UPDATE: N.J. Supreme Court to rule Wednesday on long-awaited appeal of Michelle Lodzinski
It was the stuff of a parent’s worst nightmare.
Thirty years ago today, May 25, 1991, Michelle Lodzinski reported her five-year-old son missing after she said she lost sight of him at a carnival on a warm Saturday evening of the Memorial Day weekend.
An alert went out. With crew-cut brown hair, the cute little kindergartner would have been easy to spot. He was reportedly wearing a red tank-top shirt, red knee-length shorts with some type of print or writing on them, and his distinctive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneakers.
Authorities searched Kennedy Park in Sayreville through the night, with dogs on the ground and a helicopter in the air, but could find no trace of Timothy Wiltsey. In fact, they could not locate anyone who had even seen him there. Lodzinski of South Amboy, said she had just turned her back on him for a moment to buy some sodas and he was gone.
The hunt for the boy went on for months. Hundreds of volunteers went looking. A telephone tip-line was set up and his photo could be seen on the back of milk cartons. He was featured on the Fox television show “America’s Most Wanted,” to no avail.
His tragic fate would not be learned until until 11 months later, after police found a skull and other bones in a creek at the Raritan Center industrial park, and identified them as Timothy’s remains. A cause of death was never established . No one was charged for decades, in what became one of New Jersey’s most bizarre cold cases.
The years went by.
Then on Aug. 6, 2014, Lodziinski was arrested in Florida and charged with his murder, 23 years after she had reported him missing. Despite scant circ*mstantial evidence, she was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison with no chance of parole.
Now at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County, Lodzinski, 53, has always denied she had anything to do with the death of Timothy. And 30 years later, the legal case in still ongoing, as Lodzinski awaits a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling on an appeal she hopes will set her free.
The court is considering whether the evidence against her was enough to find her guilty, as well as whether the trial judge made a mistake when he refused to declare a mistrial over a juror’s misconduct, in what could be perhaps the final chapter in the long-running sad saga.
A look back at the case as it unfolded over the past three decades:
May 25, 1991: Michelle Lodzinski, 23, tells police her 5-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey, is missing. She says he disappeared around 7:30 p.m. when she turned her back to buy a soda at a carnival in John F. Kennedy Memorial Park in Sayreville. The carnival is suspended as police, firefighters, first aid squads and volunteers search the area for the boy until 2 a.m.
May 26, 1991: The search resumes at 5:30 a.m. with more than 300 people searching the park and surrounding neighborhoods. State Police fly over the 10-acre park in a helicopter and a diving unit searches two ponds. “We did a search of the whole park. We are satisfied that he’s not in the park and there is nothing further we can get there at this time,” Sayreville Police Sgt. Timothy Brennan says after the search is called off at noon.
May 27, 1991: Volunteers hand out 4,000 fliers about the missing boy as police check out more than 30 phone calls about small boys seen walking alone or accompanied by men. But none of the tips lead to Timothy. Police eliminate George Wiltsey, the boy’s father, whom he had not seen since he was a baby, as a suspect after they determine he was at home in Iowa at the time of the disappearance.
May 31, 1991: The Fox television show “America’s Most Wanted” airs a segment about Timothy’s disappearance as police begin distributing fliers nationwide.
June 5, 1991: Lodzinski tells the press she will not give up hope that her son will be found. She moves out of her house to avoid the press. ’'Everyone is waiting to see a grieving mother on TV break down, crying, hysterical because the public they thrive on that stuff. But I’m not going to do it,’' she says.
June 7, 1991: Lodzinski changes her story — a fact that is not publicly revealed until nearly a year later. She tells police a woman she knew as Ellen was at the carnival with a little girl and two men. She said she recognized the woman from a bank where Lodzinski once worked as a teller — and believed that she worked as a go-go dancer. She said Ellen agreed to watch Timothy while she went to the concession stand for a soda, and she left her son with her. But after getting the soda, Ellen, Timothy, the little girl and the two men were all gone. She said she didn’t previously mention Ellen because she didn’t want to get in trouble for leaving Timmy with somebody she didn’t know that well. That same day, authorities scour ponds in South Amboy looking for Timothy’s body. They do not find anything.
June 12, 1991: Farmland Dairies, which distributes milk to more than 1,000 stores throughout New Jersey and New York, announces it will print a picture and description of Timothy on its half-gallon containers.
June 13, 1991: Lodzinski is asked to give a statement to the New Jersey State Police. She later is interviewed by detectives from Sayreville and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office, and changes her story once again. She tells police that one of the men with Ellen came up behind her at her car, held her at knife point, and made threatening comments about Timothy’s safety before leaving with the boy. Lodzinski said the man indicated she might get her son back in a month and she might get a call from him. Lodzinski said she was afraid to tell the truth because she didn’t want Timothy to get hurt. After hours of grilling by investigators, Lodzinski goes to a local hospital emergency room to be treated for hyperventilation.
Oct. 26, 1991: A passerby finds a muddy sneaker behind the Raritan Center office complex in Edison that police later reveal may belong to Timothy. The children’s size 13 sneaker decorated with Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtle prints matches the description of the shoes Lodzinski said her son was wearing when he disappeared.
Nov. 25, 1991: Lodzinski faces a room full of reporters and television cameras to ask for prayers for her son and answer criticism that she has showed little public emotion since his disappearance. “I don’t show emotion in the public, and I don’t think I should have to because someone wants me to,” she says.
April 23, 1992: Police reveal they have tentatively identified Timothy’s remains after police find a skull in the creek where the Ninja Turtle sneaker was first found in October at the Raritan Center industrial park and match it to the boy’s dental records. Lodzinski is brought to Sayreville police headquarters and notified her son is dead before investigators question her again on his disappearance.
May 12, 1992: Timothy’s family holds a funeral Mass for him after the state and county medical examiners release his remains. Police say the remains do not show how the boy died or give any clues about his killer.
May 18, 1992: Police sources acknowledge for the first time publicly that Lodzinski’s account of her son’s disappearance had changed several times in the days and months after she reported him missing, recounting what she told them about “Ellen,” who is never found.
Jan. 21, 1994: Lodzinski’s family reports her missing after her car is found outside her brother’s Woodbridge apartment with one door open and the engine running.
Jan. 22, 1994: Lodzinski is found unharmed in downtown Detroit. She tells investigators she was abducted by two men claiming to be FBI agents, though FBI officials say they are skeptical of her story. Police later reveal they believe Lodzinski knew she was about to be served with a subpoena in a case involving her long-time friend, Union County Police officer Robert Javick. He is accused of improperly using a police computer to run license plate numbers of cars Lodzinski said were following her.
May 4, 1994: Authorities announce a Union County grand jury decided to take no action against Javick for running computer traces of license plates for Lodzinski.
March 10, 1995: Lodzinski is sentenced to three years probation and given a form of modified house arrest for faking her kidnapping. She admits she took a bus to Detroit and made up a tale of being abducted by FBI agents.
Feb. 6, 1998: Lodzinski, who is pregnant, receives three years probation for stealing a laptop computer from a former employer. Police says she took the $3,100 Dell computer from the office of the heating and air conditioning company where she was working as a receptionist, then gave it as a Christmas gift.
Mar. 6, 1998: Lodzinski is ordered to spend 24 hours in jail followed by four months of house arrest for violating her probation when she stole the laptop.
May 27, 2011: Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan said Crime Stoppers of Middlesex County offer a new reward of an undisclosed amount for information leading to an arrest in the 20-year-old case. “We are always hopeful that, one day, charges will be filed and justice will be served,” Kaplan says.
Aug. 6, 2014: Police announce Lodzinski, now 46 and living in Florida, is arrested and charged with Timothy’s murder. Lodzinski, who lives with her two young sons, was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury the previous week. She is held in a Florida jail on $2 million bail.
Aug. 7, 2014: A judge in Martin County, Fla., orders Lodzinski to be held without bond on a fugitive from justice charge. Lodzinski says nothing in her brief court appearance via a video link from the county jail.
Sept. 23, 2015: Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves in New Brunswick says the state had provided enough evidence to warrant proceeding to trial. He writes he was reluctant to dismiss any indictment “except in the most egregious circ*mstances,” and that was not the case here.
Mar. 16, 2016: The trial begins.
Mar. 17, 2016: In opening statements, the prosecution says, “The evidence will show it was his mother, Michelle Lodzinski, the very person who brought him into the world, took him out of it.” Her attorney counters with, “The evidence will show that Michelle Lodzinski loved that little boy more than life itself.”
April 1, 2016: Lodzinski’s niece, who used to babysit for her, identifies a blanket found near the remains of her cousin as one she recognized from visits to his home. “I used that blanket when I snuggled up with Timothy,” she tearfully tells the courtroom.
April 28, 2016: One of Lodzinski’s defense witnesses is a forensic expert who tells jurors the investigation of the site where Timothy’s body was found was “mishandled” by investigators.
May 12, 2016: The case goes to the jury.
May 18, 2016: The jury finds Lodzinski guilty of murder.
Aug. 23, 2016: Lodzinski’s attorney appeals the verdict, claiming insufficient evidence left the jury free to engage in “pure speculation,” and arguing a mistrial should have been declared when it was discovered the foreman was doing his own online research. (That juror was dismissed.)
Aug. 23, 2016: Lodzinski’s attorneys go to court to ask for a new trial or to have the guilty verdict thrown out. They argue insufficient evidence left the jury free to engage in “pure speculation.” Lodzinski’s lawyers also argue the judge should have declared a mistrial when it was discovered the jury foreman, who was later dismissed, was doing his own online research during the trial.
Oct. 26, 2016: Judge Dennis Nieves denies a request for a new trial, rejecting Lodzinski’s lawyer’s argument that she did not receive a fair trial.
Jan. 5, 2017: Lodzinski is sentenced to 30 years in prison, the minimum sentence for first-degree murder under sentencing guidelines. Her attorney says they will file an appeal within a week.
Aug. 7, 2019: A three-judge appellate panel denies Lodzinski’s appeal, saying “there was available proof for the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Timothy’s death was neither suicide nor an accident, but rather he was the victim of a homicide.”
Feb. 21, 2020: The New Jersey Supreme Court agrees to hear Lodzinski appeal, saying it will consider defense arguments that the trial judge made a mistake when he refused to declare a mistrial after a juror was excused during deliberations for conducting his own research. It also says it will look at whether there was sufficient evidence to support her conviction.
Oct. 27, 2020: In a hearing held via remote video because of the coronavirus pandemic, the New Jersey Supreme Court hears from Lodzinski’s attorney and from Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office officials, who spar over the evidence. They also debate whether the judge presiding over the murder trial had been wrong when he refused to declare a mistrial. As of May 25, 2021, the court has yet to rule.
May 26, 2021: In a split decision, the state Supreme Court upholds the conviction of Lodzinski. The 3-3 ruling, with Chief Justice Stuart Rabner recusing himself from the matter, meant an earlier appellate ruling rejecting her would hold, leaving her conviction intact. Three members of the court found the evidence sufficient and three members found the evidence insufficient to sustain the murder conviction.
June 07, 2021: Lodzinski’s attorneys seek for the appointment of a “tie-breaker” by the Supreme Court, to serve as a seventh deciding voice on Lodzinski’s claim that there had been insufficient evidence to convict her, arguing the split decision upholding the her conviction was a violation of her due process rights.
Oct. 06, 2021: The state Supreme Court agrees to take an unprecedented second look at the conviction of Lodzinski with the addition of“tie-breaker,” as the court again hears the case. Judge Jose L. Fuentes, the senior most member of the state Appellate Division, is named.
Oct. 25, 2021: Lawyers for Lodzinski and the prosecutors who sent her to prison appear before the Supreme Court in the unusual re-arguing of her long-running appeal in the high-profile homicide case.
Dec. 28, 2021: The New Jersey Supreme Court Tuesday in a 4-3 ruling overturns the conviction against Lodzinski — concluding there was not enough evidence for a jury to find her guilty of murder.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL.
Staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
