*Warning: This story contains photos of alleged child abuse*
A New Jersey man accused of murdering his 6-year-old son will remain behind bars without bail while awaiting trial.
The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office filed murder charges against Christopher J. Gregor, 29, around 11 months after his son, Corey Micciolio, passed away. During a bail hearing last week, Assistant Prosecutor Lynn Juan stressed that Gregor’s alleged actions were “nothing short of horrific, tragic, and abusive,” Nj.com reports.
“ he should have been looking out for his child, he should have been caring for him, he should have been helping him grow into a healthy young man,” Juan said. “And instead this defendant was abusing his son. This defendant was hurting him. He was hitting him, choking him, and subjecting this victim — his own child — to ongoing abuse.”
Defense lawyer Mario Gallucci referred to Gregor as a grieving father who had been “accosted” by the boy’s maternal family. Gallucci added that there was no reason to keep Gregor behind bars, as his father was “a highly-decorated retired New Jersey State Trooper.”
Although Gallucci pushed for home confinement, a judge ultimately sided with the prosecution. He’s been charged with child endangerment, along with the first-degree murder charge.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Gregor was arrested in March and taken to the Ocean County jail, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
An autopsy confirmed that Corey, who was just a few weeks shy of his seventh birthday, died from “blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions with acute inflammation and sepsis,” according to an autopsy report.
Court documents indicate that an investigator looking into the case reported that on March 20, 2021, Gregor and Corey were at a clubhouse gym at Gregor’s apartment complex in Barnegat.
Security footage allegedly showed Gregor increase the speed on a treadmill that his son was jogging on.
When the child fell off of the treadmill, Gregor told him to get back on and continued to increase the speed, according to court documents. Corey fell again several times and at one point, Gregor appeared to bite his son on the head while putting the child back on the treadmill, court documents state.
Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, said that there were numerous warning signs of abuse. She claimed that the Department of Protection and Permanency (child social services) didn’t do enough to help her, despite her making child abuse reports.
Micciolo began taking photos of her son after she suspected something was wrong. She said she tried to get the judge to allow her full custody of her son in April, but “no one was helpful.”
“I’ve called 100 times over the last two years. Sometimes they would come out and talk to him, but they made it seem to be I was bothering them,” she said.
On April 1, 2021, a day before his death, Micciolo took Corey to Jersey Shore University Medical Center with so many bruises on his chest that doctors became concerned and ordered X-rays. Micciolo said she was told to take him to a child abuse expert the next day, but April 2 fell on a day that Gregor had custody.
Micciolo said the day prior she was told by the court that she couldn’t get temporary full custody of her son amid an investigation, and the boy was ordered to spend time with his father.
The next day, Gregor called Micciolo and told her that the boy has been vomiting and was extremely lethargic. Gregor took Corey to a hospital where he passed away.
Gregor then fled the state and turned himself in three months later, according to court documents, on charges of endangering the welfare of a child.
“I don’t know if he left while Corey was dying or he left right after Corey died, but he did leave Corey at the hospital,” Micciolo told NJ.com “I have no idea where he was the whole three months that this investigation has been going on.”
Missed Warning Signs
Micciolo said her son hated going to his father’s house and would hide in closets, kicking and screaming, but by law, her hands were tied.
Micciolo told CrimeOnline that a medical examiner initially said her son died from a “heart contusion,” but he was completely healthy with no medical issues when she dropped him off with his father.
“They basically explained to me that they’d never seen that before. They’d never come across a heart contusion,” Micciolo explained.
“I don’t want him to get away with this. He’s been torturing my family and my son for the last two years. He deserves to go to jail the rest of his life.”
Check back for updates.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast. Listen to our latest episode below.
[Feature Photo: Corey Micciolo/Justice for Corey
