A chilling surveillance video captures the moments before the tragic death of six-year-old Corey Micciolo, allegedly at the hands of his father, Christopher Gregor, in New Jersey. Gregor, 31, stands trial for the murder, accused of subjecting Corey to months of abuse before his passing from blunt force trauma in April 2021.
In the footage presented during the trial on Friday, Gregor is observed carrying his son through Southern Ocean Medical Center. Corey, reportedly disoriented and nauseous after waking from a nap, tragically passed away shortly after.
Gregor faces allegations of fatally battering his son, a claim supported by additional footage presented during his trial. The video depicts Gregor compelling his son to endure the relentless motion of a high-speed treadmill, resulting in repeated falls.
Gripping hospital footage documents Christopher Gregor’s arrival with his son Corey Micciolo, aged 6, on the fateful day of Corey’s passing in April 2021.
At 31 years old, Gregor stands accused of murder in connection with the 2021 demise of his six-year-old son. Prosecutors allege that he subjected the child to fatal abuse, regularly inflicting physical and emotional harm.
According to the preliminary autopsy findings, Corey’s passing resulted from blunt force trauma inflicted across his body, compounded by cardiac and liver contusions, inflammation, and sepsis.
In the hospital footage, Corey appeared unconscious as his father hurried him to the front desk. According to court testimony by William Doyle, the nurse on duty, Corey exhibited “dire, almost end-of-life breaths” upon admission. Doyle noted Corey’s lack of verbal response and his slumped posture during examination by doctors, as reported by the Asbury Park Press. Inside the hospital, panic ensued among medical staff, described by Doyle as an “all-hands-on-deck situation” in their efforts to save Corey’s life.
A forensic pathologist later determined Corey’s death as a homicide due to blunt force trauma, though Gregor’s attorneys contend that pneumonia was the actual cause. During Corey’s CT scan, he experienced a seizure, and despite frantic attempts to save him, he tragically passed away around 5 p.m.
These events unfold amidst revelations that Gregor had only known Corey for a year before the alleged abuse that led to his death. Text messages retrieved from the boy’s mother indicate Gregor callously dismissing concerns about his treatment of Corey. When she expressed how he had “hurt (Corey’s) feelings,” Gregor responded, suggesting Corey needed to toughen up, dismissing it as “soft tissue.”
Archived text messages purportedly exchanged between Corey’s mother and Christopher revealed a cold-hearted reaction when informed that he had caused his son to cry.
The purported texts from Christopher suggested that he dismissed his son’s emotions as “overemotional” and asserted that the child “needs to be a little tougher.”
Corey’s mother exposed disturbing images of alleged abuse inflicted by the father, depicting black eyes and bruises covering his body.
The exact timing of Gregor’s first encounter with Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, who testified at his trial this week, remains unclear. However, reports suggest he wasn’t involved in the boy’s life until Corey turned five.
During their initial meeting, Corey allegedly returned to his mother with a “busted lip,” as per Jersey Shore Online. Micciolo doubted Gregor’s explanation that it was an accidental kick during soccer, but a DCPP caseworker apparently accepted it without further investigation.
Following that encounter, Micciolo claims Corey endured regular abuse from Gregor for over a year. She reportedly suspected Gregor of using a treadmill as a form of punishment during their visitations.
Gregor’s LinkedIn profile indicates he worked as a realtor and math teacher during this period, with previous experience including volunteering at the Crisis Text Line mental health hotline for six months in 2015.
Online records reveal that before his arrest, Gregor resided in a luxurious New Jersey estate valued at over $1 million.
After Corey’s tragic death in April 2021, Micciolo established a Facebook group called ‘Justice for Corey,’ where she shared distressing images of his injuries while alleging negligence from child protective services.
Text messages shared by Micciolo on the Facebook group, around six months after Corey’s passing, depict Gregor’s callous response to being informed that he had made his son cry.
Breanna Micciolo, Corey’s mother, was the initial witness to testify in court this week. During her testimony, she tearfully recounted the purported abuse.
Corey Micciolo passed away in 2021 following years of reported abuse, with a forensic pathologist determining that blunt force trauma was the cause of death.
Micciolo alleges that despite presenting a plethora of images and videos documenting her son’s injuries, her reports were consistently disregarded by child protective services.
Allegedly, Corey frequently returned from his father’s residence with fresh bruises and injuries.
Online records indicate that prior to his arrest, Gregor resided in a sprawling New Jersey estate valued at over $1 million.
Micciolo texted Gregor, recounting an incident where Corey came upstairs upset after Gregor allegedly smacked the football out of his hand when Corey tried to ask about playing football in high school. Gregor denied the account, stating that Corey didn’t say anything to him, and he did it as a joke before leaving. He remarked that Corey should toughen up if such actions made him cry.
Micciolo rebutted, stating Corey was upset because Gregor had hurt his feelings, emphasizing that he’s just six years old. Despite Micciolo’s claims of abuse, child protective services reportedly dismissed her reports. At the time, Micciolo and Gregor were embroiled in a bitter custody dispute.
On her Facebook group, Micciolo shared disturbing images of Corey’s injuries, including bruises, scratches, and scrapes across his body. She questioned whether it was a failure in policy or a lack of adherence by authorities.
In the ongoing trial of Gregor, sickening CCTV footage depicted Corey repeatedly falling off a treadmill while Gregor lifted him back onto the machine. The alleged abuse concluded on April 2, 2021, when Corey woke up from a nap at his father’s home feeling nauseous and disoriented. He passed away hours later in the hospital, with a forensic pathologist attributing his death to blunt force trauma, though Gregor’s attorney argued it was due to pneumonia.
During the trial, one instance of alleged abuse was presented through surveillance footage, showing Gregor seemingly compelling his son to sprint on a treadmill. The video captured Corey repeatedly falling off while Gregor continuously placed him back on it. At one point, Gregor was observed biting his son on the back of the head before forcing him to resume running.
In his opening statements, Gregor’s attorney, Mario Gallucci, acknowledged that the jury would find the footage horrifying but contended that it did not contribute to Corey’s death. He cautioned the jury that while they would be deeply disturbed by the visuals, Corey’s demise was unrelated to the treadmill incident.
Days following the gym outing, Breanna Micciolo, who shared custody of Corey with Gregor, observed her son’s injuries and promptly notified a caseworker at the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
In her emotionally charged testimony this week, Micciolo recounted noticing bruises and scratches on her son shortly after the gym visit, a pattern she claims to have observed after numerous similar outings.
“He had a peculiarly shaped bruise on his forehead, it appeared like an imprint,” tearfully stated the mother.
She further disclosed additional cuts on Corey’s body, including one resembling a scrape on his chest.
Despite a pediatrician’s reassurance that the injuries weren’t alarming, Micciolo testified that Corey informed the doctor of being compelled to run on the treadmill because he was deemed “too fat.”
Micciolo promptly reported the injuries to a caseworker at the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Tragically, Corey’s demise occurred just a day after courts denied an emergency custody filing by Micciolo.
As early as July 2020, she had alerted authorities about her son returning from his father’s residence with black eyes, bruises, scrapes, and even bite marks.
Gregor was apprehended three months later on charges of child neglect, with the gym surveillance footage cited as evidence.
The arrest warrant outlined specific incidents, including Corey being made to run on a treadmill, falling, and then being placed back on the moving treadmill, allegedly with Gregor appearing to bite his head.
In September, a forensic pathologist ruled Corey’s death a homicide resulting from chronic child abuse, citing blunt force injuries to his abdomen and chest, along with a heart laceration.
The examination also revealed cardiac and liver contusions with inflammation and sepsis.
While Gregor reportedly claims Corey’s death was due to pneumonia, it remains unclear if medical staff corroborated this during Corey’s hospitalization, where he also suffered a seizure during a CT scan.
Nearly a year after Corey’s passing, on March 9, 2022, Gregor’s charges were escalated to murder.