ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., July 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ten years after Tiffany Valiante's suspicious death, her parents have filed a landmark lawsuit asserting that the 18-year-old, gay student-athlete was the victim of a premeditated hate-crime murder, not suicide. The filing, believed the first under the New Jersey Constitution's Crime Victims' Bill of Rights Act, asks the court to direct state agencies to release to the family long-withheld evidence key to a “full and proper investigation” that could hold accountable all those responsible for Tiffany's death. The lawsuit was announced by the D'Amato Law Firm, the family's counsel.
Tiffany, a star multi-sport athlete who was about to start college on a volleyball scholarship, from Mays Landing, was struck just before midnight by a New Jersey Transit train on July 12, 2015. Authorities quickly ruled her death a suicide, but several forensic experts that have reviewed the case contend critical evidence about her life, and death, was ignored or mishandled. The cause of her death they assert was misclassified.
“Tragically, this case was closed in less than 12 hours without a full investigation that Tiffany and her family – victims in their own right – deserved then and now,” said attorney Paul D'Amato. “Under the crime victims law, we want access to all relevant state evidence so we can finally determine what really happened to Tiffany. New evidence, including a trove of recovered text messages, reveals that Tiffany was targeted, because of her sexual identity, in the weeks and months leading to her death.” Many of those messages, recovered and analyzed by an independent investigative journalist and Cornerstone Discovery were threatening and hate-filled, pointing to repeated harassment. Besides Mr. D'Amato, the legal team includes Stephen Van Natten, and Alexa D'Amato Barrera.
Renowned independent forensic pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross, following his preliminary review of the case, asserts Tiffany was likely murdered and her body placed on the tracks to mask a murder, leading investigators to believe her death was a suicide. Dr. Ross is among several experts that agree homicide must first be ruled out before suicide is even considered in a suspicious death case. The fact the toxicology report showed no signs of alcohol or drugs in her system was also apparently dismissed as insignificant. And the Nurse Practitioner who pronounced Tiffany at the scene has also expressed grave concerns regarding the “surgical” precision of her dismemberment, uncharacteristic of a train strike, let alone a suicide.
The case has attracted international attention, especially after Netflix featured it in the episode “Mystery at Mile Marker 45” as part of its Unsolved Mysteries series, which has been viewed by millions. The #JusticeforTiffany Change.org petition, urging the case re-opening, has now been signed by more than 15,000 individuals and viewed worldwide by nearly 206,000.
Contacts:
Paul R. D'Amato / paul@damatolawfirm.com/ 609-926-3300
Steph Rosenfeld / steph@idadvisors.com / 215-514-4101
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/950dc4d0-4d91-4cea-9fcc-005348814f8b
Gay Teenager's 2015 Death Was A Hate-Crime Murder, Not Suicide, Asserts Lawsuit
