Into The Night | Chapter 1

Cruel Summer: The Violent Death of Tiffany Valiante

This episode introduces the investigation into the 2015 death of Tiffany Valiante, an 18-year-old athlete found on railroad tracks in New Je

Key takeaways

• Tiffany Valiante was found dead on railroad tracks in Galloway, NJ, with authorities officially declaring it a suicide.
• Attorney Paul D'Amato argues there is no evidence to support the suicide conclusion and believes she was a victim of foul play.

Main topics

• Death of Tiffany Valiante
• Suicide vs. Foul Play Investigation

Notable quotes

There is not a scintilla of evidence to support the conclusion by the state medical examiner's office.

Conclusion

A compelling start to a true crime investigation that highlights the t

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:12) This podcast is intended for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised. I'm Speaker 7 (0:28) wearing all my clothes, like the cap socks. Ew. Ew. Ew. That's disgusting. I'm going to stop laughing, I swear. Speaker 2 (0:51) That's the voice of Tiffany Volante. having fun with friends, a young woman seemingly without a care in the world. And it's just one of tens of thousands of recordings, photos, voicemails, and texts I've recovered from Tiffany's cell phone. Speaker 2 (1:13) She had just graduated high school, and in five weeks she'd be going off to college. And one of the only clouds on her horizon was saying goodbye to her niece and nephews. I Speaker 7 (1:26) already miss you. I know. I'll miss you so much. I love you. Speaker 2 (1:32) Tiffany was looking forward to the future. The summer of 2015 was a time for the beach, friends, and parties. Speaker 7 (1:43) We were so hyped to just this party. We downed Speaker 2 (1:47) this Speaker 7 (1:47) whole Red Bull for nothing. For what? Speaker 2 (1:54) I've always thought it was a cliche to say someone has everything to live for. But in the case of Tiffany Valente, it really was true. Speaker 7 (2:04) 18-year-old Tiffany Valente was found dead four years ago after being hit by a train in Galloway. Authorities say she killed herself. Her family doesn't buy it. News 12 New Jersey's Alex Zidane has the Speaker 5 (2:15) story from Egg Harbor. Speaker 2 (2:16) Which makes the night of July 12, 2015, the night she died. So hard to understand. Here you have a young, confident woman, 6'2 athlete, about to play Division II volleyball. Speaker 5 (2:33) She was super excited. She was telling me how she was excited to decorate her dorm room and excited for volleyball. And she was just full of life and excitement and happy and giggling. Speaker 2 (2:48) That's family friend Maureen Bugden. She's just one of the people I've talked to in my four-and-a-half-year investigation into the death of Tiffany Volante. I've Speaker 5 (2:58) known her for pretty much her entire life. What I recall the most about her is she giggled all the time. You know, you could have a conversation about almost anything about what she ate for lunch, and somehow, someway, there'd be a giggle in there. Loved her parents and sisters, nieces and nephews, fiercely. Really was devoted in that sense. Speaker 7 (3:21) I love you. I love you. I love you more. I love you most. Speaker 2 (3:26) Devoted? Loving? Excited? On June 30, 2015, at 6.13 p.m., Tiffany texted a friend. I can't wait to leave for school, OMFG. If I could go tomorrow, I would. The next day, she tweeted out, How many days until I leave, OMG? And in a Twitter conversation, she wrote, I'm just so excited to go to college and start my life. She was due to drive the three and a half hours to college on August 18, 2015. She'd be leaving on a Tuesday. And yet, on July 12, according to official reports, Tiffany is supposed to have walked four miles from her home through the night to end her life, throwing herself in front of a speeding train. The events of that night have been well documented over the last 11 years. Speaker 2 (4:28) newspapers, radio, television, podcasts have all covered the story of Tiffany Valente. Speaker 7 (4:35) It's been theorized that Tiffany could have been shot or even dismembered and her remains were left on the tracks. I Speaker 6 (4:40) feel like she was choked to death. Speaker 7 (4:42) If Tiffany didn't walk into the woods alone, then who was with her? Speaker 2 (4:49) Tiffany's family had become the target of intense Internet scrutiny. Wild theories reverberated not only through New Jersey, but around the world. She'd been killed by a relative. She'd been set up by friends. She was kidnapped and raped. Her body was placed on railroad tracks to destroy evidence of a crime. But my interest in this case is different. It was clear to me that no one, especially investigators, had ever taken the time to understand Tiffany's state of mind in the days before her death. Nor had anyone taken the time to explore the behavior and relationships of Tiffany and her group of friends. Teenagers addicted to their phones and social media. A world where they gossiped, they... praised, they chit-chatted, they fell out, they made up, where adoration and condemnation were the currency of the day. Looking into her world was a task that quickly became an obsession. Speaker 2 (6:00) After studying hundreds of reports, I questioned everything about the way law enforcement conducted their original investigation. And as I sifted through a huge trove of texts, emails, and social media accounts, I was drawn deeper and deeper into Tiffany's case as I began to uncover new leads and witnesses. Speaker 5 (6:25) Like, looking back now, say it happened today. Just the way her arms, and I said it, it's almost like they were just cut right off perfectly. Speaker 2 (6:36) Forensic experts and accident investigators shared shocking opinions. Yeah, Speaker 7 (6:41) I looked at her neck. I mean, I looked, it looks like ligature marks on her neck. So how do you know she hasn't been strangled? Speaker 2 (6:48) And despite being stonewalled by all of her friends. Speaker 7 (6:53) The thing that bothers me more than anything is her friends not cooperating from day one. Speaker 2 (7:00) The weight of new information I discovered began to reframe the entire legal direction of the case. Speaker 6 (7:08) And to those friends and acquaintances, I say... Run. Run as fast as you can to get the best criminal defense attorney so you can be the first at the Atlanta County Prosecutor's Office getting the best deal. Speaker 2 (7:32) My name is Marie McGovern, and this is Cruel Summer, the violent death of Tiffany Valente. Speaker 2 (8:05) Thumbtack presents Uncertainty Strikes. I was surrounded. The aisle and the options were closing in. There were paint rollers, satin and matte finish, angle brushes and natural bristles. There were too many choices. What if I never got my living room painted? What if I couldn't figure out what type of paint to use? What if I just used Thumbtack? I can hire a top-rated pro that knows everything about interior paint, easily compare prices, and read reviews. Thumbtack knows homes. Download the app today. Speaker 2 (8:36) Chapter 1. Into the Night. I studied journalism at Syracuse University, and I've worked in radio, television, and newspapers, and most recently had been an assignment editor at the New York Daily News. So why, many years later, am I taking such an interest in this case? Well, in March of 2022, a friend from South Jersey casually asked me if I had heard about the case of Tiffany Volante. I hadn't. But he had been following the story of how Tiffany's parents were fighting for a new investigation into their daughter's death. He suggested I might find the story interesting. I'll be honest. Initially, I was wary. Look, it's only natural for parents to refuse to accept that their child might have taken his or her own life, and totally understandable to be in denial. But I also knew that mistakes can happen. I remembered a case we had covered at the New York Daily News back in 2006. Adrienne Shelley was an actress found hanging in the bathroom of her Manhattan office, and her death was initially deemed a suicide. But her husband refused to accept that determination, and to its credit, the NYPD listened, and weeks later, police arrested a man who had confessed to her murder. So I found myself heading south to the small New Jersey town of Mays Landing.