A father in New Jersey who is accused of killing his 6-year-old son says that his ex-wife encouraged the child to make up false stories about being abused.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, there is a murder trial taking place at Ocean City’s Superior Court for Christopher Gregor, 31, who is accused of killing his son, Corey Micciolo.
Corey, who was almost seven years old, died in April 2021 from injuries and internal injuries, according to an autopsy report. with acute inflammation and sepsis,” according to an autopsy report.
Recently, jurors listened to a call made by Gregor to the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency, where he reported that his ex-wife had violated visitation rules and brought back their son late, claiming she took him to the hospital for evaluation.
He told a social worker that his son had been told by his mother to say that his father had hit him.
“My son came back this morning and he was saying that his mom said that he had to tell the doctor that I hit him,” Gregor told child abuse hotline staffer Richard Cicerone.
“He came home and one of the first two things he said was, ‘I don’t want to go with Mom anymore, she’s going to try to take me away from you. And he also said, ‘Mom told me to lie and I had to.’”
By 5 p.m. that evening, Corey was pronounced dead, following an incident at a gym in which the defendant was captured on security camera, relentlessly pushing the child to run on the machine at high speed.
Despite Corey falling numerous times, his father forced him to get up and keep running.
In September 2021, a forensic pathologist concluded that Corey’s death was a homicide, attributing it to enduring chronic abuse. This included injuries to his chest and abdomen, along with a laceration on his heart, a left pulmonary contusion, and liver injuries.
Breanna Micciolo previously told CrimeOnline that despite reporting child abuse, the Department of Protection and Permanency didn’t do enough to help.
Micciolo began taking photos of her son after she suspected something was wrong. She said she tried to get the judge to grant her full custody of her son in April, but it didn’t happen in time.
Gregor has pleaded not guilty. The trial continues.
[Feature Photo: Corey Micciolo/Justice for Corey; Handout]