Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
Have you heard of Wondery Plus?
With ad -free episodes and one -week early access, it's like having an all -access pass to our light -hearted nightmare.
So come join us on the dark side and try Wondery Plus today.
You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.
Whether you listen to stories, motivation, innovation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking.
Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall wellbeing.
Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible originals all in one easy app.
Find the genres you love and discover new ones, explore bestsellers, new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen All they want with more added all the time.
Right now, I am listening to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, and I just cannot get enough of it.
I never want to pause it.
I'm literally like loading the dishwasher listening to it, on the treadmill listening to it constantly.
It's so awesome. I love being able to listen anytime, anywhere I want to.
And there's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30 -day Audible trial and and your first audiobook is free.
Visit audible .com slash morbid.
You guys, I tried my mochi ice cream the other day, and I was lifted off of this planet into just another galaxy entirely.
It is a cool, creamy scoop of ice cream wrapped in a soft, chewy dough.
It's literally like a little sweet ice cream dumpling.
It's pillowy soft, soft d to the e to the l -i -c -i -o -u -s and it just feels very indulgent I loved it I tried the cookies and cream flavor and I still have the mango flavor to try I'm so excited to try the mango because if it's half as good as the cookies and cream I'll probably just like fall on the floor and start crying tears of joy my mochi is only around 70 calories per piece my mochi is gluten -free and each box has six perfectly portioned mochi snacks and guess what my mochi Mochi is the original Mochi ice cream.
The founder of MyMochi invented Mochi ice cream.
That makes MyMochi the Mochi OG.
Feel joyfully chill this summer with every bite of MyMochi ice cream.
Look for the purple box of MyMochi ice cream at Walmart or visit MyMochi .com to find a store near you.
Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash.
You're Elena. And I'm Elena.
And this is Morbid.
this is morbid what are you laughing at because it was 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 no I said I'm waiting didn't 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 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 crazy yeah i mean it was a busy weekend it was a busy
weekend and there's a busy couple weeks ahead of us i have like always like has been the case the last couple years i don't know know when this comes out so i don't know if you're gonna get this and i will have already i think i'm already at book things i think you've finished them okay uh what either either it's going great or it was great if so if you're listening early and ad free then we're at book things right now oh and if you don't we have already been at book things it is uh hey everybody who's listening to to it as it's happening it's going great it's 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 and our outfits were phenomenal it's true and you've seen them by now i'm really just in it for the cute fits yeah time and space don't mean anything they mean everything whoa contradictions quite the contrary yeah you can still buy the book though buy it regardless of when you're listening to this you should buy the butcher game you can get it at thebutchergame .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 gonna be crazy yeah it's gonna be this i can't believe you're going on like a 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 okay it's a tour for me i can tell you that much but i'm excited i'm excited or i was excited regardless whenever you're listening who knows yeah um but you know what i'm i am eager eager to tell this story yeah of this case
because this case isn't solved really oh it has a determination okay uh 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 okay and that dave could find um and then you guys can make your own determinations but this family really really would like this to be out 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 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'd be great. 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.
Yeah. 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.
Yeah. I think everybody's going to 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 Stephen and Diane Valiante.
From a pretty early age, Tiffany showed that she was a true athlete.
Yeah. Like really athletic.
She showed a real aptitude with softball in junior high and then she ended up playing volleyball in high school.
Nice. And she was so good.
Like so good. And volleyball is hard. hard yeah and it's it's so taxing on your body yeah it's like crazy she went to oak crest high school and she was one of their star athletes wow like truly made an impression um and it was actually for that reason for her skill and leadership abilities in 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 um 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.
Oh no. 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 you know 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 going to 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 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 Basically coming to like tell Tiffany's mother 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 is going on?
She denied it and said, I didn't do any of it.
So after the friend and the mother ended up leaving because they were like, we're going to 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 the big thing.
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.
Yeah. But she lectured her, like, basically, like, you know, you can't do this, that's horrible, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah. 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 out of complete impulsivity.
Yeah. Yeah. It's like, who knows?
Who knows if the friend and her got into like a little spat argument.
Right. 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.
Exactly. 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 decide 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 happened she was like and this argument wasn't like explosive it's not like 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 gotta talk to your dad.
She's like, I don't know if I buy that.
I'm gonna go 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.
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.
Yeah, right. Like, she would have had to run.
Right. 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.
Oh, okay. Like, she was literally, like, had that phobia.
She couldn't handle the dark.
Yeah. 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 Steven 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 yeah there's so much family and friends in this one consolidated area and she just vanished 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 can think of yeah so they called her sisters jesse and crystal and her uncle michael valiente who was a former new jersey straight trooper okay 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 yeah 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 p .m stephen 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 Valiente's property.
Then he leaned down to look, and it was Tiffany's cell phone.
Oh, my stomach just flipped.
Oh, God. Tiffany's cell phone in a pile of leaves at their home, like right on the edge of their property.
Yeah. And he said he panicked immediately, like an 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.
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.
It was just this person they couldn't identify in their underwear.
Like only underwear?
Only underwear. Okay.
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.
That's not good. 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 – No, you can't.
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.
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 ring to you as 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. awful.
Sherwin -Williams July summer sale is coming up from July 18th through the 28th.
That is 11 whole days to save big on paints and stains.
We're talking 30 % off big.
With prices starting at $34 .29, it is the perfect time to start that paint project you've been thinking of.
Whether you're looking to revamp your interior or your exterior Sherwin -Williams has you covered with bold hues soothing neutrals and everything in between.
So mark your calendars for July 18th through the 28th and get ready to bring your color to life with the very best paint only at your neighborhood Sherwin -Williams store.
Delivery available on qualifying orders retail sales only some exclusions apply see store for details.
Morbid is sponsored by Squarespace.
Squarespace Squarespace is the all -in -one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online.
With Squarespace's collection of cutting -edge design tools, anyone can build a bespoke online presence that perfectly fits their brand or their business.
Start with Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI -enhanced website builder, or get a fully customizable website in just a few steps using basic information about your industry, your goals, and personality to generate premium quality content and personalized design recommendations.
Squarespace gives you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place.
From consultations, events, and experiences, showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business.
Get paid on time with professional on -brand invoices and online payments.
Plus, streamline your workflow with built -in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools.
Head to squarespace .com slash morbid for a free trial.
And when you're ready to launch, use offer code morbid to save 10 % off your first purchase of a website or domain.
now in the early hours of the morning as the valiante family's concern is growing 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 Stephen 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.
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.
training like what 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 um 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 Even though that she got physically hit by a train.
Like just her. Just her person.
Yeah. 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.
Well, there's several stories that the...
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. Ah, because of the sounding the horn thing?
No, I guess we'll see about that.
Okay. The authorities had labeled her death, quote, an apparent suicide.
And the news shocked everybody, including the Valiantes, who couldn't understand why the fuck the press was reporting Tiffany's death as a suicide within hours of it 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 hear.
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 it 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 time, 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?
Yeah, right. I think it's just one of those things.
But you absolutely can, like, at least take them as, like, at their word. Yeah.
She didn't show any indication.
Right. Her friend 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 what 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 yeah 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 that it sounds like you know they they were in a rough patch yeah their relationship which again not an 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 yeah when no one can see it but it does sound like in this case but in this case it sounds like there was definitely no indication like 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 said 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, 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 irrationally.
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 right she's going to a university she was excited about had plans to study criminal justice she had already connected with that roommate like she was she was going forth you know yeah and again as like people will mention like there was a strained relationship in the house and like things were a little tense okay sure maybe like i'm not i wasn't there but she was going to be going to college yeah so if there was there was an end in sight going to college you you know, like, but again, it's really hard 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 believed things may 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 he 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.
So she, that is like history of self -harm.
Yes. But he also reported that Tiffany's relationship with her parents, again, kind of had some tension and that she, quote, was extremely distraught over some of the things that had happened.
But 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's her clothing?
Exactly. So the hounds traced her path from the Valiante'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 the entire route Tiffany supposedly took that night, they were unable to locate any of her belongings, including her shoes, her 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 did her clothes go?
Where is her clothes in the phobia of the darkness, like walking in the middle of the woods?
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 a suicide and closed the case.
Five days later, Diane and Stephen had Tiffany's remains cremated.
Oh. Which Diane did later say was the, quote, worst decision of her life.
Oh. But she said at the time, she, quote, just assumed the investigators did what they were supposed to do.
I mean, yeah, why wouldn't you assume that?
or like to believe that 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 going to be able to have an open casket funeral.
It's not like you're you know I'm sure that played that might have played into it.
I was wondering like i don't want i 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 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? Yep.
Yep. a 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 gonna 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 Mays Landing, 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...
So 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 for sure 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 because then you go to the axe with you can't 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 percent. 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 long walks just trying to clear her head.
Of course, yeah. You know, grieving, trying to grieve any way she could.
Right. 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 walk probably just to, you know, she's grieving.
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's shoes.
She said they were, quote, neatly lined up as though they'd 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.
What the fuck? And the fact that investigators searched this area?
Yeah. And 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.
Exactly. And either way, thoughts.
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 is that?
And whose sweatshirt?
And whose sweatshirt.
Yep. Yep. And, yeah.
So when the medic...
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 barefeet through the woods.
You're going to get cut with something.
She would have had to walk over rocky, dirty terrain to get where she was at the training.
hey there my weird weirdos i want to take a minute to recommend another podcast called who took misty copsey in september of 1992 14 year old misty copsey leaves the washington state fair with her best friend and is never seen again her body is never found at the time Western Washington is home to prolific serial killers like the Green River Killer, which leads to different theories on who's responsible for what happened to Misty.
Over the course of eight episodes, host and cold case investigator Sarah Kalin speaks with Misty's friends and family, looks at police records, and different anonymous tips to try to figure out if Misty's disappearance is the work of a serial killer or someone who knew her.
No suspects are ruled out.
After 33 three years, Sarah Kalin hopes to answer the question, who took Misty?
You guys are going to love this.
If you listen to Morbid, we know that you love a cold case, and we always tell you a cold case is never cold.
So definitely give this a listen.
Definitely look into the case, listen to Who Took Misty Copsie wherever you get your podcasts.
Summer is in full swing.
Whether you're traveling, taking kids to summer camp, or heading to the pool, we are all looking for ways to stay healthy and save money this summer.
with good rx you can save up to 80 on prescriptions for you and your family pets too check good rx before every single trip to the pharmacy for big savings on both brand and generic medications good rx is free and it's easy to use just search for your prescription on the website or the app compare prices and get a free coupon to show your pharmacist use good rx to save at over 70 000 local pharmacies nationwide including walmart walgreens cbs public's kroger and many more and And now, you can enroll in GoodRx rewards and earn points every time that you use a coupon at the pharmacy.
Remember, GoodRx is not insurance, but it works whether you have insurance or not, and it could even beat your insurance copay price.
Today, I saved $5 on a prescription for my grandpa because I pulled up the GoodRx app and I said, look at this.
So, you could save too.
Save at the pharmacy this summer with GoodRx.
Go to GoodRx .com slash morbid.
That's GoodRx .com slash morbid.
So Diane called her husband, who called the state police and directed them to the location to get the evidence.
Smart of her to not even touch that.
And the couple assumed the discovery of new evidence that completely 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. 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 keychain.
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 axe found with red markings on it and before you can test that axe it gets misplaced and then so that would have cut that train would have covered up any blow from an axe yeah 100 so the axe went missing and the key chain in the key chain that she didn't know where that key chain what about the sweatshirt i have no idea you 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 like 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 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 go never have I ever lost an ass 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 is 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 remain.
And 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 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.
move but investigators check the train's uh black box that it has uh -oh it showed that the horn had not been you sounded 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 a train school am i right like train 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 what i'm so confused 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 yeah
a hunter's trap camera captured an 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 in to the phone about a half hour after Tiffany disappeared, and it was answered.
Would she have died by that point?
Well, later, the phone was discovered at the edge of the Valiantes' property.
So there's no... 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 Valiantes' property property when she was already yeah at the train tracks how did someone answer the phone unless that phone was put there after you wish they knew like who called so they could say like was it tiffany that i mean obviously it's not tiffany that answers so 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 the 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 oh 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 Steven Valente 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.
Right. So in July 2016, the Valiantes reached out to the D 'Amato law firm, which was a local agency who agreed to take the case pro bono, actually.
And in a statement to the press, Paul D 'Amato 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 lawsuits are usually for financial compensation.
That's usually the end game.
But the Valiantes were not looking for a fucking dime.
Yeah. They just wanted this change so they could reopen the case.
That's all they were looking for here.
And also by filing the suit, D '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.
it. 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 Valiante 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 believed that instead 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 1 -5 and female does 1 -5.
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.
okay Hausmann 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 determination of suicide.
All those parties claimed they never made those statements or that they were, yeah.
What the fuck? Or that they were taken and twisted.
What? For example, the case file 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 somebody's life and this family losing their young teenage daughter.
Just going off to college.
At the prime of her entire life.
Well, and 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. Yeah. And in a statement to the press, Hausman 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 in most cases, or in many cases, when somebody takes their own life, investigators will conduct what's called a psychological autopsy.
Okay. 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.
Oh, 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 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, if you guys aren't listening to Noble, this podcast. She just recommended it to me today.
I'm going to start it on my way home.
It's called Noble. 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.
Yeah, it made me think of it.
So the report on the medical examiner's office supported what D 'Amato and the Valliantes 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 two 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 in it. I'm just in a state of absolute bewilderment right now.
Yeah We all want to be the best version of ourselves.
And of course, fitness is a key component of that.
The folks at Anytime Fitness, well, they see all you strivers out there striving.
And they have the expertise to help you optimize your efforts inside the gym and out.
If you are actively pursuing your goal to be fit and strong, not just for bigger muscles, but for a bigger, better life, Anytime Fitness has everything you need to do just that.
They have all the equipment you need, plus easy, anytime access to more than 5 ,000 global locations.
Anytime Fitness helps you train to be a stronger, more confident, more badass version of yourself.
With expert coaching to help you optimize your personalized training, nutrition, and recovery plan.
Get started today at AnytimeFitness .com.
That's AnytimeFitness .com.
So a few months after filing their amended case with the Superior Court, D '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.
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.
role like and this 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 re -evaluate the good but but what are they gonna do and it's the same it's the same office one it's the same office too unfortunately her body's been cremated so it's not like you can even exhume the body and 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 did fuck this up.
But I hate when they do that.
I'm like, bring it somewhere else.
Can another office take it over?
But you're right. The cremation makes it so difficult.
It does. Yeah. Because it's like 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're not going to change it.
Fuck that. Incorrect.
Yeah. So, yeah. So the problem with the civil suit that the Valiantes had against the state and 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.
It's possible, yeah.
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. 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 quote unquote, lost that axe.
Well, and that's the thing.
It's like, and I'm not, this is, I'm not saying like they don't have compelling evidence.
I'm saying the suit did not argue the evidence.
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.
So 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, premortem 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 up pictures and matched it up with pictures, seen what you know 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 nothing was done 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 absolutely they could have absolutely why didn't And now they can't ever do that.
Now they can't. But the best D 'Amato and the Valiantes could argue was that the location that the investigators discovered some of Tiffany's belongings in, along with the axe, 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.
Uh -huh. 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 laid they said it was circumstantial and unsubstantiated can you try to substantiate that's the thing can you go fucking interview some people that's pretty on the nose 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 yeah felt like that exactly there's some you can't tell me that everybody in that room was okay with that if that did happen yeah so come on forward let's go 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 no there's evidence equally as like oh you know like it's just i don't even know i feel like for me i feel like the other side the foul play side has more plays way more it really really does i agree because really the only evidence for suicide in 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 there was some stuff at home the the mother and uh 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 it wasn't rainbows and butterflies but like whose houses yeah but 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 there is that that was it's not like everything was punky doorie um but different places but i 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, you hope that that wall -on play didn't make that up, but that's a crazy fucking statement.
It's wild. And it fits perfectly, but who knows?
You never know when certain details about the case came out.
Yeah, 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 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 conclusively say what way I lean completely.
I really hope both of these cases get solved.
It's been almost 10 years, and they don't have any answers.
It just doesn't feel like suicide to me.
It really doesn't. It doesn't feel like suicide to me.
No. 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 like they talked to like the coaches and stuff like people who knew her who who all agreed she wouldn't have gone wandering into the dark that That's a thing.
And then, like, why didn't anybody—who's to say maybe they did or maybe they didn't—but, like, did anybody go to that frat house and interview some frat brothers?
I mean, not because, like, it's a frat house, but because it was under investigation.
And then that Wawa employee's statement.
Well, and the problem was, too, that investigators mishandled this case so badly that evidence was destroyed.
Yeah. and just completely fucking lost yeah i don't know how you lose an ax i really don't know how 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 like how the fuck does that happen because it's always something that would like probably conclusively 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 Inveliante 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 going to 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 gotta be a big, full of stupid, 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, a fucking suspect.
And 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.
And Stephen, her father, said it opened a lot of people's eyes.
Everybody heard this nitbit, little piece here, little piece there, but they never knew the whole story until they watched it.
Meanwhile, the Valiantes 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 in 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.
Yeah. 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.
No, because 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 to do 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. Because also, that's the community that you're living in.
And you put your faith and you put your trust in law enforcement and the community that you're in.
So mishandled. it was so like 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 uh demotions and firings after this because it's like probably not 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 on to something when he said like he thinks something was gonna break in 20 23 and it's just taken a little longer let's put it out there sometimes we'll cover a case and something
will happen it's this weird thing we were talking about it recently universe, let's get it solved and we're not taking credit for any of those if you think that, go away sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways the vibes are out there I want this family to know what the fuck happened 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. Share this here, that episode.
Watch the Netflix. Know someone in New Jersey?
Talk to them. See what they know.
This is weird. Yeah, so that's the mysterious death of Tiffany Valiante, and it's a sad one.
Yeah, I had heard of that, but 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. 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 karma's gonna get ya.
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.
Thank you. 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.
Hey, weirdos. You know, Ash and I have covered some seriously dark tales about romance gone really wrong.
Oh yeah. There are so many cases where too good to be true turns out to be exactly that.
Well, get ready for a love story that's going to blow your minds because this one is happening right now and get this it's hosted by our friends hannah and saruti from red handed meet travis he falls head over heels for lily rose she's gorgeous she's understanding and she's literally perfect and she's not human that's right lily rose is an ai companion a computer program designed to be travis's dream woman and at first it seems like a perfect relationship but when lily rose's behavior starts getting strange this love story takes a dark and twisted a turn that no one saw coming.
Follow Flesh and Code on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can binge all episodes early and ad free by joining Wondery Plus.
