Unsolved Mysteries: Tiffany Valiante

Totally agree. I just watched the episode myself, and there's just no way that wasn't a suicide. I was annoyed that case was even covered, to be honest. After I watched it I googled and read what they left out; I was actually pretty mad.

This was as slanted as that Making A Murder nonsense.

Yup. This is just open and shut. Girl with a history of psychological problems and stealing gets busted stealing from friends. Had a breakup the same week. Has fight with parents over the stealing. Probably feels ashamed/distraught/worthless that her friends/family will now hate her. Has a breakdown and acts erratically and then jumps in front of a train. With a witness.

Not an iota of hard evidence was presented that this was anything but a suicide. Nothing but speculation and denial.

I was annoyed the case was covered, and annoyed about how the case was covered. They went out of their way to present her as a totally happy person with absolutely zero reason to kill herself, when apparently she had a history of self-harm, stealing, had been in counselling for serious physical altercations with her mother.

I feel for the family who lost their obviously treasured daughter but there isn't anything mysterious here.
 
I watched the episode about Tiffany. Firstly another tragic loss of a young person with their life ahead of them full of promise. So very sad. Which makes me heavily lean to the opinion that there was no suicide. Having read the article above which was excellent, I feel that if she planned to commit suicide she would have left a note. She decorated her bedroom door with loving messages and seemed to be quite extraverted, enjoying communicating with friends and family in various ways, and active on social media, why would she suddenly withdraw and not communicate her thought processes to her parents/friends or come to a solution to anything troubling her. She doesn't seem like a quitter at all either very evident in her successes at school. Also, her activities and success at school and on the volleyball court do not point to a person under prolonged mental stress or physical abuse. She surely would have started failing and underperforming and would not have achieved a scholarship. The autopsy by a very experienced professional concluded her arms were cut off. This autopsy can't be ignored. I don't feel that she would have gone through with a suicide. She had self harmed a couple of times, but clearly not to the point of hospitalisation or a threat to her health. She clearly valued her health and wellbeing and was looking positively toward the future, making fun plans even for the next few days. As the article said, it seemed that if the scenario was to be believed, she went out of her way to commit an uncommon form of suicide. I don't feel that she would have been comfortable walking in the dark in absolute pitch blackness with her phobia, and waiting for a train in the dark with her phobia, without her clothes on. It sounds just too crazy. There was no sign of intoxication or drug intake in her body, which you would think she might have taken prior to a suicide. IMO the circumstances reek of foul play. For a teenager to comfortably come out as gay while achieving a competitive scholarship tells me she was indeed a brave soul who worked towards carving out a bright future for herself. She was clearly positive and had the ability to overcome setbacks which also earned her a scholarship. It does sound like she had some secrets, and where some teens shoplift, she obviously had an issue with the credit cards and somehow not having spending money which I don't understand (did she not have a teen job?) - but I don't believe these few petty thefts in her history would be a cause to enact all of the above and commit suicide. Noone was getting an insurance payout here. There are people here who know more and eventually won't be able to live with themselves for not coming forward. Time will reveal many more secrets here, friendships will fail, people's morals break down further and revealing the truth is the only thing that can set many people free. I do also think that the train drivers were mainly trying to protect themselves and their careers - they were not driving the train in the safest manner including having backs turned and the fact that the black box recorded that no warning signal was given. A degree of liability was there and they should have stopped beforehand. And that her body was placed in the darkest area of the tracks - no coincidence. The perpetrators know the train tracks well IMO.
 
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I believe she might have played volleyball barefoot. More like beach volleyball.
Her Dad was raking the court he had built for her.
New shoes that hurt, wow, good thinking.
The fact that TF's clothes were not on her body is something that should not be ignored.
Agree - I don’t see how her underpants stayed on and the shorts didn’t, yet on same region of the body. Also why would she purposely take her shoes off to walk on unlit ground to commit suicide when hurting her feet might have prevented her from going thru with a suicide. If it was suicide she didn’t leave a note or text on her phone so why would she leave a strange trail of clothes mobile and shoes behind in odd places that would be found by others. Foul play IMO even if her death was an accident - it was made to look like suicide by those who knew the final spot she was found in was also particularly dark for the train driver.
 
I haven't seen it mentioned yet in this thread, but according to a podcast I listened to on this case, Tiffany was allegedly extremely terrified of the dark. Like, it was supposed to be a phobia for her. (EDIT - I see it here earlier now. I swear I scoured and did not see that information posted)

Now, I can't help but think of the Boys on the Track case, where there was so many rumors and speculations about what happened to them.

That story also had many different versions of what the train conductors witnessed, rulings about what happened to the boys, and lots of other details that are don't definitively give us an answer.

I would imagine witnessing a singular person train accident in the dark would really be hard to digest.
 
I haven't seen it mentioned yet in this thread, but according to a podcast I listened to on this case, Tiffany was allegedly extremely terrified of the dark. Like, it was supposed to be a phobia for her. (EDIT - I see it here earlier now. I swear I scoured and did not see that information posted)

Now, I can't help but think of the Boys on the Track case, where there was so many rumors and speculations about what happened to them.

That story also had many different versions of what the train conductors witnessed, rulings about what happened to the boys, and lots of other details that are don't definitively give us an answer.

I would imagine witnessing a singular person train accident in the dark would really be hard to digest.
Yes the phobia of the dark was mentioned in UM. I just don’t see her traversing those very dark areas on her own to commit suicide. Someone crossed her path early on.
 
From watching the episode, I find it hard to believe that a person that large could be taken by force, with her shoes nice and neatly sitting on the ground like that.

I can only speculate what happened, but I want to lean towards a potential theory. If everyone knew she was terrified of the dark, this could have been a prank gone wrong.

I felt so bad for her mother trying to come up with possibilities whilst standing near where the shoes were found. Her logic was really unreasonable.

In addition to The Boys on the Tracks, there is another somewhat similar case but with different circumstances.

Norman Ladner was young man close to finishing high school. He was found dead in a wooded area after exploring in it for a while. He frequented this area for outdoor exploring. He was found with a fatal shot to the head, and his rifle was broken beside him. There is A LOT of fishy things about it, (for instance his drivers license was found hundreds of miles away) but the ultimate ruling was suicide. His family seemed to add a lot of details afterwards that really made the case sound like something out of a crime thriller novel.
 
So, just a few things to chew on. Most athletes deal with the pain in their feet as a norm, so doubtful a reason for her to take off her shoes. Let's say that she did, even being an athlete, feet are not that strong that almost 2 miles walked and had not a single scratch on them, or walking in the absolute pitch dark, not stub her toes? Or mis steps?? Not logical. Also, if that had been the case, why not phone, shoes and headband together? Seeing as she was all of a sudden suicidal. For $86 dollars? That the friend tried to say was $300. Doesn't make sense. The K9 dog should have been that same night to track her movements. Trauma has impacted the conductors memory, and sadly the supervisor wasn't paying attention. I want to keep researching this.
 
So, just a few things to chew on. Most athletes deal with the pain in their feet as a norm, so doubtful a reason for her to take off her shoes. Let's say that she did, even being an athlete, feet are not that strong that almost 2 miles walked and had not a single scratch on them, or walking in the absolute pitch dark, not stub her toes? Or mis steps?? Not logical. Also, if that had been the case, why not phone, shoes and headband together? Seeing as she was all of a sudden suicidal. For $86 dollars? That the friend tried to say was $300. Doesn't make sense. The K9 dog should have been that same night to track her movements. Trauma has impacted the conductors memory, and sadly the supervisor wasn't paying attention. I want to keep researching this.
Yep agree with your thoughts - I wrote similiar. No way suicide. ! Keep researching because people out there are to blame. No doubt it is gnawing at them and the only thing that will set them free is to tell the truth in the near future for reward. Friendships change over time, people go soul searching and morals change.
 
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On the uncomfortable shoes, when I’m wearing shoes that aren’t comfortable at the back I just fold down the backs and turn them into scuffs if I’m desperate. Then they are not rubbing on the heel. Anyway - that’s futile even talking about it - no chance she took of her shoes and walked to the train tracks. She was obviously killed nearby to where she was laid on the tracks. Had to be at least 3 people minimum involved to drive/carry her IMO.
 
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IMHO I am leaning towards suicide, when I was 18 I did some daft things like Tiffany not using credit cards as my mum didn't have one but she used to sell Puma coats La Coste cardigans Cassette tapes all sorts ( it was the 80s) and I used to pinch some and sell them I used to run away a lot as my mum was all about herself, my dad had died when I was 2 so it was just as I felt different boyfriends, I used to self harm, not for attention as my mum never even noticed for a long time but it made me feel better. I used to fight with my mum a lot, physically as she used to hit me and drag me upstairs by my hair when she found out I had not been to school, it was all very distressing, I felt my mum hated me and favoured my younger brother more, Tiffany fighting with her mum must of made her feel really low, then having to go to counselling, I was very impulsive in just a split second if your even feeling a bit down you can do something stupid as at the time you feel its the end of the world, she denied to the friends face it wasn't her that had used the card, she must of knew deep down it would come out and maybe she was ashamed and couldn't bear admitting to a good friend she had stolen from her, its not about how much its about the fact she had stolen from a friend. The mum said she saw Tiffany put the card into her back pocket, was this card never found? The UM programme just glossed over the argument which I feel pushed her over the edge as the mum said " I'm getting your dad", then she fled ashamed, I feel the way the shoes were they look as if she was facing the tree and just stood and took them off, then took her headband off and threw it thinking I'm not doing this no more in a temper, I believe she walked barefoot, the picture UM shown of the foot I know it was black and white as it obviously had blood on did look messy because of the blood imho I'm always walking barefoot in my garden and grass doesn't get my feet dirty unless its been raining, I believe she was walking and thinking and in a split second she stepped out, I was very irrational at times and built things up bigger than what they were, when we are upset we make rash decisions thinking everybody is against us, you don't want to dissapoint anyone UM to me made it sound like Tiffany and her mum didn't have any problems the dad seemed a good guy, until I read the article someone kindly posted it sounds like she had a contentious relationship with her mum nothing I read says anything about her dad, oh and the shorts part somebody gave a theory that her shorts are quite short and could of become snagged on the front of the train and ripped off, that sound quite plausible to me too. This is jmho please go easy on me I've got covid quite bad and reading on here is helping me to take my mind off it .
 
Also, just a thought - when I’ve looked at the photo taken by the deer camera again something occurred to me. Is she holding her phone ? If she is holding her phone - why isn’t she using it as a torch as it looks pretty dark there to me ? Anyone have any thoughts on these ?
 
Back to this I’ve looked into all the supplementary docs from the extra Netflix Deep Dive. Wow. It speaks volumes. The very sloppy nature of how much of the evidence and crime scene was handled warrants the reopening of the case alone. For example, a tshirt recovered from Tiffany from the scene of the rail tracks was placed in a plastic bag that grew mould warranting it contaminated and unuseable. A big axe with red marks recovered close by to her body was “lost” !!!. Her phone recorded an answered call and use of her data twice during the time she was missing. What further information can be gleaned from that alone ?! Especially with breakthroughs in technology. How Falzon could still after the medical reports, say that he still believes she committed suicide following updated paperwork 4 years later and in light of the still missing evidence above and sloppy processes from Day 1 is a disgusting outcome. Did he actually read anything more ?<modsnip> if any of her circle or wider circle or acquaintances decline to have their DNA tested for Ancestry or similiar - keep an eye on them !
 
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And for me even more surprising there was no discussion about why she might have used the credit card when her mum said she wasn’t raised that way. What was going on in her life? Urgh I’m so frustrated with unsolved mysteries lol.
Exactly I wanted 2 know more about that friend and what they had 2 say it was like they said just that 1 part and that was it
 
I’ve seen this and 2 me it could have been a lot better with information and I think they should have had more interviews with more people and took a deeper look in 2 this case the part that big me is the credit card really nothing else on that if anything I think she got in a car with another person and they took her 2 the train after they killed or hurt her but other then that if we had more information that would have helped the show wasn’t the best I looked her up it wasn’t much
 
According to this article talking about things that was missed out in the episode it says the police lost a murder weapon? is this true?

Yes it’s true. Not only that but the black t shirt she was wearing when the train hit her body was put in a plastic bag and grew mould and rendered forensically useless. There is even more evidence that was mishandled. This isn’t suicide - it’s slapdash handling of evidence that is has created the false outcome of suicide. <modsnip> #tiffanyvaliante
 
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