Heartbroken parents of teen who was fatally struck by train a decade ago say she was murdered for being lesbian
Tiffany Valiante, of Mays Landing, died after she was hit by a New Jersey Transit train traveling 80mph on July 12, 2015.
After less than 12 hours investigators determined that she died by suicide and purposely stepped in front of the oncoming train.
Valiante had just graduated high school and was set to attend Mercy College on a volleyball scholarship. Her cause of death has long been disputed by her family.
They alleged key findings in the investigation did not add up, and that officials did not properly handle crucial evidence correctly before coming to the conclusion.
Now, the late teen's mother and father, Dianne and Stephen Valiante, have decided to take a stand on behalf of their daughter.
On Friday, the couple filed a lawsuit against the Garden State, NJ Transit, its police department and the New Jersey Chief Medical Examiner's Office, alleging their child's death was misclassified as a suicide because authorities did not consider she might have been a victim of a 'hate crime'.
The legal filing, obtained by Daily Mail, specifically highlighted newly recovered text messages between Valiante and at least two others that included anti-LGBTQ+ slurs directed at her.
Valiante's sexual orientation was known and accepted by her family and friends, but investigators ruled she took her own life without considering how her being a lesbian might have played a role, the lawsuit stated.
Specifically, investigators did not interview Dianne, Stephen or other family members to see if Valiante 'exhibited signs of indicative of depression, anxiety, stress, or any expression of suicidal ideation,' per the lawsuit.
The filing also said they did not look into the teen's medical history to see if she had a mental health disorder, that investigators 'did not conduct a standard psychological autopsy' and did not test DNA evidence that was discovered on her body.
News of the lawsuit came on what would have been her 28th birthday, as her parents, her sisters and their lawyer, Paul D'Amato, sat down for a news conference.
Surrounded by images of Valiante, D'Amato briefly explained the grounds of the lawsuit before her parents spoke of their late daughter.
'She'd be 28-years-old today,' Dianne tearfully said. 'A college graduate, a caring member of the community, probably a member of law enforcement herself, or in the military - these were careers she dreamed of.
'We love her and miss her every single second of the day,' she added before thanking the public for supporting them to help them 'try and get our story out.'
Her father Stephen held up an image of Valiante in one of her hands as he visibly got emotional.
During the investigation, Michael Valiante, her uncle, told NJ Transit Police that she had 'an argument with a family member' before leaving 'a family gathering' that night.
She was last seen in outdoor footage leaving her family's driveway around 9.28pm that day, wearing a t-shirt, shorts, shoes and a headband.
She was very close to her family, including her parents and siblings, but despite that, her mother said there were times when she and Valiante bickered more than usual.
Dianne previously told The Daily Beast that their feuding was 'normal teenage stuff.'
During their only therapy session in 2014, Dianne admitted to being short-tempered, attributing it to menopausal changes, the outlet said.
Her daughter told the professional, who concluded the mother and daughter had 'trouble communicating,' and that she was not suicidal or depressed, per the outlet.
In early 2015, Valiante came out as gay, and although she thought it was initially a phase, Dianne and her husband were supportive of their daughter.
Just weeks before her death, Valiante had broken up with a girl she was dating from Philadelphia. The split was amicable, per the outlet.
Around 11pm, nearly two hours after she vanished, Valiante's family started to worry about where she was.
They went out and searched for her themselves, but when her brother Michael spotted police activity near a railroad track by the family home, he questioned what happened.
NJ Transit Police soon told him a woman had died there, but did not confirm she was his sister.
He was unable to identify her body, which was found with just a sports bra and underwear on at the time.
'What I saw that night, no one needs to see that. It was probably one of the most horrific things I've seen, being struck by a train,' Michael said on Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries.
He broke the devastating news to his parents that the dead woman found on the tracks was in fact his sister around 2.30am.
It is not the first time her family has taken legal action to try to get to the bottom of her death, as they have taken NJ Transit to court on several occasions to obtain investigation records.
In 2017, authorities said they would look over the initial medical examiner' findings, but suicide has remained the cause of death. The family has yet to receive all of the requested paperwork, The Daily Beast reported.
Michelle Amendolia, the nurse who pronounced Valiante dead that dreadful day, also spoke on Friday at the press conference as she detailed how it was not unusual for pedestrian deaths involving a train to be ruled a suicide.
But, according to Amendolia, the fact that the victim was found with little to no clothes on made the case suspicious to her.
She said that when people are hit by trains their body remains mostly intact and fully clothed, but 'this was not the case here.'
'That was my first pedestrian with a train strike, and since then I've done about five more,' Amendolia said.
'If I were called to the scene today, I would tell law enforcement not to rush and pursue this as a suicide, but instead as a crime.'
Her parents are seeking damages under the New Jersey Constitutional Amendment for Victims' Rights, according to D'Amato.
The bill states that a victim of a crime in New Jersey has to be treated with 'fairness, compassion and respect by the criminal justice system'.
'I'm asking the state of New Jersey, work with us, don't fight us,' D'Amato said at the press conference.
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