Statement of Robert Turkavage to NJT Board, February 8, 2023
Good evening. I am Robert Turkavage, a resident of Brigantine, New Jersey, and a retired Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I wish to provide information related to the matter involving the late Tiffany Valiante who was struck by a New Jersey Transit (NJT) train on July 12, 2015.
As background, two years ago, I was asked by the Valiante family attorney to conduct an independent review of information regarding the Valiante matter. In a voluntary capacity, I conducted an extensive examination of the materials provided, and then prepared a 60-page report detailing my findings. I am aware that a copy of that report was provided to the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General. My report notes that an on-site investigator from the Medical Examiner’s (ME) office prepared a report regarding the incident, which was based on interviews of two alleged witnesses to the incident, the train engineer, and a NJT student engineer as well as a relative of the Valiante family. Her report also included an observation of the incident site. I later learned that this purported investigator from the ME’s office was actually an employee from the Atlantic County Health Department, appearing on behalf of the ME. Since significant reliance was placed on this report by the State Medical Examiner in issuing the manner of death determination “Suicide”, I will specifically comment on these interviews, and on a review of photographs taken at the incident site.
Statements of the Train Engineer
After-incident reports prepared by the train conductor, a NJT Police Officer and the ME field representative either state or suggest that the engineer was a witness to the incident, and attribute certain information to him. During an interview by a NJT investigator, however, the train engineer stated his back was turned at the time of the incident and he did not witness the incident. The ME representative and the ME, therefore, may have based their conclusions, in part, on information attributed to the engineer which turned out to be false.
Statements of the student engineer
The student engineer possibly gave varying accounts of the incident to investigators. An after-incident ME data sheet quotes an engineer: a female “darted out from the trees and ran right in front of the train”. It is unclear if the engineer being quoted here was the train engineer or the student engineer. When interviewed by a NJT investigator, the student engineer described two observations, the first at a half mile to a quarter mile, the second at a quarter mile or closer. In recounting both observations, the student engineer does not mention Ms. Valiante darting from the trees and running in front of the train. The student engineer does say that when first observed, the individual was 15 to 20 feet from the track. In another observation, the individual was in a crouched position facing away and that as he approached, she turned perpendicular to the track and dove in front of the train. The student engineers recollections are significant because the “darting from the trees and running” statement in the ME’s data sheet was relied on in part by the ME in issuing a conclusive Manner of Death certification.
Information from the train’s “black box” casts doubt on the student engineer’s observations. The train’s black box continuously records the time of various train activity including speed, emergency brake application etc. Using the estimated time of impact and the train speed, I calculated the approximate times that the train was 1⁄2 mile and 1⁄4 mile from impact. At the 1⁄2 mile interval, the train was traveling at
75 miles per hour. At the 1⁄4 mile interval, the train was traveling at 79 miles per hour and had been accelerating. This evidence of train acceleration would seem to suggest that the student engineer did not observe any activity on or about the rail bed that was cause for concern at those moments. During his interview with NJT, the student engineer stated that he was blowing the horn when impact occurred. The black box data reflects that the train was traveling at 79 miles per hour when the horn was activated, and increased to, and was maintained at 80 miles per hour, until it was deactivated.
A lack of any spontaneous outburst by the student engineer before the incident casts further doubt on the student engineer’s observations. When interviewed by the NJT investigator, the only statement the engineer heard the student engineer make around the time of impact was, “Oh my God, a Girl jumped out”. There was no warning such as, “There is a person on the track”. Since the engineer’s back was turned, it can logically be assumed that this statement was made just before, at the time of, or shortly after impact, because had it occurred earlier, the engineer may have had time to turn and view the impact.
Statement of Valiante Relative
The ME’s report also referenced statements allegedly made by a relative of Ms. Valiante indicative of her mindset before the incident These statements were apparently accepted by investigators at face value; there was no corroboration of the relative’s account through interviews of family and friends. I have been informed that the relative, at the time a member of the NJ State Police, provided an affidavit filed in N.J. Superior Court, denying that he made certain statements that were attributed to him.
Analysis of incident scene photographs
Color photographs of Ms. Valiante taken shortly before the incident show that she was wearing a black top, light blue jean shorts, and shoes. Color photographs taken by NJ Transit investigators at the incident site revealed a torn dark top and possibly dark underwear on the torso. No shorts were observed on her body, and no shoes were on her feet. Further, no footwear or shorts were observed in the incident photos, nor were shoes, shorts and underwear listed in NJT evidence receipt records. At the ME’s office, notation was made in its records that dark torn shorts were received at their office along with Ms. Valiante’s remains. It is my belief that the dark shorts referenced by the ME’s office may actually have been the underwear of Ms. Valiante. Ms. Valiante’s shoes were subsequently found by her mother along a county road approximately three miles from the point of impact. The shoes were turned over by the family to NJT.
A color photograph of the right front of the train that struck Ms. Valiante shows no apparent blood or body matter on the front of the train beyond a distance of approximately 36 inches from the train bottom. This is significant because during his interview, the student engineer stated that as he approached Ms. Valiante, who was taller than six foot two inches, Ms. Valiante who had been in a crouched position, stood up and dove in front of the train.
Several site photographs evidenced a large stain on the track bed which likely was the point of impact. A review of the torso and the severed extremities was made to assess post-impact blood discharge. While the torso and the severed right leg showed some evidence of blood discharge, there was no observable blood discharge onto the ground from the severed left forearm which came to rest on the north side of the tracks, and the severed right arm which came to rest on the south side of the tracks.
Finally, most perplexing were the post-impact photographs of Ms. Valiante’s hands and fingers. Notwithstanding that muscles normally relax upon death prior to the onset of rigor mortis, Ms. Valiante’s left wrist was bent slightly inward with the fingers fully extended. The fingers on her right hand were slightly bent as if in a cup holding position. The very relaxed appearance of Ms. Valiante’s hands, where they came to rest in the track bed, seemed to be inconsistent with those of a person who just moments before had experienced a very violent death.
Recently, I learned of a condition reported in medical journals referred to as Cadaveric Spasm or Instantaneous Rigor that may be relevant to this incident. As reported, this condition occurs when muscles that were used greatly before death become stiff and rigid immediately after death. The condition mostly involves hands. The reporting indicates that it can occur in assaults before death, suicides and drownings.
If it is assumed that the above medical theory is valid, and Ms. Valiante committed suicide, one could reasonably expect to see Ms. Valiante’s hands present as clenched fists post-impact. Since the track bed is significantly elevated above ground level, it is likely that she waited for the train standing on the wooden tracks. Standing on the tracks, Ms. Valiante likely would have felt the vibration of the track rails, heard the sound of the oncoming train, and steeled herself for a violent death by unconsciously clasping her hands tightly, which should have stiffened upon her death.
In conclusion, I cannot state that Ms. Valiante took her own life, nor that she was the victim of foul play. I do believe, however, that any reasonable person reviewing the facts and circumstances I have outlined above would conclude that a more detailed investigation should have been conducted by both the ME’s office and NJ Transit investigators, prior to ascribing a Manner of Death determination to this matter. As a retired federal law enforcement officer who approved the initiation of hundreds of criminal investigations, I strongly believe that the “reasonable suspicion” threshold for a case initiation in this matter has been met, and that further investigation by an appropriate law enforcement agency is warranted.
The above statement (at least part of it; he did not finish due to the panel's 3-minute time limit on public comments) was presented in person this evening to the NJT Board. Agent (Ret.) Turkavage has given permission for the verbatim posting of his remarks that will become part of the meeting permanent record. He deserves the respect and recognition for his career in service to the nation, and his volunteer efforts in this matter.