Going West: True Crime - Tiffany Valiante // 298

Episode Date: April 22, 2023

In July of 2015, an 18-year-old woman ran from her parents’ New Jersey home during an argument, and never returned. Just hours after being captured on a security camera heading in the direction of the woods, her remains were recovered on a nearby train track. Although it appeared, at first glance, that she had been hit by a train and killed, her family believes that this was a cover up for her murder. This is the story of Tiffany Valiante. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Medical Investigator's Report: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p2iv4fl5965x0dm/AACunQnh3bANEHx87RAs6W01a/1%20-%20Mystery%20at%20Mile%20Marker%2045/DOCUMENTS%20%26%20REPORTS?dl=0&preview=H.+Louise+Houseman+Report+1+-+Overview.pdf&subfolder_nav_tracking=1 2. ScreenRant: https://screenrant.com/unsolved-mysteries-tiffany-valiante-true-story-details-missing/ 3. Change.org petition: https://www.change.org/p/reopen-2015-tiffany-valiante-death-investigation?recruiter=75680994&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_petition&recruited_by_id=dc99e240-7994-11e3-bce6-51b7ba98b008&share_bandit_exp=initial-34687019-en-US&utm_content=fht-34687019-en-us%3A0 4. Dianne's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dianne.valiante 5. Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/y7l54y/the_suspicious_death_of_tiffany_valiante_what/ 6. Philadelphia Daily News: https://www.newspapers.com/image/210204274/?terms=tiffany%20valiante&match=1 7. Obituary: https://memorials.boakesfuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/2194781/valiante-tiffany/obituary.php8. 9. All That's Interesting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/tiffany-valiante 10. Unsolved Mysteries: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81411119?trackId=14170287&tctx=1%2C0%2C96252710-c67c-4801-b71a-1bdde7d0cb7e-132060359%2CNES_BB4105C0BA6FF8F9B12E5B4C157A8F-B9F225DDE3A711-F3AA6BE675_p_1682008737494%2CNES_BB4105C0BA6FF8F9B12E5B4C157A8F_p_1682008735326%2C%2C%2C%2C%2CVideo%3A81026055%2CdetailsPagePlayButton 11. Lawsuit brought forward by Tiffany's parents: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22088144-valiante-v-does 12. WDPH: https://wpdh.com/mystery-at-mile-marker-45/ 13. Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/tiffany-valiante-parents-steve-and-dianne-from-mays-landing-say-daughter-was-killed-did-not-die-by-suicide?ref=scroll 14. Press of Atlantic City: https://www.newspapers.com/image/927450016/?terms=tiffany%20valiante&match=1 15. Medical Investigator's Report, part 2: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p2iv4fl5965x0dm/AACunQnh3bANEHx87RAs6W01a/1%20-%20Mystery%20at%20Mile%20Marker%2045/DOCUMENTS%20%26%20REPORTS?dl=0&preview=H.+Louise+Houseman+Report+2+-+Inconsistent+Statements.pdf&subfolder_nav_tracking=1 16. Tiffany's autopsy: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p2iv4fl5965x0dm/AACunQnh3bANEHx87RAs6W01a/1%20-%20Mystery%20at%20Mile%20Marker%2045/DOCUMENTS%20%26%20REPORTS?dl=0&preview=Medical+Examiner%27s+Autopsy+Report.pdf&subfolder_nav_tracking=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host, Stephanie. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Today's case was recommended by TeeG Alexis Gabriela, Samantha, and Angela. Thank you, lovely bunch so much. Heath and I have been absolutely enamored by this case for months, because the details are truly eerie.

Yeah, this is one of those cases where there is so much speculation, so many different theories out there, that, um, you know, I'm really interested to see what you guys think about this case and hear your thoughts. Yeah, and you can actually do that on our socials. We're going to have important photos related to this case and just every other case we cover. So I highly suggest you go follow us and comment your thoughts on this case and all the others because Heath and I love to jump in there and talk to you guys.

We're on Instagram at Going Westcast, Twitter at GoingWestPod, and then we're also on Facebook. Well, all right guys, let's not waste anymore time. This is episode 298 of GoingWest, so let's get into it. In July of 2019, the first time in the world was a huge success. In July of 2015, an 18-year-old woman ran away from her parents' new Jersey home during an argument, and she never returned. Just hours after being captured on a security camera heading in the direction of the woods, her remains were recovered on a nearby train track.

Although it appeared at first glance that she had been hit by a train and killed, her family believes that this was a cover-up for her murder. This is the story of Mae Valente was born on March 3, 1997 to parents Diane and Steven Valente. When her parents met in the late 80s, Diane already had two dollars from a previous relationship who became Tiffany's sisters, Jessica and Crystal. While Tiffany was growing up, her mother Diane was an administrative assistant for their local school district, and her father Stephen did maintenance work for the state. The family settled in May's landing new Jersey, which is about a 30-minute drive inland from the coastal vacation favorite Atlantic City. And let's talk about who Tiffany was

and what she was like for a minute, because she was known to be just very warm, gentle, and bubbly, and she made friends very easily, and it's safe to say that she was the absolute light of her parents' lives. She grew up around a large and very close extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, many of whom lived in the same town that she grew up in, and actually, her uncle and his family lived just across the street from Tiffany and her parents. Her sisters remember her having a special affinity for her nieces and nephews, and that she had a natural maternal instinct when caring for them. She also had this with animals because she loved animals, and when she was 16 years old,

she took home her beloved yellow lab tucker. Diane remembers family that the pair were absolutely inseparable and she wrote quote, he'd often fall asleep on tiff. As a gift she gave him what would become his favorite dog pillow and after she passed he was forever carrying it around the house looking for Tiffany. Oh that just honestly breaks my heart. To this day, he often curls up next to what we call TIFF's display cabinet filled with photos and other keep-sakes just to be close to her.

He's a good boy. Yeah, I'm such a heartbreaking quote. He is indeed a very good boy. Yes, he is. He's also very cute. And we have a picture of Tucker over on our socials. So Tiffany was tall from a very young age and by 18 she stood at 6'2". And because of this as you could probably guess, she was a very gifted athlete.

She loved playing softball but her true passion was playing volleyball. She started on a traveling softball team called the Lady A's and then played a year of softball at her high school. She held the position of middle-hitter on her high school's volleyball team in addition to playing for the East Coast Crush Club. One year, she was even ranked eighth in the state of New Jersey for high school volleyball, which brought Tiffany a very exciting opportunity. She was offered a scholarship to play on the volleyball team at Mercy College in Dobbsferry, New York, which is a suburb of New York City. In 2015, Tiffany graduated from Oak Crest High School in Maze Landing, thrilled to be

starting the next chapter of her life. And a little bit more about Tiffany and kind of like her quirkiness and fun-loving spirit. At her graduation ceremony, she bedazzled her cap with a Nike swoosh and wrote, just did it. And that shows her big love for sports. Little play on words there. So she also planned to study criminal justice in addition to playing volleyball for Mercy College, and she also dreamed of joining the Air Force or becoming a police officer. So this was going to be a huge year with many big changes for Tiffany.

Especially considering earlier in that year, Tiffany had come out as gay to her family. Now unfortunately, while Diane and Stephen claim that they were supportive, others remember differently, saying that they struggled to comprehend Tiffany's sexuality, and that Diane said that it may have just been a quote phase, which, you know, couldn't have been very easy for Tiffany. Yeah, of course, and this is just what we found online. Obviously, this isn't from her parents' mouths. They said that they were very supportive, and by all other accounts, her family really

loved and supported her. It's very clear in interviews of them like they just had so much love for her and they were very proud of her in general so we just want to make that very clear. Yeah particularly it seemed that it was a bit more tough amongst peers as the family's attorney Paul Demato stated that he feels that her classmates and friends were not as accepting as they seemed saying quote some of the other girls in school wanted to experiment with her, which may have upset certain girls and also certain guys. But despite all this, Tiffany started seeing a girl in Philadelphia, though shortly after

graduation, the two parted ways. Luckily, their breakup seemed pretty amicable and they agreed to stay in touch, and Tiffany started talking to another girl that she met online with things still, you know, in the very early stages in the summer of 2015 when the story takes place. As it seemed they were just kind of sending flirty text messages at that point. Yeah, nothing very serious there. Yeah, and her family did know about the girlfriend she had. They knew about her breakup because this is right before Tiffany died. so they were very much in the loop of what was going on with

her. And by the way, neither of the girls with whom Tiffany was involved with have been publicly identified, so we don't know much about either of them at all to kind of discuss in this episode, those probably irrelevant anyway. But anyway, so from the outside, Tiffany and her parents seemed extremely close, and Tiffany was a rising star in her community. She was an admired athlete and a beloved friend, but behind the scenes, there were some complications. In the year prior to Tiffany's death, child protective services is said to have visited

the Valente home three separate times after a teacher of Tiffany's reported that she had seen bruises on Tiffany's arm. And from what they figured out, Tiffany and her mother, Diane, had allegedly gotten into a physical altercation that resulted in bruising. So the two were ordered to undergo counseling, but the situation seemed to be contained by the time Tiffany graduated high school. Like it just seemed like in this particular time, there was a lot of hostility possibly

because in their therapy session, Tiffany told the counselor that she wasn't depressed, she wasn't suicidal, and Diane actually blamed her own outbursts and her temper on hormonal changes due to menopause. And the fact that Tiffany's grandfather had just passed away, so it just seemed like a really difficult time for the family in general. Right. So their case was closed after just one session with the therapist concluding that Tiffany's

home life seemed stable. But while Diane and Stephen continued to claim that their daughter was happy and well adjusted, her friends kind of told a different story. Now some have alleged that Tiffany had been cutting herself from time to time. Again this has not been confirmed, and most of her friends have declined to speak to reporters or have just at least requested to remain anonymous due to the nature of the case. But this has been very hurtful to Tiffany's parents.

But one friend did indicate that Tiffany's mental health had been kind of faltering and said that she had been, quote, acting differently than usually lately and was very distant from friends and family and that she had been feeling isolated and lonely. But one thing I want to say, not that this means everything, and obviously, you know, feelings and emotions can change very quickly. But two nights before the night in question, the night of her death, Tiffany tweeted this, dude, I probably shouldn't be, but I'm kind of content RN, you know, RN means right now. So I just wanted to mention that that it seemed like there's just different reports whether she was doing well or she wasn't doing well

But according to her and her Twitter she was doing fine Well, we are gonna get into a couple other text messages that will come up That's our very conflicting so it's very hard to tell where she was at. Yeah, so true So her senior year Tiffany was caught smoking weed as teens and many of us do, which her family was reportedly very disappointed about, and she had also gotten in trouble with her parents after taking money from them. Shortly before Christmas of 2014, she was caught taking money from Diane's bank account. But the details on that are still pretty light because the family has never addressed

it. But multiple sources confirmed that this was a point of contention with the Valente's leading up to Tiffany's death. Then it happened again, but this time, Tiffany had stolen from a friend, and it set in motion a chain of events that would lead this promising sports star to her death at just 18 years old. July 12, 2015 started out as a pretty typical summer day for Tiffany. She just kind of hung out around the house

before heading to their local wall wall for a lemonade to beat the intense heat and humidity of the New Jersey summer. Then that afternoon, the family went across the street to Stevens Brothers House, where they were holding a graduation party for his daughter, so, again Tiffany's cousin, who would also just graduated from high school. Friends and family remember that Tiffany seemed in good spirits at the party.

She was talking about plans that she had made with friends later in the week, and with hushed excitement, she shared that she and her sisters were planning on surprising Diane with a kitten for her upcoming birthday. Tiffany played volleyball, ate, and socialized as she always did. But then, around 9pm, Diane noticed that Tiffany was running home and leaving the party. After this, a friend of Tiffany's called Diane and asked that they meet at Diane's house shortly because she needed to speak with Diane and Tiffany in person. Around 9.15pm, Tiffany's friend and her mom drove up to the Valente home and in front of Tiffany and Diane accused Tiffany of stealing the friend's debit card to purchase $300 worth of food and clothing. Now of course, Diane was horrified

and denied the allegations as did Tiffany. But when the friend and her mom left about 10 minutes later, Tiffany was kind of caught. I mean, she and her mom started searching Tiffany's car for the card just in case. And Diane saw her daughter swipe something from the floor and sneakily slip it into her pocket and it was the friend's stolen debit card. A receipt from the card was later recovered from Tiffany's room and the actual amount stolen wasn't $300, it was about $86, but this did confirm that Tiffany was guilty of what she was being accused of. So Diane, who was angry at her daughter for stealing yet again, and especially this time

from somebody out of the family, so it's a more serious situation, she told Tiffany that she was going to go get her dad Steven and tell him what happened. So Diane stepped inside their house to get her husband, but when she emerged again, Tiffany was gone. And by the way, at this point, it was already dark. I think the sun set at 8.30 that night. So did it. Yes, it did.

So it was dark. She's gone suddenly. Her mom is wondering, oh, maybe did she go back to the party? Did she walk up the street? Is she coming right back? Where did she go? Of course, you know, is she coming right back like where did she go? Of course, in that moment, you're not thinking she ran away and she's never coming back home.

But according to the deer camera that Stephen installed to keep an eye on his yard, Tiffany could be seen walking toward the road at 9.28 pm, though they didn't discover this right away, so they didn't know in what direction that she headed. But Diane, Steven and their dog Tucker came outside one minute after Diane told Tiffany that they would discuss the matter as a family and Tiffany had seemingly finished. But at this point they were just one minute behind her on that dear camera footage. And there's actually a snapshot of her parents and the dog Tucker walking in the exact same spot that Tiffany did one minute later at 9.29 pm,

which we will post. And it's really eerie to know that. And to look at these photos and to know that this is the last image of Tiffany and just one minute later, her parents were in the same spot and they didn't catch her. Yeah, I was going to say that's just one of the saddest details about this case is that

they were so close behind her, but yet that would be the last time that they would see her alive. Exactly. So, her parents really did worry right away because although part of them I'm sure was like, oh, maybe she ran off, she'll be right back. They're wondering, well where did she go? Why can't we find her suddenly like they are starting to panic very early on? And Dianne reportedly called the friend whose debit card had been stolen and she rushed

back to the house along with a few other friends to help them look for Tiffany. Dianne and Steven also notified their family and the party goers across the street who began pitching in to find her as well. Like they're already like, we need to find her what's going on. Yeah, they're on it. So the family walked up and down their street, just branching out into surrounding streets as well, and saw no sign of her, like she had seemingly vanished in a matter of minutes. Tiffany's friends and family began to inundate her phone with a barrage of text messages at this

point just asking where she was and imploring her to come home, like leaving her really nice voicemails or texting her that they loved her and that everything was going to be okay, but they didn't get any responses. And I wanna paint this scene better as well, because like we had said, there was this graduation party across the street. There is a bunch of cars on the street. There's people all over the place, not just when they're out there searching for Tiffany,

but before this happened when she ran off, there was a bunch of people in cars all over the place. People aren't necessarily all in the street. They're in the house at the party, but this wasn't some isolated situation. There's a ton of people around, and her family felt certain that somebody would have seen her runoff in which direction she went into, but nobody did. I will admit, though, that where they lived was somewhat rural. It wasn't like just suburbia,

it wasn't like a cold sack or anything like that. It was a little bit more rural, but there were houses around, and like you mentioned, there were cars and people as well. Yeah, no, I'm glad you mentioned that, because yeah, it wasn't isolated in a sense that there were other people around, but absolutely, there wasn't this,

wasn't some huge neighborhood where there's all these families and houses and people because we know that her house backed up into the woods, which is why they have this deer camera. Hence, yeah, I was going to say hence the deer camera. Yeah, exactly. But photos and a map will help you guys kind of understand and get the full picture better, which again are on our socials if you want to see. So when Tiffany's case was featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix just

this last year in 2022. So good, check it out. Yes, some of the text messages sent during this time were highlighted on the screen, and many internet slews have pointed out that one of the contact names in Tiffany's phone, a friend who was texting her that evening, was listed as, I ruined her 16th birthday party. Now this could have obviously been like a harmless, inside joke among friends, but it could also add credence to the theory that she was struggling in her relationships with her friends at this time, which could lead to speculations on her death, as we're going to get into.

Another friend claimed that Tiffany had sent her a mysterious text message that read quote, just answer yes or no, should I do it? The rest of the conversation from here has not been revealed, and this claim has also not been confirmed by Tiffany's family, but has been reported by multiple different news outlets. Now this is going to be one of those details about this case that I think a lot of people are really interested in, and that is where is her cell phone. So during the frantic search for her, Tiffany's discarded cell phone was found at the end of the Valentes driveway, which would explain why Texan calls were going unanswered.

And it also, of course, made the search for her much more difficult. So as these searched, Diane and Steven remain convinced that Tiffany must have gotten into someone's car because in the chilling, dear camera snapshot, which we are going to post on our socials, that showed Tiffany walking away from their property. There appears to be flashing headlights on her left, which is the direction in which she's looking. So Tiffany's parents maintained that a car with people that Tiffany knew and possibly recognized,

and therefore she would be inclined to get into, pulled up and drove off with Tiffany inside. They believed that after she got into the car, her phone was taken by the inhabitants of the vehicle and discarded out the window. But one account from Tiffany's family noted that she was so attached to her phone that she actually bought a waterproof sleeve in order to be able to use it in the shower and that she would never have willingly left it behind.

Her parents also noted that Tiffany had a paralyzing fear of the dark and she would not have subjected herself to wandering the depths of rural New Jersey after nightfall. Before that quick break, Keith was telling us that Tiffany's parents said that she was so attached to her phone that she was never without it, basically. So they're automatically questioning why it was found at the bottom of their driveway, as if she had discarded it or somebody else had. And also, why she would have walked off in the dark when she was petrified of the dark. And also, I like to think about the fact that she was interested in possibly becoming a criminal justice major and exploring a field in that or in police work, but she was very afraid of the dark probably because she knows the dangers of the dark and the the isolation, you know, of the woods, right? Yeah. So why would she walk off

in the woods by herself, right? Another thing that we discussed before the break was the deer camera footage that was captured on her family's property as she left the front yard and started walking on a road in the dark. Now, let's talk about the image really quick for those who can't go look at it right now. It's pretty creepy because you can't see her face. Basically, she's in like a stride position as she's walking in shorts and a t-shirt

with these slip-on shoes on their white. And so actually in the picture, it looks like she's barefoot or just wearing socks, but she is reportedly wearing these shoes. Yeah, they kind of either look like possibly Tom's or Keds, but I mean, we are gonna say what type of shoes they are. Yeah, I forget that the brand is off the top of my head, but they do kind of look like Tom's.

Like, they're those slip-on shoes that were more popular around that time. But also in this photo, so she it's taken from her right side and she's looking over her left shoulder behind her. So again, you cannot see her face, but on the road behind her, it almost looks as if there may be a car or some dim headlights. And if this is the case, that's what she's looking at over her shoulder. And other than the road, there's just a bunch of trees. And again, this is the last footage of her alive, but the evening only got stranger from there. So as her family expanded their search, Tiffany's uncle drove around the

family's home on Mannheim Avenue to the railroad tracks near the intersection of Prague Avenue and Allo Street. Because this was pretty close or at least close enough to the house that it would kind of be a concern if she walked over that way due to obviously the dangers of an oncoming train. And with them being a couple hours into their search for her, they just needed to check anywhere in walking or short driving distance. So when her uncle approached the scene, he noticed a commotion accompanied by a flock of police cars, so he stopped to investigate and found that a young woman so far unidentified had apparently been struck and killed by an oncoming train.

This is her uncle just stumbling upon the situation. So the police knew at this point that Tiffany was missing. So since her uncle was there, they asked if you would be able to positively identify whether or not the body belonged to his missing niece and he agreed. Upon inspection of the body found just a few hours into their search, Tiffany's uncle confirmed that the body did in fact belong to 18-year-old Tiffany.

So police and Stevens' brother drove to the Valente home and broke the news to her devastated parents at about 2.30 a.m. who were shocked beyond belief, you know, having just spoken to her a few hours earlier, like everything happened so fast and nothing was making sense. Yeah, I mean, it's so tragic that one of her family members had to be the one to be there to identify the situation and also the fact that, I mean, it's so tragic that one of her family members had to be the one to be there to identify the situation and also the fact that, I mean, the parents really just did think that this was gonna turn into, you know, maybe like a disciplinary argument

or something like that and it ended up being their daughter was deceased, it's just so tragic. So it reports very on the exact time that she was believed to have been struck, but most reports cite that the time was 11.07 pm, meaning that Tiffany had been missing for over an hour and a half. And if she had been on foot,

had walked about four miles, or a little over six kilometers. And it actually takes the average person about an hour and 20 minutes give or take, obviously, to walk this distance about four miles. So if she had been walking with purpose, she absolutely could have walked this distance, but it just seems unlikely to me.

Like if she had run away from home after this argument with her mom, just trying to maybe clear her head, you'd imagine that she would just kind of maybe aimlessly walk somewhere to walk it off her, maybe sit somewhere. But walking this distance in that timeframe would mean for whatever reason that she was trying to get as far as possible and was really walking with purpose. Well, if you believe that she walked.

Yeah, and given the circumstances and just the evidence and details that we're going to discuss, that also leads me to believe that she may have not walked this distance. But let's get back to the scene here. So the collision happened near Galloway, New Jersey, but because it occurred on the train tracks, the New Jersey Transit Police Department took charge of the investigation. So there was no local police department. This was the New Jersey Transit Police Department taking over the scene.

And for those who don't know, transit police typically patrol areas of public transportation like buses and trains, and they help with emergency situations, like crimes on the metro, et cetera. And they are not equipped to handle homicide cases. So this was obviously a major issue in this case because as you guys are gonna see,

things just weren't handled properly. Tiffany's family and their advocates maintained that the detectives did not give their sworn statements about the incident until days after it happened, weakening their memories of the events. And according to the Medical Examiner's report of the event, they said, quote, the train engineer has stated that a female darted out of the trees and ran right in front

of the train. Deseedon had been in the woods on the north side of the tracks. However, it was later discovered based on the information given to detectives from the two engineers that were in charge of the train on the evening of Tiffany's death, that the head engineer had his back turned at the time of the collision. So obviously he's like he's giving a report, but he didn't even see this collision happen. And also, he was only alerted to the imminent impact when the student engineer assisting him on this particular route sounded the horn, initiating the emergency brake system, and yelled

that someone had jumped on the tracks. So it was the student engineer who was the one that alerted to this collision. This particular train line was running from Philadelphia to Atlantic City and was near mile marker 45 on the train tracks when the incident occurred. Now according to the head engineer, the train was actually going to stop for another train that had broken down to allow those passengers on board and he was distracted with the orchestration of this merger. And in the conductor's words, quote,

I heard my student engineer blow the horn, put the train into emergency, and say a girl had jumped out in front of us. And then we went from there. So at the time of the impact, I didn't see anything because I was turning around to say something. His apprentice for this trip, again, the student engineer, was the only person known to have witnessed this collision.

But because his memory has faltered and his retellings of the events have been inconsistent, many have criticized him for being an unreliable witness. In his original written statement, which was taken by detectives at the scene of the incident, he said that he didn't see Tiffany until the train was practically on top of her. So does this mean that she ran onto the track? Or was she already on it? Yeah, it kind of seems like he can't get his story straight here. Well, yeah, especially because 10 days later, when he was brought in to give his official statement, which is crazy, 10 whole days passed before he was brought in to give his official statement, which is crazy 10 whole days past, before he was brought in. He said, quote, I noticed something off in the distance,

and initially at that distance, it was approximately a half mile to a quarter mile away. It was pretty far away. I couldn't discern what it was specifically. So as engineers, we're trained to spot for movement, anything out of the ordinary, so I had all my lights on. I had my headlights on bright had all my lights on.

I had my headlights on bright and my auxiliary lights on bright as well, and I blew my horn just to see if that thing would move or whatever it was. As I came closer, approximately a quarter of a mile away, or a little closer to that, I noticed that it was, in fact, a human being in a crouched position in darker clothing. So I blew my horn initially a really long horn just to get their attention. I was traveling approximately 80 miles an hour, which is 128 kilometers per hour, maximum authorized speed, 79 perhaps. And as I'm getting closer, the individual in the black clothing stands up and I nearly

recognize that it's a female. As I'm approaching closer, probably within 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'm still blowing my horn. I shouted immediately because, you know, it was a first experience for me. And we hit her. I see brain matter go everywhere

and then I place the train immediately into emergency break application. So yeah, I mean, not to take away from this man and his profession at all because if this is really what he saw, I mean, the problem is this is such an important detail of this entire story is whether or not what this man is saying is actually what happened. Yeah, did she run out of the woods and jump in front of a train or was she already there

on the tracks? And just the fact that he said that he saw a human in a crouched position is so scary. Um, I don't know. It's just, it's really hard to say because he did change his story a couple times. This was 10 days later. I can't even imagine the amount of trauma that you have after literally striking somebody with a train that you're operating. And again, not to take away from him at all and say that he must be lying. Yeah, and obviously it's not his fault. Of course, but it's just, it's really hard to know what's true here.

Yeah, and you know, That's what he said. To get into a little bit more of the details, so the time in between when the engineer thought that he saw something on the tracks and when the train collided with Tiffany was just 4.1 seconds. Yeah, because there is this mechanism

called the black box inside trains and they're able to monitor like everything that the train does. So they know When the break was pulled and all this they know all the movements of the train based on this this box. Exactly. So they know that it was only 4.1 seconds. So what does that say? Right. four point one seconds. So what does that say? Right. So now the family and their advocates believe that the adjustments in timing and accounts of the engineers are their attempt to avoid admitting fault, which obviously again, I don't think there's any fault here. Like they were just doing their job. But right, but even we have to think about the main conductor, you know, the guy that was head of this student engineer, and how

he originally said that he saw a woman jump in front of the tracks, and then he says, oh, well, actually, I had my back turned. Right. So it's like, are you just saying this because you don't want it to look like you're at fault, even though you and I agree that it's not their fault, you can't stop a train that fast. Right. And that's where the criticism is coming from. But from a legal standpoint, are they trying to cover their own backs and are saying something

that isn't true? It's hard to say. Right. So, the day after Tiffany's death, which was July 13, 2015, New Jersey Transit Police had ruled her death a suicide. And this was officially ruled in a statement that was released a few days later on July 17th. And I mean, to determine that it was a suicide, they first would have to rule out homicide,

right? And various professionals who have looked over this case since have stated that one to four days is not enough time to determine that this wasn't a homicide, especially since evidence wasn't properly taken or tested and the scene wasn't even properly secured by the way because it was never treated as a potential murder site. Like, they did not secure the scene at all because they're automatically thinking, oh, somebody jumped on the tracks, they killed themselves. That's just where their brains went. Yeah, and there's a few details about evidence being collected that are just going to piss

a lot of people off in this case. But we are going to get into that here pretty quick. So as you can imagine, her family was outraged by this ruling of suicide. Diane claimed that Tiffany was excited about going off to college and had a bright volleyball career ahead of her. Her family's lawyer, again Paul Demado, stated, quote, she had received a sizable scholarship to play volleyball at Mercy College in New York. Everything was looking bright for Tiffany. There was nothing in her life that would lead to her to die by suicide. We know so many others that also believe Tiffany's death was not suicide, that there was

a rush to judgment to close the case, and that the real story of how and why she died has yet to be told. The combination of this new, deeply researched, fact-based program, and the increased reward might just be what's necessary to help get Tiffany's case reopened. Again, that is a direct quote. Heath and I are not trying to speculate on what's necessary to help get TIFF's case reopened. Again, that is a direct quote. Heath and I are not trying to speculate on what leads somebody to suicide. We're not trying to say that just because she was, you know, a couple months away from college, that means that she wouldn't have taken her own life.

This is just what the family's attorney is saying. And what her family really believes. So additionally, less than one percent of suicides in the United States are committed via train, though obviously it does happen. Dr. Donald Jason, who's a former medical examiner for the county, said quote, �In my career, I've done between 10,000 and 20,000 autopsies. I think it's more probable that she was running away from somebody and trying to escape.

So I would call that either an accident or a homicide. But certainly not a suicide. In my report, I concluded it's probably safest to just call it undetermined because we don't know the facts yet. And they have never really fully investigated anything other than suicide. Tiffany's remains were tested for alcohol and drugs, but her toxicology report was clean. Sadly, her remains were not tested for rape and a full autopsy wasn't even performed. And to make matters worse for me for Ren's extent, she was cremated

shortly after her death, so there's no exhuming her body and revisiting for, you know, other evidence or to, you know, other evidence or to, you know, kind of get a second opinion or to actually conduct a philotopsy. Four days after her death, a bloodhound was utilized by the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office and it did trace her scent from home to the area in which the collision occurred, which is the same path that investigators believe that she had walked that night. And remember that, I'm going to bring that up again later because it's important to know that this dog had traced her scent in this one particular kind of like path, which

we also have a map of. But Paul Demado noted that it had reigned in the days following Tiffany's death, which confused the scent dogs, which kind of makes you question whether or not this is the correct path anyway. But Paul said that he didn't consider this to be any indication that she had actually walked that entire route herself. Now one of these strangest details of Tiffany's death is that of her clothing. Because when she was recovered, she was only wearing her sports bra, her underwear, and a shirt.

And like I said, in the deer camera footage, she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and shoes. She also had a headband in her hair, by the way, with her hair tied up. So this means that her hair, or her headband, her shoes, and her shorts were missing from the scene of the train accident. So what the hell is that about?

And to me this is one of the craziest pieces of the story because there would be no reason for her to take her own clothes off during this walk, especially considering she was wearing very little, anyway she's wearing shorts in a t-shirt. And like it was a warmer night, it was like 73 degrees Fahrenheit give or take, or 22 degrees Celsius, but definitely not hot enough to strip on a nighttime walk and leave your clothes behind. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm sure people do take their clothes off

and maybe walk around at night, but it just seems very odd for an 18 year old woman walking in the dead of night to take her clothes off and maybe walk around at night, but it just seems very odd for an 18 year old woman walking in the dead of night to take her shorts off and just be walking in literally her underwear and also no shoes. Yeah, it just that part is so crazy to me because these items, we're gonna get into this a little more but these items were at least not found

near this scene at all. Like they were not found on the tracks, just off the tracks. They weren't found in this area. Right. They were found, but not there. Right. Well, let's get into that. So, two weeks after Tiffany's death, Diane stumbled upon Tiffany's headband and her

shoes while she was walking down Tilton Road, which is about a mile or 1.6 kilometers from their home. So Tiffany's new white athletic headband and her sonook brand slip on shoes had been left in the brush on the side of the road, almost as if they had been staged. Like her shoes were almost exactly one foot apart and they were just sitting by a tree, even though her family states that they had walked up and down that road multiple times looking for evidence and they

did not come upon her shoes or headband until two weeks after she was killed. But you know, that's not even the craziest part here. I think one of the more stranger details is that a keychain and a sweatshirt were also recovered, but they weren't believed to belong to Tiffany. Right, so those, and it wasn't that the keychain was eventually lost after it was put into evidence, and then there's the question of where the hell are her shorts, her shorts, by the way, they were never found. Yeah, like I don't know how you explain that.

So with this discovery, Diane hatched a new theory. That someone had been holding Tiffany captive in a vehicle, and that she had tried to escape and slipped out of her garments. Or that she had been walking on the side of the road, and someone had plucked her up and dragged her into the vehicle, discarding her accessories in the chaos, and that possibly somebody had tried to sexually assault her. So when Tiffany's remains were found, her appendages were separated from her body,

indicating that she may have been killed already, cut limb by limb, and then dumped on the tracks. I mean, it's also entirely possible that the high speed of the train had done that damage, but her body was in such bad shape after the collision that it would have been really difficult to determine a cause of death, and you know, as we said, her remains were cremated before they were able to even do any tests. The internet, however, has an alternative theory.

With the shoes and headband being new, some have speculated that they were purchased with Tiffany's friend Stolen Debitcard and that possibly Tiffany had taken them off in an act of guilt. But then, you know, how do you explain the missing shorts? Well, it's been theorized that Tiffany was sexually assaulted before her death, though there is no evidence of this, as we've mentioned. And they didn't test for it. Right. And these shorts could have potentially been like a really key piece of evidence

here. I agree. And let's talk about the location of her shoes for a moment because they were about a mile from her home, as I said, but they weren't very close to where her body was found. Actually, the location of the shoes wasn't even on the path that investigators believe that she would have walked along from her home to the train tracks where she was struck. And it's also not on the path that the scent dogs had claimed to have picked up her scent. Now that dogs can claim, but you know what I mean? This was a different area than police are saying that she had walked all by herself. So this will also be a lot easier to understand if you look at a map, but her shoes were

technically found between her home and the side of the train, but it does seem like someone could have placed them and staged them there. Now they were found by a tree, a short distance away from a golf club and an outdoor products company called Barrett Outdoor Living. So this would mean that she took an alternate route which is along a highway. It's like a tree-lined highway versus this quieter road alongside the train tracks.

So that does kind of throw out the theory that she took this one path, right? Yeah, she would have had to have gone a different path for whatever reason, taken off her shoes and her headband, placed them very neatly by a tree, kept walking another three miles, and then jumped in front of a train, and somehow along the way, her shorts just completely disappeared from the earth. Well, let's get into another really big, key piece of evidence that was totally, totally botched. So according to Paul Demato, in Acts,

with red markings was found near the recovery site of her body, which many now believe may have been the murder weapon and that Tiffany was then placed on the tracks to cover up the heinous act. But somehow, the acts went missing while being stored for DNA testing. How does that even happen? I don't understand how this happens.

And I mean, that's such a like red markings. Obviously, they're saying red markings because they can't confirm that it's blood because they never tested it. But to find this nearer, the scene of her death, and then for it to just go missing, like that could have been, I mean, it could be nothing, it could be somebody else's random ass act, you know? But we don't know because we can't know

because it went missing. Yeah, well, on top of this, none of Tiffany's belongings seem to have been tested for unidentified DNA either. Right, which would have been important for the shoes when you think because maybe if they were placed there by somebody else, you know, I mean, it's a good thing to look into. Right.

So in addition to the axe and the keychain being lost, and the shorts never having been recovered, the shirt that Tiffany had been wearing actually went moldy because it was improperly stored, which also could have, you know, again, destroyed potential evidence. Now the shoes in the headband had been subjected to the elements for two weeks after her death, and it didn't prove to be helpful in investigation either. Five years after Tiffany's passing, her family invested a small fortune into testing the DNA of the articles that they were covered, even taking out a second mortgage on their house. Which is so sad they should- nobody should ever have to do that for their own family member,

like that should be done for them. Yeah, the DNA should have just been- or the- the items should have just been tested regardless. But because the case wasn't handled as a suspicious death, much of the evidence was no longer fit for testing sadly. Paul Demato himself hired a forensic examiner last year to test the remaining items, but found that it was not feasible to do so. Diane also maintains that there was just no way her daughter could have walked barefoot the three miles or 4.8 kilometers from where her shoes were found to the impact site,

at least not without destroying her feet on the gravel of the path in which she was believed to have walked, or the splintering wood of the train tracks, which makes total sense, I mean, if you walk three miles barefoot, your feet are going to get pretty fucked up. And suspiciously, post-mortem examination of her feet revealed blood and mud, but not the cuts and abrasions that her family believes would have been present if she had walked the distance while barefoot. So some have pointed out that due to the fact that she was a volleyball player, she would have been used to being barefoot, and that would have thickened her skin.

Like I've seen a lot of people talk about that online, but we can't say for sure in her case if that was true, but still, it's weird that her feet didn't have the cuts and abrasions associated with walking in the area that police claimed that she did because there was sharp rocks, like there was wood, glass, trash, a bunch of discarded items like furniture, like this was one of those kind of areas where shit was just kind of tossed out, you know? Yeah, as, you know, many areas of train tracks are. Yeah, exactly.

Yet the bottom of her feet didn't prove that she would have walked on any of the, like thick skin or not, you know. It would have, I imagine that she would have had some kind of cuts or abrasions as well if she had walked in this area for as long as they claimed she did, which would then leave you to ask, well, then was she picked up by somebody and discarded in this area. Right.

So about three years later in 2018, the New Jersey Transit Police reopened the investigation, but they have held their conclusion of suicide. We may never know exactly what happened that summer night, but her family maintains their beliefs that someone had something to do with what happened to Tiffany. On February 8, 2023, Robert Turkavid, who is a retired FBI agent assisting the family, issued a statement to the New Jersey Transit Board urging them to reopen the case again, citing reasonable doubt in the finding of the cause of death as suicide. He wrote, quote,

�I cannot state that Miss Valente took her own life, nor that she was the victim of foul play. I do believe, however, that any reasonable person reviewing the facts and circumstances would conclude that a more detailed investigation should have been conducted by both the Medical Examiner's Office and New Jersey Transit Investigators prior to ascribing a manner of death determination to this matter. As a retired federal law enforcement officer who approved the initiation of hundreds of criminal investigations, I strongly believe that the reasonable suspicion threshold for

a case initiation in this matter has been met, and that further investigation by an appropriate law enforcement agency is warranted. So before we wrap up, let's discuss the real theories. In this case, for those who believe it is a homicide case or at least could be a homicide case, which I think probably most of us are on that side of at least it could be and it should have been properly investigated as one originally. Now, it is heavily theorized that Tiffany was

walking down her own driveway, passed the deer camera, and then a car came upon her either then or up the road. Now either she agreed to get into the car or was pulled into the car and was met with a dangerous person who you know threw her phone out of the car probably and did something to Tiffany. The area around where the train tracks are and near where her shoes were found feels very isolated and it isn't near anything that's open at night. So it's the kind of place that you could commit a crime

without being seen. So was she killed potentially inside someone's car or even outside in this area where no one could have been around to see or hear anything and then possibly she was laid on the track so a train could come run her over and cover up this person's crime. Maybe look make it look like an accident. Exactly. So this is heavily believed amongst her family and private investigators involved in the case. Like everybody who has reviewed

this case professionally with the family has said that without a doubt they believe that her death is very suspicious and that it's very likely that somebody knows something and that somebody was involved in her death. So actually as well, a man came forward with information to the police saying that he had heard somebody

talking about how Tiffany was apparently picked up by a male and two females who saw her walking. They picked her up in the car and then they made her take her clothes off. They pointed a gun at her and they just basically made fun of her and joked around at her expense and had something to do with her death. But this was essentially a rumor that was floating around, but the people who were supposedly involved were questioned and they all denied that any of it happened and they pointed out their beliefs that, oh well I heard she just committed suicide.

So again, because there wasn't enough evidence to hold them or really question them further on being involved other than, oh well I didn't do it, okay well, I don't know how you would have done it either because it wasn't properly investigated, you know this couldn't this theory couldn't really go anywhere. So whether or not these three people were involved or somebody else, you know much of the evidence seems to point to this being a potential homicide case. Yeah absolutely and you know in the beginning when i first said that there are so many theories and so much speculation about this case

i mean this is the reason why because you know evidence was botched uh... you know they lost the acts they lost the lock it or i mean i'm sorry that the key chain uh... and it just so much of it was screwed up from the get go. Well something else that I think is weird is her friends have not been and I'm not saying every single one of her friends. I'm just saying generally her friends have not been willing to talk about this case and

have not been very open to discussing it. It's really just her parents and her family that are. So that kind of makes you wonder too because we had briefly touched on the text messages earlier Heath you talked about that. But they didn't find investigators, didn't find anything suspicious in her texts that would lead to somebody wanting to directly harm her. But we do know that she was kind of not in a great position with some of her friends. She had obviously just stolen from one of her friends. And so some people have also pointed out that maybe this was somebody she knew whether a female or a male or both

who saw her and just saw an opportunity to mess with her and something went wrong. Like maybe they didn't wanna kill her, you know, but it was one of those type of situations. Like, but again, with no evidence, it's really hard to say for sure and come up with a good theory here. Yeah, that's why this case is so hard.

And not to say that there aren't people out there that believe that this was suicide because there are, there are. And definitely, I know in the discussion group, in the discussion group, I know there's gonna be some discussions about On both sides. I know discussion group is on Facebook by the way, right, right You know, I know that there are people who believe that that it was homicide people believe it suicide

But yeah, I mean, I'm very interested to hear all of your guys' theories and what you think about this one because it is wild and Really, there just seemed to be more rumors than concrete evidence in this case. And that has not stopped with the passing of time. So unfortunately, we may never know what truly happened to Tiffany Valente that night. But her family continues to fight for her so that she's at least able to have the investigation that she deserves. On March 3rd of this year, Tiffany's birthday, her sister Crystal wrote quote, Happy Heavenly Birthday Little Sister. Today you are 26 years old.

I wish you were here. We miss you more than life itself. You are my best friend and tall little sister. I wish you were here so that we could go out and celebrate. I promise you we here so that we could go out and celebrate. I promise you we will get you justice. We will fight with our very last breath. They messed with the wrong family. Please have a drink and I'll have one in your honor tonight for your birthday. The kids miss you so much. We will always keep your memory alive. I hope you're

celebrating with all of our loved ones and having the time of your life there. It's as beautiful as you are, I'm sure. Happy 26th birthday, Tiffany. We love and miss you, always and forever. If you have any information about the mysterious death of Tiffany Valente, please call the New Jersey Criminal Justice Hotline at 800-277-8427. And there's also a reward of up to $40,000 that's being offered for information. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Tuesday, as I always say, we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into.

Yes, please let us know what you think about this one. Ever since we saw the Unsolved Mysteries episode last year, and then of course subsequently got a bunch of requests from other people who also watched it, and were just baffled by the story, it has just been on our minds, and I'm glad that we finally covered it because it just doesn't feel that justice has been served.

Yeah, and if you have listened to this episode, but you haven't watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode, I think you should go do it just because it'll give you a better visual of the area. I agree. Then you can hear from her family, you can directly hear from the attorney and just everybody who's involved in this story and everybody who believes that this story needs to see more justice and needs to be properly investigated because it'll just make you feel that way even more if you're already on that page. So yeah, thank you guys so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next week.

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