What happened to Timothy Wiltsey? The missing boy was found dead in 1992 and his mother was the prime suspect in his death. Details explored.
In April 1992, a little boy named Timothy Wiltsey’s skeletal remains and a blue blanket were found in Raritan Center.
Timothy Wiltsey disappeared back in the early 1990s and while his body might’ve been found his death still remains a mystery.
While medical experts were not able to determine the cause of Timothy’s death, the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
After almost 25 years after Timothy Wiltsey disappeared, and after decades of false leads colored by the often bizarre and at times emotionless behavior of his mother–prosecutors finally began to present their case that Michelle Lodzinski, now 54, was the one who killed him and was jailed for years.
The little boy’s accused murderer who happened to be his own mother has since been freed.
Who was Timothy Wiltsey?
Timothy “Timmy” Wiltsey was born on August 6, 1985, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States.
His parents are Michelle Lodzinski (mother) and George Wiltsey (father).
His mom and dad met when she was 16-year-old Lodzsinki after she came to visit her brother. They began dating, and Michelle became pregnant.
The 5-year-old kindergartner from New Jersey attended St. Mary’s Elementary School in South Amboy.
He was a kindergartner and had brown, and a fair complexion.
Not much is known about his personal life due to his young age, but Mary Ellen Quirk, a former school nurse at St. Mary’s, described him as “very quiet and shy, but friendly, a very sweet little boy and very healthy,” according to NJ.com.
The little who knew nothing went missing from a carnival in Sayreville on May 25, 1991 and his dead body was found a day after.
A close person to him was later charged for his death.
What happened to Timothy Wiltsey?
On May 25, 1991, Timothy’s then-23-year-old mother, Michelle Lodzinski, called the police and reported him missing.
She said at the time that he disappeared around 7.30pm after she turned her back to buy a soda at the local carnival.
Police quickly shut down the carnival to search for the missing boy until 2am, but had no luck.
The search then resumed a few hours later but had the same results.
“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 said, via NJ.com.
The search for Timothy was called off a day after he went missing, but authorities continued to investigate his disappearance.
They began to hone in on the most unlikely suspect, his mother, after she changed her story multiple times.
This time around, she claimed that she left her son with a woman by the name of Ellen, whom she reportedly recognized from work, a little girl, and two men while she went to get a soda, according to NJ.com.
Then, when she was interviewed again, she claimed that one of the men who was supposedly with Ellen had made threatening comments about her son while he held her at knifepoint.
Her stories were inconsistent, and even Timothy’s remains, which were found in April 1992, did not provide any clues on what had happened.
The case eventually went cold, and it was not until August 2014 that an arrest was made.
On August 6, 2014, more than 20 years after Timothy’s death, police arrested Michelle, now 46, and charged her with her son’s murder.
The key piece of evidence in the trial was a baby blanket, which was found near Timothy’s remains.
Michelle has continuously denied playing any role in her son’s death, but a jury disagreed and found her guilty of first-degree murder in May 2016. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
SOURCE: YOUTUBE/NJ.COM (VIDEO STILL)
What happened with the blue and white blanket?
When the blanket was shown to Lodzinski and her mother, at the time Timothy’s body was discovered, they both claimed to have never seen it, per My Central Jersey. In 2014, police decided to show the blanket to one of Timothy’s old babysitters as well as Lodzinski’s niece. Both said they recognized the blanket as Timothy’s.
Where is Michelle Lodzinski now?
After Michelle was sentenced, her attorneys asked the court to overturn the conviction or grant a new trial, arguing that the prosecutors’ case had insufficient evidence.
Her attorneys also claimed that the judge should have declared a mistrial after it was discovered that the jury’s foreman had been doing online research, according to NJ.com.
That juror had been dismissed, and the courts later rejected the defense’s request.
However, in December 2021, the New Jersey Supreme Court voted 4-3 to overturn the conviction after concluding that there was not enough evidence.
“No reasonable jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Lodzinski purposefully or knowingly caused Timmy’s death,” the supporting judges wrote, via CBS News.
After spending five years in prison, Michelle, now 54, was freed on December 28, 2021.
“I’m relieved, just grateful for all the people that helped me and that stood by my side to get me home to see my family and friends. I want to go home and just see my kids,” Michelle said at the time.
Since being released from prison, she has stayed out of the spotlight and off social media.