New Jersey: Child dies after intense training, father in court

Christopher Gregor, 31, made his first court appearance in New Jersey on Tuesday. A father has been accused of forcing his six-year-old son to exercise on a treadmill because he believed the boy was “too fat”. Corey Migliolo died on April 2, 2021 as a result of brutal training. Christopher Gregor must now answer for the murder – he faces up to life in prison.

During the preliminary hearing, surveillance video was shown showing Gregor forcing his son Corey to run in the gym at the apartment complex where he lived. The treadmill is set at high speed and the boy is having trouble maintaining it. Moments later he falls from the training device to the ground.

Christopher Gregor picks up the boy, puts him back on the treadmill, and the boy collapses on his back, exhausted — a scene repeated half a dozen times. The state attorney's office believes the fall led to multiple injuries on the boy's body, as forensic experts discovered during an autopsy.

In court, Corey's mother, Brae Michiolo, testified. She tearfully described the injuries her son suffered. Days before his death, the woman reported the boy's injuries to the New Jersey Child Protective Services agency.

Bre Migliolo shared that she told her baby's father to take Corey to the doctor. During the meeting, the boy revealed that his father had trained him on a treadmill “because he was too fat,” according to US media reports.

The next day, Corey felt worse: after a nap, the six-year-old woke up but could no longer express himself clearly, stumbling, suffering from nausea and shortness of breath. His father took him to the hospital. During the examination, the child suffered convulsions and doctors had to take life-saving measures – but all failed.

An autopsy revealed Corey died of blunt force trauma to the chest and abdomen, an injury to the heart, a laceration to the left lung, and lacerations and lacerations to the liver. In his report, the forensic pathologist determined that Corey's death was a homicide because the child suffered chronic abuse.

However, his father was not arrested until months later after investigators reviewed footage from Jim's security cameras.