argument. However, the report also points to a good relationship, though it had its difficulties. The report read, mother and client had difficulty communicating, but otherwise a stable family. Tiffany denied any anxiety, depression, suicidal or homicidal thoughts, and she was not accepted as a patient.

Dr. Housman found out through speaking with Tiffany's parents as part of the investigative, process that Tiffany had told them in early 2015 that she was a lesbian. They appeared to have been supportive not only in speaking to Dr. Hausman, but in their text history that was accessible through the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. Tiffany was also trying very hard to find a kitten to surprise her mom with for her birthday on July 21st. The day before she died, Tiffany did find the perfect pet for her mom. Tiffany had reportedly experienced a mutual breakup with a girl she had dated, but wasn't depressed over it and had actually started dating a new girl she met online. So overall, it seems as though she was happy before her death, not withdrawn or antisocial.

So I don't know how much the police did as far as an investigation, right? We talked about it earlier. The ruling of suicide, I think in large part shuts down a lot of that. But obviously, this Dr. Hausman spoke with Tiffany's parents. So we have some of this information. Okay. She told them in early 2015 that she was a lesbian. There doesn't seem to be any conflict with that at all. The texts between Tiffany and her parents seem to be supportive. she did have a breakup, but it was said that she wasn't depressed and it actually started dating a new girl. So I think you have to look at all those different things when you're trying to evaluate a person's mental state at the time of their death.

But what I'm not seeing morph is a lot in the way of things that would make you believe. She was in a really bad place mentally. Now, there was this debit card issue. And I think you have to bring it up because it happened so recently, right, not that long before Tiffany died. But again, what, 86 bucks? It doesn't seem as though that would be the catalyst for suicide, but maybe to some people, it could. Yeah. And I think you mentioned it early on that sometimes.

young people especially will react in that moment, overreact sometimes to something that's not a serious issue in the grand scheme of thing in long term, but in that moment it means something to them and it can be something big in their mind. And we also don't know if there were any things going on with Tiffany that the rest of her friends and family weren't aware. So I think it is important to keep an open mind instead that we don't know everything that was going on in her mind and in her life. The other thing I want to talk about is there does seem to be some discrepancies around past self-harm. He had some friends saying that she did harm herself and they saw it. But then, you know, you have the parents saying, how could that be?

She's playing volleyball. and anybody who has seen a volleyball outfit, I mean, the shorts are short, the shirts are short sleeve, it would be pretty hard to hide for someone not to see a serious cut. And I think that's what her parents were trying to say. Days after Tiffany's death, two members of her family walked the tracks trying to find more evidence, like her missing shorts. They found a bracelet that belonged to Tiffany. She had been wearing it the night she died.

sadly, they also found more of her remains that had been missed, including her jawbone and a piece of her skull. People point to this as a big sign of a rushed investigation when the authorities didn't even recover all the victim's remains. And I can't even begin to understand how Tiffany's loved ones felt finding her remains and belongs at that site. That had to be an awful experience for them. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this whole thing is awful, right? But think about that. This is days after her death and family members find her jawbone and a piece of her skull.

And so you have all of these people online saying, how could that be? How could the authorities not have recovered? These remain. And they're saying it was because the investigation was rushed. I think it's a valid point. You know, if you're not collecting all of the victims remains along these tracks, what else might you have missed? Are there other clues out there that could point to something other than suicide that were missed?

At the end of the day, Valianti family are not suing the train company for not seeing her sooner or stopping in time. They're not suing the police department for a bad investigation. They're not suing anyone for money. They just want answers. And they want someone to do the proper investigation that they feel Tiffany deserves. The investigation that they don't believe ever happened. It just wants someone to look into the possibilities that may have been ruled out too soon. Stephen and Diane Valianti are quoted in PRNewswire.com is saying,

We need to know how and why our precious daughter who had everything to live for. As she was about to start her college years was killed, including whether she was brutally murdered, then thrown onto the train tracks to conceal the killing. We couldn't find any progress. in the civil suit and all news about it kind of sort of ends in 2019 and most likely was stymied by COVID and more if I really feel for the parents here you know I get it they're they're not trying to go after anybody for money they just want to know what happened and I believe

they like many other people feel as though the authorities just rush things and making the suicide determination. And like you said earlier, if they missed the jawbone, if they missed pieces of Tiffany's remains, what else might they have missed? And I think any parent could put themselves in the Valley Antis shoes and want to know the truth about what happened to their child if there's any doubt whatsoever. So I definitely can't fault them for carrying on this this mission to see where the truth is. At Tiffany's home, her room remains the same. Her family left things exactly as they were when she died.

The whiteboard on Tiffany's door still says, Hey, welcome to Tiffany's room. Stephen finished the volleyball court that he had promised to build for Tiffany before she died. The family did get some major tension on Tiffany's case when it was featured in volume three of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix in the episode Mystery at Mile Marker 45. In it, Diane Valianti describes her feeling when she saw the shoes. It looked as though Tiffany had been grabbing onto the thin tree trunk there, and someone took

her right out of her shoes. It also puts forth the theory that Tiffany is walking to a car whose headlights can be seen in the trail cam photo of her. If Tiffany got into the car and someone threw her phone out the window, it would have landed right where it was found. But Hugh used it later. This isn't addressed in the episode at all, but it could be the most important piece evidence. By the way, the Unsolved Mystery episode on Netflix is highly recommended.

If you have any information about the death or possible murder of Tiffany Valiante, you can contact Paul DiMato at 609-926-3300, or you can go to Unsolved.com and submit a tip there. In 2022, the Valiante's doubled their reward to $40,000. So more if as we wrap up this episode on Tiffany valiante. I think for me there are a lot of unanswered questions and not just for me. I think for a lot of people who find this case mysterious and maybe frustrating at the same time. You know, did Tiffany end her life by jumping in front of this train or was there something more to it? Did, you know, someone have an issue with her or did a stranger find her?

her walking, was a crime committed, and then concealed or, you know, covered up by putting her on the train tracks. There's a couple of things that I look at, you know, and not just me. I think a lot of people, the shoes, so a lot of people find the shoes very odd, this pool of blood that we talked about that was allegedly on the train tracks. There are many people who believe this pool came from the fact that Tiffany was lying on the train tracks before the train even came. But one thing that I really struggle with is the sighting by engineer Oliverus that he saw Tiffany and no one else and that she jumped out in front of the train. You know, if that is true, then I think it's hard to make a case for foul play and, you know,

some of these other theories that have been proposed. Yeah, but all these things that nag at you and nag at so many other people, I have to imagine really nag at Tiffany's parents because they probably played out so many scenarios over the years and have thought of every horrible possibility and outcome here. And at the end of the day, they really don't even know. They just have a classified suicide, but there's so many lingering questions.

And there are valid things to consider, you know, is this a murder or a suicide? Was Tiffany brought there? If she was, who brought her there? You know, I go back to the shoes as well because it's an odd clue. Why are her shoes out at this location so far from the spot where she was hit by this train?

If she put them there, why would she walk that far in her bare feet? and if someone else put them there, why did they put them there? Who was that person? So there's a lot of nagging things, and that's, I think, what's so unsettling with this case is there are valid points to either side of this debate, whether this is suicide or something more inferious. And there's the cell phone evidence that we talked about.

Not only, you know, its location where it was found, but the timing of the call and, you know, the app usage, you said it. I mean, she could have made it there, but it was a very tight window. So did she put the cell phone in the bush or did somebody come back later and drop it there? And if that's the case, then you have to suspect that that person maybe did something to her, harmed her. You know, the one thing that I absolutely get is the family not wanting to believe that Tiffany ended her life. it does seem as though she had a lot going for her.

She was a great volleyball player. She had a scholarship. She was about ready to go to college. All of those things point to, you know, great things ahead. But it's also a very tough time for a lot of people, stressful. And you have this accusation that she stole money from her friend. You know, could that have been the catalyst? It doesn't seem like that big a deal.

to us or to many, but maybe to an 18-year-old in the heat of the moment, it was a huge deal. We just don't know. But that's it for our episode on Tiffany Valianti. If you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a rating, you can leave a review. Also, keep telling your friends. That word of mouth about the podcast really goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. you can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash criminology podcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast discussion and fans. So that is it for another episode of criminology.

But Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike, we'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.