Mystery at Mile Marker 45 /// Part 2 /// 705 | Forensic Files

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welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and
with me as always is a man whose business is always open for business here is the captain it's good to be seen
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gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime every M there is someone somewhere
who knows the truth perhaps that's someone was watching perhaps it's you join watch closely perhaps you may be
able to help solve a [Music] mystery Paul diamano attorney was hired by the Valente family to represent them
in hopes of getting a verdict that would change the manner of death ruling in the
death of their daughter 18-year-old Tiffany Valente and this is straight from the diam lawfirm.com
website right underneath the hash Justice for Tiffany it reads it has been more than S years since Diane and Steven
Valente were told by authorities that their 18-year-old daughter Tiffany had taken her own life struck and killed by
a New Jersey Transit Atlantic City rail line train close to midnight on July 12th
2015 near mile marker 45 5 miles from their maze Landing home law enforcement officials believe Tiffany
walked the 5 miles over roadways that had no street lights and for most of it in her bare feet Tiffany suffered from
nectop phobia a fear of the dark the parents along with numerous forensic experts have consistently labeled the
suicide determination the product of an investigatory rush to judgment and they've appealed through their attorney
Paul R damato and his Law Firm to have the case reopen to no avail but the valente's attorney damato and many
others in and Beyond New Jersey believe there's still hope for # Justice for Tiffany and that the new Unsolved
Mysteries Netflix episode mystery at mile marker 45 will be the Catalyst for new information leading to answers in
the lingering troubling question about TI Tiffany's death was she the victim of murder was her death an accident the
victim of a prank that got fatally out of hand why was her death so quickly ruled a suicide without first conducting
a fullscale autopsy there is reward information available in this case and last I saw
Captain we were talking $40,000 reward to help solve the 2015 suspicious death of Tiffany Valente and if you have
information they want you to reach out to the family's attorney again that's damato lawfirm.com and there's also
reward at Justice for Tiff ti.com like I said last time I saw the reward was up to
$440,000 now we give that brief description there to one bring you up to speed and two to because the family
thinks that something happened to their daughter between the time she left their
home and when she was found and they were notified of her death well we have her cell phone so don't we have like a
cell phone record of who she spoke with we do and that's where things get very interesting her family is of the belief
of a there's a few different theories that they're working with that maybe she went to the end of their driveway
remember she Afraid of the Dark they don't think that she would have went off walking on her own not for any great
distance anyway in the middle of the night so they think that maybe she went out to the end of their driveway down
the street a little bit on foot and was going to meet a friend there and then got picked up by a friend now some have
suggested maybe she gets into a vehicle with someone she thought she could trust
and then things got bad quickly and they tossed whoever she got the ride with tossed the phone out of the vehicle and
took Tiffany away now if you want to go to the ruling side of it the suicide ruling I guess the belief would be that
she decided to toss her phone and just keep on walking that night there are other people that suggest something
that's even it's to me it's a little more information and it might be a better Theory there are some that have
suggested maybe the cell phone was later dropped near the family's property and strategically placed there to throw
people off well cuz think about this she gets into a vehicle with somebody they're driving her around
maybe they get out of the vehicle with her or she just gets out of the vehicle she gets out of the vehicle you still
have her items so then you go drop off all of her items in a location so at least those items aren't in your car
anymore exactly and the situation here being that something happens to Tiffany and they
want to discard these items we talked yesterday about the shoes and the headband being found this would be about
a mile from the family's home and there's no way that those items were at the scene where her body was found when
the uh incident took place and so we know that for a fact which is which is so bizarre because again you got to go
to the fact that her feet do not show signs of her tra in that terrain for that distance before she was later found
yeah I know a lot of people seem to put a lot of weight to that to me I'm not a foot expert so some people walk around
and their bare feet all the time so they would have tougher feet I I can't walk that much you know on on uh concrete or
gravel or anything I always have to have shoes on so I wouldn't be uh you wouldn't catch me without shoes outside
and this area is described as sharp rocks broken glass rough wood now I don't know if they're embellishing a
little bit to push forward their case I've not traveled that this this made that trekk uh on foot or otherwise so I
cannot tell you exactly what that terrain would be like now we do have a situation where we talked about possible
evidence that may have been not collected at the scene right and one thing we do know for a fact is that
shortly after her death we have one of her uncles one of Tiffany's uncles along with what would be her cousin go out
there and they are looking and retrieving items that were not collected or maybe just not found or located by
the authorities when they had the scene roped off and and these items include a bracelet that was returned to Tiffany's
mother Diane but also included things like pieces of her skull and Jawbone so I would suggest that the I
mean those are significant items that should have been collected at the scene again it's either not collected or not
located by authorities to collect them it's not an easy scene I I I do want to remind everybody about that it's this is
not an easy situation just the destructive incredibly destructive nature of this
incident an accident foul play Homicide suicide whatever you want to label it the destruction of any of that
taking place here by train is going to make it very difficult for those to locate certain items especially out in
the dark now maybe they should have roped off this scene longer and again that's what the family's argument
is that this was a quick rush to judgment and they don't like the ruling but just because the family doesn't like
the ruling doesn't mean that it's not true and I I think with like you said a very difficult situation because you
have the destruction you also have you know this is basically train tracks in the middle of the Woods
so you have a you know very odd terrain and then on top of that you know this is
happening at night again they probably should have came back several times during the day and I think they should
have done several steps CU we've seen this in other cases and they might have been suicides but if you don't cross
your teas and out your eyes and do your due diligence it's almost like you're not giving you need to do that you need
to be extra careful with this because this is a hard this is going to be a hard ruling for the family to accept
well it's not just that if there was Foul Play involved in this young woman's death there's nobody investigating it
because of the ruling of the manner of death so when it's ruled a suicide they they will never investigate this as a
homicide now one thing we have pointed out there are many jurisdictions out there that when they respond to a death
that it regardless of what it ends up their findings end up being many jurisdictions work under the protocol
that until we find evidence that it is that suggest otherwise this is a homicide right and I wish that that
would have taken place here because now with this ruling nobody's ever going to investigate this as a homicide so you
may have a killer or people that were involved in the demise of this young woman out there that will never be
caught they will never be identified because there's nobody working it now some people are probably saying well
maybe I don't see a crime here that's fine that's what we're trying to do lay out the information and let you form an
opinion but I will remind you all of this last year we covered the Boardman murders the murders of three young males
in Boardman Ohio that took place in the 70s the third death was ruled by the I believe he was not just pathologist he
was an actual doctor was ruled to be natural causes the victim had diabetes and and slipped
into a diabetic coma okay now that case would have never been investigated as a murder or a
homicide but the police the Boardman police said you know what we don't like your ruling doctor we see obvious
evidence that there is Foul Play and that somebody is responsible for this boy's death that boy is David
Evans 12 years old David Evans he's he's abducted and killed is what we later learn the person responsible was a man
named Joseph Hill they connected this serial killer to that young boy's death with Joseph Hill's
DNA this year this year 2023 so almost 50 years later we had a bad ruling by a medical examiner a
police department that refused to believe it and continued to work it as a homicide and they solved it almost 50
years later so these things do exist yeah and I I don't understand it seems like in our society and and also in the
True Crime world and and correct me if I'm wrong here is that everybody just wants to be
right like they I you know whether it's the deli investig ation whether it's John Ben Ramsey whether it's Mara Murray
whether it's Brian Schaefer people come to me with opinions and they're willing to die on
that sword and not listen to anybody on anything what's so wrong with law enforcement going hey our initial
findings you you discuss this only with the family our initial findings is that we believe that this is suicide now
we're going to take some time to try to prove ourselves wrong do the work well and that's why most jurisdictions will
arrive on scene and say until we have evidence to suggest otherwise this is a homicide investigation right because
then you can't really go wrong it's easier to look all the family is asking for here is that this be ruled a suspicious
death or an indetermined death and so let's let's get into some of this information because we got a lot to get
through here Captain this is from Louise Housman she's a retired senior medical investigator who was yes hired by the
family and yes hired by the family's attorney so she does have a dog in the fight we don't know her so we cannot say
that she went into this impartial at all and then made a ruling I'm hoping that that is the case that she went in there
to give an expert opinion based off of the evidence that she could review and went in there impartially and arrived at
this conclusion but what she's stating here is that since September 21 2016 she has had several opportunities to read
reports and interviews by employees of the New Jersey Transit Police Department the Atlantic County prosecutor's office
and the regional medical examiner office she goes on to say that she has visited
the scene where Tiffany Valente was struck by a New Jersey Transit train and has reviewed all photographs that were
taken by investigators regarding Tiffany's death and she goes on to say all these items that she's reviewed and
the the long she went on a very long process of reviewing this case much longer than the medical examiner did
and what we have here is she's stating that it is her opinion that the medical examiner arrived at the conclusion of
suicide manner of death is suicide simply based off of verbal and writings by the engineer the train engineer so
making this determination based off of nothing other than the engineer statement the engineer doesn't know the
person that's dead on the tracks doesn't know anything going on in their life prior to doesn't know anything about the
evidence doesn't know about the missing shoes and headband you got to make your ruling off
of a totality of the evidence and I'm not saying that the medical did not I'm I'm saying it is
this um medical examiner retired medical examiner's opinion that the medical examiner made that determination simply
off of that engineer statement now this senior medical investigator retired Houseman is reviewing the case and
arrived at the conclusion that this should be up for review that they should take into consideration and label this a
suspicious or manner of death indetermined because I think most will agree especially once we get through
this that there are reasons there are things that a logical individual could arrive at the conclusion of suicide but
there's other reasons to suggest other that something more Sinister may be at play here she goes on to state that it
is highly unlikely that Tiffany Valente a very accomplished 18-year-old female athlete walked Barefoot from her home on
Tilton Road Road along PMA road to the railroad tracks and then walked over a mile alongside the tracks to where
Tiffany's body came in contact with the train so that's we get a distance there Captain it's a mile from the time that
she would have been on a road she would have been walking along the train tracks
for a mile before she arrived at the location where her body came in contact with the train like we said there's no
evidence that she was impaired but it makes you wonder like is is there a possibility that she just passed out
on the the tracks I don't know why somebody would do that but I I've well that she cites that so here we go death
by train is extremely unusual method of suicide to be contemplated by anyone especially a female teenager with no
history of emotional instability the loud sound of an approaching train is much more likely to invoke a flight
response in a sober individual which we know toxicology says she was in fact sober had Tiffany wanted to commit
suicide she could have walked in front of a car on a heavily traveled highways of Tilton Road or Route 30 the
toxicology report from the medical examiner's office was negative for drugs and alcohol I and I agree completely with
that statement she's the expert so you don't need me to agree one thing we need to point out here captain is the
engineers both Engineers statements have changed okay and I love it when people stories change well I'm going to give
them a little I'm going to show them a little mercy no no mercy well not in this Dojo if you hit somebody with your
car I would it would be logical to think that you might be experiencing some trauma and some Shock of your own yes
and in the the moment maybe not be able to give a clear statement and maybe you filled in
some of the blanks because you felt that you that you had to give a statement at
that time right and then later your statement changed and so the the senior engineer
who is teaching the student engineer the short we can give the short version of of how his statement changed originally
this the student engineer says that he saw the trespasser which is what they labeled Tiffany as trespasser who Dove
right in front of the train as the train approached the senior engineer backs up
that statement then later the senior engineer changes his statement to saying that his
back was turned before impact meaning that he did not see the trespasser dive in front of
the train but he saw impact no he didn't see anything he didn't see I mean we're
talking not not even a second man like it it's uh not even a split second but between the time of the the the person
diving in front of the train to impact it would be so incredibly quick Lightning Fast the Train's traveling 80
M hour this guy saying when this happened my back was turned initially backed up the student engineer later
changes it to my back was turn and these employees probably feel completely awful and just a side note yes there was
I believe a little over 60 passengers they weren't in a position that that they were able to be eyewitnesses to
this event that's correct the only witnesses believ to be and this is based off of the Transit Police interviews
with everybody on that train is there were so there were three trained Personnel that were interviewed of the
three we have two Engineers are the only listed as the only Witnesses and we as we just pointed out one of those
Engineers statement changed and our medical examiner Houseman she's going to say Tiffany was struck by the train at
2310 hours so that's 1110 at night on July 12th the medical examiner arrived on the scene
about about 2 hours a little less than 2 hours later according to the medical examiners
report it says that the statements differ greatly by these Engineers that were later made by the transit Personnel
charged with the operation of the train that night so that's not in question we we have the original medical examiner
and this individual who's reviewing everything both agree that the statements changed greatly is the word that's used
here and these are the reasons why the family questioning this outcome is makes a lot of sense there's so many red flags
she's afraid of the dark did she get picked up by somebody why was her phone in this
location why were her shoes in this other location what would she be doing walking along the train tracks then you
find out that there's items left by law enforcement why are they so quick to rush to judgment now we have two
Engineers one of them is changing their story completely it's enough of a reason to if
your law enforcement to go hey well we we understand where you're coming from we're going to leave this open we're not
going to make a ruling on it until we uh feel like we're 100% sure what of what happened right so here's the short of
how these statements by the student engineer change okay so initially what is told is
that the trespasser darted out or dove in front of the train and then it was struck by
the head of the train and this will change to a statement that goes like this as I come
closer approximately a quarter of a mile away or a Little Closer closer than that
I noticed that it was in fact a human being he's talking about he had the headlights on on Bright and auxiliary
lights on as well and could see something up ahead so he's already blowing the horn and he says as he got
closer I could in fact see that it was a human being in a crouched position in dark clothing well that's not the
description of what she was wearing at all and the engineer goes on to say a I'm blowing the horn a really long horn
just to get their attention you know just to let them know hey I'm traveling pretty fast I was traveling
approximately 80 M an hour maximum authorized speed 79 perhaps and as I'm getting closer the individual in the
black clothing stands up and I immediately recognize that it's a female I keep blowing my horn as I'm as I'm
approaching closer the individual stands up faces toward the gouge of the track or towards the
track and as I'm approaching closer probably within like 5 Seconds of passing her she jumps she Dives in front
of the train to the lower portion of the cab car I was operating from the cab car
and I noticed and I'm still blowing my horn I shout immediately because you know it was a first experience for me we
hit her I see matter go everywhere and then I placed the TR the train immediately into emergency break
application the reason why we need to have this statement underline and make mental note of the the statement of I
see matter go everywhere we talked about without getting too much into the weeds
and too much detail here we talked about the trauma and the destruction to the body right limbs severed cut or ripped
different descriptions but those are the descriptions of the limbs there was severe trauma and damage to the skull
area we already talked about the uncle and the cousin collecting pieces of that part of her body later after the police
had left the scene if somebody were to do something to this young woman you could kill her with a gun an axe a knife
strangulation and after being run over by this train Place her body on those tracks and it would show you would see
no sign of that that that would be complete a complete mystery to the medical examiner and that's why it's
called a mystery at mile marker 45 let's take a quick beer [Music] break this show is sponsored by better
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an ace or ARB don't take with Alice Kieran or within 36 hours of taking an Ace inhibitor the most serious side
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[Music] go all right we are back cheers mates onward and upwards cheers to you Colonel cheers to
you Captain we need to Circle back into something that we left off with on yesterday show and that was the bruise
on the arm that sparked the visit of child protective services to the Valente home so Tiffany has this bruise on her
arm and after talking to Child Protective Services her mother Diane admits look we had an argument things
got a little rough had a bit of a dust up here and I punched her in the arm and that's why my daughter had a bruise okay
nobody wants to hear that in a report nobody wants to hear uh an adult punching a child now keep in mind Tiffany is 6'2
or 6'3 by every report out there uh and she would have been 17 years old at the time
of the incident I'm not excusing that type of behavior I don't think anybody should ever do physical harm to one
another but I will tell you something that that we've that I told you before on this show I had several long
conversations with some Suburban police officers a couple years ago and one thing that I found fascinating was I was
talking about domestic violence or house calls and I wanted to know you know how
how many house calls do you get in relation to obvious violence or theft or robbery or something on the streets or
out of business and the officers told me that the overwhelming majority of their
calls are domestic calls and of course immediately I picture some drunk husband slapping his wife wife and they said
no most of our calls are domestic calls and most of them are mothers and teenage
daughters who are in a rather heated argument and either somebody else and the family calls the police because
things are getting crazy or the daughter calls the police or the mother calls the
police they said that is the majority of our calls again I'm not explain I'm not
trying to excuse any of this type of behavior I'm just saying what is being presented as a huge red
flag doesn't seem so big in retrospect when you cross reference that with what we know now so we do know in
that situation look we can get let's get very detailed here so this medical examiner is doing a review and says that
no one from the medical examiner's office because we need to call into question the mental and emotional state
of of the decedent and this medical examiner is saying no one from the medical examiner's office has ever interviewed
Tiffany's parents or sisters ever not not not the day of the day after the week after according to this report ever
and they go on to say that when she worked at the Atlantic County medical examiner's office it was mandatory under
their policy and procedures to interview the decedent family as part of the investigation well let's dive more into
this uh basically it's an abuse allegation with the bruise on Tiffany's arm right and let's keep in mind that
the mother does admit to punching Tiffany in the arm so it's not like we're trying to cover anything up here
and so in that report what we have is this it states Tiffany's relationship with her mother in 2014 was strained
Diane Valente the mother admitted she had become short-tempered but attributed this to menopausal changes remember the
this accusation of abuse or or sending the services out there took place in 2014 it says in 2014 one of Tiffany's
teachers saw a bruise on her arm and contacted DYFS the case was investigated who
visited the home three times and spoke to all family members and even speaking to the sisters the caseworker suggested
Ed Diane and Tiffany undergo counseling because they were having communication problems at the
time not that uncommon for teenagers to not be communicating well with their parents you mean you mean that you mean
that teenagers don't get along with their parents well look we've all been there you you turn 17 18 you start
thinking you know everything and really you're just probably a a doom ass you know this is straight from the
Atlanticare summary report mother admits to punching her in the arm after an argument client that is Tiffany is
referred to as the client client has been making poor decisions lately smoking cannabis with friends skipping
class after her grandfather's death and taking money from mother's bank account and they do clearly State here granted
access by mother so she already she had access to the bank account just using it
improperly client Tiffany is a good student athlete and has clear future goals client reports she is aware of the
poor judgment and feels she has learned her lesson so Mom is admitting she's wrong
Tiffany's admitting that she is wrong as well that she's learned her lesson and was just being stupid and immature her
own words per the report mother and client have difficulty communicating but are otherwise a stable family client
denies Suicidal Tendencies homicidal Tendencies denies anxiety and denies depression mother acknowledged not being
able to move on from the incidents due to her anxiety family accepted the suggestion to work on communication in
the home mother will seek independent support if needed return to care if needed as there is no evidence of
psychiatric disorder as such case was not accepted so this was reviewed investigated they
found no trouble in the home they found no signs of abuse and they they found what is
described as stable family so it wasn't like this wasn't looked into and then we have more
information about this relationship remember we said yesterday that a relationship had ended
well everything that's in this report suggests that it was a mutual ending of that
relationship and that Not only was it Mutual but Tiffany had started to move on she was already talking to another
interest talking to somebody that she was about having a relationship with this other person and just again to go
back to the abuse claims these organizations that look into these they're going to do their due diligence
they're going to make sure that they feel confident that when they walk away that child is going to be safe yes there
were three visits there were multiple interviews with family members something that the medical examiner that ruled it
a suicide did not do and on top of that there was a counseling session attended by mother and daughter well let's dive
back into the information we know of the cell phone yes and I think this is incredibly interesting to me here
because let's go into this with with knowing a couple facts here no one has ever come forward saying that they
offered Tiffany a ride that they saw her walking that night there was no ring doorbell camera footage Simply Safe
camera footage ADT residential cons camera footage showing her walking so however she got there the
authorities say she walked there the family says maybe something else happened now this cell phone is very
interesting remember she goes she walks away storms off at approximately 9:30 her father finds the cell phone at 11
approximately 11:00 so an hour and a half later those times are key before we get into this information so this is
what Louise housan found and her statement is if there's one thing a teenager tends to cling to
it's their cell phone anyone with a teenager knows their cell phone becomes an appendage it is highly suspicious
Tiffany did not retain her cell phone after she left her residence it is much more likely she would have blocked her
mother's text or silenced the phone rather than willingly dispose of the cell phone in the brush by the end of
her driveway many people were searching for Tiffany on foot and an open vehicle so note that that the family is texting
and calling her at some point that night trying to figure out where she is right
phone records reveal many tried calling her cell phone continually to the point where her phone received a call almost
every minute or two from various friends and family yet no one heard her cell phone ring despite the fact it was found
by her father only a few yards from the family driveway that's that's quite interesting now it could have been in
vibrate mode or silent mode was it purposely placed in the location by someone later in the night or was this where
Tiffany dropped it as she walked away at 928 p.m. that night the phone was turned
over to the Atlantic County prosecutor's office Major Crimes unit on July 29th by
a detective the following is a statement provided to this medical examiner by Crystal who is Tiffany's one of
Tiffany's sisters so the sister said she examined did an examination of the downloaded data from Tiffany's cell
phone and this statement is it is Crystal's belief that the data shows the cell phone was in use after Tiffany
walked away from the home and before the cell phone was found by her father here
we go quote there is some evidence that I have found in Tiffany's phone that raises a question of how and who there
was a call from I will I'll change the name to JH to Tiffany note the time here captain
and everybody out there in listener land 1039 p.m. this is on the night that she
died phone is found at approximately 11: she left at approximately 9:30 this call comes in at 10:39 p.m. on
July 12th 2015 it was answered for 24 seconds nobody says they were with Tiffany that night nobody says they gave
her a ride nobody admits to seeing her walking that night yet this information says
that at 10:39 p.m. that night Tiffany or someone else answered that phone and there was a call for 24
seconds 24 seconds not a lot of time but enough time to tell somebody where you're at to have them pick you up it
certainly raises some questions again if Tiffany didn't answer that phone who did
right so who had Tiffany's phone yeah so many things don't make sense and again it's found by her father just a few
yards from their driveway from the driveway of Tiffany's home now listen to this it doesn't stop there there it was
also data usage in Tiffany's phone that shows someone was on her phone in an app
that uses a large amount of data at 10:42 p.m. on the same night there is another time before that
at 10:23 p.m. that shows data usage as well but not as much this is Tiffany sister saying that this indicated to me
that Tiffany would not have had her phone being she was miles away and it being close to the time of her death
okay so what what cannot happen What cannot scientifically happen unless she had a jetpack strapped to her back and
managed to discard and hide that before her death too she did not answer that phone where it was found and then end up
just minutes later being struck by the train miles away so that's some more information on the cell phone but we
also have the headband and the sneakers that were found in a different location than the phone right that's correct so
this expert is saying that based off of the the totality of the evidence she is saying the possibility that Tiffany was
abducted at some point and driven to the location where she was later found dead
cannot be ruled out due to the remoteness of the scene vehicles used by First Responders to access the scene
most likely destroyed any evidence of a vehicle having recently been in this location or any Footprints left by
anyone prior to the First Responders arrival and then to your point Captain going on to say on August 3rd she was
killed July 12th on August 3rd at 319 in the afternoon Tiffany's mother who never gave up searching for evidence
in her daughter's death found Tiffany's headband and sneakers in a leafy area approximately 15 ft off of a heavily
traveled old Tilton Road Mike Valente called so this is one of uh Tiffany's father's brothers so her uncle called
the police who then contacted the detective in charge who proceeded to photograph the area and secured these
items a sweatshirt was also found on the shoulder of the roadway approximately 15
ft from the sneakers photographs of the sweatshirt suggest it was not weathered and may have been recently discarded in
the location where it was found what they're pointing out here is the shoes in the headband being
found more than half a month later about 3 weeks later yeah very bizarre they're
saying they may not have been there since the night of the death that they may have been placed there at another
time much closer to the time that they were found yeah which would be Dr evidence
that somebody had them somewhere else AKA a vehicle yes and so what we have here is that sweatshirt that we're
talking about we have Diane her mother who's saying that no that sweatshirt did not belong to Tiffany and Diane's also
telling this expert that she found a car key tag on the ground near the sneakers
a tag that would commonly be placed on a key when a car is being serviced at a dealership Diane advised this
investigator that the detective in charge detective Sweeney secured the key tag and all items found at this location
so they did the right thing these items are recovered some of them belong to Tiffany some of them do not but they're
all collected by the authorities bagged and tagged and again I just don't understand law
enforcement's position because as new evidence comes out these missing items that you didn't recover that were were
recovered by the family or somebody else yes you made a ruling but there's no nothing that says that you can't say
hey we got some new information and we want to reopen this investigation well and I want to sum up what this expert's
opinion is in their report because the report itself is about 20 depending on how you want to
look at it it's it's every bit of 29 pages but written by the senior medical exam investigator who's retired Louis
Housman her written portion is 19 pages long so I'll sum it up for you her conclusion and it's this it's stating
that multiple inaccurate apparently self-serving conflicting statements made to investigators by the engineer and his
student who turns out was unsupervised at the time of the incident remember he later says his back was turned so the
only eyewitness to this event this is not in question this is based off of their statements the only
eyewitness to this event is the student engineer who this expert says their account factually
contradicts the M ier Black Box on the train that's recording everything that's going on with the train right this
expert goes on to say that no drug or alcohol test of the student engineer was ever conducted a sworn statement was not
taken from this person until 10 days after the death well this is a big problem because we know that eyewitness
statements are not always that accurate so you want to get a count of the events
as quickly as you can and that their findings this expert's findings was that it was improbable that Tiffany would
have been able to jump or dive in front of the train they give a good description here Captain it's a dis of
15 to 20 ft into a builtup stone railwood railroad grade from a standing position so based off of his statement
he says that from a standing position darted or dove in front of the Train the other one was that stood up in front of
the train but this expert saying that it would be scientifically incorrect for someone to in a standing position make
that leap of 15 to 20 feet given the builtup stone railroad grade yeah it's very strange this this is some
other things that we kind of talked about a little bit but this is confirmation from an actual expert that
states the head was crushed brain obliterated the skull severely fragmented obscuring evidence of
possible anti-mortem injury such as from a gunshot wound no Footwear found at the
scene there is no indication Tiffany suffered from CTE investigators failed to interview
family in a timely manner popular with a close circle of friends admired by her teachers coaches employers and neighbors
raised as if she were a single child for the past 10 years by Two Loving parents
and indulged by two devoted sisters two grandmothers and many relatives received five scholarships for
sports and academics preparing and looking forward to going away to Mercy College in 4 weeks to play on a
Collegiate volleyball team and to major in criminal justice so this expert is reviewing it and says
that and I'll read exactly that therefore it is my professional opinion the death of Tiffany Valente warrants
further investigation and the manner of death should be amended by the medical examiner from suicide to
undetermined both of us being huge fans of Unsolved Mysteries this is how we came across this case I I remember
watching the episode and texting you about it and saying this is definitely one that you're going to want to watch
it's confusing and I don't know which way I lean some of the times but I definitely lean
towards the idea that if we don't have all the information if we're finding new evidence after the ruling that the
ruling should just you know just dismiss the ruling and continue the investigation yeah this one's really
hard to put an opinion on and so I'll leave my opinion here with this because the way that I see it Captain if
we're going to apply science and logic to making our determination is that if that cell phone
data if Tiffany cell phone data is correct then there's Foul Play involved I I can't stand here and put my hand on
a stack of Bibles and tell you that it's correct I can only tell you what I've reviewed in the information coming out
from others who say that they've reviewed that information right if that cell phone data is correct about that
incoming 24 second received call and the data being used on her cell phone by apps after the time that she leaves her
home prior to that phone being found there's no way that she was using her phone at that
location and then ended up dead on the tracks four miles away and walked there it just you it
cannot be done it physically cannot be done unless she's like a like a cheetah or something it just I mean Tyreek Hill
could not make that trk that fast right so if that information is correct then I
suspect strongly that there's Foul Play here there was some local rumors that maybe
Two Three or upward of six people may know what happened that night the one of the local rumors that was that she was
picked up by a a male and two females and uh made to remove some of her clothing maybe in a vehicle maybe they
got rid of her phone maybe they dumped her phone after the fact but that she was taken to the railroad tracks and
humiliated before she was either killed or pushed in front of the train again the those are simply
rumors but my opinion is as said if if that information on that phone is as reported by her sister and as is in that
report of the retired medical examiner then Foul Play has to be involved now there was an update good good news like
the family kept pushing and the authorities did agree to reexamine or at least test some of the air quotes
evidence I wish I had the unsolved mystery update music I I do love the update it always shocks you you go oh oh
yeah well especially when they're airing the case for the very first time you're
like well damn there's already an update that was these guys work fast these guys
but you're like oh no we we recorded the episode a month ago and then like a week
ago we arrested the guy we still we still had to run the the the uh story so listen to this Captain this if you
weren't angry it now is the time the appr apprpriate time to get a little angry so
remember they agreed the authorities agreed to test some of the evidence that they had stored in Tiffany's case okay
and here is what they came up with closure remains elusive is what we are told because the new forensic and
DNA analysis on those items could only conclude that the New Jersey Transit Police had lost or left to ruin key
pieces of the puzzle the shirt Tiffany was wearing had been stored in a plastic bag tied into a knot where it became
covered with mold and scientifically useless other key items quote had been Outdoors exposed to the elements for a
few weeks prior to being collected end quote making them similarly contaminated the report found and this is my problem
and this is a growing problem like like I said in the True Crime Community is where people have opinions or they go
down a rabbit hole and they get blindsided and they just they put their blinders on and and
and this is the this is the answer that I came up with and I am not going to listen to any
other opinions and it seems like in this case I have no reason not to believe that law enforcement didn't destroy
these items maliciously because they're so they were so hellbent on not going down any other rabbit holes
the other problem though again goes back to the ruling of the manner of death because if it with it being a suicide I
don't know how much of an obligation they are under to maintain these items very good point and to maintain custody
of this evidence and we should be seeking the truth we should always be seeking the truth it's one of my big
arguments with like the West Memphis 3 case okay so you're going to you're going to tell me that you're going to
release three individuals that you think are responsible for killing three children but you're not going to keep
the case open so we can then figure out who actually did it you're saying they did it but going
to release them out to the public makes no sense at all it's like if you're going we need to constantly be looking
for the truth and not trying to be the one that's raising our hand up and saying I was right I was
right and I I just don't understand what what the law enforcement has nothing to
lose but a little bit of time and a little bit of effort if the medical examiner comes back and says well based
on what we know based on the test we've done we're leaning toward suicide we're going to
tell the family that and then tell them hey be patient with us CU we don't want to close this case until we get the
information correct get all of our ducks in a row right yes and examine and vet those Ducks so the the Valente family of
course had a response a a statement to uh the the inconclusive finding of the test that was granted on
these items and they said look we were hopeful for a miracle with the DNA testing especially knowing
Tiffany's Death From the Start was dismissed as a suicide without a proper investigation ever conducted there is no
excuse for evidence being mishandled and then it goes on to say we're talking now we're talking about
the axe remember that the the axe that was found near the scene that had red markings on it right
well there were hopes that they would test the axe but the authori said we could not T Test the axe
because it's missing oh God the family's response quote NJ Transit lost the axe how do you lose an ax a spokesman for NJ
for the New Jersey Transit declined to comment of course they did a letter to the family's attorney detailing their
findings from these newer test state from a laboratory director stated that the packaging and maintenance of the DNA
and physical evidence by the New Jersey Transit Police was not in Conformity with acceptable protocols again it's
almost like they had their ruling and they weren't going to have anybody tell them what to
do and when they said hey here's this new information here's new evidence can you test this instead of doing so
because they might have got a different result those items were destroyed or misplaced and again it looks like given
the state of the the evidence at this time that the only way that this is getting Chang changed the manner of
death getting changed or amended in this case or an actual investigation into possible Foul Play and the death of T
Tiffany Valente will be if a witness or Witnesses come forward if anybody has information again there is a reward out
there for information please contact the family's attorney and you can find their
contact information on the website damato lawfirm.com [Music] want to thank everybody for joining us
each and every week in the garage Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners this
week Captain we got a little something for your eyeballs and your earballs check out our friends over at the law
and crime Network on YouTube you're going to love what they're doing I'm sure you've probably already heard of
them or seen them by now also check out their latest severed Affair also available in podcast form that's law and
crime Network check them out tell them the colonel and the captain sent you you can find that great recommendation as
well as many others on our recommended page on our website True Crime garage.com and until next week be good
be kind and don't Lar [Music] [Applause] [Music] here's your grand weather cast 60° in
the driver's seat in the passenger seat a high of 66 in the second and third rows a BAL me 70° just the way grandma
likes it with three Zone automatic climate control life's grander in the first ever Grand Highlander Toyota Let's
Go Places

Mystery at Mile Marker 45 /// Part 2 /// 705

Part 2 of 2

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Eighteen year old Tiffany Valiante died tragically on July 12, 2015. She was either struck by or run over by a train approximately four miles from her families’ home in Mays Landing, New Jersey. The last two hours of her life are a mystery. The investigation quickly ruled the manner of death a suicide, but were the authorities too quick to judge? Since, the family with the help of an attorney have gathered experts that say the manner of death should be changed to a “suspicious death” or “undetermined.” This case aired on Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix in October of 2022 as part of a Halloween event. There is a reward to help solve the 2015 suspicious death of Tiffany Valiante. Tips and Reward Claims: Reward@justiceforTIFF.com

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Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

Check out SEVERED AFFAIR: The Gruesome Murder of Shad Thyrion. Using Law&Crime Network’s gavel-to-gavel coverage, Severed Affair provides an in-depth narrative of the disturbing case. The Law&Crime original podcast uses exclusive audio and court footage to piece together the gruesome story. You can listen to severed affair exclusively and ad free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on apple podcasts. Check out the Law&Crime Network on Youtube.

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Brief Summary

The episode examines Tiffany Valente's suspicious death and the family's fight for justice amid evidence mishandling and unanswered questions.

Key points

Entresto Medication Warning. Entresto is the number one heart failure brand, but it has serious risks if taken improperly.
Mystery of Tiffany Valente. The Valente family seeks justice for their daughter Tiffany, whose death was ruled a suicide.
Unusual Circumstances of Death. Experts question the suicide ruling in Tiffany Valente's case, citing unusual circumstances.
Changing Statements of Engineers. The statements from the engineers involved in the incident changed significantly, raising questions.
Mystery at Mile Marker 45. The investigation into Tiffany's death reveals numerous inconsistencies and unanswered questions.
Tiffany's Bruise and Family Dynamics. Tiffany's mother admits to physical altercation, complicating the family dynamics in the investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Perhaps it's you who knows the truth.

Invitation to listeners to engage with the mystery

3:58WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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