An New Jersey dad charged with killing his 6-year-old son by forcing him into a bruising treadmill workout claimed his estranged ex coached the boy into lying about his alleged abuse.
Christopher Gregor, 31, told a child protective services worker that little Corey Micciolo returned from a scheduled visit with his mom on April 2, 2021, and confessed she coached him into lying — just hours before the battered youngster was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
“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, according to a recording played at the accused killer dad’s murder trial on Thursday, the Asbury Park Press reported.
“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,’” Gregor said. “And he also said, ‘Mom told me to lie and I had to.’”
The call was made shortly after 10 a.m. that day — and Corey was pronounced dead at 5 p.m.
Cicerone testified on the third day of Gregor’s murder trial in Superior Court in Ocean County.
Disturbing surveillance video from the Atlantic Heights Clubhouse fitness center on March 20, 2021, shows Gregor forcing Corey onto a treadmill because he allegedly thought he was “too fat.”
The boy fell six times after failing to keep up with the speedy treadmill, with Gregor picking him up and throwing him back onto the track, the video shows.
Corey’s mom, Breanna Micciolo, took the youngster to a pediatrician on April 1 after she said she noticed bruises on her son — and returned him to Gregor at 1 a.m. on April 2.
Gregor made the call to the New Jersey Division of Child Protective and Permanency later that morning.
Around 4 p.m., he took Corey to Southern Ocean County Medical Center in Stafford after the boy was slurring his speech, stumbling and vomiting, according to authorities.
He was pronounced dead about an hour later.
Gregor was initially charged with child neglect in the case but the charges were upped to murder when an autopsy determined Corey died from sepsis and severe internal injuries and ruled the death a homicide.
Gregor and the boy’s mother Breanne Micciolo were embroiled in a bitter custody dispute when the boy died.
Defense attorney Mario Gallucci told the jury during opening statements that Corey’s death was consistent with pneumonia and said the boy also played football and rough-housed with friends.
“As a matter of fact, the treadmill incident was on March 20,” he told jurors. “And between March 20 and April 2nd, Corey spent a significant amount of time with Breanna, spent a significant amount of time with Christopher, and actually tried out for a flag football team here in Ocean County.
“I submit to you those bruises did occur from the treadmill, they occurred from football, they occurred from boys being boys,” Gallucci said.
Prosecutors, however, contend that the fatal injuries stemmed from the heartbreaking workout.
