D’Amato News and Current Headlines

D’Amato Law Firm in Egg Harbor Township is proud to be featured in a number of news articles and local media. Check out the information and links below to learn more about what we’ve done throughout the community.

Petition to Reopen Tiffany Valiante Investigation Promoted by Retired FBI Agent

A recent online petition requesting that the New Jersey Transit Board reopen the investigation into Tiffany Valiante‘s death in 2015 has received more signatures following the added statement of Robert Turkavage, a former FBI agent.

In the statement, issued on February 8, Turkavage expounds on the mishandling of evidence, mismatched witness accounts, and the train’s “black box” data that conflict with the Medical Examiner’s ruling that Tiffany’s death was a suicide. The petition has accumulated nearly 10,000 signatures.

Full statement and link to the petition.

WWW.CHANGE.ORG PETITION ASKS N.J. ATTY. GEN. TO REOPEN VALIANTE CASE

FAMILY/SUPPORTERS PETITION N.J. ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REOPEN TIFFANY VALIANTE CASE

WWW.CHANGE.ORG PLATFORM HOSTS GRASSROOTS PETITION

Tiffany Valiante was 18 when on July 12, 2015, she was struck by a New Jersey Transit, Atlantic City Rail Line train bound for Atlantic City from Philadelphia. Shocking to this day is that police and the N.J. medical examiner, without conducting a complete investigation (a full autopsy was never conducted; a rape test kit never administered; her parents, years later, had to pay the cost to an independent lab to analyze what DNA evidence wasn’t contaminated), almost immediately said Tiff took her own life. To them, it was case closed before her casket was ordered.

Several experts agree there was a rush to judgement that led to the rapid, unsupported Medical Examiner’s Office ruling of death by suicide (though independent investigators would later lean towards homicide as the cause). The facts didn’t add up in 2015 and they don’t today. That is why there’s an appeal to NJ Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and his Criminal Division (800-277-2427) to order the case reopened. Classifying her death a suicide was in itself an injustice.

Tiffany’s family and friends refuse to write her death off an unsolved mystery, let alone give up. They’ll persist until there’s #JusticeForTiffany.

Family, friends and supporters of #JusticeForTiffany are now petitioning New Jersey’s Attorney General to reopen her case. For more, including a link to the Change.Org Petition, click here. Thank You!

See the full petition below:

TEXT OF PARENTS’ LETTER TO N.J. A.G., AND BASIS FOR PETITION

I am proud and honored to support this petition drive, led by Dianne and Stephen Valiante, in the name of their daughter Tiffany. I fully endorse their position, expressed below, to the N.J. Attorney General:

Our daughter, Tiffany, was 18 when on July 12, 2015, she was struck by a New Jersey Transit, Atlantic City Rail Line train bound for Atlantic City from Philadelphia. Shocking to this day is that police and the N.J. medical examiner, without conducting a complete investigation (the record shows there wasn’t a full autopsy, any psychological autopsy, and an explanation for lost physical evidence from the scene, including a bloody axe) almost immediately concluded Tiff took her own life. To them, it was case closed before her casket was ordered.

Several experts agree there was a rush to judgement that led to the rapid, unsupported Medical Examiner’s Office ruling of suicide. It’s much more likely she was a murder victim. The facts didn’t add up in 2015 and they don’t today as we appeal to NJ Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, and his Division of Criminal Justice, to immediately order the case reopened.

BACKGROUND
It was nearly midnight. Tiff, who was terrified of the dark, was about five miles from our Mays Landing, NJ, house. She was found barefoot and partially clothed when first responders found her remains along along the tracks near Mile Marker 45 of the rail line.

Her death was just weeks before Tiff was to start her college career on a full athletic scholarship. She loved the thought of playing collegiate volleyball. Loved everything about living on campus, making new friends, and pursuing a career, maybe in criminal justice. Not a single forensic expert believed Tiff was anything but a happy, hopeful young woman with an immensely bright future when her life met its violent end.

We never hesitated when Unsolved Mysteries Netflix docuseries, asked if it could research and possibly report on Tiff’s death in its new Season (Vol. 3) starting Oct. 18th. Though triggering, we welcome every effort to tell Tiff’s story in hopes that eventually we will know how and why she died; somebody knows something that investigators, for whatever reason (we defer to the AG to determine if there needs to be an investigation of the investigation), never learned.

It is critical, not just for us, but the people of New Jersey, that those responsible for Tiff’s death are held fully accountable. That’s why we’re also now posting a substantially increased reward and encouraging anyone with any information about Tiff’s death, to urgently come forward.

What motivates us is the love for our daughter and our entire family, all our kids and grand-kids, every relative and friend who stands by us in the fight for #JusticeForTiffany.

Dianne and Stephen Valiante
Mays Landing, New Jersey
October 2020

Reward Doubled to $40,000 in 2015 Tiffany Valiante Suspicious Disappearance, Death

Netflix announces case will be featured in new ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ season starting Oct. 18th

Egg Harbor Township, NJ (October 11, 2022) – More than seven years after her highly suspicious death, and the controversial investigation that followed, Tiffany Valiante’s parents remain hopeful there finally will be #JusticeForTiffany. Stephen and Dianne Valiante, of Mays Landing, said today they have renewed confidence their daughter’s case will be reopened and that those responsible for their daughter’s death will be held accountable. Effective today, following the announcement that the case will be featured in the Unsolved Mysteries episode, Mystery At Mile Marker 45, when the program’s new season debuts on Netflix on October 18th, they have doubled to $40,000 the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible for Tiffany’s July 12, 2015, death along the New Jersey Transit (NJT) Atlantic City Line tracks near her house.

“We know every day Tiffany is looking down on us, giving us the strength to help find those who snatched her and were responsible for her death just before she was to start her incredibly promising college career,” said the parents. “We know so many others that also believe Tiffany’s death was not suicide, that there was a rush to judgement 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 Tiff’s case reopened,” they added through Paul D’Amato, a family friend and New Jersey-based attorney.

Mr. D’Amato said he joins the Valiante family and its legion of supporters from the area and around the country who continue to fight for #JusticeForTiffany. “Little known is that Stephen and Dianne had to re-mortgage their house, use their own savings to pay for DNA testing of evidence that was gathered but never examined after Tiffany’s death, which was quickly ruled a suicide before a robust probe could be conducted. Due to compromised or lost evidence, which included a bloody axe found at the scene, the nationally recognized forensic DNA lab’s report was incomplete and inconclusive. I share the parents’ belief that there are those who know what really happened to cause Tiff’s death, but they’ve yet to come forward. Maybe, just maybe, someone watching Unsolved Mysteries (www.unsolved.com) will see something then say something to law enforcement that can lead to definitive answers.” Anyone with information about the case is urged to immediately contact law enforcement, including the state Office of Attorney General at 800-277-2427.

He added, “The N.J. Medical Examiner abruptly concluded Tiffany’s death was suicide despite the lack of motive, without conducting a full autopsy, a rape-kit analysis, or proper DNA-evidence analysis, all for reasons still unknown seven-plus years after her mysterious death.”

James Carney, former Judge of the Atlantic County Surrogate’s Court, is among many who believe there can be no justice for Tiffany until the circumstances surrounding her death are re-examined by a state agency, like the New Jersey Attorney General, or the federal Department of Justice.

Prior to her death, Tiffany was making plans to attend her first year at Mercy College (Dobbs Ferry, New York), where she was awarded an athletic scholarship. An all-conference volleyball player at Oakcrest High School and for the East Coast Crush Volleyball Club, she was heavily recruited by colleges and longed to play at the highest level – possibly someday in the Olympic games – while pursuing a career in criminal justice.

Contacts:
Paul R. D’Amato / [email protected]
[email protected]
Steph Rosenfeld / [email protected]