Mother Convicted Of Murdering 5-Year-Old Son She Claimed Disappeared 25 Years Ago At Carnival
New Jersey mother-of-three Michelle Lodzinski was found guilty of murdering her 5-year-old son 25 years after she claimed he was abducted. Lodzinski claimed that her son, Timothy “Timmy” Wiltsey, went missing from a local carnival in 1991, and the child’s face was one of the first to be plastered on milk cartons across the country. However, 11 months after his disappearance, Timmy’s remains were found.
The Daily Mail reports that a former New Jersey mother who now lives in Florida was found guilty of killing her 5-year-old son over two decades ago. The mother, Michelle Lodzinski claimed that her son Timmy went missing while attending a Sayreville carnival on May 25, 1991. The mother claimed at the time of the child’s disappearance that she had lost track of her son at the big event, but authorities claim she later said he was abducted.
#BREAKING: Michelle Lodzinski convicted in murder of son 25 years ago. https://t.co/A09uWfeEAw #lodzinskitrial pic.twitter.com/aCWG3ngSsK
— NJ.com (@njdotcom) May 18, 2016
As a result of the little boy’s disappearance, his face was one of the first to be placed on milk cartons across the United States, a move designed to raise awareness of missing children. However, it would take nearly a year for Timmy’s remains to finally be found in a marshy area near where Michelle used to work. The child’s body was reportedly disposed of in a creek along with sneakers and a blanket with a logo balloon of his favorite cartoon characters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Police claim they didn’t have enough evidence back in 1992 to convict Michelle Lodzinski of murder; however, in 2014 the cold case was reopened as investigators realized that the blanket the child was wrapped in was a key piece of evidence against the mother.
Mom found guilty of murdering son 25 years ago https://t.co/cP4kzMzjz1 via @USATODAY
— thorntonelh (@ElhThornton) May 19, 2016
The blanket, according to the prosecution, could have only been placed around the child by Michelle Lodzinski as she was the only one who had access to the particular blanket placed with the child upon death. The blanket was reportedly from Lodzinski’s home and had been seen by multiple babysitters in the past. The prosecutors relied on the blanket and testimony from former babysitter’s of Timmy that the blanket was from Michelle’s apartment.
The prosecution also noted that Michelle Lodzinski had changed her story numerous times following her son’s alleged abduction claiming first that she had lost track of him at the carnival while getting some soda and then changing her story to say the child was abducted. Michelle’s brother Michael says that his family members have only asked her about what happened to Timmy a handful of times over the years. Instead, he says that it was not a topic that was discussed and that she is the only one who really knows what happened.
“She’s the only one that knows. We don’t know anything, and she never told us anything. He was a great little boy, and this should never have happened to him. After a certain point I had to compromise myself. I knew something wasn’t right, but I had to put it aside. And I have to live with that myself. We didn’t know anything.”
Testimony from people who knew Timmy and were at the carnival was also included in the trial. The witnesses claiming that they never say Timmy at the carnival the night that Michelle claimed he went missing. However, a carnival worker at the park testified that he saw a child similar to Timmy’s appearance that night at the carnival and that he was being referred to as “Timmy or Jimmy.”
The defense claimed that Michelle did not recognize the blanket nor did her mother. The lawyers also pointed out that at least one of the babysitters had bad blood with Michelle and could be testifying against the mother as retaliation.
Ultimately, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blanket that the prosecution alleged could only come from Michelle’s apartment sealed the mother’s fate. She was convicted of murder for the death of her son in 1991 and, according to MyCentralJersey, faces up to 30 years in prison.
Despite Timmy’s early death, Michelle went on to have two more sons which she raised in Port St. Lucie, Florida, until she was charged with murder in 2014.
[Image via Image by Patti Sapone/NJ Advance Media via AP, Pool]
