Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced that the New Jersey Appellate Division has affirmed the conviction of a former South Amboy woman for killing her five-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey.
Michele Lodzinksi, 51, of South Amboy was found guilty by a jury on May 18, 2016, following a 4-month trial in New Brunswick. She was convicted of killing her 5-year old son, whose partial remains were recovered in 1992 after he was reported missing from a carnival over Memorial Day weekend in 1991.
The case was successfully argued before the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey on April 1, 2019, by Assistant Prosecutor Joie Piderit.
“We are very pleased with the affirmance, which comes one day after Timmy’s birthdate. Prosecuting this case was the right thing to do,” said Prosecutor Carey. “ I am truly honored to work alongside so many dedicated individuals who tirelessly seek justice for victims no matter how much time has passed.”
Despite her efforts to conceal one of the most notorious crimes in the history of Middlesex County by killing her son, dumping his remains in a ravine close to her former place of employment, falsely claiming he was abducted by strangers, and spearheading a desperate search for a child she knew was already dead, a jury convicted Michele Lodzinski of murder. Hon. Dennis V. Nieves, JSC sentenced Lodzinski on January 5, 2017, to 30 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
During the trial, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua and Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain argued Lodzinski killed the child sometime before she reported him missing from the carnival in Sayreville on May 21, 1991.
The child’s partial remains were recovered on April 23, 1992 from a remote section of Raritan Center, an industrial park in Edison.
Prosecutor Carey commends the unceasingly vigilant efforts of numerous dedicated police officers who worked on the case over the years which included members of the Sayreville Police Department, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey State Police and the FBI.