NYPD officer, fiance charged with murder after his son, 8, froze to death, officials say – NBC News

A veteran New York City police officer and his fiance were arrested and charged with the murder of the man's 8-year-old son, who froze to death in an unheated garage, authorities said Friday.

Michael Valva, 40, and Angela Pollina, 42, who both lived in the Long Island community of Center Moriches, were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Valva, Suffolk County police said.

The youngster was kept in an unheated garage the night before his death when overnight temperatures outside dipped to 19 degrees, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart told reporters on Friday.

The boy's body temperature was just 76 degrees when doctors tried to revive him, Hart added.

"The medical examiner has ruled it a homicide with a major contributing factor of hypothermia," Hart said. "We believe certainly that Thomas was kept in the garage overnight preceding his death."

Suffolk County police responded to the couple's home, on Bittersweet Lane, on Jan. 17, answering a report that a little boy had fallen in the driveway and lost consciousness.

They found Valva performing CPR on Thomas in the basement at about 9:40 a.m. before the boy was rushed to Long Island Community Hospital and pronounced dead there, officials said.

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Michael Valva's story that his son was trying to catch a school bus, fell and lost consciousness soon came apart, according to Hart.

"As with any unattended death, homicide detectives conducted an investigation which revealed inconsistencies in the timing and the nature of the child's injuries as reported by his father," Hart said.

"We have determined Thomas was as never in the driveway that morning and he suffered head and facial injuries that were not consistent with the father's account."

Police found the couple had an extensive home security system and kept close tabs on all of the children in their blended family Valva's sons, ages 6, 10 and 8-year-old Thomas, and Pollina's three daughters, 6 and 11-year-old twins, police said.

Investigators said that this footage helped them find that Valva's surviving sons were punished with "food deprivation and exposure to extremely frigid temperatures," according to Hart.

"We are still investigating the extent of the abuse and if it extended to all of the children," Hart said.

Social workers took away all the surviving children on Jan. 17, police said.

Valva has been with the NYPD since 2005 and was last assigned to the department's transit force, officials said.

"I just really want justice for my son. He deserves it. This should never have happened," the boys' mother and suspect's estranged wife, Justyna Valva, told NBC New York.

"I just keep praying for this case to be fully resolved and my little angel Thomas to rest peacefully in heaven."

The ex-wife, who told police that Thomas suffered from autism, said Michael Valva had trouble controlling his anger.

"I just wish I had more time with him on this Earth," she said of her son. "I just wished somebody helped him."

Both defendants are expected to be arraigned on Saturday morning, their lawyer, Matthew Tuohy, said.

"Both of them maintain their innocence 100 percent. Well see how the facts bear out," Tuohy told NBC News on Friday afternoon.

David K. Li is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

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NYPD officer, fiance charged with murder after his son, 8, froze to death, officials say - NBC News