Episode 5: Thomas Valva (Part 1)

Suffer the Little Children

Suffer the Little Children Pod

Social Sciences, True Crime, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2020

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An 8-year-old Long Island boy with autism dies of hypothermia after spending the night in the unheated garage of his family home. His NYPD officer father and the man’s fiancee are arrested for his murder. Only then do the years of abuse the little boy endured come to light, meticulously documented by his mother, who continues to fight for justice for her precious Tommy and his two surviving brothers. This is the tragic story of Thomas Valva. (Part 1 of 2)Photos related to today's episode can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram. You can also follow the podcast on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Visit the podcast's web page at sufferthelittlechildrenpod.com. Become a patron to access rewards, including a shout-out by name on the podcast and exclusive show merch!This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Laine. Thomas’s story was originally covered on Suffer the Little Children Blog.Music for this episode was created by Laine using sounds from AudioJungle.com. Subscribe to Suffer the Little Children on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast listening platform.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, he's cute. Mr. I can never sleep when I'm traveling. He's hugging his pillow like a sloth on a branch.
0:10.0	He couldn't sleep before. Now listen to him. Sounds like an elephant with a chest infection.
0:15.0	Well, they call him a dreamer. And now they're right.
0:19.0	All aboard, Mr. I can never sleep when I'm travelling. Find all the comfort you need in the
0:25.1	quiet lounge. Pieno Ferries, there is another way.
0:28.9	This podcast contains descriptions of violence against children and adult language and is not intended for all audiences.
0:37.0	Listen or discretion is advised.
0:40.0	Hi guys and welcome to suffer the little children the true crime
0:43.7	podcast giving voices back to the victims of child abuse and shining a harsh
0:47.8	spotlight on the parents guardians and caretakers who silence them.
0:52.3	I'm your host Lane and this is episode 5 Thomas Valva part 1.
0:57.0	I first blogged about Thomas a story on January 29th, 2020 on suffer the Little Children blog.com, and I've written several update
1:06.2	posts about his case since.
1:08.9	For those not familiar with this story, Thomas Valva was an eight-year-old boy on the autism spectrum who lived on Long Island with his father Michael Valva who was a New York Police Department transit officer and his father's fiance, Angela Polina.
1:23.0	Thomas died in January of this year after Michael and Angela allegedly
1:28.0	forced him to spend the night in the unheated garage of the family's home
1:31.0	on a night when temperatures dropped well below freezing.
1:34.0	Since there's so much information out there about this case including video and audio
1:39.0	that I'd like to play for you on the podcast, I'm going to tell Thomas's story over the course of two episodes.
1:46.0	My sources for today's episode were News Day, The Washington Post, Live Science, Wikipedia, the Long Island Press, The New York Times, The Daily Beast,
1:57.6	Pix 11, Facebook, Twitter, NBC New York, CBS New York, and Patch.com.
2:05.0	Before I get started, I just want to say that I hope you're all staying safe, healthy, and socially distant during this worldwide coronavirus pandemic we're currently experiencing.
	...

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