An Unsettling Mystery: The Case of Tiffany Valiante

Could the untimely demise of Tiffany Valiante, an 18-year-old fresh out of high school, be anything but the suicide it was hastily deemed to be? Her fear of the dark and the mysterious disappearance of her personal belongings suggest a narrative far more complex than initially put forth. We navigate the murky details of that tragic night. The discovery of Tiffany's body on the train tracks, interwoven with conflicting reports and an inquest that left many questions unanswered, demands a closer look. We go through the evidence, examining the shadows that linger over this case and the relentless pursuit of her family for the elusive truth.

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Chapters

• 1:34 Controversy Surrounding Tiffany Valiante's Death
• 17:54 Thank You to Listeners and Advertisement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:34

allora, welcome to Dark Crossroads podcast hosted by Roxanne Fletcher. This is your stop for all things true crime and paranormal. From the infamous story of the New Bedford Highway Killer to the chilling tale of the Black Eyed Children, dark Crossroads podcast is a truly deep dive into the stories that frighten and fascinate you. All links to the show will be provided in this episode's description, and don't forget to let us know what you think of today's episode wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 1: 2:44

Tiffany Aida May Valiante was eagerly anticipating the next chapter of her life. The 18 year old star athlete and recent graduate of Oak Crest High School in May's Landing, new Jersey, had been awarded a volleyball scholarship and was looking forward to attending Mercy College in Dubbs Ferry, new York in the fall. At 6-2 and a natural athlete, she had entered high school as a softball player but quickly found her passion as a volleyball player for both her high school team and the East Coast Crush Club. Playing the middle hitter position, tiffany was uniquely suited to this role due to her height, her skill level and her focus. She was overjoyed at the opportunity to play volleyball at a college level and planned to major in criminal justice. She was known for being kind, loving, funny and energetic, tiffany had a strong maternal instinct for her nieces and nephews and loved to be among her family. While she was routinely described by friends and family as happy-go-lucky and not depressed, like all teenagers, she sometimes butted heads with her mother and in fact, she had argued with her the very night that she died. Tiffany also suffered from nyctophobia, which is the term for an extreme fear of the dark, and it is nearly incomprehensible that she would have run off in the dark, as was suggested.

Speaker 1: 4:10

On July 12th of 2015, the entire Valiante family was at a party celebrating the high school graduation of one of Tiffany's cousins, who lived just across the street on Manaheim Avenue in Maze Landing. At around 9pm, a friend of Tiffany's called her parents, diane and Steve, and accused their daughter of using her debit card without her permission to buy some clothes and food. It is reported that Tiffany left the graduation party after a dispute with her mother over this accusation. This accusation was later confirmed when her parents discovered receipts in Tiffany's room that night that were matching what the friend was suggesting. After this dispute with her mother, tiffany left the graduation party and walked out into the pitch black dark and allegedly died by suicide by hurling herself in front of a speeding train that was over five miles away from her home.

Speaker 1: 5:03

A student engineer operating a southbound New Jersey transit train heading from Philadelphia to Atlantic City reports fatally striking the body of a pedestrian as he approached mile marker 45. His supervising engineer also confirmed his story. The train was traveling at a speed of 80 miles per hour and the engineer states that the individual dove in front of the train from an east to west direction, though he later gives somewhat differing descriptions of this incident. Sources vary as to the exact timing of this happening, with one source stating that at 11.07 pm, but others stating that it happened at 11.16 pm. Tiffany was pronounced dead at the stroke of midnight by a nurse practitioner who arrived at the scene. Her body had suffered multiple traumatic injuries, especially to her head. Her limbs had been completely severed off and her feet, which had been ripped from her body, were found without the shoes she had left home with. Her shorts were also missing, and a shrine is later built as a memorial to Tiffany at the approximate location where she was struck by this train.

Speaker 1: 6:17

According to investigators, tiffany discarded her cell phone at the end of her driveway before walking off into the July night. It had been her father who had discovered the cell phone at the end of the driveway. Around 11 pm that night, she found it in some brass near the end of the driveway and alarmed him, since, like most teenagers, tiffany never went anywhere without her cell phone. In the last known image of Tiffany, she was spotted on a deer camera in the Valiante's yard wearing a t-shirt, white shorts, brand new shoes and a headband, most of which were later missing when her body was recovered. When they realized that Tiffany is gone, her family members searched for her, aware that she has an intense fear of the dark when she cannot be located. That is when they ended up contacting police and filing a missing person's report as soon as they can.

Speaker 1: 7:08

The Valiante family was later informed by police that Tiffany was struck and killed by a train at around 11.15 pm the prior night, but what they were not told was that suicide was suspected in her death. The next morning they read an article in the local paper implying that she had taken her own life. Two weeks after her death, tiffany's shoes and headband were found by her mother about a mile away from her home while her mother was out walking to clear her head. They were found neatly stacked under a tree along with a sweatshirt and keychain, neither of which her mother recognized as belonging to Tiffany. Police were notified of the discovery, but misplaced the keychain before they had the opportunity to analyze it. Tiffany's shirt was still on her body when it was discovered, but her shorts were never located.

Speaker 1: 7:58

After only six days of investigation, tiffany's death was ruled a suicide, much to the surprise and dismay of her family. Eventually, a handler is sent out with a bloodhound to conduct a track from the house that she left from to attempt to discover her direction of travel. The thought is that if Tiffany were intercepted and abducted at any point, the dog would lose her scent. The dog tracks her scent from the valiente driveway to the general location where the train struck Tiffany. It is later dismissed by family attorney as being inconclusive, since it had rained very heavily since Tiffany's disappearance and death.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Tiffany's death being rolled a suicide was determined largely based on testimony from the train conductor, who reported that he observed Tiffany dive onto the tracks as the train approached. He claimed to have sounded the horn when he spotted her next to the tracks, which is later disputed. During her autopsy, which subsequent lawsuits contend was not conducted properly, it was noted that while her shoes were missing at the scene of the fatality, her feet were in clean, pristine condition, without abrasions or scratches. The eventual location of her shoes indicates that she would have had to walk barefoot over rough terrain for a significant distance to arrive at the site of the incident. Additionally, a rape kit was not performed, despite the fact that she was found only partially dressed, missing her shorts. Toxicology results confirmed no drugs or alcohol were found in her system as well. It was hypothesized by investigators that after leaving her home and passing the deer camera, tiffany then removed her shoes and walked over four miles barefoot over rough terrain to the wooded site of the incident, minus some basic articles of clothing. She then died by suicide by throwing herself in front of a southbound New Jersey transit Atlantic City line train at mile marker 45. This seems questionable, since an examination of her feet, as previously stated during her autopsy, were clean, pristine and without any cuts. Also, tiffany's very deep fear of the dark would make this scenario extremely unlikely. Tiffany's family believes a far more likely scenario is that somebody lured or abducted Tiffany and possibly raped her that night, then either chased her or threw her in front of a speeding train to cover up the crime.

Speaker 1: 10:28

New Jersey transit investigators were deemed to be less than helpful and were also accused of bungling evidence and Tiffany's death. Physical evidence was mishandled. According to a report by the DTC, which is also known as DNA diagnostic center in Ohio, it was determined that some evidence, such as the t-shirt that Tiffany was wearing when she died, was not properly sealed or labeled and was placed in a plastic bag instead of a paper receptacle, where it was allowed to grow mold. It was difficult to obtain DNA to the poor manner in which the evidence was stored. In addition, a bloodied axe found at the scene near a wooded encampment, along with the unidentified key chain later found among Tiffany's personal items discovered by her mother, somehow went missing before they could be tested.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Through all of this, the family's attorney files a lawsuit to subpoena investigative files from New Jersey transit, the Atlantic County prosecutor's office and the state's Southern Regional Medical Examiner's office. They do not seek financial damages, only access to these files. He then filed another lawsuit on Tiffany's behalf in New Jersey Superior Court, requesting a change in the medical examiner's death, rolling from suicide to undetermined. He further demands a jury trial to air the family's allegations of kidnapping, assault and battery, manslaughter, murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence. An independent investigation by a former medical examiner supports this position, detailing numerous flaws in the investigation. The New Jersey State Medical Examiner declined to change his ruling and backs up the prior rolling that Tiffany had died by suicide. An Atlantic County Superior Court judge enables the family's attorney to reopen discovery and have DNA from the scene tested.

Speaker 1: 12:24

However, later DNA testing found that the key evidence was so badly mishandled as to render the evidence to be of no probative scientific value. The family was ultimately appalled at the poor condition of the evidence and its lack of availability. Evidence had been mishandled, poorly stored and, in some cases, completely lost altogether. On July 12th of 2021, a ceremony to remember Tiffany was held. Doves were released during the ceremony in Tiffany's honor. Over the years, her family has erected multiple memorials, including a large tea made of lumber in the family's backyard, as well as one at the site of the incident.

Speaker 1: 13:09

In the years since her death, the family attorney has filed several lawsuits to have Tiffany's manner of death changed from suicide to undetermined. He's trying to do this so that the case can be reopened and investigated in civil court. In them, he emphasizes that no rape kit was ever done at her autopsy, nor was a psychological autopsy conducted. A psychological autopsy is defined as an analysis that is conducted following a person's death to reconstruct his or her mental state prior to dying. If one had been conducted, he states that it would have been clear that Tiffany was not at risk for suicide. Also, the apprentice engineer that was driving the train that struck her was not tested for any intoxication that night, though toxicology results also confirmed there were no drugs or alcohol in Tiffany's system. Finally, the nearby campsite and bloodied acts found close to the incident site were not treated as a crime scene. These concerns were reinforced in a review by a respected retired senior medical investigator of the Atlanta County Medical Examiner's Office. There was the perception of a rush to judgment by the New Jersey Medical Examiner's Office and the New Jersey Transit Investigators, enrolling Tiffany's death a suicide.

Speaker 1: 14:30

On October 18th of 2022, the new season of Unsolved Mysteries began streaming on Netflix and featured Tiffany's suspicious death among their cases. It was hoped that it would bring new attention to her case and ultimately change the rolling of the manner of her death from suicide to undetermined so that it could be investigated as a potential crime. While Tiffany certainly had challenges and pressures. Like many high achievers her age, it seemed highly unlikely that she would take her own life. Yes, she had several fights with her mother, including shortly before she was tragically killed, but she was also extremely excited about her future and was even planning to thoughtfully surprise her mother with a kitten so she wouldn't be lonely after she left for college. Tiffany had recently come out to her family as gay and had just endured a breakup, but it was amicable and she was already casually dating another girl.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Tiffany's family adamantly maintains that suicide is not in the realm of possibility and they are hopeful that the increased attention to her case may finally help uncover the mystery of her death and bring them some measure of justice. If you are interested in helping this family, you can sign a petition that will be linked in today's notes. The petition is basically asking the New Jersey Attorney General to reopen Tiffany's case, and if you have any information about this case or any information about Tiffany that you think could help with this investigation, you can send in a tip anonymously at CrimeStopperscom, and you can also send a tip straight to the family. I think that this one is extremely encouraged because there will be no middleman and then they can pass this information along. So their family tip line is at 609-927-0001.

Speaker 1: 16:26

And before I leave you, guys, I just want to put in here that our resources for today are Uncoveredcom, screenrant, crime Online and Tribute Archive. Alright, guys. So thank you so much for hanging out again today For more details on the podcast or the cases that we covered, then head on over to the website wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom, where we have all of the episodes, information about the podcast, merch and also a blog covering every single case and it going into more description, links to all the places that you need to make phone calls to or resources regarding the case. You can also find us on most social media platforms. Don't forget to like share rate review, subscribe. Wherever you're listening to us. You can subscribe to the podcast. There is a link in all episodes in the notes that will send you to our subscription page and with that you will get bonus content, discount on future merch and a lot of other extra goodies and kind of behind the scenes information. So every single donation through the subscription and any other place goes straight to the podcast. It helps fund research and it really helps us out to keep this podcast going.

Speaker 1: 17:55

So before I go, I just want to thank all of my listeners for your continued support and for sending in cases that you wanted covered in, stories that you wanted read on the podcast. We truly accept all stories scary, paranormal, funny. Anything that you want read or you want me to know, send it in. And any cases that you want covered, please send in. You can email those to darkcrossroadspodcastcom. And with all of this said, please don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone. Dark Crossroads podcast is brought to you by problem wildlife. Problem wildlife serves all of western Massachusetts and has been humanely protecting your house and your family from unwanted pests for over 20 years. Take back your space with an animal control service that you can trust. They are family owned, fully licensed, and are knowledgeable and dependable. To find out more about their services, simply visit their website at wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom. Again, that is wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom, and their information will be included in our show notes.