Chris Gregor carried his son, Corey, into the hospital the day he died. According to a Nurse Practitioner at Southern Ocean, Corey's arms and legs dangling with little visible movement. His head rested on his father's shoulder.
The nurse practitioner said he could tell something was wrong, but there was no urgency coming from the parent. Corey died later that day.
We have also learned that text messages between Breanna Micciolo and Christopher Gregor about their son Corey Micciolo have been made public on the Facebook group Justice for Corey. Breanne Micciolo posts a text exchange that took place two weeks before Corey died.
Micciolo writes 'Corey came upstairs upset and almost crying because he was trying to ask you about playing football in high school and you smacked the ball out of his hand and walked out,' Gregor replies, "I smacked the ball out of his hands and he didn't say a word to me."
Gregor then texts that if hitting the ball out of the six-year-old's hand 'makes him cry, that maybe he needs to be a little tougher because that's soft tissue.' After Gregor makes another comment about Corey being “over-emotional."
Breanne Micciolo responds, "He's not over-emotional, you hurt his feelings, he got upset, he's six years old."
JOINING NANCY TODAY:
- Jarrett Ferentino - Homicide Prosecutor in Pennsylvania, Host of Podcast: 'True Crime Boss', jarrettferentino.com Facebook & Instagram: Jarrett Ferentino
- Dr. Bethany Marshall – Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills); X: @DrBethanyLive/ Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall; Appearing in “Paris in Love” on Peacock; BOOK: "Deal Breaker: When to work on a relationship and when to walk away"
- Bill Daly – Former FBI Investigator and Forensic Photography; Security Expert
- Dr. Eric Eason – Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD
- Jim Murdoch - News 12 New Jersey Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace caught on video the Sick Moment.
A deadbeat dad is caught carrying the limp body of
his son, Cory, just six, into urgent care. This after
physically forcing Corey to run full speed on a treadmill
(00:25):
because the boy was quote too fat.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Six year old Corey is now dead tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Why did daddy go on the run and hide out
in a Tennessee motel while his defense lawyer claims Daddy
had nothing to do with Corey's death from chronic abuse
and bruising to the heart. We want justice. Good evening,
a Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to
(00:53):
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Cory was in Chris's arms. His arms were over Chris's shoulders.
His legs were dangling. His arms did not looked like
they had much movement to them. His legs did not
look like they had much moving to him. His head
was rested on Chris's shoulder. His head was difficult, his
(01:17):
face was difficult to visualize. So when I first approached them,
I knew that something was concerning, but I couldn't see
everything I needed to see, so I was depending on
Chris to convey a sense of urgency or unwellness that
I did not get from him at first. It was
(01:38):
more of a clinical description.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
You are hearing William Doyle, a nurse practitioner at Southern
Ocean Urgent Care, and when you hear a professional space
the way, it just doesn't even make sense. He says,
his face was difficult to visualize. I think what he
had to say is the little boy was near death
(02:04):
and he couldn't even hold his head up. That's why
his face is difficult to visualize.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And as a nurse.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Practitioner, says Chris, I believe he is referring to the
bio dad Christopher gregor the deadbeat dad that didn't seem
upset and wouldn't really articulate what had happened.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Gee, I wonder.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Why in the last hours in court the chilling texts
are revealed and this tastes like dirt in my mouth.
Where the father writes, quote, he needs to toughen up
talking about the six year old little boy. He says
(02:52):
this after making his son Corey run the treadmill he dies.
He quote needs to toughen up again. Thank you everyone
for joining us. I know evidence is sometimes very hard
to look at, but a jury is being asked to
(03:13):
render a true verdict. Guys take a listen to Sidney
Sumner crime Online.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Brianna Mitchello is supposed to drop Corey off to his father.
Gregor asks her to bring Corey to the fitness center
of his apartment complex. Surveillance video inside the gym shows
Corey running on a treadmill while Gregor turns up the
speed and incline of the machine until the six year
old can't keep up and falls off. Gregor lifts the
boy off the ground by his shirt, holding Corey over
(03:42):
the running treadmill. Corey's feet slid out from under him
several times as he tries to get his footing, and
Gregor appears to bite Corey on the back of the head.
Corey eventually starts running again and falls from the treadmill
five more times. Through tears, Corey tells the doctor about
the treadmill incident and says Gregor forced him to because
he was too fat. The doctor notes fourteen bruises or
(04:04):
scrapes on Corey's body, but the rest of his tests
come back normal. Mitchello's request for emergency custody is denied,
and she returns Corey to Gregor.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The next morning, when I hear the reporter describing all
the bruises on Corey's little body, and I watched Corey
so valiantly trying to keep running every time his father
throws him back on the treadmill, even holding him down,
and you can see him forcefully biting him. But this
(04:33):
is what the defense attorney has to say.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You got to hear this. Listen.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
You're going to see Christener.
Speaker 6 (04:41):
Go over in that Treville and speed it up, and
you're going to see Corey.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Fall, and you're going to see him pick that boy
up six times, and six times put him back on
the treadmill.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
And I'm gonna tell you right now, you're not gonna
like him, And I don't care if you like him.
When you see that video, you're gonna be horrified. You're
gonna be mortified. But I'm telling you right now.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
That the evidence you're going to see of Coury's death
had absolutely nothing to do with that treadmill.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
With me, it all start paneling, including Jim Murdott from
News twelve New Jersey Reporter, and if you want more
on the trial, go to News twelve New Jersey News
twelve in New York.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Jim hold on, just a moment, doctor.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Bethany Marshall, you gotta get my head straight, Doctor Bethany Marshall,
round psycho analyst joining us at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com.
Doctor Bethany, did you hear what the defense attorney just said?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
What am I supposed to believe him? Or my lion eyes?
How the hey is he's saying?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Oh, look over here, not over here at the video,
don't look at the autopsy report.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Look at me what I'm saying in court? What does
he think they just fell off the turnip truck? That
the jury is stupid? Nancy.
Speaker 8 (06:17):
He's manipulating the jurors. Also, now we have two men
abusing power. Deadbeat Dad abused power by using his child
as a punching bag. Never mind he was also only
involved with the child in the last year of his life,
wanting to gain control over the child in order to
abuse him. Isn't it interesting that he has sought an
(06:39):
attorney who does the same. In some ways, I think
the attorney is like dead beat dad, trying to control
the jurors, trying to have power over them. It's to me,
it's like male power on parade, and it's just very sickening.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Speaking of male power on the parade, I'd like to
welcome everyone on our paneling, including a lot of mails.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Dr Beth and as you want to maybe back.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Off on the mailpower on pay thing until the very
end when they can't leave.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Jim Marda joining me and he's twelve investigative reporter out
of New Jersey. Jim, thank you for being with us.
What is happening in the courtroom? How is the jury reacting?
I mean, how can the defense attorney with a straight
face say the dad had nothing to do with it?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
So thanks for having me on, Nancy.
Speaker 9 (07:27):
I think one of the important factors here before they
showed that treadmill video in court.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
They played the.
Speaker 9 (07:36):
Video before the dad kept putting him up and down,
up and down.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
On the treadmill.
Speaker 9 (07:42):
So in that courtroom a video played for twelve minutes
showing that little boy running at full speed while the
dad in the background was lifting weights and once in
a while periodically checking in on him. So I think
this has been missed in a lot of the reports
we've seen online. But that child had been running for
(08:05):
twelve full minutes before the dad sped it up and
the video looked like he was running at full speed
for a child of six years old. So you go
in the courtroom. We're sitting there in the front row
and we're watching in complete silence along with the At
that time, there were sixteen jurors seated for twelve minutes,
(08:28):
and then the video played showing the dad what you're
showing right now.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
So you have to go.
Speaker 9 (08:35):
Back twelve minutes. This child had been running at full
speed before the speed and the incline were increased.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Nancy, Jim Murdot, Guys, joining, he's been the story from
the beginning, and again, let me correct myself. This is
not a story.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
This is a real case. People are suffering.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And every time I look at that little boy Corey
running and following, face playing and falling, thrown literally thrown
back on there, Jim Murdock, I think of my little
boy John David and my little girl Lucy, and I
imagine their head on that little body running and running
(09:14):
and falling, and I can hardly stand it. But I
got to ask you about something, Jim Murdock. Are you
telling me that in court there was twelve minute there
were twelve minutes of silence.
Speaker 9 (09:28):
Of silence while we were watching that little boy run
before the dad sped up the treadmill. Twelve minutes of
silence broken up when they'd switched to that video, and
then there were audible gasps from quite a few people
in that courtroom. But twelve minutes of silence watching that
boy run.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Jared Farantino joining me, homicide prosecutor Jared, I remember, on
several occasions, I would use the time it took, for instance,
to asphyxiate someone, maybe two or three minutes. I'll have
to go to doctor Erry Easton on that. In court,
for instance, hold the pillow down in front of a
(10:23):
jury and push it down and have complete silence for
three minutes.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's so powerful because the.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Jury then understands how long the father had to have
saved his son all of this suffering, or how long
the defendant took to form the act. What Jim Murlock
just told us is, I mean, drop the mic right there, Farantino.
Speaker 10 (10:57):
It's so there's something about this video, Nancy that gets
harder to watch every time you watch it, because you
watch this little boy trying to get up he's trying
to please his father's what he's trying to do and
to probably stop the abuse that he's getting. But like
you said, the length of time is so telling. Every
(11:17):
second of those twelve minutes his father could have stopped this,
and in my opinion, he's charged with first degree murder
right now. Every second he didn't stop it was another
second that shows. This is the attitude that this father
has toward his son, reckless disregard, in fact an intentional
act to commit murder.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And guys, why do you see the text exchanges between
the mom, the bio mom, and the biodead. But I'm
going to start calling him the deadbeat dad because he
had nothing to.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Do with his son for years. How to have a
paternity sin, I mean, really can't.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
The dad to say, Okay, yeah, I had sex with her.
It's possible he would not pay any money for this
child because he swore he wasn't the dad. And then
he finally gets to see the child and then the
child is abused. But I want you to hear about
what happened when he takes the baby to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Listen.
Speaker 11 (12:14):
The day after Corey's examination by a pediatrician, Christopher Gregor
tells Brianna Mitchello that Corey is feeling bad. The six
year old is sleepy and nauseous. Gregor puts Corey down
for a nap, and when he wakes up, Corey is stumbling,
slurring his words, and is having trouble breathing. Gregor takes
the boy to Southern Ocean Medical Center, where he's quickly
admitted and intubated. Doctors take Corey for a CT scan.
(12:37):
During the scan, Corey starts seizing and losing his pulse.
Medical staff administer life saving efforts but cannot revive Corey.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
The initial autopsy reveals that Corey died as a result
of blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions, along
with inflammation and sepsis. The Ocean County Medical Examiner lists
the manner of death as undetermined. A forensic pathologist performs
a second tops, he confirming the blunt force trauma and
injuries to Corey's liver and heart. Corey was chronically abused
(13:06):
and suffered an acute traumatic injury to his heart four
to twelve hours before his death. Corey's death is reclassified
as a homicide.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So let me.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Understand, Jim Murdoch, the defense attorney. Even in light of
the medical examiner stating the boy died of chronic abuse
and had essentially contusions bruises to the heart and other
internal organs, they're trying to say, oh, yeah, no, that's
not why did he died from sepsis from pneumonia? What
(13:35):
is the jury doing while the defense attorney is arguing
something completely contradictory to what the medical examiner said.
Speaker 9 (13:42):
Well, from what I've seen, the jury is paying very
close attention to the medical ExM.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You know, I hate it when somebody says, I say,
what's the jury doing and the person says, oh, they're
paying attention.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
All that means to me is their eyes are open.
Are they making faces? Do they turn away from the video?
Do they glare at the defendant? What are they doing?
Do they shake their head nowhere?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yes? Anybody anything? Anybody crying anything, any reaction.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Not a lot of crying.
Speaker 9 (14:11):
Again, the biggest outburst were the gasps when that twelve
minutes of running transitioned into two and a half three
minutes of falling over and over again.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
But I can tell you.
Speaker 9 (14:22):
That the jury is focused dead on with the people
testifying on the stand. Once in a while will glance
over to Christopher Gregor is sitting down.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
But there's just a lot of intense.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Look at Jim. In your line of business, you know
what it means to bury the lead, right, because you
are a veteran investigative reporter. I know all about you.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You ever heard bury the lead? You ever heard that phrase?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Okay, so the lead is the jury gasps when they
see what's happening. You know what that tells me, Jim Murdoch.
It tells me the jury is having the same reaction
having every time I look at that video. You know what,
I've got chills on my right arm right now because
I keep thinking of my baby girl Lucy, or my
(15:09):
son John David up on that video falling over and
over and over.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
How in the h E double L did this boy get.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Bruising on the heart, bruising on other internal organs.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
That was the only time so far in the three
days there were any visible noises reactions from the jeury
when that little boy fell over and over. And besides that,
it's been constant focus.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
But you're right, the jewelry and.
Speaker 9 (15:40):
Other people in the courtroom gasped watching this very video.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Christopher Gregor called Brianna Mitchello to teller he took their
son to the hospital, but did not tell her where.
Mitchello called several hospitals and could not locate Corey, so
she filed a missing person's report. At five point thirty PM,
cops tell Mitchello that her son has died, just a
month before his seventh birthday. After hearing the news of
his son's death at the hospital, Christopher Gregor packs a
(16:05):
bag and leaves for Tennessee. Gregor refuses to speak with authorities,
requesting an attorney.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Joining us an All Star panel straight out to doctor
Bethany Marshall, Doctor Bethany, you mentioned the defense attorney's intimate
involvement in this case or maybe identifying with this case.
But what do you make of what you just heard
that in another power play the husband received, well, excuse me,
(16:32):
the biodad they're not married, refuses to tell the mom
which hospital Corey is in.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
You know, Nanthey, I think there are two possibilities. One
is that he's trying to abuse the child's mother, just
like he's abusing the child. So when you think of
the twelve minutes, that's not just abused as actually torture
because it's so prolonged. So in some ways he kept
his the bio mom in a tortured state as well.
This guy relates on the base of power to everyone
(17:02):
around him. And you know, when I think of child abuse,
there's sort of two types in terms of the profile
of the abuser. One is the parent who's overwhelmed, who
thinks the child is bad, who doesn't know where the
child is developmentally, so they explode, they hurt the child,
but then they're remorseful afterwards. This is a very very
different animal, Nancy. This is a man who is a sadist,
(17:25):
who's mean. He gained control of the child in the
child's fifth year. He wasn't even bonded with the child
up until that point.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
He didn't even.
Speaker 8 (17:34):
Care about the child, so he got the child from
the mother so he could control, dominate, and abuse. This
is the kind of abuser who pumps himself up by
finding something small around him so that he can just
use that small little thing as a punching bake. And
(17:54):
you know, these jurors are traumatized. That's why they gasped
and then they were silent. When you read the definition
of PTSD. It's not just being abused, it's watching abuse.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
To Jim Murdoch, I'm always shocked when deadbeat dads suddenly
have a newfound interest in being with their child.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Isn't that what happened here?
Speaker 9 (18:20):
It certainly seems that way, with the paternity test coming
in and then Christopher comes into his life when he's
four years old, automatically gets full custody with visitation granted
to Brian Mitchello on this case, and that was talked
about at length in the first day of testimony, the
(18:43):
events going back and forth with that. I also want
to get back to some of the emotions that we saw.
We talk about Chris sitting in that courtroom at the
very beginning when the prosecution began to lay out their
opening statement, showed emotion. He cried and then he did not.
(19:05):
And I've been watching the way he handles everything. He's
just sitting there, once in a while leaning over to
his attorney Mario to.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Speak with them.
Speaker 9 (19:14):
But when the jury's gasping, when we're watching that twelve minute.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Silent video before he falls, Christopher is just sitting there
in the courtroom and really not showing.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
A lot of emotion outside of what we saw when
the prosecutors laid out the first minutes of their opening statements.
It's fascinating to watch, you know. And then when when
Brie Mitchello took the stand on the opening day, immediately
her emotions, you know, quite a few times got the
best of her, so very different emotional responses watching the
(19:50):
defendant in the court and Brie Corey's mother in there,
and that those are very notable that I picked up
watching from the opening a few hours of this case.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's not just this day that Corey was forced to
run on the treadmill, sustaining blows to his heart and
other internal organs. Damning text chains have emerged in courts.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Listen.
Speaker 12 (20:16):
Brianna Mitchello posted text exchange two weeks before Corey dies.
Mitchello writes, Corey came upstairs upset and almost crying because
he was trying to ask you about playing football in
high school, and you smacked the ball out of his
hands and walked out. Gregor replies that I smacked the
ball out of his hands and he didn't say a
word to me. Gregor then texts that if hitting the
(20:38):
ball out of the six year old's hands makes him
cry that maybe he needs to be a little tougher
because that's soft tissue. After Gregor makes another comment about
Corey being over emotional, Briannon Mitchello responds, He's not over emotional.
You hurt his feelings. He got upset. He's six years old.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Why abusers blame every body else when they behave badly
and criminally, they claim other people are over emotional. In fact,
doctor Bethany Marshall joining US high profile psychoanalyst out of
LA the mom, the bio mom, was made to look
crazy because she had made one hundred complaints to Defects
(21:20):
Department Family Children's Services over twenty months to make her
look crazy and also, in addition to the text chaining
just heard, and I'm going to go to Jim Murdock
in just a second on this from News twelve And
if you want more coverage in depth by the hour
in trial, go to News twelve, New Jersey, Newswelf New
York Dtor Bethany. In addition to what you just heard,
(21:42):
I understand that earlier that the dad, the bio dad,
the defendant, the killer dad, suspect, deadbeat dad claimed that
Corey's face wait for it. I hope you're sitting down.
You may need to lay down, Bethany. That Corey's face
got in a way of a football that dad through
(22:04):
and it made his nose blade and his blade.
Speaker 8 (22:07):
Nancy, this killer dad is so crazy, you know. Abuse
Nancy always starts with rationalizations. His face gone in the way,
he's too fat, he needs to tough enough. Whenever I
have abusers come into my office, they make the abuse
sound so reasonable.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You know.
Speaker 8 (22:23):
One guy once said to me, you know, I pulled
my child out of school and I made him walk
home to make his bed because he needs to be
taught a lesson. So whenever you hear adults talking about
children in these demeaning ways, you have to consider abuse.
You have to consider reporting in terms of the mother.
I'm looking crazy.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
You know.
Speaker 8 (22:42):
We have a phrase in my field. It's called crazy
making behavior. That's when somebody treats you in such a
way that you begin to fall apart and you look
like the crazy one. And he made her look so
crazy that even defacts didn't believe her. Not that I
want to let them off the hook, but I think
that's what happened. And this poor mother is just desperate
(23:04):
to help her child, so much so that she has
to document the abuse on a Facebook group. Nobody else
would listen to her, and just one offul thought Nancy
his demeanor in court. My first thought was, this is
probably the first time in deadbeat killer Dad's life where
(23:25):
he has not had the upper hand. He's not been
in charge, and he's not been in a position of power.
He probably doesn't even know how to be, what to do,
how you know how to be in this courtroom other
than let's watch. Pretty soon he's going to start glaring
at the jurors because.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
He's going to try to have power all over again.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Dude, Jim Murnau joining us needs to have new jersey.
I want to hear from your perspective of seeing it
unfold in court, how did the jerry respond to those
chilling texts messages Dad says after forcing his son to
run in on the treadmill quote he needs to toughen up,
(24:07):
and the other evidence about his son six years old
face getting in the way of his football throne at
full force. I think you threw it at the little
boy and hit a bam right in the face.
Speaker 9 (24:21):
The two words in those text messages that caught my
eye and seemed to catch some of the jurors were
the expression soft tissue. You're describing your son as having
soft tissue, and it's an expression you just are kind
(24:44):
of surprised to hear a dad talking about a bruise
but using that term.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
And I think that you.
Speaker 9 (24:53):
Know that the phrasing, the perhaps the word choice made
that phrase stand out, particularly to the people in that courtroom.
Soft and you're showing the pictures now the dad described
the boy soft tissue.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
It's it's rough, it's rough to hear, it's rough to hear.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Briona Mitchello files an order to show cause seeking custody
of her son Corey, while DCPP investigates claims of abuse
the next day. In his decision, Judge Patrick Bradshaw says
that the order fails to demonstrate that the minor child
is in danger of imminent or irreparable harm, even after
reading a report about the treadmill video. Judge Bradshaw writes
(25:37):
that the court does not find a temporary modification of
the party's custody and parenting time arrangement appropriate at this time.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So now I'm finally getting the name of the judge
that would it take the boy away from his father.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
That little boy, Corey is now dead.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Jim Marnott joining me in these twelve Doctor Eric Aeson
and Bill Day.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I'm on the way, Jim Murdock.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
The judge, Judge Patrick Bradshaw, Is that correct? Because we
had to scour all of the news reports, all of
the evidence that we had to get the name of
the judge that wouldn't take the boy away from the
bio dad? Is that correct, Judge Patrick Bradshaw?
Speaker 9 (26:25):
You know, I think you have more information than I
do on that judge. All I know is that when
Bree took the stand and said how the judge, you know,
one day before that child died, she was denied full custody.
You could see the helplessness she was reliving that all
(26:45):
over again on the stand. And I think that's so
important to highlight and emphasize now again. The defense they
tried to pull into Bree's past drug usage, saying she
wasn't a fit mom to take care.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Of that, and that was the defense's argument.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Hold on, Jim murder, you got me drinking out of
the fire hydrant here. That's a lot of information and
I'm trying to digest it all.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
So typical victim.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Blaming the mom is a crime victim too, Her son's
been murdered, according to prosecutors.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
So hey, what can we do.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Er, Let's blame her, Let's find something wrong with her.
You know what, if you've strung up everybody in this
country that's ever had a drug or alcohol problem, there'd
be nobody to go to work.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Everybody would be strung up. Hold on, just.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
One moment, I want you to hear the actual cood
and what happened when Corey was taken to the hospital. Listen.
Speaker 11 (27:45):
The day after Corey's examination by a pediatrician, Christopher Gregor
tells Brianna Mitchello that Corey is feeling bad. The six
year old is sleepy and nauseous. Gregor puts Corey down
for a nap, and when he wakes up, Corey is stumbling,
slurring his words, having trouble breathing. Gregor takes the boy
to Southern Ocean Medical Center, where he's quickly admitted and intubated.
(28:06):
Doctors take Corey for a CT scan. During the scan,
Corey starts seizing and losing his pulse. Medical staff administer
life saving efforts but cannot revive Corey.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
The initial autopsy reveals that Corey died as a result
of blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions, along
with inflammation and sepsis. The Ocean County Medical Examiner lists
the manner of death as undetermined. A forensic pathologist performs
a second autopsy, confirming the blunt force trauma.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Doctor Ayson, thank you for
being with us. Could you and regular vernacular I ate
dummy down?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Doctor? Okay, we're not all mds like you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Could you explain what we just heard in regular people talk.
Speaker 13 (29:03):
The autopsy report, so it described contusions, which are bruises.
You normally see bruises on the outside of the body,
but you can also see them internally. They were found
on the heart and on the liver, and so what
it indicates to me is that there was some type
of blunt force trauma. So solid object struck the chest,
(29:24):
also struck the adamin causing those bruises. And then the
trauma was so rough that not only did it cause
a bruise in the heart, but it also split a
hole into the heart as well.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
So that's what we have here, doctor aery Ason. I
didn't get that from the testimony. Maybe it was buried
in there because when doctor start testifying no offense of course,
and they are speaking in technical hospital jargon. Did you
say he had a hole in his heart? A hole
(29:57):
was torn in his heart?
Speaker 13 (29:58):
Laceration, Yes, a tear.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
A laceration. His heart was lacerated. It wasn't just a
bruising of the heart. The heart was actually lacerated. Are
you sure that's right?
Speaker 13 (30:11):
That's what I got from the articles that we read.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
So, Jim Murdock, is this true?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Was Corey's heart actually lacerated or torn?
Speaker 9 (30:22):
The injuries described for what twelve fourteen different bruises, including
different bruises as seen by the first grade teacher can Peace,
I believe her name was, saw different bruises over that
time between the treadmill and keep in mind, folks, the
treadmill incident happened March twentieth, April second Corey.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Was dead, So what we don't know what happened.
Speaker 9 (30:49):
Before March twentieth, what shape was the boy in prior
to that treadmill, and what injuries were sustained during that
treadmill and then following that Treadmill ins and up until
April second. It is the defense's argument, from what they
said in opening statements, that the boy died of pneumonia
(31:12):
and sepsis. But we've heard doctors say sepsis can happen
from internally bruised confused organs can also cause sepsis. I
think that's going to be a major part of the
second half of this trial, once the defense has things
in their court, and you're going to hear a lot.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Of doctor jargon.
Speaker 9 (31:35):
One of the things we heard in the opening statements,
two pathologists, two very different conclusions here.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Jim Erlock, I didn't I couldn't hear you you got
cut off. Did you tell me there is or is
not a laceration to the heart.
Speaker 9 (31:50):
They did mention heart bruising or internal organ bruising in
the opening statements.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Straight back out to Jim Murdock joining us from Used
twelve New Jersey, News twelve New York where you.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Can see this hour by hour what's happening in the courtroom.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Jim, I believe you're correct because you are referring to
the first autopsy. I'm talking about doctor Andrews that then
did another took another pass atit. Did he find the
laceration to the heart? Jim?
Speaker 9 (32:25):
That is where I believe it was put in documentation
that a heart laceration sound, So what does that mean?
So if the boy died of sepsis, can a heart
laceration cause that sort of Jim?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
As much as I respect you, I don't think you've
got an MD.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Neither do on No, it is doctor Anson, dummy down again.
What's a heart laceration? How do you get a heart
laceration from a severe beating?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Possibly?
Speaker 13 (32:57):
Yes, it's a blend. It's an evidence to b one
enforced trauma. All lacerations are due to black trauma, whether
they happen on the skin or internally. And so the
kid was struck in the chest with a lot of force.
That's what's going to cause a tear in the heart.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Bill Daly is joining me special guest, former FBI investigator
and now specialist in forensic photography and security expert. Bill,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Have you ever noticed when you bring in a suspect
and you kind of got them red handed, they started saying,
look here, look there, it's their fault. It's their fault,
not me. Sod some other, dude, did it? Have you
ever noticed that before?
Speaker 5 (33:37):
Absolutely?
Speaker 14 (33:37):
In fact, there are prisons filled with people who say
the same thing. That's exactly what the mo is of
individuals who are responsible for committing crimes and other Heno's acts.
You know, Nancy, if we look at this case, and
I am kind of a fact based person over my years,
and just the facts, just the facts, as Joe Friday
once said, if you look at this kind of timeline
and litany of the images we've seen, we've seen images
(34:00):
matches the videos, which is surely compelling and emotional, but
also tell the story when Gregor is as his son
on the treadmill and brings him into the hospital. We
have pictures the mother had taken of the injuries of
her son, Corey. But with two things stand out to me.
It's one, we're not seeing all the other things that
could have happened behind the scenes with not on video
when pictures are not taken, you know, And I also say,
(34:22):
what happened? What happened to the system here?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Where all the stuff we're.
Speaker 14 (34:26):
So compelling, at least compelling to us as we watch it,
that a judge did in order for some protective custoding
to take place prior to the child dying, you know.
And you know, finally I'd like to kind of put
on top of this, Nancy, is the fact that, you know,
my brothers in law enforcement, the people in the Ocean
County Prosecutor's office and investigators from the Ocean County law
(34:49):
enforcement agencies have now stated they've come out and said
that Corey suffered life damaging, life ending injuries as a
result of his time with his father, and that his father, Gregor,
is responsible for his death.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
You know another thing, Bill Day and correct me if
I'm wrong. Jim Murdock, the initial judge, said this video
is not enough for an emergency order taking the boy
away from dad.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
It's not enough.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
But then that same video was used to deny greg
Or the bio Dad Bill. So for one judge, no
way for another judge. Hgl Yes. So I guess it's
in the eye of the beholder. So one judge saw
this and saw the report of contusions and all of.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
That and refused to take the boy away.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Then the boy dies, and now that same video is
used to justify no bail.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
That's bass Ackwards.
Speaker 14 (35:52):
You know what, Nancy, I think these images here. Why
and the question is why would someone see it differently
than another. It's difficult to say. I think we all
are seeing for what it is, and I think you
know these images. We'd like to almost have many cases
that we work on over the years have such compelling
images as we've seen here, as tragedy as they are,
because it tells the story, and why someone would interprete
(36:14):
it one with the other I don't understand. And unfortunately,
as we know is that was part of the system
here that failed poor the poor child and led to
his ultimately death.
Speaker 11 (36:26):
On cross examination, Christopher Gregor's attorney, Mario Galucci, tries to
show a different side of Corey's grieving mother. Galucci asks
Brianna Mitchello if she and some friends vandalized the home
of Christopher Gregor's parents after the death of her son Corey.
When Galucci asks if she and her friends throw eggs
and dead goldfish at the house, Brianna Mitchello says she
(36:46):
doesn't think it was goldfish, but fish purchased from the supermarket.
Mitchello admits to throwing rocks, dead fish bones, and eggs
at the home of Gregor's parents.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
So we see an age old tactic being used in
court to Jim Ark joining us from News twelve New Jersey.
This is after her son is killed and the mom
nobody would listen to her at all one hundred complaints. She,
(37:18):
as doctor Bethany pointed out, the only thing she could do.
She posted on Facebook basically, can somebody listen to me?
So she goes by and throws some dead fish. She
got the supermarket at their house. Now what, she's the
bad person.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
You got to look at the timeline of this.
Speaker 9 (37:34):
So for months and months after her son died, Christopher
was only charged with child endangerment until the murder charges,
until that second autopsy came out. So she forms a
Facebook group Justice for Corey, and this was brought up
on the second day of testimony as well, trying to
(37:57):
find posters in that privately on Facebook group signs of
aggression toward the Gregor family.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
It was brought up briefly and then.
Speaker 9 (38:08):
Mario, the attorney for Christopher Gregor, brought up a dead
fish in court. It was objected, it was shut down,
but the point was in the court this was all
happening from a grieving mother's perspective.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Got it, you know? Before you run out of time.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I want to go to Jarrett Fiorentino and correct me
if my facts are wrong.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Jarrett Fiorentino and.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Bill Dilla, You've dealt with so many perps when they
go on the run. Flight is evidence of guilt. And
in this case, after Corey died, the dad is not
sticking around.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
He hauls booty and hides out in a motel. I
believe in Tennessee. How does that look to you, Jarrett.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Fiarantino, Because I say, well, you don't know a horse.
Look at his track record. Deadbeat dad covered in bruises
take so often takes off to Tennessee. It hides out.
Speaker 10 (39:02):
It looks to me like consciousness of guilt, Nancy. And
if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck,
it's a duck. So a jury can be instructed. It's
so critical in the law that when someone takes off
when they're in trouble, a jury is actually, as you know, instructed.
Flight or running away is consciousness of guilt, and a
(39:24):
jury can consider that. Think about any time people ever
run away in their life, what are they running away
from trouble? He ran away because he knew he was
going to have to answer for the injuries that were
all over Corey and everything that happened to Corey at
that point. So it's flight, it's consciousness of guilt. It
will be the final nail in a lot of nails
(39:45):
in what undoubtedly will be the coffin of mister Gregor.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
You know what, Jeron Farantino, I would like to agree
with you, But do I have to say A J. Simpson,
Robert Blake, Michael Jackson. I don't know what this jury's
going to do.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Bill Bill Day for FBI flight.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Instead of sticking around, Daddy takes off, flees the jurisdiction
and hies out in a Tennessee motel.
Speaker 14 (40:09):
Night exactly, Nancy, And I mean, in addition to the
legal view of this, here's the emotional viewer saying, you know,
where was he when, you know, when when people around
him needed him, when when the grieving mother maybe needed him,
when he needed to be there to kind of you know,
close this loop with his his dead son. You know,
where was he at that time? And I think you
know as much as they are talking about, you know,
(40:31):
the mother and maybe some relatives throwing rocks and fish.
You know, at at Gregor's parents home. You know, this
goes far beyond that. In my view, is that he
wasn't there for anyone. He wasn't there for for you know,
close that close that final chapter in his son's life.
By being there when his son is being being waked
or perhaps being buried, It just doesn't doesn't jive with me,
(40:53):
and it goes to that whole issue of flight and
his his sense of responsibility.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
This going on right now, we wait as justice unfolds,
God willing for six year old Corey. Now we stop
and remember American hero police officer Michael Hussack. Thirty seven.
Officer Hussack shot in the line of duty, leaving behind
(41:22):
a grieving wife, Caitlin, and children Nicole, Gabriel and Samuel
sentenced to life without dad. American hero police Officer Michael Hussack.
Thank you to all of our guests for being with us,
but especially to you for being with us tonight and
every night. Nancy Grace signing off good night for him.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace caught on video the Sick Moment.
A deadbeat dad is caught carrying the limp body of
his son, Cory, just six, into urgent care. This after
physically forcing Corey to run full speed on a treadmill
(00:25):
because the boy was quote too fat.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Six year old Corey is now dead tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Why did daddy go on the run and hide out
in a Tennessee motel while his defense lawyer claims Daddy
had nothing to do with Corey's death from chronic abuse
and bruising to the heart. We want justice. Good evening,
a Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to
(00:53):
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Cory was in Chris's arms. His arms were over Chris's shoulders.
His legs were dangling. His arms did not looked like
they had much movement to them. His legs did not
look like they had much moving to him. His head
was rested on Chris's shoulder. His head was difficult, his
(01:17):
face was difficult to visualize. So when I first approached them,
I knew that something was concerning, but I couldn't see
everything I needed to see, so I was depending on
Chris to convey a sense of urgency or unwellness that
I did not get from him at first. It was
(01:38):
more of a clinical description.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
You are hearing William Doyle, a nurse practitioner at Southern
Ocean Urgent Care, and when you hear a professional space
the way, it just doesn't even make sense. He says,
his face was difficult to visualize. I think what he
had to say is the little boy was near death
(02:04):
and he couldn't even hold his head up. That's why
his face is difficult to visualize.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And as a nurse.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Practitioner, says Chris, I believe he is referring to the
bio dad Christopher gregor the deadbeat dad that didn't seem
upset and wouldn't really articulate what had happened.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Gee, I wonder.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Why in the last hours in court the chilling texts
are revealed and this tastes like dirt in my mouth.
Where the father writes, quote, he needs to toughen up
talking about the six year old little boy. He says
(02:52):
this after making his son Corey run the treadmill he dies.
He quote needs to toughen up again. Thank you everyone
for joining us. I know evidence is sometimes very hard
to look at, but a jury is being asked to
(03:13):
render a true verdict. Guys take a listen to Sidney
Sumner crime Online.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Brianna Mitchello is supposed to drop Corey off to his father.
Gregor asks her to bring Corey to the fitness center
of his apartment complex. Surveillance video inside the gym shows
Corey running on a treadmill while Gregor turns up the
speed and incline of the machine until the six year
old can't keep up and falls off. Gregor lifts the
boy off the ground by his shirt, holding Corey over
(03:42):
the running treadmill. Corey's feet slid out from under him
several times as he tries to get his footing, and
Gregor appears to bite Corey on the back of the head.
Corey eventually starts running again and falls from the treadmill
five more times. Through tears, Corey tells the doctor about
the treadmill incident and says Gregor forced him to because
he was too fat. The doctor notes fourteen bruises or
(04:04):
scrapes on Corey's body, but the rest of his tests
come back normal. Mitchello's request for emergency custody is denied,
and she returns Corey to Gregor.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The next morning, when I hear the reporter describing all
the bruises on Corey's little body, and I watched Corey
so valiantly trying to keep running every time his father
throws him back on the treadmill, even holding him down,
and you can see him forcefully biting him. But this
(04:33):
is what the defense attorney has to say.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You got to hear this. Listen.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
You're going to see Christener.
Speaker 6 (04:41):
Go over in that Treville and speed it up, and
you're going to see Corey.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Fall, and you're going to see him pick that boy
up six times, and six times put him back on
the treadmill.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
And I'm gonna tell you right now, you're not gonna
like him, And I don't care if you like him.
When you see that video, you're gonna be horrified. You're
gonna be mortified. But I'm telling you right now.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
That the evidence you're going to see of Coury's death
had absolutely nothing to do with that treadmill.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
With me, it all start paneling, including Jim Murdott from
News twelve New Jersey Reporter, and if you want more
on the trial, go to News twelve New Jersey News
twelve in New York.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Jim hold on, just a moment, doctor.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Bethany Marshall, you gotta get my head straight, Doctor Bethany Marshall,
round psycho analyst joining us at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com.
Doctor Bethany, did you hear what the defense attorney just said?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
What am I supposed to believe him? Or my lion eyes?
How the hey is he's saying?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Oh, look over here, not over here at the video,
don't look at the autopsy report.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Look at me what I'm saying in court? What does
he think they just fell off the turnip truck? That
the jury is stupid? Nancy.
Speaker 8 (06:17):
He's manipulating the jurors. Also, now we have two men
abusing power. Deadbeat Dad abused power by using his child
as a punching bag. Never mind he was also only
involved with the child in the last year of his life,
wanting to gain control over the child in order to
abuse him. Isn't it interesting that he has sought an
(06:39):
attorney who does the same. In some ways, I think
the attorney is like dead beat dad, trying to control
the jurors, trying to have power over them. It's to me,
it's like male power on parade, and it's just very sickening.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Speaking of male power on the parade, I'd like to
welcome everyone on our paneling, including a lot of mails.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Dr Beth and as you want to maybe back.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Off on the mailpower on pay thing until the very
end when they can't leave.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Jim Marda joining me and he's twelve investigative reporter out
of New Jersey. Jim, thank you for being with us.
What is happening in the courtroom? How is the jury reacting?
I mean, how can the defense attorney with a straight
face say the dad had nothing to do with it?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
So thanks for having me on, Nancy.
Speaker 9 (07:27):
I think one of the important factors here before they
showed that treadmill video in court.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
They played the.
Speaker 9 (07:36):
Video before the dad kept putting him up and down,
up and down.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
On the treadmill.
Speaker 9 (07:42):
So in that courtroom a video played for twelve minutes
showing that little boy running at full speed while the
dad in the background was lifting weights and once in
a while periodically checking in on him. So I think
this has been missed in a lot of the reports
we've seen online. But that child had been running for
(08:05):
twelve full minutes before the dad sped it up and
the video looked like he was running at full speed
for a child of six years old. So you go
in the courtroom. We're sitting there in the front row
and we're watching in complete silence along with the At
that time, there were sixteen jurors seated for twelve minutes,
(08:28):
and then the video played showing the dad what you're
showing right now.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
So you have to go.
Speaker 9 (08:35):
Back twelve minutes. This child had been running at full
speed before the speed and the incline were increased.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Nancy, Jim Murdot, Guys, joining, he's been the story from
the beginning, and again, let me correct myself. This is
not a story.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
This is a real case. People are suffering.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And every time I look at that little boy Corey
running and following, face playing and falling, thrown literally thrown
back on there, Jim Murdock, I think of my little
boy John David and my little girl Lucy, and I
imagine their head on that little body running and running
(09:14):
and falling, and I can hardly stand it. But I
got to ask you about something, Jim Murdock. Are you
telling me that in court there was twelve minute there
were twelve minutes of silence.
Speaker 9 (09:28):
Of silence while we were watching that little boy run
before the dad sped up the treadmill. Twelve minutes of
silence broken up when they'd switched to that video, and
then there were audible gasps from quite a few people
in that courtroom. But twelve minutes of silence watching that
boy run.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Jared Farantino joining me, homicide prosecutor Jared, I remember, on
several occasions, I would use the time it took, for instance,
to asphyxiate someone, maybe two or three minutes. I'll have
to go to doctor Erry Easton on that. In court,
for instance, hold the pillow down in front of a
(10:23):
jury and push it down and have complete silence for
three minutes.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's so powerful because the.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Jury then understands how long the father had to have
saved his son all of this suffering, or how long
the defendant took to form the act. What Jim Murlock
just told us is, I mean, drop the mic right there, Farantino.
Speaker 10 (10:57):
It's so there's something about this video, Nancy that gets
harder to watch every time you watch it, because you
watch this little boy trying to get up he's trying
to please his father's what he's trying to do and
to probably stop the abuse that he's getting. But like
you said, the length of time is so telling. Every
(11:17):
second of those twelve minutes his father could have stopped this,
and in my opinion, he's charged with first degree murder
right now. Every second he didn't stop it was another
second that shows. This is the attitude that this father
has toward his son, reckless disregard, in fact an intentional
act to commit murder.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And guys, why do you see the text exchanges between
the mom, the bio mom, and the biodead. But I'm
going to start calling him the deadbeat dad because he
had nothing to.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Do with his son for years. How to have a
paternity sin, I mean, really can't.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
The dad to say, Okay, yeah, I had sex with her.
It's possible he would not pay any money for this
child because he swore he wasn't the dad. And then
he finally gets to see the child and then the
child is abused. But I want you to hear about
what happened when he takes the baby to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Listen.
Speaker 11 (12:14):
The day after Corey's examination by a pediatrician, Christopher Gregor
tells Brianna Mitchello that Corey is feeling bad. The six
year old is sleepy and nauseous. Gregor puts Corey down
for a nap, and when he wakes up, Corey is stumbling,
slurring his words, and is having trouble breathing. Gregor takes
the boy to Southern Ocean Medical Center, where he's quickly
admitted and intubated. Doctors take Corey for a CT scan.
(12:37):
During the scan, Corey starts seizing and losing his pulse.
Medical staff administer life saving efforts but cannot revive Corey.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
The initial autopsy reveals that Corey died as a result
of blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions, along
with inflammation and sepsis. The Ocean County Medical Examiner lists
the manner of death as undetermined. A forensic pathologist performs
a second tops, he confirming the blunt force trauma and
injuries to Corey's liver and heart. Corey was chronically abused
(13:06):
and suffered an acute traumatic injury to his heart four
to twelve hours before his death. Corey's death is reclassified
as a homicide.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So let me.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Understand, Jim Murdoch, the defense attorney. Even in light of
the medical examiner stating the boy died of chronic abuse
and had essentially contusions bruises to the heart and other
internal organs, they're trying to say, oh, yeah, no, that's
not why did he died from sepsis from pneumonia? What
(13:35):
is the jury doing while the defense attorney is arguing
something completely contradictory to what the medical examiner said.
Speaker 9 (13:42):
Well, from what I've seen, the jury is paying very
close attention to the medical ExM.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You know, I hate it when somebody says, I say,
what's the jury doing and the person says, oh, they're
paying attention.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
All that means to me is their eyes are open.
Are they making faces? Do they turn away from the video?
Do they glare at the defendant? What are they doing?
Do they shake their head nowhere?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yes? Anybody anything? Anybody crying anything, any reaction.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Not a lot of crying.
Speaker 9 (14:11):
Again, the biggest outburst were the gasps when that twelve
minutes of running transitioned into two and a half three
minutes of falling over and over again.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
But I can tell you.
Speaker 9 (14:22):
That the jury is focused dead on with the people
testifying on the stand. Once in a while will glance
over to Christopher Gregor is sitting down.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
But there's just a lot of intense.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Look at Jim. In your line of business, you know
what it means to bury the lead, right, because you
are a veteran investigative reporter. I know all about you.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You ever heard bury the lead? You ever heard that phrase?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Okay, so the lead is the jury gasps when they
see what's happening. You know what that tells me, Jim Murdoch.
It tells me the jury is having the same reaction
having every time I look at that video. You know what,
I've got chills on my right arm right now because
I keep thinking of my baby girl Lucy, or my
(15:09):
son John David up on that video falling over and
over and over.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
How in the h E double L did this boy get.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Bruising on the heart, bruising on other internal organs.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
That was the only time so far in the three
days there were any visible noises reactions from the jeury
when that little boy fell over and over. And besides that,
it's been constant focus.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
But you're right, the jewelry and.
Speaker 9 (15:40):
Other people in the courtroom gasped watching this very video.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Christopher Gregor called Brianna Mitchello to teller he took their
son to the hospital, but did not tell her where.
Mitchello called several hospitals and could not locate Corey, so
she filed a missing person's report. At five point thirty PM,
cops tell Mitchello that her son has died, just a
month before his seventh birthday. After hearing the news of
his son's death at the hospital, Christopher Gregor packs a
(16:05):
bag and leaves for Tennessee. Gregor refuses to speak with authorities,
requesting an attorney.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Joining us an All Star panel straight out to doctor
Bethany Marshall, Doctor Bethany, you mentioned the defense attorney's intimate
involvement in this case or maybe identifying with this case.
But what do you make of what you just heard
that in another power play the husband received, well, excuse me,
(16:32):
the biodad they're not married, refuses to tell the mom
which hospital Corey is in.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
You know, Nanthey, I think there are two possibilities. One
is that he's trying to abuse the child's mother, just
like he's abusing the child. So when you think of
the twelve minutes, that's not just abused as actually torture
because it's so prolonged. So in some ways he kept
his the bio mom in a tortured state as well.
This guy relates on the base of power to everyone
(17:02):
around him. And you know, when I think of child abuse,
there's sort of two types in terms of the profile
of the abuser. One is the parent who's overwhelmed, who
thinks the child is bad, who doesn't know where the
child is developmentally, so they explode, they hurt the child,
but then they're remorseful afterwards. This is a very very
different animal, Nancy. This is a man who is a sadist,
(17:25):
who's mean. He gained control of the child in the
child's fifth year. He wasn't even bonded with the child
up until that point.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
He didn't even.
Speaker 8 (17:34):
Care about the child, so he got the child from
the mother so he could control, dominate, and abuse. This
is the kind of abuser who pumps himself up by
finding something small around him so that he can just
use that small little thing as a punching bake. And
(17:54):
you know, these jurors are traumatized. That's why they gasped
and then they were silent. When you read the definition
of PTSD. It's not just being abused, it's watching abuse.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
To Jim Murdoch, I'm always shocked when deadbeat dads suddenly
have a newfound interest in being with their child.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Isn't that what happened here?
Speaker 9 (18:20):
It certainly seems that way, with the paternity test coming
in and then Christopher comes into his life when he's
four years old, automatically gets full custody with visitation granted
to Brian Mitchello on this case, and that was talked
about at length in the first day of testimony, the
(18:43):
events going back and forth with that. I also want
to get back to some of the emotions that we saw.
We talk about Chris sitting in that courtroom at the
very beginning when the prosecution began to lay out their
opening statement, showed emotion. He cried and then he did not.
(19:05):
And I've been watching the way he handles everything. He's
just sitting there, once in a while leaning over to
his attorney Mario to.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Speak with them.
Speaker 9 (19:14):
But when the jury's gasping, when we're watching that twelve minute.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Silent video before he falls, Christopher is just sitting there
in the courtroom and really not showing.
Speaker 9 (19:26):
A lot of emotion outside of what we saw when
the prosecutors laid out the first minutes of their opening statements.
It's fascinating to watch, you know. And then when when
Brie Mitchello took the stand on the opening day, immediately
her emotions, you know, quite a few times got the
best of her, so very different emotional responses watching the
(19:50):
defendant in the court and Brie Corey's mother in there,
and that those are very notable that I picked up
watching from the opening a few hours of this case.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's not just this day that Corey was forced to
run on the treadmill, sustaining blows to his heart and
other internal organs. Damning text chains have emerged in courts.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Listen.
Speaker 12 (20:16):
Brianna Mitchello posted text exchange two weeks before Corey dies.
Mitchello writes, Corey came upstairs upset and almost crying because
he was trying to ask you about playing football in
high school, and you smacked the ball out of his
hands and walked out. Gregor replies that I smacked the
ball out of his hands and he didn't say a
word to me. Gregor then texts that if hitting the
(20:38):
ball out of the six year old's hands makes him
cry that maybe he needs to be a little tougher
because that's soft tissue. After Gregor makes another comment about
Corey being over emotional, Briannon Mitchello responds, He's not over emotional.
You hurt his feelings. He got upset. He's six years old.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Why abusers blame every body else when they behave badly
and criminally, they claim other people are over emotional. In fact,
doctor Bethany Marshall joining US high profile psychoanalyst out of
LA the mom, the bio mom, was made to look
crazy because she had made one hundred complaints to Defects
(21:20):
Department Family Children's Services over twenty months to make her
look crazy and also, in addition to the text chaining
just heard, and I'm going to go to Jim Murdock
in just a second on this from News twelve And
if you want more coverage in depth by the hour
in trial, go to News twelve, New Jersey, Newswelf New
York Dtor Bethany. In addition to what you just heard,
(21:42):
I understand that earlier that the dad, the bio dad,
the defendant, the killer dad, suspect, deadbeat dad claimed that
Corey's face wait for it. I hope you're sitting down.
You may need to lay down, Bethany. That Corey's face
got in a way of a football that dad through
(22:04):
and it made his nose blade and his blade.
Speaker 8 (22:07):
Nancy, this killer dad is so crazy, you know. Abuse
Nancy always starts with rationalizations. His face gone in the way,
he's too fat, he needs to tough enough. Whenever I
have abusers come into my office, they make the abuse
sound so reasonable.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You know.
Speaker 8 (22:23):
One guy once said to me, you know, I pulled
my child out of school and I made him walk
home to make his bed because he needs to be
taught a lesson. So whenever you hear adults talking about
children in these demeaning ways, you have to consider abuse.
You have to consider reporting in terms of the mother.
I'm looking crazy.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
You know.
Speaker 8 (22:42):
We have a phrase in my field. It's called crazy
making behavior. That's when somebody treats you in such a
way that you begin to fall apart and you look
like the crazy one. And he made her look so
crazy that even defacts didn't believe her. Not that I
want to let them off the hook, but I think
that's what happened. And this poor mother is just desperate
(23:04):
to help her child, so much so that she has
to document the abuse on a Facebook group. Nobody else
would listen to her, and just one offul thought Nancy
his demeanor in court. My first thought was, this is
probably the first time in deadbeat killer Dad's life where
(23:25):
he has not had the upper hand. He's not been
in charge, and he's not been in a position of power.
He probably doesn't even know how to be, what to do,
how you know how to be in this courtroom other
than let's watch. Pretty soon he's going to start glaring
at the jurors because.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
He's going to try to have power all over again.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Dude, Jim Murnau joining us needs to have new jersey.
I want to hear from your perspective of seeing it
unfold in court, how did the jerry respond to those
chilling texts messages Dad says after forcing his son to
run in on the treadmill quote he needs to toughen up,
(24:07):
and the other evidence about his son six years old
face getting in the way of his football throne at
full force. I think you threw it at the little
boy and hit a bam right in the face.
Speaker 9 (24:21):
The two words in those text messages that caught my
eye and seemed to catch some of the jurors were
the expression soft tissue. You're describing your son as having
soft tissue, and it's an expression you just are kind
(24:44):
of surprised to hear a dad talking about a bruise
but using that term.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
And I think that you.
Speaker 9 (24:53):
Know that the phrasing, the perhaps the word choice made
that phrase stand out, particularly to the people in that courtroom.
Soft and you're showing the pictures now the dad described
the boy soft tissue.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
It's it's rough, it's rough to hear, it's rough to hear.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Briona Mitchello files an order to show cause seeking custody
of her son Corey, while DCPP investigates claims of abuse
the next day. In his decision, Judge Patrick Bradshaw says
that the order fails to demonstrate that the minor child
is in danger of imminent or irreparable harm, even after
reading a report about the treadmill video. Judge Bradshaw writes
(25:37):
that the court does not find a temporary modification of
the party's custody and parenting time arrangement appropriate at this time.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So now I'm finally getting the name of the judge
that would it take the boy away from his father.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
That little boy, Corey is now dead.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Jim Marnott joining me in these twelve Doctor Eric Aeson
and Bill Day.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I'm on the way, Jim Murdock.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
The judge, Judge Patrick Bradshaw, Is that correct? Because we
had to scour all of the news reports, all of
the evidence that we had to get the name of
the judge that wouldn't take the boy away from the
bio dad? Is that correct, Judge Patrick Bradshaw?
Speaker 9 (26:25):
You know, I think you have more information than I
do on that judge. All I know is that when
Bree took the stand and said how the judge, you know,
one day before that child died, she was denied full custody.
You could see the helplessness she was reliving that all
(26:45):
over again on the stand. And I think that's so
important to highlight and emphasize now again. The defense they
tried to pull into Bree's past drug usage, saying she
wasn't a fit mom to take care.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Of that, and that was the defense's argument.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Hold on, Jim murder, you got me drinking out of
the fire hydrant here. That's a lot of information and
I'm trying to digest it all.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
So typical victim.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Blaming the mom is a crime victim too, Her son's
been murdered, according to prosecutors.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
So hey, what can we do.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Er, Let's blame her, Let's find something wrong with her.
You know what, if you've strung up everybody in this
country that's ever had a drug or alcohol problem, there'd
be nobody to go to work.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Everybody would be strung up. Hold on, just.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
One moment, I want you to hear the actual cood
and what happened when Corey was taken to the hospital. Listen.
Speaker 11 (27:45):
The day after Corey's examination by a pediatrician, Christopher Gregor
tells Brianna Mitchello that Corey is feeling bad. The six
year old is sleepy and nauseous. Gregor puts Corey down
for a nap, and when he wakes up, Corey is stumbling,
slurring his words, having trouble breathing. Gregor takes the boy
to Southern Ocean Medical Center, where he's quickly admitted and intubated.
(28:06):
Doctors take Corey for a CT scan. During the scan,
Corey starts seizing and losing his pulse. Medical staff administer
life saving efforts but cannot revive Corey.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
The initial autopsy reveals that Corey died as a result
of blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions, along
with inflammation and sepsis. The Ocean County Medical Examiner lists
the manner of death as undetermined. A forensic pathologist performs
a second autopsy, confirming the blunt force trauma.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Doctor Ayson, thank you for
being with us. Could you and regular vernacular I ate
dummy down?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Doctor? Okay, we're not all mds like you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Could you explain what we just heard in regular people talk.
Speaker 13 (29:03):
The autopsy report, so it described contusions, which are bruises.
You normally see bruises on the outside of the body,
but you can also see them internally. They were found
on the heart and on the liver, and so what
it indicates to me is that there was some type
of blunt force trauma. So solid object struck the chest,
(29:24):
also struck the adamin causing those bruises. And then the
trauma was so rough that not only did it cause
a bruise in the heart, but it also split a
hole into the heart as well.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
So that's what we have here, doctor aery Ason. I
didn't get that from the testimony. Maybe it was buried
in there because when doctor start testifying no offense of course,
and they are speaking in technical hospital jargon. Did you
say he had a hole in his heart? A hole
(29:57):
was torn in his heart?
Speaker 13 (29:58):
Laceration, Yes, a tear.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
A laceration. His heart was lacerated. It wasn't just a
bruising of the heart. The heart was actually lacerated. Are
you sure that's right?
Speaker 13 (30:11):
That's what I got from the articles that we read.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
So, Jim Murdock, is this true?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Was Corey's heart actually lacerated or torn?
Speaker 9 (30:22):
The injuries described for what twelve fourteen different bruises, including
different bruises as seen by the first grade teacher can Peace,
I believe her name was, saw different bruises over that
time between the treadmill and keep in mind, folks, the
treadmill incident happened March twentieth, April second Corey.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Was dead, So what we don't know what happened.
Speaker 9 (30:49):
Before March twentieth, what shape was the boy in prior
to that treadmill, and what injuries were sustained during that
treadmill and then following that Treadmill ins and up until
April second. It is the defense's argument, from what they
said in opening statements, that the boy died of pneumonia
(31:12):
and sepsis. But we've heard doctors say sepsis can happen
from internally bruised confused organs can also cause sepsis. I
think that's going to be a major part of the
second half of this trial, once the defense has things
in their court, and you're going to hear a lot.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Of doctor jargon.
Speaker 9 (31:35):
One of the things we heard in the opening statements,
two pathologists, two very different conclusions here.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Jim Erlock, I didn't I couldn't hear you you got
cut off. Did you tell me there is or is
not a laceration to the heart.
Speaker 9 (31:50):
They did mention heart bruising or internal organ bruising in
the opening statements.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Straight back out to Jim Murdock joining us from Used
twelve New Jersey, News twelve New York where you.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Can see this hour by hour what's happening in the courtroom.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Jim, I believe you're correct because you are referring to
the first autopsy. I'm talking about doctor Andrews that then
did another took another pass atit. Did he find the
laceration to the heart? Jim?
Speaker 9 (32:25):
That is where I believe it was put in documentation
that a heart laceration sound, So what does that mean?
So if the boy died of sepsis, can a heart
laceration cause that sort of Jim?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
As much as I respect you, I don't think you've
got an MD.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Neither do on No, it is doctor Anson, dummy down again.
What's a heart laceration? How do you get a heart
laceration from a severe beating?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Possibly?
Speaker 13 (32:57):
Yes, it's a blend. It's an evidence to b one
enforced trauma. All lacerations are due to black trauma, whether
they happen on the skin or internally. And so the
kid was struck in the chest with a lot of force.
That's what's going to cause a tear in the heart.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Bill Daly is joining me special guest, former FBI investigator
and now specialist in forensic photography and security expert. Bill,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Have you ever noticed when you bring in a suspect
and you kind of got them red handed, they started saying,
look here, look there, it's their fault. It's their fault,
not me. Sod some other, dude, did it? Have you
ever noticed that before?
Speaker 5 (33:37):
Absolutely?
Speaker 14 (33:37):
In fact, there are prisons filled with people who say
the same thing. That's exactly what the mo is of
individuals who are responsible for committing crimes and other Heno's acts.
You know, Nancy, if we look at this case, and
I am kind of a fact based person over my years,
and just the facts, just the facts, as Joe Friday
once said, if you look at this kind of timeline
and litany of the images we've seen, we've seen images
(34:00):
matches the videos, which is surely compelling and emotional, but
also tell the story when Gregor is as his son
on the treadmill and brings him into the hospital. We
have pictures the mother had taken of the injuries of
her son, Corey. But with two things stand out to me.
It's one, we're not seeing all the other things that
could have happened behind the scenes with not on video
when pictures are not taken, you know, And I also say,
(34:22):
what happened? What happened to the system here?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Where all the stuff we're.
Speaker 14 (34:26):
So compelling, at least compelling to us as we watch it,
that a judge did in order for some protective custoding
to take place prior to the child dying, you know.
And you know, finally I'd like to kind of put
on top of this, Nancy, is the fact that, you know,
my brothers in law enforcement, the people in the Ocean
County Prosecutor's office and investigators from the Ocean County law
(34:49):
enforcement agencies have now stated they've come out and said
that Corey suffered life damaging, life ending injuries as a
result of his time with his father, and that his father, Gregor,
is responsible for his death.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
You know another thing, Bill Day and correct me if
I'm wrong. Jim Murdock, the initial judge, said this video
is not enough for an emergency order taking the boy
away from dad.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
It's not enough.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
But then that same video was used to deny greg
Or the bio Dad Bill. So for one judge, no
way for another judge. Hgl Yes. So I guess it's
in the eye of the beholder. So one judge saw
this and saw the report of contusions and all of.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
That and refused to take the boy away.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Then the boy dies, and now that same video is
used to justify no bail.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
That's bass Ackwards.
Speaker 14 (35:52):
You know what, Nancy, I think these images here. Why
and the question is why would someone see it differently
than another. It's difficult to say. I think we all
are seeing for what it is, and I think you
know these images. We'd like to almost have many cases
that we work on over the years have such compelling
images as we've seen here, as tragedy as they are,
because it tells the story, and why someone would interprete
(36:14):
it one with the other I don't understand. And unfortunately,
as we know is that was part of the system
here that failed poor the poor child and led to
his ultimately death.
Speaker 11 (36:26):
On cross examination, Christopher Gregor's attorney, Mario Galucci, tries to
show a different side of Corey's grieving mother. Galucci asks
Brianna Mitchello if she and some friends vandalized the home
of Christopher Gregor's parents after the death of her son Corey.
When Galucci asks if she and her friends throw eggs
and dead goldfish at the house, Brianna Mitchello says she
(36:46):
doesn't think it was goldfish, but fish purchased from the supermarket.
Mitchello admits to throwing rocks, dead fish bones, and eggs
at the home of Gregor's parents.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
So we see an age old tactic being used in
court to Jim Ark joining us from News twelve New Jersey.
This is after her son is killed and the mom
nobody would listen to her at all one hundred complaints. She,
(37:18):
as doctor Bethany pointed out, the only thing she could do.
She posted on Facebook basically, can somebody listen to me?
So she goes by and throws some dead fish. She
got the supermarket at their house. Now what, she's the
bad person.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
You got to look at the timeline of this.
Speaker 9 (37:34):
So for months and months after her son died, Christopher
was only charged with child endangerment until the murder charges,
until that second autopsy came out. So she forms a
Facebook group Justice for Corey, and this was brought up
on the second day of testimony as well, trying to
(37:57):
find posters in that privately on Facebook group signs of
aggression toward the Gregor family.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
It was brought up briefly and then.
Speaker 9 (38:08):
Mario, the attorney for Christopher Gregor, brought up a dead
fish in court. It was objected, it was shut down,
but the point was in the court this was all
happening from a grieving mother's perspective.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Got it, you know? Before you run out of time.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I want to go to Jarrett Fiorentino and correct me
if my facts are wrong.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Jarrett Fiorentino and.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Bill Dilla, You've dealt with so many perps when they
go on the run. Flight is evidence of guilt. And
in this case, after Corey died, the dad is not
sticking around.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
He hauls booty and hides out in a motel. I
believe in Tennessee. How does that look to you, Jarrett.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Fiarantino, Because I say, well, you don't know a horse.
Look at his track record. Deadbeat dad covered in bruises
take so often takes off to Tennessee. It hides out.
Speaker 10 (39:02):
It looks to me like consciousness of guilt, Nancy. And
if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck,
it's a duck. So a jury can be instructed. It's
so critical in the law that when someone takes off
when they're in trouble, a jury is actually, as you know, instructed.
Flight or running away is consciousness of guilt, and a
(39:24):
jury can consider that. Think about any time people ever
run away in their life, what are they running away
from trouble? He ran away because he knew he was
going to have to answer for the injuries that were
all over Corey and everything that happened to Corey at
that point. So it's flight, it's consciousness of guilt. It
will be the final nail in a lot of nails
(39:45):
in what undoubtedly will be the coffin of mister Gregor.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
You know what, Jeron Farantino, I would like to agree
with you, But do I have to say A J. Simpson,
Robert Blake, Michael Jackson. I don't know what this jury's
going to do.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Bill Bill Day for FBI flight.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Instead of sticking around, Daddy takes off, flees the jurisdiction
and hies out in a Tennessee motel.
Speaker 14 (40:09):
Night exactly, Nancy, And I mean, in addition to the
legal view of this, here's the emotional viewer saying, you know,
where was he when, you know, when when people around
him needed him, when when the grieving mother maybe needed him,
when he needed to be there to kind of you know,
close this loop with his his dead son. You know,
where was he at that time? And I think you
know as much as they are talking about, you know,
(40:31):
the mother and maybe some relatives throwing rocks and fish.
You know, at at Gregor's parents home. You know, this
goes far beyond that. In my view, is that he
wasn't there for anyone. He wasn't there for for you know,
close that close that final chapter in his son's life.
By being there when his son is being being waked
or perhaps being buried, It just doesn't doesn't jive with me,
(40:53):
and it goes to that whole issue of flight and
his his sense of responsibility.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
This going on right now, we wait as justice unfolds,
God willing for six year old Corey. Now we stop
and remember American hero police officer Michael Hussack. Thirty seven.
Officer Hussack shot in the line of duty, leaving behind
(41:22):
a grieving wife, Caitlin, and children Nicole, Gabriel and Samuel
sentenced to life without dad. American hero police Officer Michael Hussack.
Thank you to all of our guests for being with us,
but especially to you for being with us tonight and
every night. Nancy Grace signing off good night for him.
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