Thomas Valva Remembered 1 Year After Death: 'They All Failed Him'

CENTER MORICHES, NY — Sunday marks one year since Thomas Valva, 8, froze to death on the floor of the garage in the Center Moriches home of his father, a now-former NYPD officer, and his father's fiance.

Sunday dawned cold and windy, the cold a biting, bone-chilling reminder of the 19-degree night when Thomas died.

On Sunday, many turned to social media to remind that "Justice for Thomas," a rallying cry at myriad rallies after the child's death, has not yet been served.

Thomas' mother Justyna Zubko-Valva spoke about the painful day in a video posted on Facebook.

"Our hearts are broken," she said. "There are no words to describe losing a child. There is no greater loss you can have in your life than losing your own baby and in such a cruel and horrific way."

Her remaining two sons are deeply impacted by the loss of their brothers, she said. While prayer heals, Zubko-Valva said, "You cannot replace an angel."

The only thought that soothes, she said, "is the assurance that your baby is with God in heaven." Tommy makes his presence known, Zubko-Valva said. On the cloudiest days at the cemetery, with "not one drop of sun," suddenly, the sun will shine from behind the clouds. "That's Tommy letting us know that he's there," she said.

A mass was held Sunday for Thomas, his mother said. "Please pray for Tommy on that day," she said.

Zubko-Valva also thanked the many who have supported her and her sons since Thomas' death, not just with financial donations but with prayer and rallies in solidarity. "I am extremely grateful," she said.

And, she said, so far, "There is no justice." The fight for justice continues, she said.

Others remembered Thomas 12 long months after he died.

"Today is one year since our sweet little 8-year-old Thomas Valva was taken from us," Dina Marrazzo wrote. "Could Thomas have been saved? Will we ever get the truth? Will justice ever be served? Who failed Thomas? They all failed Thomas! Let’s take a moment and say a prayer for him as he is now resting peacefully in heaven."

The next family court appearance is scheduled for April 13 and the next criminal court date will take place on January 27.

Thomas' father Michael Valva, 40, and his fiancee, Angela Pollina, 42 were arrested after authorities said Thomas froze to death in his father's Center Moriches garage on Jan. 17, 2020.Valva and Pollina were charged with second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, they face 25 years to life in prison. Both remain incarcerated without bail.

Lasat February, Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Kerriann Kelly painted a grim depiction of the day Thomas died. According to police, he was left overnight in the frigid garage in his father's home.

Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini unsealed five-count indictments against Valva and Pollina. Thomas and his brother Anthony, 10, were undernourished, begging for food, and foraging through the garbage at school because they were so hungry, Kelly said. Teachers asked Pollina and Valva to send more food to school with the boys, but that did not happen, she said.Videos taken in the house a day and a half before Thomas died showed both boys in the garage, with Thomas shaking from the cold, saying he needed to use the bathroom, and looking at the camera "with pleading eyes for someone to help him," Kelly said.

On the night Thomas died, when was 19 degrees outside, he was left in the freezing garage with no blankets, she said.

At Valva and Pollina's arraignments, Newsday reported, Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe said a recording from the home on Jan. 17 included a child asking: "Why can't Thomas walk?" According to Newcombe, Pollina said, "because he's hypothermic," adding: "When you're washed with cold water and it's freezing you get hypothermia," Newsday reported. The post added that according to Newcombe, Valva said: "He keeps face planting on the concrete."

According to Newcombe, Pollina then said, "You know why he's falling," the Newsday report went on.

And then Valva said, according to Newcombe: "Because he's cold, boo-[expletive]-hoo."
According to Newsday, Newcombe quoted Pollina as then asking Valva what he was doing, adding that Valva responded: "I'm [expletive] suffocating him, that's what I'm doing."

Newcombe also quoted Pollina as saying, "Get your hand off his mouth, there's people everywhere," Newsday added.

Five other children were also living in the home. Temporary custody of her remaining two sons has been awarded to Justyna Zubko-Valva, Thomas' mother. Pollina's three daughters are now living with their fathers, both of whom remembered Thomas on social media Sunday.

"RIP Thomas valva," wrote Gino Cali, father to one of Thomas' three sisters. "There's not a day that goes by I don't think about you. Every time I'm cuddling, talking, looking, laughing, or even answering a text from my daughter, you are always on my mind... I never met you but I love you, lil man. RIP, you beautiful angel."

Michael Ichkhan, father to Thomas' twin sisters, also reflected. "As a mother still mourns and a community was shattered with this heinous act, we must remember little Thomas for what he was and what he really sacrificed. Thomas, you will always be my hero specifically and the hero to many in Long Island. Thomas, may you eternally RIP, little angel. God bless you, little boy."

Of his daughters, Ichkhan said: "The hard part is that they have so many questions I can't even try to answer. That's what hurts me."

Marie Gouldsbury rallied for change for months: "I still pray that justice is served," she said.

For the year following Thomas' death, an outraged community has demanded answers in regard to a broken system that let him fall through the cracks.

At her most recent family court appearance in January, Zubko-Valva said, on a video posted on a Facebook page dedicated to her son's case, that she was again awarded temporary custody of her two sons; in addition, she said, the order was dismissed that had sent Child Protective Services to her home twice a month.

She is still fighting for full custody, she said. "But at least we are making small steps in the right direction."

Zubko-Valva said she has also been fighting to keep the courtroom open to the public and the press. The next family court appearance is on April 13; the next criminal court date is on January 27, she said.

Describing the criminal case, Zubko-Valva said it is "very concerning." She believes authorities are "hiding evidence," from the home's surveillance system. Authorities have said those video cannot be retrieved.

"There is no justice in this case and we are still fighting," Zubko-Valva said in the video.

Valva is no longer a member of the NYPD.

In a November Tweet, the NYPD wrote: "Former NYPD Officer Michael Valva, charged in the January death of his 8-year-old son in Suffolk County, resigned from the NYPD. He will NOT be receiving a pension."

Valva resigned from the NYPD in October.

NYPD spokesperson Sgt. Jessica McRorie told Patch that Valva resigned without the permission of the police commissioner, and the NYPD was not going to be "vesting out any money to contribute to his pension."

Any funds Valva had already contributed to his own pension himself over the 15 years he was with the NYPD will be returned to him with interest, she said. "But that's not the same as receiving a pension," she added. "He's no longer employed with the NYPD."

Valva's attorney John LoTurco confirmed that the statement by the NYPD was "100 percent accurate."

In June, Zubko-Valva, Thomas' mother, filed a $200 million wrongful death lawsuit against Suffolk County officials and school representatives. The suit alleges that Thomas was physically, mentally, and sexually abused, something his mother has repeatedly maintained. No charges in regard to sexual abuse have been filed and Sini did not immediately return a request for comment.

According to Zubko-Valva's attorney, "the tragedy started on September 6, 2017, when Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Hope Schwartz Zimmerman unlawfully, and without due process, a hearing or supporting evidence against Ms. Zubko-Valva, gave custody of her three children, including Tommy, to Michael Valva, even though a prior judge in the case had barred Valva from overnight visits."

Zubko-Valva provided evidence to the court, Child Protective Services, the police and the children's attorneys several times that showed the "severe abuse" of her children by Valva and Pollina, the complaint said.

Zubko-Valva repeatedly warned those named in the suit for three years that the boys were being "tortured, beaten, starved," as well as suffering sexual abuse, the complaint said.

"Tommy's death was not only foreseeable, but completely preventable," according to the complaint.

In August, a special legislative committee convened to investigate Thomas' death.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced the members of a new internal review committee that he said would be "performing a top to bottom review of the Thomas Valva case in the Department of Social Services...As a parent, I am horrified by what happened to this beautiful boy," Bellone said. "As county executive, I want to know if there's anything else that could have been done under existing law to prevent this from happening."

For months, the man have demanded to know how Thomas appeared to slip through the cracks, despite reported warnings. According to the New York Post, the state's child abuse hotline received at least 17 emergency calls about Michael Valva's children in the months before Thomas died. One call, the New York Post said, centered on an black eye that Thomas reportedly sustained in 2019.

A report by CBS New York said that, according reports obtained, from 2018 to 2019, there were 20 calls from teachers in Thomas' East Moriches school district to child protection hotlines in New York State and Suffolk County, regarding issues such as absences, "a black eye, lacerations, hunger, visible dirt on the body, and urine-soaked clothing." Valva, the report said, blamed it on playground incidents.

Since Thomas' death, calls for reform have come from a variety of people and organizations.

Although his father initially reported that Thomas died after a fall in the driveway, new details emerged at a news conference on Jan. 24, 2020 by Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart.

Thomas Valva officially died of hypothermia, according to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner, Hart said. When the boy was found, she said, his body temperature was 76 degrees and he had head and facial injuries inconsistent with his father's account of what had happened.

Since Thomas' death, hundreds have taken to social media to call for the removal of the judge who ruled in the Valva case. Last spring, a "Rally to Remove Judges — Justice for Thomas," took place in Mineola.

Zubko-Valva had pleaded for help on her Twitter page; the Suffolk County Department of Social Services stated that CPS was notified about abuse more than a year before his death, News 12 said.

For years, Zubko-Valva had begged for help in a string of frantic Tweets.

"The Child Protective Services and the Court are protecting the abusers of my children and swipe everything under the rug. I am heartbroken because my children are being purposely hidden from me, and unlawfully I am not being allowed to even see my children on Thanksgiving," she wrote in 2018.

That post also included a photo of documents, which indicated they were sent from the East Moriches School District, where her boys were enrolled. The documents appear to depict neglect; however, the school district was unable to speak about or even confirm were official, according to Syntax, the agency that handles the district's communications.

The documents, which indicated they were written by Nicole Papa, special education teacher in East Moriches Elementary School, stated that Thomas and his brother Anthony "were not allowed to eat breakfast because they did not use their manners, say good morning to Angela, or were doing nothing." The documents added that the children were hungry and were not allowed to go to the nurse: "They have stated that Angela said do not go to the nurse," the report said.

Anthony, the report said, lost 11 lbs. in 9 months; Thomas gained 1 lb. in 20 months; both came to school "with visible dirt on their bodies," the documents stated.

The school nurse, the 2018 report said, got involved in a CPS case because "Thomas had multiple bruises on his bottom from Dad."

The East Moriches School District released a statement from Superintendent Charles Russo: "While the district legally cannot comment on any specific case, it aggressively reports to the proper authorities child abuse when it is suspected. The district will continue to cooperate with the Suffolk County Police Department as they continue with their investigation."

Despite child abuse allegations, nothing was done to remove the children from the home where Thomas died, reports said.

NBC News reported that Frances Pierre, commissioner of Suffolk County's Department of Social Services, said an allegation of child neglect was made in 2018, which sparked child supervision, including orders of protection, for a year. After that, the post said, "CPS investigated additional complaints" connected to the family, Pierre said.

The New York Post reported that a complaint was lodged with New York State's Office of Children and Family Services about a child being forced to sleep in the garage Valva's house,"but Suffolk County's Office of Child Protective Services determined it to be 'unfounded.'"

The report added that the record came from a call in Feb. 27, 2019, which said that "Valva's son Anthony was forced to sleep in the garage because he was urinating in his bed." Anthony, the OCFS said, had been coming to school with his clothes and backpack soaked in urine, according the report.

On the day Thomas died, authorities arrived at the Center Moriches home to find Michael Valva conducting CPR on his son in the basement. Authorities were examining calls to police at the house, Hart said in the Jan. 24 news conference. Some calls related to the custody arrangement during his divorce from the boy's mother, Hart said. And one call was a welfare check, although no one was home and a neighbor told police the family was in Queens, Hart said. Police were working with the Suffolk County Social Services Department to make sure every avenue is explored, Hart said.

"An event of this magnitude, the death of a child, is unimaginable, as parents, as a mother," she said. "We are going to look at every interaction this child had with the system and make sure we investigate every avenue."

Sini also made a statement: "This crime evinces the depravity of these defendants. They evinced no regard for this child's human life."

Sini confirmed that CPS had been involved with the case. The DA's office has an audio tape made on the morning that the child was found. "I've heard it for myself and I can't describe it with words," Sini said. "The depravity of these defendants is shocking," he said.

Detectives began investigating after Seventh Precinct police responded at 9:40 a.m. Jan. 17 to a report of a boy who fell in the driveway of a residence on Bittersweet Lane. The child was taken to Long Island Community Hospital, where he was declared dead, police said.

Matthew Tuohy, a Huntington-based attorney, represents Pollina and represented Valva just for the arraignment: "She's saying she's innocent and is not the cause of the child's death. She maintains her innocence 100 percent," he said.