Mom arrested for New Jersey son's death back in court

SAYREVILLE, N.J. (WABC) -- A Florida woman accused of killing her son In New Jersey and lying about it for decade returns to court Tuesday morning.

Michelle Lodzinski made her first appearance in a New Jersey court in September for an arraignment. She pleaded not guilty.

Timothy Wiltsey, 5, disappeared in 1991. His mother claimed he was abducted at a carnival, but his body was found later in a swamp.

During her arraignment, prosecutors revealed new information in the case against Timothy's mother, Lodzinski.

"Throughout the entire investigation she remained the prime suspect in the case," said Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Scott LaMountain.

And finally, more than 23 years after she reported her son Timothy missing from a carnival in Sayreville, Lodzinski was formally arraigned on a single count of murder in Middlesex County court.

"At least seven different times, judge, the story changed as to the basic facts and circumstances surrounding the disappearance," LaMountain said.

Early on, Lodzinski was well aware of the scrutiny on her. I asked her about it in the days after Timothy disappeared.

"Does it bother you that there are rumors floating around that you may be considered a suspect?", I asked. "It bothers me but I can't help what people think, people think what they want," she said.

The boy's disappearance generated a massive search. Timmy's principal at St Mary's elementary school helped form a group: Friends of Timmy.

"I have everything, newspapers, photographs. The whole function of Friends of Timmy to keep Timmy in the news," said the former principal, Ann Snee.

For the first time, prosecutors disclosed some of the new evidence against Lodzinski, who has been living in Florida for the past ten years, and who now has two other children who never knew Timmy.

Along with his skeletal remains found in an industrial park in Edison in 1992, investigators discovered a blanket which Lodzinski denied recognizing. Cold case investigators started re-interviewing witnesses a couple of years ago.

"An individual who was a relative and babysitter for Michelle Lodzinski was shown the blanket and recognized it," said LaMountain.

"We heard the explanations of a blanket just now, but criminal cases don't get better with age," said defense attorney Gerald Krovatin.

Ann Snee got a phone call from prosecutors a couple of months ago. She was told Lodzinski was going to be arrested and sworn to secrecy. She has mixed feelings about it all.

"It's like opening up these wounds all over again," she said.

Lodzinski, 46, has been in custody since her arrest Aug. 7. She's was extradited to New Jersey on Friday and is being held in the county jail on $2 million bail.

Lodzinski went into seclusion after her son's remains were discovered, and neighbors said at the time that she didn't appear distraught. In late July, a county grand jury handed up a one-count indictment stating she "did purposely or knowingly kill" Timothy or did "purposely or knowingly inflict serious bodily injury" resulting in his death.

Lodzinski has run into other legal troubles over the years since her son died.

She surfaced in Michigan in January 1994 and said two men claiming to be FBI agents had abducted her at gunpoint outside her apartment building, forced her into a black SUV and drove her to Detroit, where they let her out.

She pleaded guilty in 1995 to making false statements to the FBI and fraudulently using the agency's seal. She was sentenced to probation.

In 1997, Lodzinski was charged with stealing a computer from her former employer. She pleaded guilty to a theft charge in 1998. A federal judge sentenced her to house arrest after she admitted she committed a crime while on probation.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.