The video shows Corey Micciolo unable to keep up with the pace of the treadmill and falling down, again and again. Each time he falls, his father Christopher Gregor, picks him up and puts him back on the treadmill.
This is the disturbing footage of a young boy allegedly being forced onto a treadmill by his father so he would lose weight.
Jurors in the Christopher Gregor murder trial watched a video this week that prosecutors say shows the defendant forcing his 6-year-old son Corey Micciolo to run on a treadmill because he allegedly thought the boy was "fat."
The footage left Breanna Micciolo, the boy's mother, in tears as she sat inside the New Jersey courtroom. Inside Edition is not showing the most disturbing parts of the video because it is just too upsetting to watch.
The jury did see the entire video though, which shows Corey unable to keep up with the pace of the treadmill and falling down, again and again. Each time he falls, his father picks him up and puts him back on the treadmill.
It is this incident which occurred 12 days before Corey's death, that led his mother to seek an emergency custody bid, which was ultimately denied.
One day later, on April 2, 2021, Corey passed away just a few hours after Bre left the boy with his father.
"You can't even imagine what it must be like to lose your child, but then add to that this is a father who only came into the child's life a few years [prior to his death]," Ashley Wilcot, who is covering the case for Court TV tells Inside Edition.
Wilcot has been closely following the trial all week in Ocean City.
"This is a father she repeatedly believed was abusing her child, and she had reported it properly to the appropriate agency, and yet she is still burying her son," says Wilcot of Bre.
The treadmill incident was captured on video surveillance footage at the fitness center at Atlantic Heights, where Gregor was living at the time. A probable cause affidavit filed by police in Gregor's murder case describes what allegedly happened on March 20, 2022, just two weeks before Corey's death..
"At approximately 1618 hours, [Corey] begins running on a treadmill. At approximately 1627 hours, Gregor approached the treadmill and appeared to increase the speed," the affidavit says. "At approximately 1628 hours, [Corey] falls off of the back of the treadmill. Gregor subsequently picks [Corey] up by grabbing his shirt, putting him back in the moving treadmill. [Corey] appears to struggling to gain footing, while Gregor appears to be biting on the top of [Corey's] head.
"[Corey] regains footing and continues running on the treadmill," the affidavit continues. "Gregor appears to adjust the speed of the treadmill as [Corey] again falls off of the back. [Corey] attempts to run onto the moving treadmill four more times, falling off the back each time, while Gregor stands next to the treadmill."
Corey's mother, Breanna Micciolo, told police that this happened because Gregor was mad at Corey.
"[Corey] told [Bre Micciolo] that Gregor made him run on the treadmill really fast because Gregor was mad. While running on the treadmill [Corey] fell and hit his head," the affidavit says.
That video resulted in Gregor being charged with endangering the welfare of a child, but still the court denied Bre's request for an emergency custody order.
Bre shared emails with Inside Edition Digital showing that she had been in contact with the New Jersey Department of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) for close to a year at that point
In one email from July 2020, Bre alleged that her son had been coming home with bruises, scrapes, black eyes, and even a “bite mark” for almost a year.
In that email, she also took issue with the DCPP practice of questioning Corey whenever he was at his dad’s house, explaining that “he’s afraid of his father.”
She continued to send updates. Then, on the advice of her caseworker, Micciolo took Corey to see a pediatrician the day before his death.
Medical records viewed by Inside Edition Digital from that visit say that Corey was covered in bruises and told the doctor that some of the bruises were the result of him falling on the treadmill and others were from playing on turf.
In the report from that visit, the doctor wrote that Corey “became tearful when he asked me to promise not to tell anyone what he said."
Bre then took Corey to a local hospital for x-rays and bloodwork, which showed no severe injuries and levels within the normal range according to Dr. Ye Kyaw Aung.
Dr. Aung attended to Corey that night and testified this week, saying that he did not see anything suggesting the boy had pneumonia.
The tests were completed after midnight and Bre previously told Inside Edition Digital that she could not reach Gregor that night, so she took Cory back to her house for the night.
She then dropped him off at Gregor's home at 9 am on April 2 as per the conditions of her custody agreement with Gregor.
It was the last time she saw her son alive.
“I did everything. I told them, I filmed his bruises, I recorded him telling me and my sister and my mother what his father was doing,” Bre told Inside Edition Digital.
An autopsy determined that Corey's cause of death was blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions with acute inflammation and sepsis.
The defense disputes the findings of this autopsy report and said in their opening statement that Corey died of pneumonia.
It is a defense that Gregor's lawyer first shared with Inside Edition Digital over a year ago.
"Corey Micciolo died from complications from pneumonia. Our expert and even the Ocean County Medical Examiner agreed on this early diagnosis, while it is a tragedy it is not a homicide," Galucci tells Inside Edition Digital. "My client completely denies all the allegations and is looking forward to a trial in a courtroom and not a trial by social media, as the Micciolos have been so diligently attempting to do.”
Gregor has pled not guilty to both charges. His trial will resume on Tuesday
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