SERIALously - 165: The Treadmill Murder Case: Corey Micciolo 6-Year-Old Boy Murdered By His Father

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

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Hey, True Crime Besties, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. Now I want to warn you guys, today's case is a difficult one. It is absolutely gut-wrenching and it's one that so many of you have been requesting for, I want to say, almost six weeks now, but truthfully, I haven't had the stomach to do it. None of these cases are ever easy, but sometimes, oftentimes, there are specific cases that hit home, especially as a parent, and it takes me a while to really just kind of like recalibrate, feel like I can hopefully do the case some justice and get through it personally without taking the weight of it home with me. And as we go through you'll understand what I mean.

I think that any story about children is very tough to hear, especially as a parent, but today's story it really stands out because some of the most graphic parts of it were actually caught on video. And that video has also gone viral all over social media. It's why it's taken me a little bit to get here. And you've probably already heard a little bit about this case, if you have spent any time online in the past month or so, you've probably seen the video,

you've seen the clips, you've read up on the trial, and this trial literally just wrapped up right before I recorded this. But if you're looking for somebody to really put all of the pieces together and give you an overview of everything, then this is the video for you. If you haven't guessed it by now guys, this is the story of Cory Macello, the treadmill murder. In 2021, Cory Macello was just six years old. He had dark hair, these really big eyes, and it looked like he was always kind of

just taking in the world around him with his eyes wide open, just excited. And since he moved around a lot throughout his childhood, he had lots of opportunities to learn and experience new things, but not enough opportunities for reasons which I'll get into later. He was quite the little artist as well. His mother said that he was always painting, he was always drawing, and if he wasn't doing either one of those two things, he would have a book in his hand. Just truly a creative, an artist, a little boy wanting to soak up the world and learn everything about it. What is the fifth plant from the sun?

It's big. It's made of gas. It is Jupiter. Cory was a happy little boy with truly the kindest little heart. He always had a smile on his face, was laughing, joking around. And he was at that age where being silly is about the only thing that he ever worried about. Constantly wanting to make others laugh and have all of the attention on himself. I myself have a five-year-old little boy and that's again a reason why this just kind of really hits home. I

know that age, that behavior, that innocence so so well. Look so guys this is my mommy and you're... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr she was a junior in high school. We know that being a teen mom, it's not easy at all, especially when you haven't even graduated yet. I mean, you're still a child in a lot of ways and now you're having a child of your own. So that really weighed heavily on her as well. I mean, in fact, Brianna later said that she only got pregnant because of a sad one that she had survived when she was only 16 years old. So Brianna tried to do what she could to make things work,

raising Corey as a single parent. Life was really hard for her though, but she kept her head down. She took care of her baby, and she took one day at a time, doing her absolute best along the way. When things get tough in life, everybody responds and copes with their traumas in a different way. We all know that. And unfortunately for Brianna, she took the more destructive route in things. She started using drugs just to feel good during those rough patches in her life. But then over time, she got to be reliant on them. So over and over she kept turning to them to help her suppress her emotions, to help her feel numb, feel better, and eventually it got to feel like she just straight up needed these drugs, needed them to survive, needed them to continue.

Some other traumatic things happened to Brianna during this time as well, while she was trying to raise Corey while also abusing drugs. I don't know many of the specifics. They're things that she's only hinted at in various interviews, but I do know that it got to the point that when she was in her early 20s, the only way that she felt like she could cope with her feelings was by being high. She says that she never used drugs around Cory though, and maybe I am putting a little bit of blind faith into that and into a stranger, but I do feel

inclined to believe her, because there's no real evidence that he was ever neglected while he was under her care. Cory was happy, and he seemed well cared for. And it just kind of feels like Brianna might have been a person who went through a lot and kind of just fell down the wrong path trying to get away from this darkness that was inside of her. It wasn't a healthy or good way to deal with everything, don't get me wrong, but if Corey was safe and if he was doing okay, I don't want to demonize her actions if he wasn't directly being affected in those moments. So I want to also make it very clear that I'm not bringing up any of this to try to judge

Brianna or shame her or shame her past in any way. Her substance abuse was a very big part of her life, and I'm bringing it up because it is important backstory here. I want to tell you everything in this video, even the parts of the story that are messy or maybe blurry and a little bit of a gray area. But from my understanding, around the time that when Cory was just four years old, Brianna was pretty deep into her substance abuse. She also wasn't working at the time, so she couldn't afford an apartment for herself and for Cory, and since money was so tight, she

and Cory ended up living in a two-story townhouse with her mother, her mother's boyfriend, and her sister. She and Cory lived in the basement, which basically it was like their own little studio apartment. Now apparently during this time, Brianna's mother encouraged her to get a paternity test done so that she could get some child support from the father. You know, maybe she was thinking that if Brianna had some money coming in, she might be able to get a place of her own with Cory down the road. I don't know, something like that.

And it seems like Brianna blew this suggestion off at first, which I totally understand because if somebody hurts you in that kind of way, remember how she got pregnant? The last thing that you would want is for them to be a permanent part of your life. I mean, sure, she could get money from the father, but it would come at the cost of her feelings of safety and independence away from him. So you have to weigh the checks and balances of it and decide if it's really worth it. Now since money was tight and Brianna didn't have a job, she decided to apply for food

stamps and health insurance. The problem was that her application required her to get a paternity test anyway, so as much as she didn't want to do it, Brianna got the test. And it proved that Corey's father was in fact a man named Christopher Gregory—a man who was 21 years old when he assaulted her at just 16 years old. Now confirming that Christopher was the father created a lot of chaos on Brianna's end of things. She had agreed to the test hoping that things could just stay the same as they always had, just her and Corey, now just receiving a little bit of extra benefits and receiving some child support and some government assistance in all of it.

But once Christopher learned that he had a son, he and his parents actually started fighting for custody and for visitation rights. So this plan pretty much backfired. son, he and his parents actually started fighting for custody and for visitation rights. So this plan? Pretty much backfired. And I'm not exactly sure how one thing led to another, but because of Brianna's substance abuse issues and Christopher's sudden interest in being involved in Corey's life, Brianna ended up losing custody of Corey altogether. He went to go live full-time with Christopher and with his family. A little bit of time passed in between the paternity tests, the custody battles,

and when Cory eventually moved in with Christopher, but by the time all of that was through though, Cory was now five years old. And I can only imagine how difficult that change would be for him. I mean, going from being with his mom all the time to now having to live with some strange man that he had never met or ever heard of and was just supposed to accept him as a father? I mean in the meantime, Christopher moved out of his parents' house and he moved into an apartment complex called Atlantic Heights. He was going to start fresh.

It was kind of like he was looking for his own place where he could focus on doing the dad thing. Now, if you didn't know the details on how Corey was allegedly conceived and you were just looking at the setup and the home life, I mean, it might sound like Christopher was a pretty stand-up guy. He found out he had a kid, he really stepped up, he wanted to be this amazing dad, get his own place, even if it was five years late. And also keep in mind, there were never any charges pressed against Christopher for the

alleged assault on Brianna. So it would be pretty easy for somebody who's on the outside looking in to not realize the little fact about the backstory and think that this really was an amazing solution for Corey, for Christopher. They're finally reunited, not to mention the fact that Brianna was also still using methamphetamines pretty heavily. So on paper, at least, Christopher looked like a guy with his entire life together. He had a steady job as a realtor, and before he got his own place, he lived with his parents in a house that was valued over a million dollars. During high school, he had been an honor student. He mentored at different middle schoolers in a program called Heroes and Cool Kids. I mean, he even had an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master's degree too. So again, on paper, it looked like this guy was a great,

you know, not only man, but would be a great father figure to little Cory. Then now that he has learned he has this little boy, he wants to do everything to be a good role model, to be in his life. But like I said before, we know that there is more to this story and we know the kind of person that Christopher really was.

And we also know how and why Brianna ended up using drugs and how it was to deal with the pain and the stress from this alleged attack from Christopher, which was not her fault. Again, life can get messy. It's not as straightforward as saying people who use drugs are bad and people who have their stuff together, they're good.

It got really messy. In any event, Christopher got custody of Corey, but Brianna didn't just give up and continue down that dark road that she was on. She fought hard for sobriety, not only for herself, but for her son. Brianna joined a drug rehab program and she was so committed to following their rules,

to doing all the steps, getting clean, doing the work. She was all in. And when she finished the program, she showed the courts the hard work that she had put in and she agreed to take regular drug testing as well to show them she's really turning her life around. She's getting clean for herself and for her son. So thanks to all of this, on October 28th, 2020, the courts gave Brianna and Christopher joint legal custody of Corey. He still lived with Christopher most of the time, but now Brianna got to take Corey home with her every other weekend.

She also had unsupervised visits with him. The courts also said that Brianna and Christopher had to unblock each other from their phones and keep each other unblocked. There were set days and times when the parent who Corey wasn't with had mandatory Skype or FaceTiming visits, so because of that they needed to make sure that each other were unblocked so those visits could happen, those tele-visits. Now since Corey was at the age where he was in school and doing a lot of extracurricular activities, they also said that whoever he was staying with had to take him to those games, take him to the

practices, all of those things. However, even though one parent was taking him, the other parent was allowed to attend the games. So they could both sit, watch him play t-ball or football or whatever it was he was in, and be a part of his life. Brian and Christopher also had to both attend mandatory co-parenting counseling sessions, and they were also barred from making any disparaging remarks about the other one. In private, in public, on social media, none. Nada zilch. And again, this is a case where a rule might make sense on paper, but it doesn't really work for the reality of how the world works. I think it's good to stop parents from trash-talking

each other to their kids, don't get me wrong. But keeping in mind again how Corey was reportedly conceived, it kinda sounds to me like Brianna was legally not allowed to be honest about this experience that she had lived through, and it became literally unmentionable, which would be a struggle for anybody because we have had a long history as a society of silencing survivors of

assaults like this, and that is why so many people don't come forward. Why statistically sex go unreported? I mean, now you're even having the court kind of silencing you, and I get it. No charges were ever brought, but still this was her truth that she was living in, her experience. And now she has to just put on a smile and a happy face and have this man around her and her son. It just, I can only imagine the, I don't even know, not the messiness, but the anger of it all for me personally. Now, there's not really a lot of information out there about Brianna and Christopher's dynamic,

especially during the time when Brianna was abusing substances and Christopher had full custody of Corey. But based on all of the rules that were listed in their custody order, I can only assume that things had probably been pretty rocky, especially if they were forced to do counseling and were specifically told to keep each other unblocked

for phone numbers, all of the things. And it sounds like even though Brianna was willing to follow those rules, it was in part because she was trying to keep working through the system. She wanted Corey to come back to live with her full time. Splitting custody was difficult for her. Brianna lived about an hour away from Christopher's apartment, too. It definitely wasn't easy. Not only that, but a bunch of times, even if it was her weekend, she would have to stay at Christopher's apartment just

to spend time with Cory. Now the reason for that was because the court order said that when Cory was staying with Brianna, she wasn't allowed to have anybody else over besides her mother. So basically Brianna could be at the house, Cory could be at the house, her mom could be at the house, but if Brianna or her mom had any friends come to visit, even a neighbor dropping by for just a quick cup of coffee, she was now in violation of the custody agreement. And the reason that this rule was basically impossible to follow was because if you remember, she didn't have her own place. Brianna lived in that townhome with her mother, her mother's boyfriend, and her sister. So it's not like they could all just go find somewhere else to stay for an entire weekend for multiple days every other weekend,

short of renting a new place all on her own, which I'm not sure if Brianna could afford at the time. It was literally impossible for her to take Cory home with her, even if it was her turn, and that forced her to stay at Christopher's a lot of the time. But that wasn't even the biggest problem when it came to shared custody, because literally as soon as Christopher came into Cory's life, and I do mean the literal very first time that Cory met Christopher and was alone with him, Brianna started to think that Christopher was up to something that was completely and totally wrong. In October of 2019, before Christopher was granted full custody of Cory, Cory came home from one of his visits in pretty rough shape.

We're talking rough enough that Brianna's alarm bells instantly were going off. Corey had a split lip, his face was really swollen, and Corey refused to explain to his mom what had happened. Clearly an indicator that something's not right here. Well when Brianna asked Christopher about it, he explained to her that it was a total accident. It happened when they were outside playing soccer together. Just a freak accident. Nothing crazy. Nothing to be alarmed about. And trust me, I know that kids get hurt pretty easily.

I'm coming home from my kid's preschool with an ouch report. It feels like almost every other day. Scrapes and bruises are pretty normal, even when you're doing everything right as a parent. But to Brianna, his explanation, it just did not sit right with her. Not at all. Her mother's intuition was going off. Her female intuition was going off. Not to mention, if he fell down while he was playing, I would think that Corey would just come out and say that.

The fact that he seemed almost too nervous or too scared to explain to her what happened, I mean, that was extremely odd. That kind of threw off a red flag and was worrisome to say the least. There's no need for a young kid like that, a toddler, an innocent little boy, to feel so secretive over something. Unless, of course, he was told to be secretive.

So Brianna immediately took pictures of Corey's unexplained injuries, and she submitted it to the Department of Child Protection and Permanency, otherwise known as DCPP. And unfortunately, this situation of Corey coming home with unexplained injuries, it wasn't just a one-off. It wasn't an isolated situation. It kept happening.

And kept happening. And kept happening. And nobody with DCPP did anything, all while Brianna filed report after report after report. Now I can't help but wonder if the reason that Bri's reports got ignored had anything to do with her past. I mean, if people were looking at her drug abuse and assuming that it automatically meant

that she was lying or exaggerating or something like that, or maybe it's just another one of those countless examples that we talk about where the people who were responsible for children's safety just dropped the ball completely. Or maybe it was a little bit of both. But as the months went on, Brie kept documenting and reporting every single bruise, every single swollen body part, every scratch that Corey had. She continued following the rules of the custody order while she did all of this, too.

She was trying to document it and do everything right. Then in April of 2020, Brie wrote to DCPP expressing her worries about them not taking any of her report seriously. And in this letter, it read, I talked to someone on Friday about my son being abused and no one continuing to investigate it. He's got abused once again, and I found out about it yesterday. Many reports are made and nothing has been done.

It's a bruise very similar to the one made in December by his father. My family documented the bruise and my son saying that he was hit at his father's household. We fear that he needs medical attention because I was told that he seemed like he was in pain and had trouble doing anything, like running or moving too much. Is someone going to do something about this abuse or are we going to allow his father to continue to hurt him? I have pictures of his injuries that began in September, which is when his father came into his life. Please get back to me.

Thank you." Again, that was in April of 2020, and Corey had only first met his dad in August of 2019. So they literally had only known each other for a couple of months, and it was already every single red flag all over the place. And in those few months, Brie went from reporting things

that seemed kind of worrisome to fully knowing with her entire heart that Corey was being abused. She said as much in the letters too that she wrote to DCPP. And I cannot imagine how frustrated and painful and enraged she must have felt every time that Corey went back to Christopher, knowing that the next time that she saw him, he was probably going to be covered in new bruises all over his little body. And no matter what Bree's past looked like or what sort of overwhelming workload DCPP may have had, because we know that's always the excuse, these reports 100% should have

been taken seriously and looked into. This wasn't a complaint that the other parent was 5 minutes late dropping Cory off or something like that. These were multiple reports of physical harm being done to a defenseless, innocent child. What more do you need? Well, as I'm sure you can imagine, then a few months went by and Brie filed yet another report. This was in July of 2020. This time, Corey came home with not only bruises and scrapes all over his body, but two black eyes and injuries that looked like bite marks.

So after this report, DCPP finally kind of, you know, got their head out of their ass a little bit. I mean, at least a little bit, because they decided that it would probably now be a good idea to interview Corey and maybe see if he would tell them what was going on here. Now, as you can imagine, though, he didn't say much. And think back to that first time when he came back to Breeze with bruises on him back in September of 2019. He wouldn't even tell his mom, the person he was him back in September of 2019. He wouldn't even tell his mom, the person he was closest to, his whole entire life. He wouldn't even share with her what had happened. Not to mention this interview. It took place at Christopher's house. So I don't think I

even need to say why that would not work at all, why that would be intimidating for a innocent little boy. So when Bree learned that little specific detail, specifically this conversation about it happening at Christopher's place, I mean, she was pissed, understandably. So she reached out to DCPP through email with her frustrations, just straight up telling them that Cory was scared of his dad. Of course, he's not going to cooperate or disclose what's happening. Not only is he scared of him, but you're doing the interview in Christopher's house where after the interview and after you leave, where's he gonna go?

He's gonna be right there with the person inflicting this harm on him. Like make it make sense, it doesn't. So the whole time that Christopher was actively in Cory's life, Brie continued just raising the concerns about Cory being hurt. She raised concerns more than 100 times. That is 100 separate days that her little boy came home with bruises on his body, a black eye, scrapes,

whatever it was, and he was too scared to tell his mom what had happened. 100 separate different chances for DCPP to look into things in an actual, serious, and intentional way, instead of just blowing her off. One of the last reports that Brie made to DCPP was in March of 2021. So we are going to be skipping ahead an entire year from those two incidents that we just covered and from that complete bogus BS interview that DCPP did with Corey. Now, Brie has been fully honest in saying that she and Christopher followed the rules of the court

and the rules that were in the court order the majority of the time, but that sometimes they would get a little lax. For instance, instead of Brie staying over at Christopher's when it was her turn to have Corey, he would sometimes allow her to take Corey back to her house, even if there were other people there at the time. So nothing too big or too serious in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed like Christopher

and Bree were talking to each other more, and they were working these agreements out together. In their court order, there were set up times where each parent would have to come pick Cory up or drop him off at the other person's house. So on Saturday, March 20th, 2021, it was Bree's day to have Cory. She planned a fun little day trip for them to have to go see her dad where he was living in Pennsylvania. It was his birthday and he wanted to spend it with his grandson. She was excited about it and Christopher was already aware of the travel plans. He didn't have any problems with it.

The area where Bree's dad lived was only about an hour and a half drive from Christopher's apartment in New Jersey, so it's not like they were going to be on the road for hours on end either. It seemed like it would be a good day trip. So Bree and Cory had a fun day. They went out to eat, they got ice cream, they played mini golf, and they were just spending good quality time together. According to the court order, she was supposed to drop Cory off with Christopher between at 2 and 3 p.m. that day though. And again, she rarely ever broke rules of the court order unless it was something that she and Christopher had talked about in advance, and he had agreed

to it and allowed it. She had every intention of getting him back to Christopher during the window that she was supposed to. However, on their way back from Pennsylvania, there was some unexpected traffic, and it made her a little bit late. So at 3 or 4 p.m., Brie texted Christopher explaining that the traffic was really bad but that she was still on her way and that she would be there soon. Now even though Brie was communicating with him and it was just an innocent simple mistake, Christopher was not happy about this and he was not gonna just let it slide. So he told her through text that however late she was

going to be dropping him off, that was how however much later she was allowed to pick him up during her next scheduled time to be with him. So if she was going to be an hour and a half late, then he essentially was getting an added hour and a half onto his time with Cory. And his anger was pretty clear in those messages as well, because one said, FYI, this is beyond pissing me off. Now my entire plans for today are ruined." To which Brie apologized and told him that she was driving as fast as she could.

He also told her, quote, "'To just drop Cory off when she got there.'" And I'm just reading in between the lines here, and I could be completely wrong, guys, but I'm interpreting this to mean that she usually would walk Cory up to Christopher's door, maybe say bye, maybe she would come in for a few minutes, that kind of thing. So maybe Christopher was so mad about the tardiness, her being late,

that he didn't even want to see her talk to her. Just drop him off and then go. Maybe he didn't want her to take an extra few minutes to drive around looking for a parking spot or come in the house or whatever it may be. And again, I could totally be wrong. That's just how I personally am interpreting this text messages. So he told her to drop Corey off not at his apartment door, but at the complex's gym door. Then Brie texted Christopher again at 4.14 PM. She was saying that Corey couldn't get inside the door.

So from the timestamps, it seems that she was a little over an hour late, and then she was dropping Corey off at the gym as instructed. Corey did eventually get inside though, and if you're familiar with this case we know what happened next, and we know this because there was surveillance footage inside that gym. We are gonna take a quick break in today's case to hear from our

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that my kids got it, I was a full-blown panic. They were so uncomfortable. They seemed miserable. I tried to put them in a warm bath thinking it would soothe them. It did the complete opposite, and I was looking searching high and low for anything that would just help relieve the discomfort that they were feeling. And let me tell you about Huggies. The Skin Essentials diapers feature the Skin Protect liner and help protect against the top two causes of rash by managing moisture and runny mess. The wipes are thick and have zero harsh ingredients for a great gentle clean.

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it seems that she was a little over an hour late and then she was dropping Kori off at the gym as instructed. Corey did eventually get inside though. And if you're familiar with this case, we know what happened next. And we know this because there was surveillance footage inside that gym. In this footage, Christopher was making Corey run on the treadmill.

And not just a casual normal run though, he kept turning up the speed on the treadmill to speeds so fast that Cory, being pretty tiny and only six years old, he couldn't keep up. Because of how fast the treadmill was going, Cory fell off of the treadmill not once, not twice, not even three times. Multiple times. Cory fell off the treadmill over and over and over again. One time after the next, and each time he tried to get back on, but he just could not keep up with it.

So after falling off at least five or six times at this point, Christopher walked over to Cory, looking very, very angry. Cory was now on the floor behind the treadmill again after falling off yet another time. And Christopher yanked him up, quite literally yanked him up and then threw him on the treadmill. And then he bit him on the top of his head, all while forcing him to keep running faster and faster so that he wouldn't fall off again. And guys, this has to be one of the biggest reasons why it's taken me so long to cover this case because this video makes me sick to my stomach. It is so cruel against a little boy who's there with

his dad seeing him maybe working out and wanting to be like him. I know my son sometimes wants to run on the treadmill to be like my husband and we do it at obviously a very light speed, but like to just keep forcing him back on after he's falling off then biting him on the top of the head it is so mean and it just It makes me so sad Because these kids are defenseless

They're innocent and here they are with somebody who is supposed to be loving them taking care of them and they are just being so Cruel that is the best word. I know how to describe it. just being so cruel. That is the best word I know how to describe it. It is so cruel. And this all happened on a Saturday, right at the very beginning of Christopher's turn to have Cory. Bree didn't see her son again until three days later, which was the following Tuesday on March 23rd, 2021. And just like all of those other times before, Cory had a whole new set of injuries on his body. Injuries that he didn't have when Bree had dropped him off just a few days earlier.

And Bree knew that Christopher had been so angry when she dropped Corey off with him. She knew that he had lashed out at this poor six-year-old boy who had no way of standing up for himself. And now we know that he had gotten hurt on that treadmill, but Bree, she hadn't figured that out yet. All she knew was that Corey's bruises were different from what she usually saw. And there was also one on his forehead, which Bree said it specifically stood out because according to her it was oddly shaped. There was also a scrape on his chest. Now, I don't know this for sure, but in the video, there is a moment when Cory falls off the treadmill and it looks like he hits the front of his head on the treadmill.

So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that that's where this bruise on his forehead came from. Again, that's just my speculation. But after seeing these bruises and these scrapes, Brie immediately filed yet another report to DCPP. And this time, she called their hotline. She felt like whatever was happening to Corey, it was now getting really, really bad, and she wanted to make sure that something was done about it. And notice that she didn't say possible abuse or anything like that. She knew he was getting abused.

Heck, she had known it for over a year at this point, and she had been continuing to beg DCPP to step in to do something about it. But like every other single time that she did, and any other time a concern was noted, that's what it was. Noted. And that was that. The following weekend on Saturday, Brie got to see Cory again. This time she had traveled to the area where Christopher was living to watch Cory during his flag football tryouts And she was pleasantly surprised when Christopher told her that she could take Cory back to her house for the weekend And obviously she loved this she didn't argue she wanted more time with her son Now at this point it had only been a few days since the last time that she had seen Cory

But once again there were more and more injuries There was a huge bruise on his chest, bruises on both of his arms that looked finger-shaped like somebody had grabbed him very hard, and there was also a large bruise on the side of his body around his hip area. I mean, sure, he had been playing flat football, but he was only in the first grade, and it was a no-contact sport because of his age and his grade, so there was no way that he would get all of these bruises from playing sports. Then, three days later, on March 31, 2021, Brie decided she'd finally had enough. She filed an emergency custody order, practically begging the court for full custody of Corey. When she was asked why she did this, she very plainly put it that

it wasn't just because she was trying to protect him from any future abuse, she literally feared for his life. Now, apparently, a DCPP caseworker was involved in that emergency filing and also recommended that Brie take Corey to see a pediatrician. I don't know the exact reasoning behind this advice, but I would guess that maybe if a doctor confirmed that they thought that there was some sort of physical harm going on, it would help the emergency custody file. Again, that's just a guess and an assumption based on things that I've seen in other cases. Now, the earliest that Bree was able to get Cory into the doctor was the next evening. So we're talking April 1st, 2021 at 5 p.m. Cory was with his dad

during the day. Then Bree picked him up around 430, right before the appointment. And Bree said that he seemed like his normal, cheerful self, although he did still have some bruises. So, the pediatrician looked him over, but then after evaluating him, they decided that he should go to the hospital for some further testing. And it's important to note that during this visit, Cory told his pediatrician that some of his bruises were from falling off the treadmill after being forced to run on it. Now, obviously, they asked why he had been forced to run, and Corey told them that it was because his dad told him he was too fat.

That's a direct quote. Too fat. I mean, what in the actual F is going on here? Now, as if that alone wasn't awful enough, F is going on here. Now, as if that alone wasn't awful enough, Cory also seemed extremely scared after he admitted that Christopher had made him run. He started crying and specifically asked this doctor to promise that he wouldn't tell anyone what he said. He was terrified. And this seriously just breaks my heart into a million different pieces because there is no other reason for Cory to be so scared and terrified if Christopher hadn't already put it into his head that he shouldn't tell anyone or that there would be consequences. And it just makes me think back to the meeting that they had when they interviewed Corey, to when

Corey wouldn't even tell his mom what was going on. He was terrified of this man, his own father. So after leaving the pediatrician's office, Bree took Corey directly to a nearby hospital. The hospital is called Community Medical Center. She wanted actual tests, actual exams to be run, especially if that's what the pediatrician was recommending. And again, call it a mother's intuition or maybe just common sense,

but she knew that Corey was being hurt. And she wasn't about to let another single person brush her concerns under the rug any longer. She wanted to know if he was okay. She wanted to know if he was healthy. She wanted to know how bad is this. So Bree said that when she arrived at the hospital, it was probably around 6 or 7 p.m. And this was a problem because she only had so long with Cory. She was supposed to drop him back off at Christopher's at 730 that night.

So as the minutes began ticking by, Christopher started texting Brie. He was extremely mad, once again, just like what happened with that trip to Pennsylvania before when she got stuck in traffic on the way back. So at 726 PM, Christopher asked Brie where she was. Now Brie didn't reply at first, which only made him more angry. He kept texting her, kept asking her, so eventually she caved in and told him that she was at the medical center with Cory. And she also said that the reason that she was going to be late was because she was doing

what a DCPP caseworker told her to do, which was true, but trying to tell him, like, look, I'm not trying to intentionally do this. A caseworker directed me to do this. Here we are. We're at the medical center. I'll bring him there when we're done." Meanwhile, at the community medical center, Corey was being seen by somebody in the emergency room. They recommended that Bree take Corey to another nearby hospital called Jersey Shore Medical Center. And the reason for that was because they actually had a pediatric abuse specialist on staff there. So now throughout the evening into the night,

he was going from doctor to doctor to doctor, and Cory was acting normal according to Bree. He was happy watching videos on her phone, and eventually he started to get tired once it started getting later into the night. So the doctor ended up performing blood work as well as an x-ray to check for any sort of internal injuries on Cory. Then around 830 p.m., sort of internal injuries on Cory. Then around 8.30 p.m., the phone calls from Christopher started to pick up because Brie was now an hour late. And even though it was for a pretty dang good reason,

Christopher still found it unacceptable. He told her, just leave the hospital. Just bring him to my house. Bring Cory to me. But Brie, like any good mom would do, basically told him to just kinda like screw off. I'm not leaving him without him being properly examined and cleared by a medical professional.

Are you out of your mind? Plus, as a father, wouldn't you want him to get medical attention unless you don't for a specific reason? So then once Christopher learned that Brie wasn't going to be just easily bullied by him and rushing back over to him, he started getting very angry and their text messages turned into a full-blown knockdown dragout fight. And at some point, Bree's phone died and she wasn't able to charge it until almost midnight. So when she finally got ahold of Christopher, she told him to stay up if he wanted Corey and that she would drop him off after they left the hospital. But then by 12 48 a.m. when she sent that follow-up text, he was already asleep. Now Corey's blood work, x-rays, and all the other tests that were done that night came back normal. It wasn't until April 2nd at around 1 30 a.m. that Bri and Cory finally made it back home to her house after all the exams, all the

questions. So her plans were to get ahold of Christopher as soon as he woke up first thing in the morning and then drop Cory off at Christopher's house. So the next morning Bri got Cory dressed, she fed him some breakfast, and they headed off at Christopher's house. So the next morning, Bree got Cory dressed, she fed him some breakfast, and they headed over to Christopher's house bright and early, all before Cory was supposed to be at school at 8.30. Meanwhile, Christopher had been texting Bree since 6.45 a.m., telling her that she broke the agreement,

she put Cory in danger, he was gonna take her to court, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. His son's mother then decided that, to take it upon her question, to court blah blah blah blah blah. He even told her that he had picked him, and I had to extend the battery to her and coax him. He even told her that he had filed an application with the courts for her to completely lose all rights to Cory for what she did, which would honestly be laughable if it wasn't so sad, considering that Christopher had already taken custody

from her once, and he was the one who was causing all of these injuries, which forced her to take Cory to the hospital in the first place. So are you lashing out because you're scared you're going to get caught? This clearly can't be coming from a genuine place of concern, right? So in any event, Brie dropped Cory off. She gave him a hug and a kiss and she told him goodbye. Then just a few hours later, that same day, this was April 2nd, 2021,

at 3.30 p.m., Christopher reached out to Brie. Christopher called Brie to ask her for Cory's insurance information, his medical card information, because he said he's now taking Cory to the hospital, yet he refused to tell her which hospital he was taking him to. And I mean, obviously, Brie was extremely confused and worried just out of her mind because she had just been with Cory a few hours earlier, and he seemed completely fine. Maybe a little sleepy since they had a long night, but fine. But Christopher was now telling her that Cory was lethargic. He was sleeping too much. He was puking and that he was altogether just not feeling well.

And sure, sickness can come on quickly with kids, but this was a little intense. Like the quick switch up from how he had been just a few hours before while under Brie's care to now going to a hospital where he's not even telling her what hospital he's taking him to, it doesn't feel right. And Christopher pretty much just dropped off that information on Brie. He got what he needed from her,

the insurance information, and then he hung up. So she started calling all of the local hospitals, trying to pin down where Cory was so that she could come there, come be with him. She even called the police because she was clearly worried out of her mind, feeling like something deep down was very, very wrong here. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure it out. She basically just had to sit there and wait until Christopher finally felt like putting her out of her misery and giving her an update. And sadly, it wasn't Christopher who ended up explaining to her what was happening with Cory. Because around 6 p.m. that night, there was a knock on Brianna's door. It was the police, and they gave Bri the devastating news that no mother ever wants to hear,

that Cory passed away, and he was only six years old. And as a mom myself, if you're going through that kind of worry, that panic, you've been trying to do everything you can for over a year to make sure that your little boy is safe, protected, then you're calling all the hospitals frantically wondering where he is to then have police on your doorstep telling you it's too late. He's dead. Your six-year-old little boy is dead. The wave of, I don't even know the word, anguish that would like just come over you. I don't even know how you could physically respond to that without just like buckling and dropping to your knees as if it's just truly a nightmare. Truly a nightmare. Brie had been advocating for her son,

fighting for him to be in a safe environment away from Christopher ever since the literal moment that he entered his life. She sent email, she called, she tried to meet up with her caseworker, she took him to the hospital, she did everything in her power. None of it was good enough

because she essentially had just been ignored. It is, it's unbelievable that this can happen in this day and age. Why after a hundred calls and an emergency desperate plea where you denied the opportunity to keep your child alive? I don't know if it was in confidence on DC PNP side or, um, they just didn't believe me but I collected evidence. There was a video of it happening so I honestly do not know how it was not clear that he was

being abused. It makes no sense to me and I don't think it ever will. And remember, she had also filed for emergency custody of Corey on March 31st because she literally feared his life was in danger. And the day before Corey died, the order was denied. Even despite all of this, the court said this, they do not find that Corey is in danger

of imminent and irreparable harm. Therefore, the court does not find a temporary modification of the party's custody and parenting time arrangement appropriate that this time, this was the day before Corey died. Now, the craziest thing about that decision to deny her custody was that the judge literally watched the surveillance video footage of Corey falling off this treadmill and being bitten by Christopher before making the ruling. They saw every bit of the same footage that we saw and they still said that Corey was safe, that he was fine in Christopher's care. And I guess my biggest question, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this question, is who is supposed to

be held accountable here? If DCPP is going to ignore over 100 calls, accountable here? If DCPP is going to ignore over 100 calls, emails, texts, and proof of a child being hurt, and a judge is going to watch with their own eyes in their head a child who is being, you know, hurt and forced to jump on this treadmill, getting bit on the head, and just ignore it, then who is there in the system to save these kids? What's the point of even having a system like this in place if every single concern is going to be ignored until a child is dead? How can this happen? How can this happen? And I think Bree pretty much covers the answers to my questions here. Bree- No one's going to admit that they thought the abuse was going on before because that just shows they were wrong. But now that he passed away, all of a sudden everyone is like, how didn't we know?

You did know. You were just ignorant, I guess you can say. Brianna learned that while Corey was at the hospital, he had a devastating seizure during a CT scan. The medical staff did everything in their power to save him, but they just couldn't. The medical examiner ruled that Corey's cause of death was blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions with acute inflammation and sepsis. So in other words, his heart and his liver had been injured,

leading to a serious infection. Corey's manner of death was ruled as undetermined. The options that they could have gone with were natural, accidental, self-inflicted, homicide, undetermined, and pending. So the medical examiner was basically saying they weren't sure if someone killed Corey on purpose or if he was just in a terrible accident

or if it was something else entirely. But then a few months after Corey passed, on July 7, 2021, Christopher was arrested on charges of child neglect. Not for anything related to Corey's death, though, but rather because the police investigated that infamous treadmill video. Not long after his arrest, he was released, and from what I can tell, New Jersey had recently passed

a law getting rid of cash bail, and Christopher met whatever criteria they had to be let out while he waited for his trial. So he just got to chill at home until his day in court, which also enrages me. In the meantime, in September of 2021, a forensic pathologist took a second look at Corey's cause and manner of death, and he decided to change that initial ruling. Instead of saying that the manner of death was undetermined, he ruled it as a homicide. The doctor also said that the homicide stemmed from chronic abuse. In fact, he found evidence that Corey had received an acute traumatic injury to his

heart somewhere between 4 and 12 hours before his death. And that is what killed him. Which yes, that is a pretty big timeframe because Corey was pronounced dead at around five that day. So if you go back 12 hours, he would have still been in Bree's custody. However, the majority of that timeframe, he would have been in Christopher's care.

So I mean, it's fair to make whatever assumptions you want based on who he may have been with when all of that happened. I have my own assumptions, but you know, it is a big time frame. So on March 9th, 2022, just shy of the one year anniversary of Corey's death, Christopher was charged with his murder. And this time, he was held without bond after a judge was shown the treadmill surveillance video. The judge decided that someone who could do those things clearly poses a pretty significant threat to the community. Now, Christopher was offered a 30-year plea deal, and he was only 31 or 32 at the time. And he was only 31 or 32 at the time, I believe, so if he took the deal, chances were pretty good that he would get free someday.

I mean, he wouldn't be young anymore, but at least he wouldn't die in prison. And it's a personal choice if somebody would want to take a deal like that or not. But he turned down the deal, and he pleaded not guilty. Now, this meant that his case went to trial, and that's one reason it's really trending all over the place right now, because the trial just ended. But before it even began, I think that it was pretty clear that the focus was going to be on one main thing, whether Corey died from natural causes, which is what the defense tried to argue, or if he died from chronic abuse. Now, remember, the treadmill video alone was enough evidence to charge Christopher with

child neglect. So, at least he did have that. But in terms of the manner of death, the courts had two different medical examiner's reports which said two different things. Either it was homicide or undetermined. So Christopher's trial began on April 30th, 2024. Sure enough, in their opening statements, the prosecution argued that on the day that Corey died, Christopher was angry that Corey had been dropped off so late. Again, it was just like when he took

his anger out on Corey the day of the treadmill incident, when he was dropped off one hour late. Now we know, of course, the defense, they tried to argue about how Christopher was this loving, caring father who never had any problems with parenting. If he did, it was only due to his rocky relationship with Bree. They also said that Corey, of course, had died from natural causes. So Christopher's defense attorneys basically admitted that once the juror saw the treadmill video, they were going to feel both horrified and mortified. This is as he described it. Those are his direct quotes,

direct words. So pretty much saying, yeah, you're going to think that my client is a total jerk. I'm not going to argue with you on that one. However, he also said that the evidence that they were going to see throughout the case was going to prove that Corey's death had nothing to do with the treadmill incident. March 20th, Christopher takes that young boy into a gym that's part of his residential complex and in that gym you see him put Cory on the treadmill and he begins to work out while he's watching him from across the room. At some point, you're gonna see Christopher go over to that treadmill and speed it up. And you're gonna see Corey fall.

And you're gonna see him pick that boy up six times. And six times. And six times put him back on the treadmill. And I'm gonna tell you right now, you're not gonna like him. And I don't care if you like him. When you see that video, you're gonna be horrified. You're gonna be horrified. You're going to be mortified.

But I'm telling you right now that the evidence you're going to see of Corey's death had absolutely nothing to do with that treadmill. As a matter of fact... And I do find that to be kind of interesting the way that he worded it, because I don't think anyone is trying to say that this treadmill situation was specifically what caused his death, because that was almost two whole weeks

before he ended up passing. The prosecution was trying to argue that the abuse happened over a long period of time, like they were showing the video to establish a pattern, not to say that this was what ultimately took Cory's life, but more so to say, this is what happens when Cory was in Christopher's care. It was a pattern. It was a cycle. Brie took the stand that day, and pretty much everything she said was the same as what we already know in terms of Cory's conception and early childhood. She also talked about when Christopher got involved,

the abuse reports leading up to his death, and so on. So since you're already familiar with all that, I'm not going to rehash all of it. She just basically reiterated all of that during trial. When the defense cross-examined her, we did learn some new details, though, and I can't help but feel bad for her. Because one thing about being involved in a trial is that all your dirty laundry has come out. It is going to be out in the open no matter how inconsequential it is to the case and how minor it may seem. And in this case

everybody heard about how after Brie completed her drug program she had some really rough patches where she relapsed. And what was the drug you used? Methamphetamine. And what is a methamphetamine? I don't know. It's a methamphetamine. I don't know how to... it's a drug. Okay. And you lost custody of Cori in, I guess it was January of 2020 as a result of that addiction? It's around there.

The summer of 2020? Yes. So in the summer of 2020 you become sober and up until the moment you're sitting here you've been sober? No, I have relapsed. And when did you relapse? Um, probably around December 2020. December of what year? 2020. I can't hear you. 2020. 2020. December of what year? 2020. I can't remember. 2020. 2020. Yes. So December of 2020 you relapsed again. Yes. With the same drug, the methamphetamine? It was. And how do you take that? Is that like something called a bump? I've heard that term. Yeah, you snort it. Okay, you snort it. So when you say the word bump, that means you're snorting a methamphetamine? I guess.

I don't know. That's, yeah. Is that how you ingest it? Yes. So in January of 2020, you have a drug issue, you lose custody of Corey. In March of 2020, you still don't have custody of Corey. I believe it's in October, though, of 2020 that you're now allowed visitation. I am, yes.

Okay. And in October of 2020, you then relapse in December of 2020? Yes. Okay. Does Christopher know that you relapsed in December of 2020? Did you tell him? I don't believe I did. Okay.

And did you go back to rehab? I did not. Okay. Were you able to get all the addiction at that point? Um, no. So you really relapsed again? Yes. When did you relapse again?

Um, I don't know. I have to think, um... Maybe February? I can't recall. It was on and off like once or twice. February of 2021? Yes. And... Was that the last relapse? Yes. Yes.

So from February of 2021 until you sit here today today you've been sober? Um, no. Okay. So you really have been sober? Okay, yes, I did. One time, yes. Okay.

What was that? Um, probably around the same time. February of 2021? Yeah. Mm-hmm. So sometime between February of 2021 and as you sit here today, you're sober? Yes. So do you know a person named Dustin Wardrander?

I do. And apparently the day that Corey died, Brie texted her then boyfriend for math. Name Justin Wardrander to bring me a bump. Yes. Yes, sir. You remember that, bump. Yes. You remember that, right? Yes. So that's the day Corey died.

It was. Okay. That's the day that you don't know what's going on, right? You don't have any idea what's going on yet, right? Right. Alright. And you're asking Justin to bring you a methamphetamine. Yes.

So, and you said that you relapsed in February. Yes. Is that true? Um, I actually, that day I didn't do it. Okay. But you wanted to do it. Oh yeah, I was very upset about my son being abused. So, you wanted a methamphetamine. What is it? Methamphetamine. Methamphetamine. And I do have to say here, just speaking as a mother, the death of a child is devastating. I'm not saying that it's a good idea to go smoke meth or do drugs to deal with the pain. Not at all.

Of course not. But I also don't think that I can fully blame someone for hearing what has to be the absolute worst news you can ever even imagine and then having a knee-jerk, bad first reaction trying to cope, trying to numb yourself from what you're feeling. Especially when getting Cory back into her care had been the main thing that was motivating Brie to get clean all along. She may have been asking herself, okay, well now what's the point of even trying to stay sober anymore?

And to go through all of that and still ultimately resist the temptation and to pull yourself out of that spiral, I mean, I actually think that that testimony, assuming that she was telling the truth, is pretty impressive on Bree's part. But it's clear that the defense was trying to make Bree look as bad as possible to discredit her, which, in fairness, is their job. It's what they're supposed to do. And of course they wanted to discredit her since she was the one who had made all of those reports of the abuse happening.

I'm not saying it's right, but if you have someone who is sober versus someone who has relapsed repeatedly and is actively looking for their next fix, who do you think the jurors are going to believe first? Thankfully, though, the prosecution brought in plenty of other witnesses who took the stand as well, and that helped solidify that it wasn't just Brie who was the only one ever concerned about what was going on with Cory Cory's testified that she had sp multiple times. She also change in his demeanor ov

And it's important to not have some form of mandat meaning that if a teacher there is any type of phys they have to report it. It's because I wanted to voice my concerns and tell him what I saw and how I felt. I did not feel good about what I was seeing and what I was hearing. Did you in fact do that?

I did. The pediatrician who Corey talked to the night before his death also testified. And it's so heartbreaking hearing what he said to her, knowing that he would be dead the next day. I do give children a chance to say what hurts or what's a problem or what happened, if it's an injury, how did you get hurt. So I did that and he at first didn't want to say anything. Should I just head? No, I don't know. And so I explained to him that in order to help him, I had to know how he got hurt and what happened.

And still he hesitated, so I said, Cory, we can't help you if we don't know what happened and and and please and don't worry because you know I need to know so I can help you be safe. And did Corey give you any response? And so he looked at his mom and she said... You can't tell me what anybody else said. But did Corey give you a response? He did. He said that he got the chest and arm and hip bruises and the forehead scrape when he was playing football outside on the turf. And he said that his dad was it's a lot from playing football.

He said he got more bruises when he fell from a treadmill. The doctor said that she used a body chart to write down every bruise and scrape on Corey. She testified that there were 14 different marks on him that night, all in various stages of healing. Meaning, they weren't all from the same incident at the same time. She also talked to the DCPP caseworker that night. And on top of all of that, the prosecution also focused heavily on Christopher's demeanor leading up to Corey's death as well as after.

And one thing that they specifically brought up were Google searches from Christopher's phone from March to April of 2021. We are gonna take one final break to hear from our remaining sponsors of today's episode. So last week we had exclusive merch made just for CrimeCon, but we had a few pieces left over and we were able to throw them up on the website same day and it was so easy all because I use Shopify.

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2021. There w things like will red marks Can your phone be tracked my car be tracked? So the web browser on this was a on March 25 2021 at 9 36 1 search states will red marks turn into bruises. And could you please move on to the next one? Sure. Next search is on April

1st 2021 at 8 43 36 p.m. The search was Neptune, not emergency police. The next Neptune non-emergency police. The next one. Next search is on April 1st 2021 at 849.05 p.m. The message or the search was Jersey Shore Medical Center. The next one is a web history on April 2nd 2021 at 308.37 p.m. The search was lost consciousness sleepy and nauseous dash Google search. Next entry is April 2nd 2021 at 6 10 22 p.m. The search was can your phone be tracked in airplane mode? The next one. The next search was for April 2nd, 2021 at 610.35 p.m. for can my car be tracked? The next one. The next search is on April 3rd, 2021 at 314.24 p.m. The search is what causes a rise in blood sugar in white blood cells? The next one.

Gotta rip your staple. Next search was for April 3rd, 2021 at 3.55 40 PM. The search is could internal bleeding raise your blood sugar levels? The next search is on April 3rd, 2021 at 3.56 55 5.00 p.m. The search is, how does gastrointestinal bleeding happen? Could you please move on to the next one? The next search is on April 3rd, 2021 at 4.28, 21 p.m. The search is, how does gastrointestinal bleeding, how pong, to die? It's P-O-N-G, to die. Could you please move on to the

next one? Sure. Next search is April 3rd 2021 at 6 55 22 p.m. The search is Can a GI bleed be slow? You please move on to the next one. Next search is gonna be on April 4th 2021. Next search is going to be on April 4th, 2021. The value is McGee-Tyson Airport, parentheses T-Y-S, and parentheses comma, 2055 Alcoa Highway, Alcoa, Tennessee 37701, positions, parentheses 35.081033,-83.993889. Is there a next one? There is. Could you please tell us what it is? Our next search was on April 4th, 2021 at 9.58.03 a.m.

The search was, there was a murder determined from an aut autopsy how long to file charges. Is there another one? The last one is on April 4th, 2021 at 1021 16 a.m. The search was how long after an autopsy to file charges get filed. Then there's also the surveillance footage of Christopher carrying Cory into the hospital on the day of his death. Plus, a triage nurse who was on duty that night described Christopher as acting very calm, very casual, and not at all upset about what was happening. Now, you might think at first, okay, well maybe he was really just good at handling the situation,

even if it was stressful, which I do get. Everybody reacts to things differently. But the nurse described this as being a huge problem, because just from talking to Christopher and not being able to see Cory's face reacts to things differently. But the nurse described this as being a huge problem, because just from talking to Christopher and not being able to see Cory's face because it was resting on his arms, there was no sense of urgency.

It was even hard for her to tell how sick Cory was. There's a big difference between needing to treat a child who might have a minor fever or a headache to something bigger, such as a kid who is struggling to breathe, who isn't moving, who's slurring his speech on the rare occasion that he can even talk. Everything about how Corey was should have screamed, we need immediate help.

And yet none of that ever came across from Christopher's behavior. That is until the nurse was able to finally see Corey's face. And when she did, she saw that his eyes were literally rolling into the back of his head. So at this point, Christopher was kind of like, okay, this is actually really serious. Crap. I need to like start getting medical attention right now. But you've got to acknowledge how what Christopher did after arriving at the hospital said a lot about him. Because literally as Cory was dying, Christopher left. Like left the entire hospital. Audio see you later, guys. Like literally left. Like left the entire hospital. Audio see a leader, guys. Like literally left. And

the prosecution argued that no matter how different some people's reactions can be to trauma, there's no way that your six-year-old is fighting to live and literally dying in front of you. And instead of staying with him, holding his hand through it all, you just book it. You just take off. The doctors were performing life-saving measures, doing CPR on him, doing all of the things. And there were times where he regained a pulse too, but then his heart would stop again and it would just kind of go back and forth like this. He was literally fighting.

This battle for his life was not over. So there was no reason for Christopher to leave him behind, making poor Cory die surrounded by nothing but strangers. But in fairness, probably strangers who cared a heck a lot more for him than his own father did. Was Cory taken for a CT scan? He was. At one point we had to regain pulses and we attempted to bring him down a CAT scan and when we had gotten a CAT scan he lost pulses again and we were unable to do it and had to bring him back. So after that what room was Corey brought back to? Room 6.

Did the defendant then return to the area of room 6? He did. And were you present inside of room 6 at the time? I was. And what medical staff was present in room 6 at this point? Dr. Pichotti, there was some techs and other team members. Did Dr. Pichotti exit the room? He did.

And what was happening with Corey's condition at this time? Corey was not breathing, his heart was not beating. He was basically dead at that point. Did the defendant then reenterenter the room at Soch? No. At approximately 4.51, did the defendant re-enter the room at Soch? He did, at that point, yes. And were you present at that point inside of room 6 with Corey?

Yes, I was. And what was Corey's condition at that time? His heart was not beating and he was not breathing. Did the defendant exit room 6? He did. And did the defendant then ever come back to room 6 again? No, he did not. And who stayed with Corey?

We did. We were the only ones with him. What time was Corey pronounced? 5.03 pm. And were you present in the room? I was. And add in the fact that he wouldn't even tell Brie what was going wrong, what was wrong, what hospital they were at. She could have been with him.

She could have been holding Corey's hand through this. It was cruelty on top of cruelty on top of cruelty for every single person on board. There was a moment when Christopher apparently did come back and he had learned that Corey had passed away, but then he just left again. And the prosecution argued that any normal parent

would be there for their child the whole time, holding his hand, telling him it was going to be okay, even after he was officially declared dead. I mean, he should have been laying with Corey's body, just begging the doctors for answers, crying, I don't know, having any other reaction than the one that he did. I think any normal person who loves their child would have literally had to have been dragged away from them. Unless, of course, you're really not that shocked or sad about what happened, which is the whole point that the prosecution was getting at. Not surprisingly, the defense argued that Christopher was just so in shock and in such distress with everything that

was happening that he had no idea what he was doing. He just wanted to be able to grieve, to cry, and be upset in privacy on his own, which, come on, come on, sorry, excuse my gesture, but like, give me a break. Now, I do want to talk about one other piece of evidence here, which was a body cam video from two days after Corey's death. Body cam from when Christopher was pulled over for speeding in a construction zone. During this video, Corey's death gets brought up and Christopher starts blaming the whole thing on Brie. Now, the interesting thing about that is that the jury wasn't allowed to see it, but the

witnesses and the lawyers were allowed to talk about it and go over in court. The video itself might have not had that much significance to the case, I don't know, but it definitely tied into what we're talking about as far as Christopher's demeanor after Corey passed. For a while, Christopher was saying that he was going to testify and that his testimony was going to be huge for the defense. His mother was also supposed to testify. However, before she got the chance, the prosecution was able to get ahold of a recorded phone

call from the week before, where Christopher was literally walking his mother through her testimony and what she was going to say. Which, do these people really think that they won't get caught literally trying to coach people like that? Newsflash, you definitely can't do that. Who would like to begin with that issue? Judge, I can begin. The state came into possession of a recording of a phone call between the defendant and his mother that took place I believe last Friday during the phone call. The state asserts that the defendant was coaching his mother with regard to her testimony. I sent it to the court. I sent it to Mr. Gallucci last night and

indicated that if Ms. Greger testified or even in the defendant's testimony basically anybody that makes that relevant before the court, I will subject any rulings from the court be looking to use that on cross-examination. I will say that in every single moment she had the opportunity to stop her son from speaking about the case and trial strategy and whatever else you wanted to discuss, she made every attempt to stop him from talking about it, but he persisted. And at one point actually even hung up on her son because he continued to persist. At one point you actually hear his father in the background say stop and basically enough is enough. So as a result of this conversation, I find it necessary not to call Mrs. Greger as a

witness in this case. So the defense pretty much just took the loss on this, and Christopher ended up not testifying. He was such a moron and an idiot, which thank goodness we love to see it, but he basically blew his chance to make any kind of good impression on the jurors. So after four long weeks of trial, the jury finally began their deliberations on May 30th, 2024. Then on May 31st, 2024, after the jury had deliberated for a little over five hours over the course of two days, they announced that they had a verdict. One, how do you find as to count one endangering the welfare of a child? Guilty. Two, how do you find as to count two murder? that they had a verdict. matter for person to be seated at this time I'm gonna pull the jury members of the jury you've heard the verdict as read by your four person at this point I'm going to ask each juror by number except the two alternates to respond

yes if the verdict read by the four person is your verdict no if the verdict read by the four person is not your verdict juror number two juror number three is empty juror number four is alternate jur your verdict. Juror number two. Yes. Juror number three is empty. Juror number four is alternate. Juror number five. Yes. Juror number six. Yes.

Juror number seven. Yes. Juror number eight. Yes. Juror number nine. Yes. Juror number ten. Yes.

Juror number eleven is an alternate. Juror number twelve. Yes. Juror number thirteen has been excused. Juror number fourteen. Yes. Juror number fifteen. Yes. Juror number 14. Yes, you're number 15. You're number 16. It's council satisfied that the verdict is unanimous.

Yes, at this time I would ask the clerk to record and note in the minutes that the verdict is unanimous. Now the thing that really stood out to me watching this was how Christopher seriously had the balls to shake his head when the guilty verdict was being read.

Like he actually still thought that he was innocent in all of this. Now, since he was just found guilty, we won't know the official sentence until August 2nd. But because aggravated manslaughter is not as serious as murder, he's only looking at anywhere from 10 to 30 years in prison. I'm praying for the latter. Even though he wasn't found guilty of the worst charges in all of this, Brie has said that she's still happy with the outcome. And as sad as it is, I think that she was just

looking for any kind of justice for Corey, even the bare minimum, to feel like she and Corey were finally being heard. It was finally validated. Her fears, her worry, like, finally, there's justice. Somebody's being held accountable. But I also want to hear what you guys think, because this case is really unique, because we still don't know what exactly caused that injury to Corey's heart, which killed him.

I don't know if something happened between him and Christopher that day, or maybe there was some other kind of physical harm that we haven't even learned about yet. If it was somehow maybe worse than the treadmill incident, or if it was just so many injuries collecting over time, I don't know. But I'm also having a pretty hard time even imagining what that monster is capable of. What do you guys think? Do you agree with the aggravated manslaughter conviction, or should he have been nailed for murder?

And also, what are your predictions about how sentencing is gonna go? 10 to 30, hopefully 30 in my opinion. I think that the manslaughter was a little bit less than what he should have got. That again is just my personal opinion, but I'm interested to know what you guys think. I will certainly be keeping you updated on this case.

I don't know if we'll have enough to do a full episode on here, but whenever the update comes, it'll definitely be on my Thursday episode over on the podcast, because as a reminder, I do exclusive podcast only episodes every single Thursday on my podcast, Serialously episodes every single Thursday on my podcast Serialistly, which is free on all podcast platforms. But we do headline highlights,

which is every Thursday, where we talk about new cases that are breaking, updates in current cases that we're following, all the things. So I'm guessing we probably won't have enough of an update to do a full video, but once we do have the update, it'll go into those episodes on Thursdays. So if you haven't checked out the podcast yet, I'll put the cover art right here. And again, you can find it anywhere you get your podcasts. All right, guys, thank you so, so much for tuning in today and hearing Cory's story.

Please keep breathing your thoughts and prayers, keep Cory's family in your thoughts and prayers, and let's hope that when this gets to sentencing, we actually see some true justice happen. All right, guys, thanks again. And until the next one, stay safe. Bye. Thanks for watching!