Summary

• Unsolved Mysteries episode on Tiffany Valiante's death omits key evidence like the loss of a potential murder weapon and her history of stealing money.
• The Valiante household had a history of suspected abuse, with Child Protective Services visiting multiple times before Tiffany's death.
• The K-9 unit's tracking of Tiffany's path, unmentioned in the episode, provides compelling evidence supporting the theory that she walked to her death.

Warning: This article contains discussion surrounding the violent death of Tiffany Valiante and includes descriptions of graphic violence.

Several details were missing from the Unsolved Mysteries investigation into the true story of the death and unsolved mystery of Tiffany Valiante. The premiere episode of Unsolved Mysteries volume 3, "Mystery at Mile Marker 45," detailed how the popular student athlete disappeared from a party following an argument with a friend. As her family and friends were searching for her, Tiffany was hit by a train roughly four miles from where she was last seen. The investigators believed Tiffany died by suicide, but her parents came to be convinced that she was murdered.

The Unsolved Mysteries' episode favors Tiffany Valiante's parents' theory, largely because police investigators on the case declined to be interviewed. The Valiantes reject the idea that their daughter took her own life, noting that she was preparing to go to college on a volleyball scholarship and a generally happy-go-lucky person. While this does make the investigators' theories seem less likely, the Netflix true crime show does not discuss several signs that Tiffany Valiante was somewhat troubled. Conversely, the Unsolved Mysteries episode fails to mention one key aspect of the investigation that seems to confirm the police's findings, while also overlooking one of their most shocking oversights about Tiffany Valiante.

Unsolved Mysteries is available to stream on Netflix.

The Disappearing Ax

The Crime Scene Of Tiffany Valiante's Murder Wasn't Secured Properly

According to Tiffany Valiante's parents and their advocate, Stephan M. Rosenfeld, the chief problem with the investigation into Tiffany's death was that her case was overseen by the New Jersey Transit Police rather than the local police department. While Rosenfeld praised the Transit Police for their work, he noted that "their wheelhouse is not homicide investigation and not suspicious death investigation." The Tiffany Unsolved Mysteries episode discussed how the Transit Police failed to secure the scene of Tiffany's death and overlooked key evidence that could have proven that she was murdered. However, the episode did not mention the detail that the Transit Police investigators also lost a potential murder weapon.

Unfortunately, the ax somehow went missing while in storage before it could be tested to see if it was connected to any crime

According to a Tiffany Vialante update from NJ.com in 2022, an ax that was covered with "red markings" was found near the site where Tiffany Valiante's body was found. Tiffany's family and friends hoped that forensic analysis might prove that the red markings were blood and that the blood might match Tiffany's DNA. Unfortunately, the ax somehow went missing while in storage before it could be tested to see if it was connected to any crime, much less Tiffany Valiante's death specifically. This is one of the many problems with the Tiffany Valiante suicide theory.

Tiffany Valiante Stole Money From Her Parents

The Documentary Didn't Mention Some Of Her More Troubling Moments

The Tiffany Unsolved Mysteries episode mentions that Tiffany Valiante had a fight with a friend on the night of her death and was accused of using that friend's credit card without permission. Tiffany admitted that she was guilty of the theft to her mother shortly before she disappeared. While the episode paints Tiffany as a gifted scholar-athlete who should have known better than to steal, this was not the first time Tiffany Valiante had stolen from a loved one.

According to civil deposition transcripts obtained by The Daily Beast, Tiffany Valiante had stolen money from her parents' bank account a few months before her death. Despite this, her mother defended Tiffany from her friend's accusations of being a thief. Indeed, Unsolved Mysteries also doesn't show that the depositions reveal that Tiffany's parents had given her their credit card, nor that her mother specifically cited that as proof that Tiffany had no reason to steal from anyone.

Child Protective Services Visited The Valiante Home Repeatedly

Life In The Valiante Household May Not Have Been Stable

Another detail missing from the Unsolved Mysteries Tiffany Valiante episode "Mystery at Mile Marker 45" is that the Valiantes had been suspected of abusing Tiffany Valiante before her death. According to medical records obtained by The Daily Beast, Child Protective Services (CPS) authorities visited the Valiante home on three separate occasions in 2014. This occurred after one of Tiffany's teachers noticed bruising on her arm that seemed inconsistent with a sports-related injury. Though there's mounting evidence to support the Tiffany Valiante murder theory, this is a little suspect.

The therapist was satisfied that Tiffany and Dianne had a "stable" relationship

Unsolved Mysteries does not mention that Tiffany Valiante's mother, Dianne Valiante, reportedly admitted to having punched Tiffany once in the arm during an argument. The two both entered into therapy based on the recommendation of their CPS caseworker. It should be noted, however, that the therapist was satisfied that Tiffany and Dianne had a "stable" relationship, despite having serious "trouble communicating" and Tiffany apparently lashing out at her parents by stealing from them. It should also be noted that Tiffany Valiante specifically told her therapist that she was not "depressed nor suicidal."

A K-9 Unit Tracked Tiffany Valiante's Erratic Journey

Unsolved Mysteries Omitted Some Key Evidence

The Unsolved Mysteries' Tiffany Valiante episode goes into deep detail picking apart the New Jersey Transit Police theory regarding how Tiffany Valiante came to die on the night of July 12, 2015. As Unsolved Mysteries covers, it is the authorities' belief that Tiffany walked through the forest, stripped down to her underwear, and then walked nearly two miles barefoot, along the train tracks, from the spot where her shoes and headband were later found, to the site of her death. Tiffany's family find this theory unlikely for many reasons, but the investigators did have one compelling piece of evidence backing this chain of events, which went unreported by Unsolved Mysteries.

The Valiante family lawyer, Paul D’Amato, still questioned the reliability of the K-9 unit's findings

According to the same operations report originally obtained by The Daily Beast, a K-9 unit consisting of one bloodhound and one handler was sent by the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office to see if they could follow Tiffany Valiante's path and turn up any clues. The test was conducted on July 16, 2015, four days after Tiffany's death. The officer specifically requested not to be told the location of the incident, so he could "conduct the track blind and let my K-9 partner lead the way." Unsolved Mysteries similarly does not mention the bloodhound's hunt, which saw the dog lead his handler along a 3.2-mile route that brought him to the general area of Tiffany Valiante's death.

While this seemingly disproves the Valiante family theory that Tiffany Valiante left her home in a motor vehicle, the Valiante family lawyer, Paul D’Amato, still questioned the reliability of the K-9 unit's findings. The Daily Beast reported that, while touring the route with D'Amato, he noted that there had been heavy rains between the night of Tiffany's death and the day the blind track was conducted, which should have made it all but impossible for a bloodhound to track any scents.

Presumably, the Unsolved Mysteries Tiffany Valiante episode did not discuss this detail given that many investigators consider K-9 units to be unreliable in tracking missing persons, as police dogs are generally trained to track specific scents, such as drugs or bombs.

The Unsolved Mysteries Tiffany Valiante Family Has Re-Opened Interest In The Investigation

The Case Of Tiffany Valiante's Murder Is Still Ongoing

There have been many Tiffany Valiante updates since Unsolved Mysteries aired, and Tiffany Valiante's family now reopened interest in the investigation of her death. Following the Unsolved Mysteries Tiffany Valiante episode, Dianna Valiante is trying to get the NJ Transit to take another look at the case (via Press of Atlantic City), telling a board of directors, "More than seven years after Tiffany’s death, we are more convinced than ever that investigators, including members of your police department, were wrong, that they rushed to close her case as a trespasser suicide, and we want to know why."

The Unsolved Mysteries episode prompted a petition that urged the New Jersey Attorney General's Office to reexamine the case. However, unfortunately, the case can't be re-opened unless new information is brought to the Prosecutor's Office. Nevertheless, Paul D'Amato, the attorney representing the Valiantes, has been generating new leads following the Unsolved Mysteries episode. The Valiante family has even doubled the reward for information about Tiffany Valiante's death (via PR Newswire), which will lead to a conviction and arrest of whoever is responsible.