Christopher Gregor: Dad accused of killing son, 6, calls parents from jail to coach their testimony

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

BARNEGAT, NEW JERSEY: Christopher Gregor, 31, is facing trial after being accused of 2021 killing his six-year-old son, Corey Micciolo, to relentless physical abuse.

The 'deadbeat dad' allegedly forced Corey to exercise excessively, claiming he was "too fat," which resulted in Corey falling and sustaining a fatal head injury.

During the trial, David and Carol Gregor, Christopher's parents, provided testimony last week recounting the moments they learned of Corey's death and the threats they received.

Following their testimony on Friday, Gregor contacted his mother from Ocean County Jail, where he is currently detained, in an apparent attempt to influence her testimony.

Phone call conversation between Christopher Gregor and parents revealed

In Ocean Superior Court, New Jersey, on Wednesday, a phone call was disclosed, prompting Gregor's defense team to halt its questioning of Carol.

Gregor's mother was unresponsive to his coaching, and his father intervened, urging him to stop before they terminated the call, as per Daily Mail.

"This is the end of the call, it's over, stop, stop, stop, stop," his mother asserted before disconnecting the call, which was recorded by the jail.

Defense attorney Mario Gallucci implored Judge Guy Ryan not to dismiss Gregor's parents' testimony during Wednesday's trial.

Gallucci informed the court, "She made every attempt to stop him from talking, but he persisted. She hung up on her son because he continued to persist."

Although both parents were slated to testify for the defense on Wednesday, Gallucci opted against summoning them following Ryan's ruling that prosecutors could interrogate them about the call.

The judge determined the call admissible to demonstrate Gregor's "consciousness of guilt" and to assess its potential influence on their testimony.

Carol recounted emotional moment when Gregor informed about Corey’s death

While giving her testimony, Carol became emotional as she recounted receiving a phone call from Gregor while at the hospital where her grandson died.

Mentioning that he was angrily shouting, she remembered, "Chris was hysterical, what did she do to him," referring to the little boy's mother, Breanna Micciolo.

Carol struggled to hold back tears as she recalled the moment Gregor informed her that "Corey passed."

Describing her hysterical reaction upon learning about her grandson's death, she said, "So I call my husband, I'm flipping out at the house.”

As Carol shared her shocked response to Corey's death during her testimony, Gregor also became visibly upset in court, wiping away tears with a handkerchief.

She stated, "I was worried. 'He was so adamant that something happened when he (Corey) was with his mother."

Carol then revealed how her younger son, Danny, received threatening calls on their home phone while she and her husband rushed to the hospital after receiving the devastating news.

Later in the trial, the prosecution criticized Carol for her inability to recall the timeline of events from that day. In response, she defended herself, stating, "I wasn't looking at a clock. I was hysterical that my grandson had just passed - I wasn't timing things."

What happened to Corey Micciolo?

In earlier proceedings of the trial, the court was presented with disturbing footage depicting Gregor compelling his son to run on a treadmill and repeatedly lifting him off the floor when he fell from the machine.

This footage, captured at a gym in New Jersey less than two weeks before Corey's death, preceded the incident where Corey was found dazed and unconscious hours after being dropped off at his father's residence by his mother.

Breanna Micciolo, Corey's mother, who also testified against Gregor last week, asserted that he had not even met his son until a year before Corey's death. She further claimed that Corey would frequently return from his father's home bearing fresh cuts and bruises.

Forensic pathologist Dr Thomas Andrew provided harrowing new insights into the circumstances surrounding the six-year-old's death.

Describing a contusion below Corey's diaphragm, Dr Andrew detailed two significant injuries to the boy's liver, including a laceration that resulted in blood pooling in his pelvis. Additionally, Corey's body exhibited a pulmonary contusion in his lung, leading to internal bleeding, as well as multiple scalp contusions.

Dr Andrew highlighted a fatal laceration near the tip of Corey's heart, exacerbated by chronic ongoing stress in his life. The pathologist claimed, "The immediate cause of death was blunt force injuries on the day he died. However, stress cardiomyopathy suggests there was ongoing physiological stress, most likely due to mistreatment or abuse."