Thomas Valva never showed up at bus stop the day he died, bus driver testifies

A school bus driver testified at the murder trial of ex-NYPD officer Michael Valva Friday that his son Thomas Valva never showed up to the bus stop near their Center Moriches home on the morning of his death, contradicting Valva's alleged statements to police and emergency responders that the boy suffered injuries when he fell on the driveway as he was running for the bus.

Jeanette Mitchell, a school bus driver for the East Moriches school district where Thomas, 8, and his siblings attended, said she didn't see Thomas fall on the driveway the morning of Jan. 17, 2020. Mitchell said she picked up Thomas' siblings Andrew, then 6, and Anthony, then 10, as well as one of his stepsisters at about 8:52 a.m., and drove them to school that morning. 

"They told me no," said Mitchell, who said she asked Thomas' siblings when they got on the bus if he was coming. 

Prosecutors have said Valva, 43, who has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and child endangerment charges in connection with Thomas' death and the alleged abuse of his eldest son Anthony, lied to police and emergency medical personnel who responded to his 911 call on the morning of Thomas' death by saying Thomas fell unconscious after falling in the driveway. 

Instead, prosecutors have said, Thomas died after Valva and his ex-fiancee, Angela Pollina, allegedly forced the boy to sleep in an uninsulated garage in 19-degree weather and then Valva sprayed the boy with cold water from an outside spigot. 

Pollina, 45, has also pleaded not guilty and is set to be tried later. 

A Suffolk police officer, in earlier trial testimony, said a Valva neighbor's surveillance video didn't show any children falling as they ran for the school bus. 

Valva's defense attorneys have argued that it was Pollina who forced Thomas and Anthony to sleep in the garage because she was frustrated with the boy's incontinence issues, but Valva never anticipated Thomas would die as a result. He only agreed for the boys to sleep in the garage to appease Pollina, who was the dominant force in the relationship, the lawyers have argued.

Also testifying Friday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead was Jennifer Frohreich, a forensic scientist at the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory, who told jurors that a "partially charred" crib mattress found in black bags outside the Valva home during a police search days after Thomas' death, tested positive for the presence of gasoline, an ignitable liquid. 

Prosecutors have said Thomas and Anthony were initially given a crib mattress to sleep on inside the garage, but after soiling the mattress, it was removed and the boys slept on the bare concrete floor without blankets or pillows. A mattress was visible in police photographs of the garage on the day of Thomas' death that were into evidence at the trial. But days later when police returned with a search warrant, the mattress did not appear in additional police photos of the garage.

The partially burned foam crib mattress was found inside black bags outside the Valva home. Another crime lab official previously testified that a fire extinguisher was found in the Valva trash that day. 

Lead Valva defense attorney John LoTurco, after court Friday, said the day's testimony was "fairly insignificant" and questioned why prosecutors introduced the mattress evidence. LoTurco said if the mattress was stained, authorities should have photographed it, collected it and tested it for any relevant evidence on the day of Thomas' death when the mattress was visible in the background of police photos of the garage. 

“I don’t see how it has any evidentiary value, it’s not being introduced for scientific purposes,” said LoTurco. "It’s only being introduced for inflammatory purposes.”

The trial continues Tuesday. 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.