Cold case closed. More than two decades after little Timothy Wiltsey went missing, his mom was found guilty in a New Jersey courtroom on Wednesday, May 18, of the 5-year-old’s murder.
Michelle Lodzinski, 48, cried when she was convicted of the 1991 murder of her son, NJ.com reports.
The verdict came a week shy of the 25th anniversary of the day that Lodzinski, a single mom, reported her son missing as the pair attended a carnival in nearby Sayreville on May 25.
Timothy’s photo was one of the first to appear on milk cartons to raise awareness about missing children, and after an extensive search, his remains were found 11 months later in a marsh in Edison, New Jersey, near where his mom had once worked, according to NJ.com.
Lodzinski became a suspect almost immediately after changing her story several times, eventually saying Timothy had been kidnapped, the Associated Press reports.
No cause of death was determined, and the case remained unsolved for more than two decades until Lodzinski was arrested in Florida in 2014 and charged with murder.
At the center of the investigation was a blanket found near Timothy’s remains. The case was reopened after prosecutors found former babysitters who identified the blanket as coming from Lodzinski’s apartment, according to the AP.
Lodzinski will be sentenced on August 23 and faces life in prison.
