She left home fully dressed at 9:00 p.m… smiling, alive. By 11:16 p.m., she was dead on train tracks 4 miles away — in just her underwear. 😱🚆

Her phone? Found tossed in bushes near her house. Her clothes and shoes? Vanished — never recovered.

How did an 18-year-old athlete cover over 6 km in 16 minutes on foot? Why strip down completely? Who answered her phone after she was already hit?

Ten years later, recovered hate-filled texts screaming anti-lesbian slurs, a terrified witness who saw suspicious activity, and forensic experts calling it mur-der — not sui-cide.

Tiffany Valiante didn’t walk those tracks alone. Something sinister happened that night.

This case will chill you to the bone. The truth is still out there… and her family won’t stop fighting. 💔🇺🇸

Ten years after 18-year-old Tiffany Valiante was struck and killed by a New Jersey Transit train on a dark stretch of tracks, her death remains one of the most contested cases in South Jersey. Officially ruled a suicide within hours by authorities, the incident has sparked lawsuits, forensic reevaluations, and international attention — including a Netflix “Unsolved Mysteries” episode — as her family insists foul play, possibly motivated by hate, was involved.

On the evening of July 12, 2015, Tiffany, a recent high school graduate and volleyball star set to attend Mercy College on scholarship, left her family’s home in Mays Landing around 9:00 p.m. after an argument with her mother. She was fully dressed, wearing new shoes, and appeared in good spirits to those who saw her. Surveillance footage captured her walking away from the property.

By approximately 11:00 p.m., her father discovered her cellphone discarded in bushes near the driveway — an area previously searched. Just 16 minutes later, at 11:16 p.m., a southbound New Jersey Transit train traveling at 80 mph struck and killed her near mile marker 45 in Galloway Township, roughly four miles (over 6 km) from home.

When her body was recovered, Tiffany was clad only in a sports bra and underwear. Her clothing, shoes, and other belongings were never located despite extensive searches. The rapid timeline — covering significant distance in minutes while barefoot — raised immediate questions, as did the absence of her possessions and the condition of her feet, which showed no signs of long-distance walking on rough terrain.

New Jersey Transit Police and the state Medical Examiner’s Office quickly classified the death as suicide, citing no evidence of foul play. No full autopsy was performed, no rape kit conducted, and no DNA testing pursued on her body or scene. The case closed within 24 hours, drawing criticism for its speed and limited scope.

Tiffany’s parents, Dianne and Stephen Valiante, rejected the ruling from the start. They hired attorney Paul D’Amato, who has pursued civil actions for years, including demands for evidence release under New Jersey’s Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights. In July 2025 — on the eve of the 10th anniversary — they filed a new lawsuit alleging her death was a premeditated hate-crime murder, not suicide.

Central to the claims are newly recovered digital forensics from Tiffany’s phone, analyzed by experts at Cornerstone Discovery. The data reportedly includes hate-filled text messages using violent anti-lesbian slurs directed at Tiffany in the months prior. Investigators never explored her sexual orientation as a potential motive, the suit asserts, nor considered hate crime or foul play.

Additional elements fuel suspicion: A local witness allegedly overheard teenage boys discussing Tiffany being kidnapped at gunpoint, humiliated, forced to strip, and driven to the tracks. The account surfaced via a Wawa employee but was not fully pursued. Conflicting statements from the train’s engineers — one describing her standing still, another varying accounts — added to inconsistencies.

Forensic opinions retained by the family suggest injuries inconsistent with a typical train suicide, and that her body may have been placed on the tracks to stage the scene. An ax with “red markings” found near the area by family members went missing from evidence. A rental car tag and other items were reportedly discovered nearby but not thoroughly examined.

The family theory: Tiffany was abducted shortly after leaving home, assaulted, stripped, and transported to the remote tracks where she was killed or forced into the path of the oncoming train. The discarded phone, answered by someone after the incident according to some reports, and missing clothes support this narrative.

Authorities maintain the suicide determination based on the scene, lack of defensive wounds, and absence of clear evidence otherwise. No criminal charges have resulted, and the New Jersey Transit Police investigation concluded without reopening. State officials have moved to dismiss related suits, arguing proper procedures were followed.

The case gained wider notice through Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries” Volume 3 episode “Mystery at Mile Marker 45,” which highlighted timeline discrepancies, missing evidence, and family doubts. A Change.org petition for reopening has garnered over 15,000 signatures.

In 2025 filings, the Valiante team seeks court-ordered access to withheld materials — including any remaining phone data, scene photos, and black box records — to build a case potentially for prosecutors. They contend mishandling, such as storing clothing in a knotted plastic bag leading to mold contamination, compromised evidence.

Tiffany was remembered as outgoing, athletic, and beloved — a promising young woman with no documented history of mental health issues suggesting suicide. Friends and family described her excitement for college and future plans.

The ongoing legal battle underscores broader issues: rapid closure of rail-related deaths, limited forensic scrutiny in apparent suicides, and potential biases in investigating LGBTQ+ victims. As of January 2026, no resolution has emerged, with the family vowing to continue pressing for answers.

A decade on, the questions linger: How did she reach those tracks so quickly? Why were her clothes gone? And who sent those hateful messages?

For the Valiante family, the fight is far from over. What began as a tragic loss has become a quest for truth — one that challenges official narratives and demands accountability in a case that refuses to stay closed.