The woman who cleaned the Valva home on Friday testified about what she witnessed the day Thomas Valva died.
Tyrene Rodriguez said she went into the kitchen where Michael Valva's ex-fiancée Angela Polina was doing paperwork, spoke to her for a few minutes and then got her supplies to clean.
She said she heard Thomas Valva cry twice that day. Rodriguez asked Polina what happened and was told the 8-year-old fell.
The cleaning woman also claimed she saw Polina, Michael Valva and Thomas Valva walking from the garage to the basement. She says the father was guiding his son to walk, almost cradling him while she was cleaning the bathroom.
Rodriguez testified that Polina ran back upstairs five to 10 minutes later saying, "Ty, Ty, Thomas isn't breathing." She says they both then went downstairs.
Michael Valva was already on the phone with 911 when Rodriguez got downstairs. She assisted him as he gave his son CPR on the couch and then the floor.
"Michael Valva was performing lifesaving measures on Thomas, and the cleaning lady provided corroboration of that fact," says defense attorney John LoTurco. "She assisted in that."
Rodriguez says Thomas Valva was lifeless, describing him as cold, clammy, wet, blue with blue lips and naked at the time.
She was crying in the court room as the 911 tapes from the day Thomas Valva died were played.
When pressed on her memory of the day and the timeline of events, Rodriguez said, "I get snippets and flashes of what really happened that day."
LoTurco says that Michael Valva was a "terrible parent with significant deficiencies" but that he stilled loved his son and tried to save him.
Previous coverage