Morbid - Episode 603: The Mysterious Death of Tiffany Valiante

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

When eighteen-year-old recent high school graduate Tiffany Valiante was struck and killed by a train in July 2015, the news came as a shock to friends and family, who couldn’t fathom why the teenager had been out walking the tracks that night. Their shock and confusion quickly turned to outrage and disbelief when, less than twenty-four hours later, Tiffany’s death was ruled a suicide by the New Jersey Transit Police, who were tasked with investigating the incident. As far as everyone knew, Tiffany was a happy, outgoing girl with a bright future and a sports scholarship to Mercy College in the fall—they couldn’t think of a single reason why she would have wanted to end her life. Despite the official conclusions about her death, the Valiante family have never believed Tiffany intentionally stepped in front of the train that night, and in the months and years that have passed since her death, many other people have come to a similar conclusion. In fact, they’re confident the evidence and numerous unanswered questions suggest Tiffany had not gone into the woods voluntarily and that her death is at best suspicious, and at worst a murder. Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me The Axe Podcast for research and writing support! ReferencesConklin, Eric. 2023. "Family of Tiffany Valiante marks 8 years since teen's death with 2nd docuseries in the works." Press of Atlantic City, July 24.Daily Beast. 2022. "Was high school grad being chased before grisly train death?" Daily Beast, July 16.D'Amato Law. 2017. "“It’s just not the Tiffany I knew,” said Allison Walker, head women’s volleyball coach at Stockton University who coached Valiante in the East Coast Crush Volleyball Club, a junior travel volleyball team. “The time of night really didn’t sit right with me." D'Amato Law. July 17. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://damatolawfirm.com/in-the-news/who-killed-tiffany-valiante-questions-persist-as-family-marks-the-third-anniversary-of-her-mysterious-death/.—. 2022. Mishandling Key Evidence In 2015 Tiffany Valiante Suspicious Death Case Impeded Independent Forensic DNA Analysis, Reports Renowned Lab. March 29. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://damatolawfirm.com/in-the-news/mishandling-key-evidence-in-2015-tiffany-valiante-suspicious-death-case/.DeAngelis, Martin. 2016. "Death of teen not suicide, suit says." Press of Atlantic City, July 20: 3.DiFilippo, Dana, and Joe Hernandez. 2017. Family of N.J. teen killed by train disputes suicide ruling, sues to prove kidnap-murder plot. July 19. Accessed August 19, 2024. https://whyy.org/articles/family-of-nj-teen-killed-by-train-disputes-suicide-ruling-sues-to-prove-kidnap-murder-plot/.Houseman, H. Louise. 2017. Investigative report submitted by H. Louise Hoiusman, Senior Medical Investigator. Investigative Report, Egg Harbor, NJ: D'Amato Law.Huba, Nicholas. 2015. "Suicides shock, sadden teens." Press of Atlantic City, July 19: 1.Jason, Dr. Donald. 2018. Re: Death of Tiffany Valiante. Forensic evaluation, Egg Harbor, NJ: D'Amato Law.Low, Claire. 2018. "A walk thgrough hell." Press of Atlantic City, December 16: 1.Morgan, Kate. 2022. Tiffany Valiante's last night. November. Accessed August 15, 2024. https://sjmagazine.net/featured/tiffany-valiantes-last-night.Stephen F. Valiante and Diane F. Valiante v. Does et al. 2017. ATL-L-1411-17 (Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, July 18).Sterling, Stephen, and S.P. Sullivan. 2017. Death and dysfunction: HGow N.J. fails the dead, betrays the living and is a national disgrace. December 14. Accessed August 19, 2024. https://death.nj.com/.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. You're Alina. And I'm Alina. And this is Morbid. This is warm. What are you laughing at? We paused before recording this because Mikey was leaving the room and when he said, it's recording, Ash said, I'm waiting for you to leave.

I know, I said I'm waiting. Did I say I'm waiting for you to close the door? Something like that but we were like waiting for you to get the fuck out of here. I'm waiting for you to be out of my fucking presence for me to start my show. Whoa we're in a place called space. Had a diet coke different from a Baja blast but same in its results where I just get cuckoo crazy. Yeah. I mean, it was a busy weekend.

It was a busy weekend. And there's a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. I have, like always, like has been the case the last couple of years, I don't know when this comes out. So I don't know if you're going to get this and I will have already, I think I'm already at Bookthings. I think you've finished them. Okay. Yeah. What either, either it's going great or it was great. So if you're listening early and ad free, then we're at Bookthings right now. And if you don't, we have already been at Bookthings. It is, hey everybody who's listening to it as it's happening. It's going great. We're

having a lot of fun. You guys rule who are there. Our outfits are phenomenal. Hey everybody, that it's already happened last week. It went so well and thank you for being there. And our outfits were phenomenal. It's true. And you've seen them by now. I'm really just saying it for the cute fits.

Yeah. Time and space don't mean anything. They mean everything. Whoa. Contradiction. Quite the contrary. Yeah. You can still buy the book though. Buy it regardless.

When you're listening to this, you should buy The Butcher Game. You can get it at the butcher game.com. You can get it anywhere you get books. By the time this is out, it's probably going to be on a shelf somewhere. And that's fun. Go grab it. That's really cool. I'm also going to sign a bunch randomly.

Just going to go around to different places. So I'll let you know when I do in different states even. Yeah. It's going to be crazy. Yeah. It's going to be this. I can't believe you're going on like a literal sort of book tour. Yeah.

I mean, it's a, it's a little teeny tiny one, but. It's still a tour. Yeah. It's a tour for me, I can tell you that much. But I'm excited. I'm excited. Or I was excited. And. Whenever you're listening, who knows?

Yeah. But you know what I'm, I am eager to tell this story of this case because this case isn't solved really. It has a determination to it, but it is controversial. Oh, the determination. And I'd like to give you all the information or as much information as I could find

and that Dave could find. And then you guys can make your own determinations, but this family really, really would like this to be out there. And they're really trying to get attention on it still. And they have been for a long time. They've been fighting the good fight. So it's important that after you listen to this, have your theories. Yeah. But just remember that like none of us know what happened here. Real people. And that there's truly evidence and lack of evidence for both theories.

So there's no like, it's not cut and dry. In my opinion, it is not cut and dry either way. Okay. So it's just important to remember that none of us have the evidence to say either way. So you know, hopefully we will have it at some point. That's the whole thing is I hope that they get to reopen this whole thing and they actually get evidence that they've been looking for either way just so this family can know what happened.

Have answers, yeah. Because it really is one of those things where they just don't know what happened. And that's horrific. And that's got to be really shitty. I feel like a lot of people say that's even worse than knowing is not knowing. That's the thing. I feel like, because then, I don't know, I don't even closure. I always say I don't know if that's the word. Yeah.

But just, I don't know. You just want to know. You know when it's your loved one. So this is the mysterious death of Tiffany Valiante. Okay. It's definitely a mysterious death. I think everybody's gonna be scratching their heads at the end of this. Her name sounds familiar. Yeah, so Tiffany Valiante was born March 3rd, 1997.

She was the youngest child born to Steven and Diane Valiante. From a pretty early age, Tiffany showed that she was a true athlete, like really athletic. She showed a real aptitude with softball in junior high, and then she ended up playing volleyball in high school. And she was so good, like so good. She went to Oak Crest. And volleyball is hard.

Yeah. And it's so taxing on your body. Yeah, it is. Like crazy. She went to Oak Crest High School and she was one of their star athletes. Wow. Like truly. She went to Oak Crest High School and she was one of their star athletes. Wow. Like truly made an impression. And it was actually for that reason for her skill in leadership abilities and volleyball

in high school that she ended up earning a sports scholarship to attend Mercy College in New York in the fall of 2015. Wow. Good for her. That's a big deal. That's huge. They don't just hand those out. No.

When she went there, she was planning to study criminal justice. But unfortunately, while she was so excited about her college career to begin, her life was tragically cut short before she even made it to New York. So she was never able to make it to college, which is so sad. On the afternoon of July 12th, 2015, Tiffany went to a graduation party at the home of her cousin. And this home was right across the street from her own family house. Oh, wow.

She spent the day hanging out, she was swimming, hanging out with family around the pool. And the party started to kind of wind down in the early evening. So she went back home across the street. She showered, she changed, and she had plans for later in the night. So she was gonna be doing that.

Now as the graduation party was wrapping up, Diane Valiante, who is Tiffany's mother, got a phone call from one of Tiffany's friends. And this phone call, this friend said, I have to speak to you right away. So they were like, okay. So they were like, she was like, meet me at the house. So Diane and her husband, Tiffany's dad said their goodbyes to everybody at the party and they left and went home. When they got there, they saw that Tiffany's friend

and her mother were pulled into the driveway and they both jumped out of the car and apparently immediately started like getting upset. And they were accusing Tiffany of taking her friend's debit card and using it without her permission. Okay. So they were like basically coming to like tell her parents, like this is what happened.

Diane said that she remembers there was a lot of yelling. So of course they grabbed Tiffany. They were like, what the hell's going on? She denied it and said, I didn't do any of it. So after the friend and the mother ended up leaving, cause they were like, we're gonna let you guys handle this. Diane was like, you know, maybe, you know, they were in Tiffany's car together.

Maybe this friend just like dropped the debit card in the car or something. Like, let's go check your car and see if it's in some of the crevices or something. I can't even tell you how many fucking times that's happened to me. Yes, but as they were doing that, she did catch Tiffany trying to hide the girl's credit card in her pocket.

Okay. So Diane was pissed. Yeah. Because she was like, you stole a girl's credit card. What the hell? And you lied to me. And you lied to me. That was like the big thing.

Like you just made me look crazy here. Like, what the hell? Which like teenagers do shitty things. Of course, this is really shitty teenage stuff, but she was mad. But she lectured her, like basically like, you can't do this, that's horrible, blah, blah, blah. And she said Tiffany seemed very remorseful

and explained it was just like poor judgment, like a moment of poor judgment. I don't think she really gave a good explanation. Like even her mom was like, that explanation seemed very like half-hearted. Maybe there just wasn't one. I feel like sometimes you do things when you're a teenager and you don't even know why. Complete impulsivity. Yeah.

It's like, who knows? Who knows if the friend and her got into like a little spat argument. I'm not saying it's okay that she took her credit card. No, obviously not. I'm just saying like teenage stuff sometimes doesn't make any rational sense whatsoever. So Diane went back inside to get her husband because she was going to explain what had just happened. And they both went back outside to talk to Tiffany and Tiffany was gone.

She was just in the driveway and now she's not. Diane said she was out by the car. I walked inside to get my husband. I only left her for one minute. I walked back out and she wasn't there. What? Yeah. So this was strange to her parents, Diane and Steve.

They were like, what? They were like, she wouldn't have just left. Like, she's not a kid who stomps off in the night and goes and leaves. That's just not what happens. She was like, and this argument wasn't like explosive. It's not like they were like, she's screaming and yelling and all that. They were just, she was like, like, what the hell? Like what's going on?

She's giving the explanation. Like, I don't know if I buy that. I'm going to talk to your dad. Yeah. It wasn't anything crazy that she would like go running off into the wild blue yonder. And even you think like she went to get the mother went to get the father and then they go back outside and she's gone. Like I just picture them walking to the end of the driveway and like looking down the

street and not seeing her anywhere. She literally she was like not only would she not have done that, but I don't think she could have done that. Like she was like that fast. I don't know how she would have left the property in the time it took me to get in and out. Like it was like shocking. She was like, I didn't stay in there for a while. Like I got her father and brought him outside.

Like she would have had to run essentially. And again, it was like an argument, but it wasn't like this crazy heated argument. And Tiffany had a phobia of the dark. Like she was literally like had that phobia. She couldn't handle the dark. And by the time they had returned from the party, the sun had gone down completely. It was dark.

So she would not be walking into the darkness by herself. And we'll get more into that later because like there was like coaches that knew this about her. Like everyone in her life knew that she could not be in the dark. Oh wow. So they were like, all of them were like, she would not have walked out into the darkness.

It just wouldn't be something she could physically do, like, or emotionally do. Yeah. So Diane and Stephen went back across the street to see if maybe she returned to the graduation party, like went there. Yeah, I could see them like thinking that. No one at her cousin's house had seen Tiffany since she left the party earlier. And then you just think that she like, there's so much family and friends in this one consolidated area and she just fucking vanished. Just poof.

Well, and so they called her phone a bunch of times and nobody answered. So they were like, all right, the only thing I can think of is that she left out of anger. But like, even though that doesn't make sense, that's literally the only thing I can think of. So they called her sisters, Jessie and Crystal, and her uncle, Michael Valiante, who was a former New Jersey straight trooper to help find her. They all split up, they drove all around the neighborhood looking for her. They didn't see her at all. Nowhere. That doesn't make any sense. Yes. And after two hours, no sign of Tiffany.

So she had to have gotten in a car like very quickly. It's like possibly abducted. That's literally so a little after 11 PM, Steven, her father went back to the house and was walking up the driveway and he spotted something in a pile of leaves at the edge of the Valiante's property. And he leaned down to look and it was Tiffany's cell phone. Oh, my stomach just flipped. Oh God.

Tiffany's cell phone and a pile of leaves at their home, like right on the edge of their property. Yeah. And he said he panicked immediately, like alarm right away. He said Tiffany never went anywhere without her cell phone. No one does. And Diane said she even bought a waterproof case so she could bring it into the shower. Wow.

Like, you know, so when they found that, they were like, fuck. Like, what does that mean? Like, what is going on? So within the half hour of finding that, they reported her missing to the police. Now, the family continued searching for Tiffany for several more hours, but they

found no sign of her besides that cell phone. And as this is going on, about four miles from their home, officials from the New Jersey Transit Police had started gathering to investigate an accident on the Atlantic City rail line. According to the student engineer who was driving, the train had been traveling to Atlantic City from Philadelphia at 80 miles per hour and had just reached mile marker 45 when a pedestrian, quote, dove in front of the train from an east to west direction. Oh, wow. So at the time, it was impossible to identify this person. The impact of the train had crushed her skull

and destroyed any identifying features. And also what they could see they were confused by because this victim was dressed only in underwear. So they didn't have any identifying documentation like a driver's license or a student ID. Like they just, this person, they couldn't identify in their underwear. Like only underwear? Only underwear. Okay. Now, because of this, the individual was pronounced as a person.

That's all they could pronounce them as. Oh my God. And the remains were removed from the scene and taken to the medical examiner's office. And I say the remains because at this point, they literally didn't know who this was. Like could not determine whether it was a woman, a man, a child, anything. Like they couldn't figure out any of this. Wow.

And the accident was immediately believed to be a suicide. Okay. So at the time the investigators didn't treat it like a crime scene. Which we've seen this before. When they go in with a preconceived notion, shit goes awry. And that's when these kind of things go on for years. Why don't you just treat it like a crime until you are 100% shown otherwise? Yeah, because you can't just rule that out right off the...

I mean, people stage things to look like suicides all the time. And also, what a way to make sure this person and the marks that you inflicted upon them are not identified. Right. Throw them in front of a train. They're not going to be able to tell anything that happened to them before that. Mm-hmm. Like it absolutely would be a thing.

So why are you not even considering that? And they're in their underwear. Which is immediately strange. That doesn't range to you as a. Which is immediately strange. Which is immediately strange. Which is a little strange. A big strange. So again, they didn't treat it like a crime scene. So things that would have ordinarily and obviously been collected as evidence, like broken pieces of a charm bracelet that were scattered across the tracks were just left behind. Oh, just the thought of that.

Or handled carelessly. The thought of that is so sad. Just like a charm bracelet. Yeah. Oh, I hate that. Oh, it's awful. I feel like fall is that time of year where everything kind of falls back into place. Haha, fall.

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Again, that is HelloFresh.com slash free morbid. HelloFresh is America's number one meal kit. Now in the early hours of the morning, as the Valiante family's concern is slowly growing into full blown panic, Michael Valiante, the uncle, received a call from a former co-worker asking him to come down to the medical examiner's office. Oh no. When this person was discovered on the tracks, New Jersey Transit officers contacted local police,

and they asked them, are there any missing persons reports that have happened recently? That's when they heard that Tiffany Valiante had been reported missing. So because of that, investigators believed they were extending professional courtesy by contacting Michael first. Yeah.

Instead of grabbing Diane and Steven first. Yeah, I kind of get that. I can understand that. After speaking with Michael Valiante and having him come down, Transit Police, quote, determined that the remains were Tiffany. What?

Yeah. So Diane said, I remember a car pulling in and my brother-in-law got out of the back seat. I heard him say Tiffany got hit by a train and my two kids were just screaming and my husband is screaming. And I'm like, what did you just say to me? Because like, how could you even process that?

She was in the drive. What are you talking about? She was standing next to my car one minute she's gone and now she's got hit by a train. Like what are you talking about? Incredible shock. And again, they are you talking about? Incredible shock. And again, they had just been celebrating Tiffany's graduation. Right.

Like, what the fuck? What do you mean? So to make it all worse, the investigators who relayed the news were unable to give any real details about what had happened at the moment. Diane said, they just said she was hit by a train. They didn't tell us anything else.

We thought she was in the car with someone, that the car got hit. Like, they're like, they don't even know that she she was hit by a train. They didn't tell us anything else. We thought she was in the car with someone, that the car got hit. They're like, they don't even know that she got physically hit by a train. Like just her. Just her person. So the details the Valiante family were seeking finally came the next morning. But not from police or transit authority investigators,

but from the local press. Great. Yeah. The article described how Tiffany was, quote, struck by a train after refusing to move when the conductor sounded its horn. Just to tell you ahead of time, that will be disproven. Yeah. And also somebody said they like she dove in front of the train, which makes you wonder if she's thrown. Well, there's several stories the student engineer tells and then eventually is found to be lying.

Great. Because of the sounding the horn thing. I guess we'll see about that. The authorities had labeled her death, quote, an apparent suicide. And the news shocked everybody, including the Valientes, who couldn't understand why the fuck the press was reporting Tiffany's death as a suicide within hours after it was happening. And Diane said, my husband called the paper up to tell them that was wrong. But because of course they don't, they're like, this must be so hard to keep

it here. Yeah. You haven't even processed anything yet. And the press is like, goes what? Yeah. And so they called the transit police and they confirmed that less than 24 hours after Tiffany had died and without any consideration of any alternative explanations, it was just labeled a suicide. That was the end. They didn't investigate at all. Okay.

So the news came to Tiffany's friends as very bewildering as well. They had never seen any indication of depression or potential self harm, which of course we all know sometimes that happens. So that's not like a total perfect indication of what's going on with somebody. A lot of, I mean, I think we just covered one recently where, you know, somebody said they were acting totally fine the day before and like, why, why would they do that? Right. I think it's just one of those things, but you absolutely can like at least take them as like at their word. They shouldn't show any indication. Right. Her friends said she had everything going for her and she did because she received a volleyball scholarship

to Mercy College in New York. She'd already connected with her future roommate there. Like they had already started bonding. She'd made a long list of summer plans with friends and family. And from what they could see, she didn't have a personal history that you would expect to see in a teen who has contemplated suicide. She didn't have a history of mental illness. She had a large support system of family and friends. She did have tension with her parents. She was a teenager. Name a teenager that doesn't. And like, you know, she didn't have like the, it sounds like, you know, they were in a rough patch. Yeah.

Their relationship, which again, not an indication that like not a total perfect like confirmation. This is why it would happen. But Diane and Steven said they couldn't think of anything that would explain a suicide either. No. Which again, we all know. It's one of those things. Sometimes it does happen when no one can see it. But it does sound like in this case, there's some weird shady shit.

But in this case, it sounds like there was definitely no indication outwardly that this was happening. Right. And it sounds like shady shit is coming. Well, that's... And also what you're going to see too is like people had different interpretations of what went on. Okay.

So it's like, there's that to consider as well. But again, there's really, to me, there's no concrete evidence of suicide here. Okay. There's circumstantial for sure. Right. But there's also circumstantial evidence to at least entertain the idea that there was foul play here. Yeah.

I think there's, there's evidence to be set on both sides and there's evidence against both sides. And that's why everything should just be investigated. That's why I think it just needs to be like, because it was mishandled and you'll see how much it... Nobody can deny this was mishandled. But again, as Dr. Michelle Scott, who is a professor at Monmouth University,

told reporters after the death, she was basically saying what we were saying. She said, well, everything may look fine on the outside, there could be an internal struggle going on that no one knows about. And she mentioned times of transition such as the end of high school or the end of the school year can trigger depression issues and sometimes kids can act rationally. Absolutely true. But again, she wasn't going off into like the wild blue yonder without a plan, without some bonds forming. Like,

you know, she had a scholarship. That's a big deal. She liked playing sports. So she was going to be able to play more sports at a higher level. She was going to a university she was excited about, had plans to study criminal justice. She had already connected with that roommate. She was going forth. And again, as people will mention, there was a strained relationship in the house and things were a little tense. Okay, sure, maybe. I wasn't there, but she was going to be going to college.

So if there was, see ya. I think I'm going to college. Yeah. So if there was, there was an end in sight. Going to college, you know, like, yeah. But again, it's really hard to just say, to understand what people are going through when you're not in their head. Now, like I said, even though it seemed like everything was fine,

she was at least dealing with a little bit of that emotional upset, like the strained relationships. Years later in a deposition, one of Tiffany's friends said she had recently come out to her parents. And while they say they were generally supportive of her, the friend believes things may have been more strained than usual in recent weeks. Her uncle, Michael, also stated that there was

at least some turmoil happening in the house or in her life leading up to that. Nothing earth shattering. She wasn't like the happiest go luckiest in the weeks leading up to this because she had some stuff going on. In his statement to the New Jersey State Police, which she gave in the early morning hours after her death, he told the detective that Tiffany quote had gotten into some trouble the day before as well as the day of her graduation party. And her friend stated that she had quote cut herself and was extremely upset. Okay, so she thought is like history of self-harm.

Yes, but he also reported that Tiffany's relationship with her parents again what kind of of had some tension and that she quote, was extremely distraught over some of the things that had happened. I want you to take all that, but hold on to it. Okay. Because it's not exactly what it seems. Okay. Yeah.

So four days after Tiffany's death, investigators brought in bloodhounds to track Tiffany's scent in an effort to find any additional details. I mean, again, she was found in her underwear. She didn't leave in her underwear. Yeah, and where, I mean, where's her clothing? Exactly. So the hounds traced her path from the Veliante's driveway in May's Landing along the rocky, overgrown wooded area along the train tracks.

And then the trail ended in the remote area of woods where she ultimately died. And despite having walked to the entire route Tiffany supposedly took that night, they were unable to locate any of her belongings, including her shoes or shorts, anything. Well, that doesn't make any sense. And the investigators felt that the dogs had confirmed their belief that she had become distraught and left the house after fighting with her mother and eventually found herself standing at the tracks. Okay. That's how they took it. Okay. Again, I'm a little confused. Especially with the phobia. Where's her clothes in the phobia of the darkness? Like walking in the middle of the woods? Exactly. In New Jersey? Yeah. That's some densely wooded areas. And it's like pitch

black. Yeah. Now based on the statement taken from Michael Valiante and the description of the accident provided by the student engineer driving the train, the medical examiner labeled the death of suicide and closed the case. Five days later, Diane and Stephen had Tiffany's remains cremated, which Diane did later say was the quote, worst decision of her life. But she said at the time she quote, just assume the investigators did what they were supposed to do. I mean, yeah, why wouldn't you assume that? Yeah, we're like to believe that, you know, they're supposed to do what they do, but my

goodness, it made their lives a lot harder. Well, I can't imagine having to even make that decision of what to do with your child's remains. You would never feel like you made the right decision. And remains that are not in great condition. It's not like you're gonna be able to have an open casket funeral. It's not like you're, you know,

I'm sure that might've played into it. I was wondering that myself. I that might've played into it. I was wondering that myself. That like, I don't want, this isn't who she was kind of thing. Yeah. So the Valiantes held a memorial mass for Tiffany on July 20th and everyone assumed that, you know, that the case was closed. We just grieve now. But the natural process of grieving kept getting interrupted because so many questions kept popping up. And weird inconsistencies are popping up.

Aside from their disbelief that Tiffany would even have contemplated, much less completed suicide, there was a lot of strange aspects of the case that they just couldn't figure out. They were like, this just isn't... it's not all fitting into the pieces here. The biggest one being where the fuck are her clothes? Exactly. Do those get found? Yes.

Okay. So for one, when she disappeared from the house that night, we're talking about the clothes now, she had been wearing a shirt, shorts, nuked shoes and a headband. But when she was struck by the train, she was only in her underwear. And investigators eventually, after more searching, did find her shirt in the woods nearby. But only her shirt? They found her shirt next to, are you ready? An axe with red markings. Oh, what the fuck?

Yup. Yep. An axe with red markings on it. What I, I'm not kidding you. I have goosebumps all over my entire body right now. Like my legs have goosebumps. What the fuck? We're going to get back to that. So don't worry. Hold on to that one too.

And this is why you can't just take the suicide face value. No, and only her shirt. So where's her shoes, shorts, and headband? We'll find those too. What the fuck? So it wasn't just the missing evidence and what they believed was investigators complete unwillingness to consider alternatives that gave the valiantes some pause here. It was also that the facts were not looking to support investigators

conclusions. It looked like the other way around. Very much so. Already. Yeah. According to her sister, Jessie, the family found it impossible to believe that late on a summer night, she would suddenly leave a family gathering, discard her cell phone, walk from our family's home, this is a quote, in mazelanding more than four miles to a remote thickly wooded section of railroad tracks and along the way remove her jean shorts, headband and sneakers before stepping onto the tracks and in front of a train traveling at 80 miles per hour. That doesn't make any sense. Like when you really lay it out like that, you're like, it's a what? Like, it's the clothes for me. Like, I just feel like, God forbid,

if she was going to end her life, why would she undress first? People do things at the end of their life that are hard to explain. That's why this is so confusing. Yeah. Because you can really look at either side of this and you can say, yeah, you can't discount suicide.

You can't. But you also can't discount that there was foul play here. Because then you go to the axe with the red markings on it next to her shirt. You have to see both sides of that. At least I can plainly see that there's not significant evidence to say that this is totally a suicide. Yeah, no. But there's not significant evidence to say the other side, but there's significant evidence

to question both of those things. Yes. 100%. And to open again and really take a look. But as we'll see, mishandled. Now not only was the behavior itself outside of character for Tiffany, whose toxicology report showed no signs of drug or alcohol in her system, but the time of day that she disappeared again made it more unbelievable, like we've been saying, her fear of the dark.

According to Diane, it was so severe that she was, quote, petrified of the dark and would normally never venture anywhere alone at night. Especially not the middle of the fucking woods. Exactly. And other family and friends also said that time of day was just, they were like, she had a crippling fear of the dark. It wasn't like, I don't like the dark. It was a crippling fear. And Allison Walker, who coached Tiffany's junior travel volleyball team, said, it's just not the Tiffany I knew. Tiffany was deathly afraid of the dark, had to have the TV on if the room was dark. The thought of her choosing to walk through not just the dark alone, but a dark

wooded area alone, never in my wildest dreams would that happen. No, that's the thing. And in the weeks following their daughter's death, Diane started going on like long walks, just trying to clear her head. Of course. You know, grieving, trying to clear her head. Of course. Grieving, trying to grieve any way she could. It was during one of these walks through the woods. Don't you dare even tell me that she found her daughter's clothing.

And this is the thing, it was the woods leading towards the tracks because she would go on this like walk probably just to, you know, maybe try to get in her headspace too in Tiffany's headspace. She spotted something under a tree set back about a dozen feet from the tracks. When she got closer, she found Tiffany shoes. She said they were quote, neatly lined up as though they've been placed there carefully. She also found her headband, a large keychain, like those usually affixed to rental car keys, and a sweatshirt she'd never seen before.

SONIA DARA What the fuck. And the fact that investigators searched this area? KATE Yeah. SONIA DARA I didn't see that, which means possibly two things. One, they didn't investigate well enough because those things were always there. Or two, somebody went back and put them there. KATE And either way, fucking weird. And the location was not along the route the bloodhounds had traced weeks earlier. And it was well over a mile from where Tiffany had been struck by the train. So that makes no sense. Yeah. That would mean she'd have to take her headband and shoes off. And whose keychain isirt. And his sweatshirt. Yep. And yeah. So when the-

I'm sorry, I'm dumbfounded. Yeah. And it gets wilder. How even? So when the medical examiner performed his evaluation of Tiffany's remains, there was no mention of her feet being super dirty or having sustained any injuries. Which you would think they would if she was walking barefoot through the fucking woods. She would have had to walk almost two miles bare feet through the woods. You're going to get cut with something. And that's over rocky, dirty terrain to get where she was at the train. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Kids are always learning and growing, but as adults, we sometimes lose that curiosity.

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New members can try Audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500 500. That's audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500 500 to try Audible free for 30 days. Audible dot com slash morbid. [♪ music playing, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer sound effect, buzzer contradicted the early conclusion of suicide would finally lead to a full investigation of what happened to their daughter. I think anyone with any kind of gray matter between their ears would probably feel the same. Are you ready to get really angry?

Yeah. So they're like, cool, we're going to get an investigation now because what the fuck? Whose shit is this? Like what's going on? Before the evidence could be analyzed, transit detectives misplaced the key chain. Oh, and they misplaced the ax. Don't know where it went. And they have never been found.

That is the most negligent shit. There is a possible, this woman got, this young woman got hit by a train. She had her skull crushed by a train, supposedly. And there's an ax found with red markings on it. And before you can test that ax, it gets misplaced. And then so the- That train would have covered up any blow from an ax. Yeah, 100%.

So the ax went missing and the key chain went missing? And the key chain that she didn't know where that key chain was from. What about the sweatshirt? I have no idea. What? Well, they also ended up finding Tiffany's shirt on one along the route.

And it had just been put in a knotted plastic bag when it was collected, like when they collected it, instead of putting it in an actual evidence container. In that knotted plastic bag that the investigators just threw it into had grown mold due to improper handling and was deemed completely untestable. What's going on here? Yeah. I don't know how any...

I understand why people have ideas about what they think happened here because obviously, but like, you gotta at least question this stuff. No, that's some shady shit going on. Because even if you think it was a suicide, it's like, well, what's going on here? Like what, how do you, how? I don't know how you misplace an axe. That's what I don't get. That's a big problem for me. That's a big problem for me. That's a big problem for me.

I've lost a lot of things in my life. Never, 10 fingers up everybody, ready to go. Never have I ever lost an axe. Yeah, I've never done that. And I'm willing to bet not many of you put a finger down. Well, in the poor Valiante family, this could have been vital evidence. Of course.

And what a fucking disappointment. They found it. And to hear that it was just mishandled and lost. Like that would leave such a bad feeling in my gut. And so while the evidence may have gone missing, the statements taken from the student engineer about the night of Tiffany's death remains. This motherfucker. And as far as the Valiantes were concerned, they're, they only confirmed their suspicion that somebody, something, somebody was hiding something. Yeah. Because in his initial statement to As far as the Valiantes were concerned, they only confirmed their suspicion that somebody

was hiding something. Because in his initial statement to the Transit Police, the student engineer told the detective, quote, as he approached mile marker 45, the pedestrian dove in front of the train. Now this would imply that Tiffany jumped in front of the train, which gave the train no time to stop because she had just dove in front of the train, which gave the train no time to stop. Yeah. Because she had just dove in front of it. But then in later interviews, the student engineer described Tiffany as standing on the tracks. Those are two very different things.

Very different things. Also, he told detectives he'd seen Tiffany, quote, jump or dive a distance of 15 to 20 feet from a standing position. Is that possible? Like either way, those are three very different things. And he said those all in one sitting or at different times? Different times. Okay.

But when investigators examined the area from which she supposedly jumped, they found it was covered with trees and a built up stone railway grade, which would have made jumping very difficult. Uh-huh. Finally, the student engineer said he sounded the train's horn multiple times before the impact, but Tiffany didn't make any attempt to move. But investigators checked the train's black box that it has. Uh-oh.

It showed that the horn had not been used at all. Not at all. He said several times and she didn't move. Not once. Why would you lie about that? It's like they didn't teach you in train school that there's a black box that if you say the horn sounded... Not train school. When you say the horn sounded, they can go check and see if the horn sounded. Like you're gonna get caught. I actually didn't even know that.

Like you should know that as a student engineer. I feel like that's like student engineer 101 is like, here's a black box. I feel like train school. Am I right? Like training school. So what's that about? Did she dive in front of the train and you couldn't stop? Was she standing on the tracks and refused to move? Right. Or was she standing and then dove 15 to 20 feet? And also, did you sound the horn? No, you didn't, because we've already checked. So what happened, student engineer? I don't know.

What? I'm so confused. Yeah. But the final pieces of compelling evidence collected by the Valiantes in the weeks after Tiffany died were the most haunting, I would say. Oh no. Just moments after Diane went inside to get her husband, after she had the argument with

Tiffany, a hunter's trap camera captured an image of Tiffany walking down the driveway phone in hand. Phone in hand. And when Diane came out of the house just seconds later, her daughter was gone. And there was no sign of her in either direction. That camera caught her walking to the end of the driveway with her phone. And her mom came out a minute later and she was gone. So she had to have gotten in a car, right? Well, it says when they retrieved the cell phone data from the carrier, it showed that a call came into the phone about a half hour after Tiffany disappeared and it was answered.

Which she said, which she had died by that point. Well later, the phone was discovered at the edge of the Valiantes property. How could Tiffany have answered the phone if the phone was several miles from where she was at that point. The phone was back at the Valiante's property when she was already at the train tracks. How did someone answer the phone unless that phone was put thereafter? You wish they knew who called so they could say, was it Tiffany that answered? Obviously, it's not Tiffany that answered. Was it who the, like, was it a man's voice?

Was it a woman's voice? It's such a mystery. Like how did all of this? And when you look it up, the camera, like the photo is very haunting. I, yeah, I bet. So because Tiffany's cause of death had been listed as a suicide and no one had been able

to provide like solid evidence to argue otherwise. I just looked up that picture. State and local authorities had no reason to reopen the case according to them and further investigate, which I don't know about that. But after a year of just frustration, grief, and unanswered questions, Diane and Stephen Valiante finally decided to take action in order to compel the medical examiner's office to just change the cause of death. They just wanted it changed from suicide to undetermined.

That's all they were. Because if they did that, then it would allow the case to be reopened. But because they were refusing to do anything, they couldn't reopen it. So in July 2016, the Valiantes reached out to the Diamado law firm, which was a local agency who agreed to take the case pro bono actually. And in a statement to the press, Paul Diamado said, we looked at all her medical records. There wasn't any suggestion of any alcohol problems, drug problems or depression. And he said the state's inquiries was flawed.

It was unprofessional, uninformed, and it relied on equally superficial investigative efforts by New Jersey Transit. The medical examiner's finding regarding manner of death issued only five days after the incident should unquestionably be retracted and nullified. I mean, yeah. Now usually for like civil law, lawsuits are usually for financial compensation. That's usually the end game. But the Valiantes were not looking for a fucking dime.

They just wanted justice change so they could reopen the case. That's all they were looking for here. And also by filing the suit, Di Amato would cause to subpoena any records and evidence related to the incident and for new interviews to be conducted for any investigators, anybody that was overlooked. So this kind of helped like get it going without get it going kind of thing. Like it was like once you open the lawsuit, you kind of have to dig into the case a little bit.

He said, we believe there are people out there who know something, including several people who were not interviewed by New Jersey Transit. So that's weird. So the first lawsuit, which was filed against the medical examiner's office and then a few other state agencies that were first involved in the initial investigation, claimed a lot of things. But one of the things it claimed was Tiffany Valante did not take her life, but that she was the victim of a conspiracy to inflict bodily harm, violently abducted on the night of July 12th, 2015, and subsequently murdered.

The Valiantes believe that instead of what they were, like investigators are saying, that she jumped out in front of the train, as authorities were saying, she was kidnapped from the front yard, murdered, and her killer had hid his crime by hurling her in the path of an oncoming locomotive. You can see why people might think that. Which is, it's believable. It is believable. Like this is not out of the realm of possibility. Not at all.

And again, if it's not out of the realm of possibility and there are things that you can match up with this, that's cause enough for me to open it back up. Absolutely, there is. So a year later when the case still hadn't reached the court, D'Amato amended the lawsuit removing the various state agencies and instead filing the claim against male does one to five and female does one to five. Their names are kind of like erroneous here. So just a bunch of people, like specific people.

While the complaint itself remained like pretty much intact and it relied on the same complaints and circumstantial evidence that the family had raised previously. It also had some new statements, including testimony from Louise Hausman, who was a former medical investigator for the Atlantic County Medical Examiner's Office.

Hausman was brought in to review all the information collected, and she did, and anything that the family had collected in the two years since Tiffany's death. And after carefully considering the evidence, she concluded, quote, "'There are enough unanswered questions, false statements, conflicting accounts regarding this fatality, and incomplete investigative information,

which leads me to the conclusion that the death certificate should be amended from suicide to undetermined. Absolutely. Now, while Hausman's evaluation pointed to the evidence, the inconsistencies, you know, other previously mentioned unusual aspects of this whole case as reason enough to reopen the investigation. She also noted that the medical examiner's assessment of the circumstances of the death included, quote, inaccurate, unsubstantiated and false information. This false information and unsubstantiated information included various statements attributed to several of Tiffany's friends and her uncle. I was waiting for that to come back.

Which were used to justify the term determination of suicide. All those parties claimed they never made those statements or that they were. What the fuck? Or that they were taken and twisted. Uh, what? that they were taken and twisted. What? For example, the case filed from New Jersey Transit, which included several statements about Tiffany's supposedly distraught mental state

by her uncle, Michael Valiante, he claims he never made them. How are they just like, yep. I'm like, did you guys think that this, it wasn't gonna get out what you reported and her uncle wasn't gonna be like, yeah, I didn't fucking say that. No, they probably didn't care because look, nothing's happened. I don't know how people can be such shit.

I really don't, especially when it comes to like somebody's life and like this family losing their young teenage daughter. Just going off to college. Like the prime of her entire life. Well, and those, those statements about her self-harming. Yeah, just going off to college. At like the prime of her entire life. Well, in those statements about her self-harming, you were like, that's the history of... Nope. He never said that. And they also weren't supported by any physical evidence on her body.

Are you kidding me? That's a fucked up thing to lie about. Yeah. And in a statement to the press, Houseman told a reporter, within 36 hours, the medical examiner determined this to be a suicide without any information on her medical history, without anybody talking to the family. There was no investigative done to this. And she's in, in most cases or in some many cases, when somebody takes their own life,

investigators will conduct what's called a psychological autopsy. They work with the family, the individual's medical team, you know, mental health providers to determine what could have been the circumstances or reasons. That makes sense. It's just part of the process. Yeah. And that did not happen here. The medical examiner totally skipped this step and instead just relied on his misunderstanding of statements from Tiffany's uncle and friends, all of whom at the time were in like a state of shock at this moment, had no idea what was going

on. And just didn't even say the things that people said they said. And in some cases are claiming that they didn't even say these things. Like there should have been some deeper digging at the very least. This is so fucking shady. Yeah. So in December, news of the lawsuit had reached beyond the local press. And this case was featured in a massive expose

on the state's medical examiner system. And in the article, which included a lot of cases because they were really digging in for this, the reporters point to a long list of really shocking shortcomings and flat out failures on the part of the New Jersey Medical Examiner's Office. So no body parts going missing.

I'm sorry, what? Quote, decomposing bodies stacked two to a gurney and countless unanswered questions that make it so family members don't have any fucking clue how their family died, family member died. So has this office been shut down? So also just as like a quick side note, because it's just reminding me of it. I mean, you guys aren't watching and listening to noble this podcast. She just recommended it to me today. I'm going to start it on my way home.

Go listen to it. It's fascinating. It's shocking. It's horrifying and really well done. It immediately reminded me of the same thing. So the report on the medical examiner's office supported what DiMatto and the Valiantes had come to believe that even if this is like limited resources or overworked staff, the state was really lax on their investigating of Tiffany's death. And in this situation,

they probably rushed to the conclusion just to move the case from open to closed, get it off their things. I mean, if they've got decomposing bodies in a room and like decomposing bodies stacked to a gurney, missing body parts. Yeah. Someone being found on a train track and a student engineer claiming that they dove in front of it, get it off our desk. They probably just whoop. I'm just in a state of absolute, get it off our desk. They probably just, whoop, get that one out.

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That's simply safe dot com slash morbid. There's no safe like Simply Safe. morbid. There's no safe like simply safe. So a few months after filing their amended case with the Superior Court, Di Amato added additional supporting documentation, including a statement from Dr. Donald Jason. Dr. Donald Jason was an independent forensic pathologist hired by the Valiantes to review the case. Okay. Dr. Jason reviewed the material related to the death. And he said, yeah, he said the bias towards suicide negatively affected the way in which the scene was processed

by all members of the team, both responding police and medical examiner staff. And he said, this was contrary to the standard approach to investigation that dictates investigators treat the location as a crime scene until it's determined to be otherwise. Totally contradictory to that. And after reviewing the information, Dr. Jason concluded, the story that the victim jumped onto the tracks is suspicious.

The victim may have been sleeping or already dead when struck by the train. Why did they say that? Because they were saying that's a possibility. Oh, okay. Simply put, as far as Dr. Jason could tell, the medical examiner was way too quick to label this death a suicide without first ruling out other possibilities,

which they did not do. They didn't rule out anything else. He actually said, quote, I've never seen another case mishandled like this. Wow. Which is something. And it's literally like a young girl. And this story going public and the Valiantes, you know, putting pressure on this case, it put a lot of pressure on the medical examiner's office and they finally agreed to reevaluate

the case. Good. But and they finally agreed to reevaluate the case. Good. But what are they going to do? And it's the same office. One, it's the same office. You think they're going to admit their shortcoming? Two, unfortunately, her body's been cremated, so it's not like you can even exhume the body. No, but they can look back at all the reports that they have and the pictures and everything.

But it's the same office. You think they're going to come back and be like, wow, we really fucked up. But like, I hate when they do that. I'm like, bring it somewhere else. Can another office take it over? Like is that, but you're right. The cremation makes it so difficult. It does. Because it's unfortunate. You have to rely now on what this office documented. Right. And of course they found that the initial finding of suicide was appropriate and they were not going to change it. Fuck that, incorrect.

Yeah. So the problem with the civil suit that the Valiantes had against the state in the amended suit is that, like they, so they're alleging that crimes have been committed, kidnapping and murder, which we know it could possibly be that. But there's no solid evidence to support that. And the theory wasn't really expanded upon in these suits in a good way. There is some evidence to support that, like the phone being answered.

Oh, no, there's evidence. That's the thing. There is evidence. But no, there's evidence. That's the thing, like there is evidence. Right. But it's like circumstantial. It's like they can't pinpoint it to any person or any theory of like who this is or why this happened. I'm so fucking angry that they lost, quote unquote, lost that axe. Well, and that's the thing. It's like, and I'm not saying like,

they don't have compelling evidence. I'm saying the suit did not argue the evidence. Oh, okay. Enough to make a compelling argument for it. And it's like, that's frustrating because like they do, there could be a compelling narrative here. Yeah. Like the biggest one for me is she's found

in only her underwear. To me that looks like there was sexual assault here or something awful. And especially with her clothes being scattered in different areas. Within like a mile of the site all over the place. Yeah, but the impact of the train had caused considerable damage, which hid any, you know, pre-mortem trauma. So it's like, you don't have that to go on either. And it's like, if they still had the ax, they could have tested the ax. They could have looked at pictures and matched it up with pictures, seen what, you know.

Yeah. I'm wondering too about that sweatshirt. I'm like, was DNA testing done on that sweatshirt at all to see if any of Tiffany's DNA was on that or maybe somebody in the system's fucking DNA? Also, what's even more frustrating because again, found in her underwear, where's the rape kit? Yeah. Never conducted a rape kit or even considered conducting a rape kit. Could they have in the condition that her body was found in? Absolutely. They could have. Okay. Absolutely. Why didn't, and now they can't ever do that. Now they can't. But the best Di Amato and the Valiantes could argue

was that the location that the investigators discovered some of Tiffany's belongings in along with the ax was also a known party spot with a local fraternity house. That itself does not tell you anything because I'm not labeling fraternities as like, they're the problem. But this particular one was under investigation for past sexual assaults. Dude.

So that is suspicious. And also after Tiffany's death, a local Wawa employee told investigators, he quote, overheard a group of teenage boys talking about Tiffany having been kidnapped at gunpoint, humiliated, forced to strip down to her underwear and driven to the train station by her abductors. Oh, but they late they said it was circumstantial and unsubstantiated. Can you try to substantiate it? That's the thing. Can you go fucking interview some people? That's pretty on the nose.

Go start asking people in that area if they, I mean, somebody must have seen something and somebody, oh, if that's true, somebody out there has a guilty conscience and they better come forward and say some shit. Because if that actually happened, somebody there felt like that was wrong. You can't tell me that everybody in that room was okay with that if that did happen. So come on forward, it's your time to shine. And like we said, the suicide theory is supported by equally circumstantial evidence.

It's not like the suicide theory has the solid evidence and the other theory doesn't have any, Nope. There's evidence on both sides. It's equally as like, oh, you know, like it's just, I don't even know. I feel like for me, at least. I feel like the other side, the foul play side has more. Foul play has way more. It really does. I agree. Because really the only evidence for suicide in my mind is she was in a little bit of trouble and perhaps there was turmoil at home, but nobody even really knows if there was turmoil at home because it sounds like people's statements were taken out of context. There was some stuff at home. The mother and Diane and Tiffany had to be ordered to go

to therapy together at one point. So there definitely was not like... So there's turmoil at home. It wasn't rainbows and butterflies, but like whose houses. Yeah. So there's turmoil at home. She just got in trouble, you know, like just finished high school.

So that is like, that's the thing. There's like, there is that, that was, it's not like everything was peachy peen. Hunky dory. Different places. But I feel like there's a way longer list on the side of foul play. Not like everything was peachy keen. Punky Dory. Different places. But I feel like there's a way longer list on the side of foul play. And that's why it's so hard.

And who knows? I mean, like you hope that that wall on play didn't make that up, but like that's a crazy fucking statement. It's wild. And it fits perfectly. But who knows? Like you never know when certain details about the case came out. When they leaked all that.

That's the thing. You can go back and forth on this. But that is weird. Yeah. And I feel like we've given you two of these in a row, actually. I just thought of that where it's like you can go on either side and at least put some evidence on either side. I feel like with this one, honestly, there's like more foul play evidence.

Well, that's the thing. I feel like with both of them, I lean more to one side, but I can't, can't completely decide conclusively say what way I lean. I really hope both of these cases get solved. Now I'm like, and these parents it's been almost 10 years and they don't have any, it just doesn't feel like suicide to me. It really doesn't. It doesn't feel like suicide to me. And if it is, prove it. That's the thing. Like prove it. You're not proving it.

You're not proving it. I just feel like people, it doesn't sound like anyone was interviewed ever. Like was anyone spoken to other than like a couple friends and her uncle whose statements were taken out of context or just completely fabricated? Yeah. It just doesn't. they talk to the coaches and stuff and people who knew her who all agreed she wouldn't have gone wandering into the dark. That was one of the biggest things. And then why didn't anybody,

who's to say maybe they did or maybe they didn't, but did anybody go to that frat house and interview some frat brothers? I mean, not because it's a frat house, but because it was under investigation. And then that wah-wah employees statement. Well, and the problem was too, that investigators mishandled this case so badly that evidence was destroyed. Yeah.

And just completely fucking lost. I don't know how you lose an axe.. I don't know how you lose an axe. I really don't know how you lose an axe. I don't either. But we see that all the time that they'll be like, oh yeah, we lost it. And it's always shady. And it's like, how the fuck does that happen? Cause it's always something that would like probably, conclusively. That would prove one way or another. And it's like, huh. Well, unfortunately the lawsuits were pretty unsuccessful in getting the death certificates changed. But in the years since Tiffany's death, Diane and Steve Invaliente have pressed on. They want to find out the truth.

And in 2019, D'Amato filed another lawsuit. He's still on it. This time against New Jersey Transit and demanded that they share any physical evidence that they could that would help determine what happened on the night of Tiffany's death. I wonder if there still is any. The process was super slow, but eventually they did get access to the physical evidence, including, so there is, which I didn't even know about this

until the end of this case, including a blood-stained towel and a T-shirt. So you would go, wow, I wonder what's gonna happen when they test that. Well they sent it to an independent lab for testing and the lab determined that the items had been so mishandled that they were of no scientific probative value. No, I'm so mad right now. According to the lab, the items had been improperly stored in plastic containers, which allowed

for moisture-inducing bacterial contamination that made the evidence of no investigatory value. Who the fuck is part of this chain of custody? Who the fuck? Because this happens twice. You've got to be a big, full, stupid dingbat to be part of an investigatory team at a fucking scene of a death and not know how to properly store evidence. Where the fuck were you on that day in the academy?

Because that's insane. To not know how to store evidence so that it doesn't get eaten up by bacteria? How the fuck do you not know that? And also it already fucking happened once. So you would think that you would literally know, especially on the same fucking case, you wouldn't make that mistake again. All of the evidence for this case was completely unusable.

And that's weird. And that doesn't happen. It's at least at the very least, it's fucking suspect. It's fucking sus. Sus. You should look back into this at the very fucking least. But then it's like, what do you do? Because there's no evidence.

I know. Like all of it's contaminated or fucking lost. Well, and in 2022, Tiffany's case appeared on Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries. I saw that. Yeah. Diane restated her belief that there was foul play here. I think there was. And the family also increased the reward for information leading prosecution to $40,000.

Wow. It's still uncollected to this day. And the episode of Unsolved Mysteries didn't really bring in any new information, but it did raise awareness of this case. Which is important. Steven, her father said, it opened a lot of people's eyes.

Everybody heard this nit bit, little piece here, little piece there, but they never knew the whole story until they watched it. Meanwhile, the Veliantes are continuing to work with Paul D'Amato, which I was like, this guy. That guy. In the hopes of finding new information that's going to lead to any answer. They just want a definitive answer. I hope he helps them get it because he seems determined as fuck. D'Amato said, I have a strong belief that something is going

to break this year. I truly do. That's what he told in 2023. But as of yet, it has not broken. But we are only 2024. Guys, like if you know fucking anything, I mean, and again, they just want to know. They just want to know. They believe she was met with foul play. There's evidence to believe that. There's circumstantial evidence for suicide. I can understand that. They just want to know.

And if there's evidence for foul play, which to me, there's plenty. Why are we not investigating this further? We just want to, you just got to know, because if, if this is foul play, somebody got away with it or some buddies got away with it. And why are we just letting that happen? And that's just going to make them more bold. Bold to do this again. Yeah. Wow. This stressed me out. I feel for this family. I feel so bad for this again. Yeah. Wow, this stressed me out.

I feel for this family. I feel so bad for this family. I feel for it all. And it's like... Because also, that's the community that you're living in and you put your faith and you put your trust in law enforcement in the community that you're in. So mishandled. It was completely...

I'd be so angry and I'm sure that I'm... I can't imagine how angry they are. I hope a lot of people got slapped with a lot of demotions and firings after this, because it's like, how do you mishandle evidence like that? How do you lose an axe? How do you mishandle every bit of evidence like that? Like that's what I don't get. Something's got to give here. I just, yeah, I hope that he was onto something when he said, like, he thinks something was going to break in 2023 and it's just taken a little longer.

Let's put it out there. Because, you know... Guys, let's... Sometimes we'll cover a case and something will happen. It's this, like, weird thing that we were talking about recently. Universe? Let's get it solved. Universe.

Let's go. And we're not taking credit for any of those, anybody. No, obviously not. If solved. Yeah, the universe, let's go. And we're not taking credit for any of those, anybody's like, thank you baby. If you think that, go away. It's just sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways. Yeah. The vibes are out there. Let's, I want this family to know what the fuck happened.

Yes. I just want that for them. So hopefully more knowledge of this case is what it takes. Tell your friends about the case. Yeah Exactly sure this year then I'll watch the Netflix know someone in New Jersey Talk to him. See what see what they know, you know, this is weird Yeah, so that's the mysterious death of Tiffany Valiante and it's a sad one I did not know all of the details and I'm shocked. I'm in a state of absolute shock right now.

I just really, I just want answers, man. I really do. Yeah. And her family deserves them. I just want it. So with that being said, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you Keep it Weird. But not so weird that if you have information

about this case, you don't come forward because guess what? That's wrong and Carm's gonna getcha. So if you have information about the case, you better come forward because guess what that's wrong and karma's gonna getcha so if you have information about the case you better come forward you little poop hell yeah I just spit across the room it was gross So So If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.

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