The mother of a 5-year-old New Jersey boy whom she reported missing in 1991 and whose remains were found a year later, was arrested Wednesday in Florida and charged with his murder, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office told The Star-Ledger.
Michelle Lodzinski, 47, who lives in Port. St. Lucie, was arrested in Jensen Beach, Fla., according to the prosecutor's office.
Michelle told police Timmy disappeared at a Memorial Day weekend carnival in Sayreville on May 25, 1991.
Lodzinski, then a 23-year-old single mother, said she and her son arrived at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park sometime after 6 p.m., the Star-Ledger reported. She told police the two of them went on rides, but Timmy had disappeared when she came back from buying soda at a nearby concession stand.
Hundreds of police, firefighters, volunteers and search dogs looked for the boy tirelessly, in a search that would extend nationwide.
But holes began appearing in Lodzinski's story within days of her son's disappearance.
According to police, no one at the carnival could recall seeing Timmy, who was said to have a crew cut and was wearing a red tank top, red shorts and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneakers.
Lodzinski also changed her story days later, when questioned by Sayreville police, according to now-retired borough police captain, Edward Szkodny. She told detectives two men, one holding a knife, took Timmy. But when detectives pressed for more details, Lodzinski lowered her head and appeared to go into a trance, Szkodny told The Star-Ledger.
Lodzinski returned to police later that day and told them she made the story up. Then she gave police another account of Timmy's alleged abduction - this time, two men and a woman were involved.
Timmy's remains were found in a marshy area of Edison almost a year later, near Lodzinski's former place work.
While she was never charged until now, authorities maintained that Lodzinski had been, and always remained the prime suspect, The Star-Ledger reported.
According to the indictment charge, Timmy was killed in either New Jersey town South Amboy, Sayreville, Edison or another Middlesex County municipality sometime between the day he was reported missing and April 23, 1992, when his partial remains were found in a remote section of the Raritan Center.
Lodzinski proclaimed her innocence through the years, and even built a new life in Florida and Minnesota, before settling in Port St. Lucie with her two other children. They reportedly never knew Timmy.
The statement said a Middlesex grand jury handed up a one-count indictment last week and charged her with the murder.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey said "Following a routine, cold case review of the evidence and facts surrounding the disappearance and murder of Timothy Wiltsey, a new investigation was conducted and the matter was presented to the grand jury."
The details were not released.
According to the Star-Ledger, the indictment was sealed by a judge until Lodzinski was arrested. It was not known if Lodzinski would waive her right to an extradition hearing and be returned to New Jersey.
She is being held at the Martin County Jail in Stuart, Fla. Bail was set at $2 million.
Timmy would have turned 29 on Wednesday.
