Monroe man indicted in murder of 6-year-old son in Ocean County
TOMS RIVER - An Ocean County grand jury has charged a Middlesex County man with the murder of his 6-year-old son, who authorities allege died last year at Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford as a result of child abuse.
The grand jury handed up an indictment Tuesday charging Christopher Gregor, 30, of Monroe, with murder and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with events that occurred March 20, 2021, in Barnegat, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a news release.
The news release identifies the victim only as a 6-year-old boy. Authorities have not released his name, but an obituary identified him as Corey T. Micciolo of Englishtown, Gregor’s son.
Stafford police on April 2, 2021, responded to the medical center, where the child had just died. An autopsy determined the boy suffered blunt-force trauma injuries.
An investigation revealed Gregor had abused the child in Barnegat on March 20, 2021, the news release said.
Gregor in July 2021 was arrested and charged with child endangerment related to the alleged abuse. He was jailed initially, but later released from the Ocean County Jail under New Jersey’s bail reform.
Then, on March 3, the Prosecutor’s Office received a report from an expert that indicated the boy died as a result of blunt-force impact to his chest and abdomen and concluded his death was a homicide, the news release said. An extensive investigation by prosecutor’s detectives, Barnegat police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office revealed that the boy was in Gregor’s custody when he suffered the fatal injuries, and that Gregor was responsible for his death.
Gregor was rearrested on March 9 and has been held without bail since then at the county jail.
An affidavit of probable cause to charge Gregor with murder revealed that investigators obtained surveillance video from the fitness center of a Barnegat apartment complex showing the boy running on a treadmill on March 20, 2021 as his father approached and increased its speed. The video showed Gregor putting his child back on the treadmill, although he couldn’t keep up and kept falling, the affidavit said. At one point, it appeared Gregor bit the child on the head while putting him back on the treadmill, the affidavit said.
Gregor’s attorney, Mario Galluci, has denied that his client had anything to do with his son’s death.
If convicted of murder, Gregor would face a minimum of 30 years in prison without parole, up to life in prison.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monroe NJ man indicted in murder of 6-year-old son
