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Mystery at Mile Marker 45 - The Strange Case of Tiffany Valiante · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, So we've got a story, right, A young
• 0:01
  athlete tons of potential, ends up dead miles from home
• 0:05
  after a party, and it's ruled a suicide. But her
• 0:08
  family they're not buying it, not one bit. That's what
• 0:12
  we're diving into today, the case of Tiffany Valliante.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and years later, even after I was on Unsolved Mysteries,
• 0:19
  it's the stuff that just doesn't add up that makes
• 0:21
  it so interesting. You've got like conflicting evidence, things missing,
• 0:25
  and her family just totally convinced something else happened.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, especially with what I've seen in these articles
• 0:29
  you sent. We're talking about the evidence or lack they're
• 0:31
  of like almost intentionally mishandled. It's wild. But for anyone
• 0:35
  who maybe hasn't heard of Tiffany's case, let's rewind. It's
• 0:37
  twenty fifteen July and she's eighteen, star volleyball player, scholarship
• 0:42
  lined up. Seems like she's got it made.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: From the outside, totally great future, everything going for her, right.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: But then July twelfth, she's at a party, some kind
• 0:50
  of argument with a friend, and then gone vanishes. Later
• 0:54
  that night, she's found dead, hit by a train miles
• 0:56
  away from this party, and not just any train tracks,
• 0:59
  some seldom used line way out there, Like, how did
• 1:02
  she even get there?
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: And that's where things get weird right off the bat.
• 1:07
  The police they're saying it's suicide that she walked all
• 1:10
  the way there, based on what they say was a
• 1:12
  scent trail from a canine three miles.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Wait, hold on, three miles on foot. You mentioned canines
• 1:19
  and sent trails. I mean, how much can you actually
• 1:21
  rely on that as evidence.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: It's not as simple as it sounds. Yeat dogs have
• 1:26
  amazing noses, but it's not foolproof. You know, whether how
• 1:30
  well the dog's trained, even if the scent gets messed up,
• 1:33
  it all plays.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: A part messed up how like other people at the party,
• 1:37
  or if it rained and washed it away exactly.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: And that night with Tiffany there was a huge downpour.
• 1:43
  I mean, you could have sent even last that long
• 1:44
  three miles after all that rain. Her family certainly doesn't
• 1:48
  think so. And don't forget, we're talking bare phone over
• 1:50
  who knows what kind of terrect.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, so already we're seeing holes in this suicide idea,
• 1:55
  this whole walking three miles thing. But then there's the
• 1:58
  axe and that's where it gets really creepy.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: So yeah, this axe they found or didn't find, the
• 2:03
  whole other can of worms. Picture this a rusty axe
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  right near the tracks where they find Tiffany, and it's
• 2:09
  got these red markings on it.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Red markings like blood. Did they ever test it?
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: That's the crazy part. They never got the chance. It
• 2:16
  just vanished, disappeared from evidence gone very serious.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: How do you even lose evidence like that, a potential
• 2:22
  murder weapon?
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: No?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Less, It's like, what are you hiding exactly?
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It throws the whole investigation into question. Tiffany's family's lawyer,
• 2:29
  they're saying it's botched, totally mishandled, and without the axe,
• 2:33
  who knows? Foul play is back on the table.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Right If it was an open and shut suicide, why
• 2:38
  would that ax be the thing that goes missing unless
• 2:40
  someone panicked tried to cover something up. But there's more too,
• 2:44
  something I saw in these articles, something they didn't really
• 2:47
  get into on Unsolved Mysteries. CPS, Child Protective Services, they
• 2:52
  were involved with Tiffany's family. What's the deal with that?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that adds a whole other layer to things, right,
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  Like what was her life really like? Before all this,
• 2:59
  there were multiple calls to CPS saying there was abuse
• 3:03
  going on in the Valiante home.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Wow, okay, so some serious problems at home.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe, Well, we don't know all the details, but apparently
• 3:10
  during one of those visits, her mom even admitted to
• 3:14
  hitting Tiffany during an argument.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So definitely some kind of turmoil, right. Wouldn't CPS have
• 3:20
  looked into it more seriously if they thought it was really.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Bad, Well, for sure they would have, But we don't
• 3:25
  have access to those records, so it's hard to say
• 3:28
  how bad it really was or how it all ties
• 3:31
  in to Tiffany's state of mind.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: It makes you wonder, though, you know, was there something
• 3:35
  more going on with her than anyone knew? Was that
• 3:38
  thing with her mom a one time thing or was
• 3:41
  there a pattern? Could any of this have made her
• 3:43
  run away that night? It's like we're just seeing the
• 3:46
  tip of the iceberg here totally.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: And then you add in that thing about Tiffany sealing
• 3:50
  money from her parents a few months before, Oh right, right?
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  Could that be another piece of the puzzle. Was she
• 3:55
  desperate trying to find a way out?
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: It definitely paints a different picture. This isn't just a
• 4:00
  happy teenager at a party. You know. It seems like
• 4:04
  there were a lot of things going on beneath the surface, exactly.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: And that's what makes these cases so fascinating but also
• 4:10
  so sad. You never really know what's going on in
• 4:13
  someone else's life behind closed doors. But these little details,
• 4:17
  the acts, cps, the money, it all adds up to
• 4:21
  a much more complicated story than we thought.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and you have to wonder if the police had
• 4:25
  looked at all of that more closely, would we have
• 4:28
  some answers by now. It's like they had this idea
• 4:30
  in their heads, you know, this narrative about a depressed
• 4:33
  girl who takes her own life, and that's all they
• 4:35
  focused on.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Anything that didn't fit, they just ignored it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's what's so frustrating for her family. They're
• 4:41
  not just grieving, they're fighting the system, you know, yeah,
• 4:44
  trying to get them to actually see what happened.
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  Speaker 1: And they haven't given up, not for a second, still
• 4:49
  pushing for answers, a real investigation. They even up the
• 4:52
  reward money, hoping someone, anyone might have something.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: It's got to be hard, though, to lose a child
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  and then feel like you can't even trust the people
• 5:01
  who are supposed to be finding out the truth.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, So let's say, for argument's sake, the case gets reopen,
• 5:07
  where would you even.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Start, well, knowing what we know now, that missing acts
• 5:11
  is priority number one. Retrace every single step everyone who
• 5:15
  could have touched that evidence and figure out where it went,
• 5:18
  why it went missing?
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Right like that just screams cover up, doesn't it? And
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  those CPS visits, if they still have the records, that's
• 5:25
  got to be looked at too. Was Tiffany being abused?
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  Was she trying to get away from something exactly?
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  Speaker 2: And the money she sold too? Was that her trying
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  to get enough together to run away to start over.
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  It might seem small, but all those little details add up.
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  Speaker 1: It's just heartbreaking. You know, this young woman so much
• 5:42
  potential people who loved her, and we'll never know the
• 5:44
  whole story.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: It's a good reminder, though, that things aren't always what
• 5:48
  they seem. There's always more to it, especially in cases
• 5:52
  like this.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: We might never have all the answers about what happened
• 5:55
  to Tiffany Valiante, but hopefully by keeping these conversations going
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  by asking the tough questions, we can at least try
• 6:02
  to find some justice for her.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: I agree, and for anyone out there who feels like
• 6:06
  they're not being heard who's going through something similar. Your
• 6:10
  story matters, don't give up, and.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: To everyone listening, we want to hear from you. What
• 6:16
  do you think happened to Tiffany? This deep dive has
• 6:19
  been a tough one, but these conversations are so important.
• 6:23
  Keep asking questions, keep searching for the truth, and as always,
• 6:26
  stay curious.