Michael Valva and his fiancée killed his son Thomas, 8, after leaving him to sleep in their unheated garage in their East Moriches home in January 2020.
Two years later, the case appears to be coming to a close.
Thomas, who had autism, was found by law enforcement, authorities said back in 2020. Upon arrival at the hospital, the boy had a body temperature of 76.1 degrees. An autopsy report showed that Thomas had died of hypothermia.
Valva, 40, and his fiancée, Angela Pollina, 42, were charged with murder in the second-degree and four counts of endangering the welfare of the child— they both plead not guilty. Both cases are being tried separately. If convicted, Valva may face life in prison.
Police said that the father and stepmother of the child physically abused him and tortured him by forcing him to sleep in their garage with no blankets or source of heat— even when temperatures were below freezing.
At Thomas’ funeral, Bishop Andrzej Zglejszewski gave a heartwarming message to grievers and repeatedly mentioned how the system failed Thomas. Thomas’ mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, had contacted law enforcement to respond to the abuse her children endured, but authorities neglected her claims. Thomas had two brothers, Anthony, 12, and Andrew, 8.
“Our legal and social system failed him,” Zglejszewski told the mourners. “I am sorry to say that somehow we failed him.”
New York State’s child-abuse hotline received at least 17 emergency calls about Valva’s children months before Thomas’ murder. Some of the calls were claims stating the children were starving and had to eat out of the trash. Only 5 of the 16 calls were reviewed, according to the Office of Children and Family Services.
From 2017 to 2018, Amanda Wildman was the nanny of Thomas and his brothers. She told Dr. Oz in 2020 about the maltreatment of the children she painfully witnessed.
“I could only hope that what they did to that child happens to them,” Wildman said on the Dr. Oz Show. “If maybe not that particular thing, I could only hope that when they get their sentence that wherever they go, they get the torture that they put these little kids through.”
Over 2 years later, Valva, who is an ex-NYPD officer, and Pollina are on trial for murder and the prosecution isn’t going easy on him.
Valva’s pre-trial was in May 2021. At the hearing, the court played the 9-1-1 call he made on January 17, 2020, the date of Thomas’ death.
Valva and Pollina couldn’t hold back the emotions as the call was played.
“He fell down and banged his head,” Valva told the operator. “I don’t know if he’s breathing or not … His heart stopped. He banged his head pretty good.”
At the next hearing that month, Valva hardly displayed any emotions when looking at photos of Thomas’ clothes that were worn out and merely reflected the state of the boy’s physical health.
As Thomas froze to death in the garage that was 19 degrees, their family dog slept in a heated room inside, revealed in another pre-trial testimony in May 2021.
“I will beat them until they bleed,” Valva texted Pollina about his children before Thomas’ 2020 death, assistant Suffolk County DA Laura Newcombe told jurors, according to Newsday. “It is the only thing that works.”
Several witnesses took the stand including Thomas’ former school teachers who first hand saw his bruises, scratches, dirty clothes and how he was bare bones due to starvation.
The prosecution rested its case Last Thursday. The defense made a motion to have the second-degree murder charge against Valva dropped. They argued that Valva did not want Thomas to die and gave him CPR to resuscitate him.
The lead prosecutor, Kerriann Kelly, told the court that in the home surveillance video, Valva was heard repeatedly asking Thomas if he was alive, followed by a loud slap. She said Valva did not care if the child lived or died.
“He had no emotion, no sense of concern,” paramedic Erin Lambert told jurors on September 29. “Most parents panic and freak out in a situation like that. There was nothing like that. Most of the time parents are screaming, crying, jumping on me, begging me to save their child.”
The judge denied the defense’s motion.
On Tuesday, Defense attorney John LoTurco, Valva’s attorney, confirmed that he will not take the stand to make a statement and testify.
There were no proceedings on Wednesday and summations will begin on Thursday, LoTurco said.
