Dateline NBC - The Blue Blanket Mystery

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

After a New Jersey mother reports that her five-year-old son vanished from a carnival, detectives embark on a decades-long investigation. Andrea Canning reports.

Tonight on Dateline... Michelle was hysterical. She said, Timmy's missing. If somebody has him, I don't care who you are. I just want my son back. They just kept drilling her and drilling her and drilling her. We kind of felt like there was more to this than she was telling us. There's news reports that Michelle has been kidnapped.

That was a showstopper. I'm thinking, like, the same people that took Timmy, they came back, and now they're going to kill her. There was a blanket recovered about 15 feet on the embankment. You recognized that blanket right away? Right away. Without the blanket, there was no case. You crack a cold case, you get on Dateline. A crowded carnival, a missing child, and a roller coaster ride with a head-snapping twist.

We're like, I don't understand. How could they arrest you? You didn't do anything. This is where it gets even crazier. We expect that once the jury makes their decision, game over. But not in this case. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Andrea Canning with The Blue Blanket Mystery. It was a moment that devastated nearly everyone in this quiet corner of suburbia. This is really a parent's worst nightmare.

Yes, absolutely. The little boy at a carnival who suddenly vanished. The innocence that we had as a community was changed from that day on. Everyone was touched by this case. From the parents who swore never to lose sight of their children again. I went home, I hugged my kids, they felt so bad. To the tireless detectives who searched and labored, losing hope they would ever find answers. I have nightmares every May 25th when he disappeared.

30 years of twists and turns. It's like mystery on top of mystery on top of mystery. And then, the case suddenly came to a dramatic and controversial end. That we didn't see coming. I screamed. I got on my knees. This is one of the most shocking twists for the end of a case that I've ever seen. Yes. Unbelievable.

It was Memorial Day weekend, May 25, 1991, when this carnival rolled into a working-class New Jersey town. The rattle of rides and laughter of children marked the unofficial start of summer in Sayreville. It was packed. A lot of rides, and I could just hear the noise, smell the popcorn, and, you know, all the food. A couple of hundred locals, many of them with kids in tow, enjoyed the warm Saturday night. Music was loud. It seemed like everyone was having a good time. Seems like nothing out of the ordinary,

like another carnival. Jennifer Dilcher was 15 years old at the time. She and her friend arrived around 7. So I walk into the carnival. It's still light out. She was excited to meet up with her aunt, 23-year-old Michelle Lodzinski, and Michelle's 5-year-old son, Timmy. That was my baby. It would have been my choice for a son if I could choose. She babysat Timmy most weekends. She called him her little man.

Are you aware if Michelle and Timmy are already there? It's the time we're supposed to meet them. I see Michelle just standing there. Something was wrong. Timmy wasn't with his mom and she looked worried. Me and my friend walk up to her and like, Michelle, where's Timmy at? She's like, I don't know.

I can't find him. So we ran off and we got a police officer. She spotted Kevin Skolnick, an auxiliary officer with the Sayreville Police Department, and brought him to Michelle. He just starts asking her questions. She tells him, you know, she can't find her little boy. She says to me, I was at the food stand getting him a soda, which was in her hand, and I turned around to give it to him and he was gone.

What are you thinking? I said to myself, okay, we'll see if we can find him. So we walked around almost like in an O pattern. Michelle described Timmy to the officer. He was wearing a red tank top, red shorts, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneakers. Are you thinking, I'm sure he's just, you know, wandered off to a game or a ride, and I'm sure he's fine. This is not a dangerous location. And it wasn't that big.

I mean, you could see from one side to the other. But after 20 minutes of looking and no sign of Timmy, the officer knew he needed help. So I notified my lieutenant, who was on duty, and then that's when we notified police headquarters that we have a possible missing child. You're starting to get worried. Yeah, very worried.

Definitely. Now I'm very worried because nobody's seen him. So the police suggested Michelle make an announcement. She got on the loudspeaker, you know, to say, Timmy, you know, if you can hear me, mom needs you to come out now. At that point, the happy sounds at the carnival abruptly stopped. The music was shut off. More units showed up. And that's when the detectives came and the whole thing started to turn. By now, the fire department and rescue squad had joined the police along with hundreds of volunteers. The search went well beyond the carnival grounds. I would say within an hour and

a half, that's when we had all these people. This is a big search. Yes. I mean, it's a big, huge, huge area. Keith Hackett was a detective with the New Jersey State Police. Well, riding around in my troop car, I had heard on the radio that they had a missing kid from a carnival in Saraville. And I'm like, oh, wow, you know, it's right up my alley. He was normally a plainclothes detective in the missing persons unit. But because it was a holiday weekend, he had been assigned highway traffic duty.

They said to my sergeant, they said, hey, I'd like to leave the detail and make some phone calls. He said, well, you know, just finish the detail, then you can make a call. The detective felt frustrated, but he was told law enforcement was doing everything to find Timmy. They had a state police helicopter above. They had a bunch of local police officers, and I believe the sheriff's department there, searching, as well as civilians helping out. The search went on for hours with no sign of Timmy. Finally, it was called off around 2 a.m. That's when kind of your heart dropped, that it was called off around 2 a.m. That's when you're kind of your heart

drops that this is serious moment. Yeah, definitely. It was hard to leave, you know, to get in the car and feel like you're leaving him behind, you know, like I don't want to go. Michelle in these early morning hours, how's she holding up? She was pretty emotional. Usually when we have that moment of panic and, you know, the child disappears, you find them. You know, minutes later, hopefully, but not in this case. No. Timmy did not turn up. Nope. He didn't turn up.

And what ensued was a massive investigation. When we come back, Timmy's best friend from childhood still remembers that awful night. My mom and my dad started searching the backyard. They searched the whole apartment. When someone goes missing, the first 24 hours can be critical. Was it already too late?

He just didn't wander off, and he didn't fall in the water, or he wasn't lost in the surrounding woods. It got serious. If somebody has him, I just want him back. I don't care who you are. I just want my son back. It was 2 a.m., and 5-year-old Timmy was still missing. His mother, Michelle, had some gut-wrenching early morning calls to make, including one to her big sister, Linda Heisey, who was in Florida.

She was hysterical, and she said, Timmy's missing, you know, and I'm like, what? And, you know, I was just trying to wrap my head around it. You know, you wake up out of a dead sleep. Did you immediately get out of bed, and what was your plan of action? And eventually I just said, do you need me to come there? And I went. The search for Timmy resumed at sunrise. More than 300 people anxiously searched every inch of the 10-acre park and surrounding area. The state police chopper flew overhead again, and a diving unit waded through two nearby ponds.

Everyone waited for news. We really hope and pray that this little boy is found. Detective Keith Hackett was now officially on the case. I was getting concerned because he just didn't wander off, and he didn't fall in the water or he wasn't lost in the surrounding woods. It got serious. The community was rising up, like everyone wanted to do something. Jim Ryan, then in his 20s, was head of the volunteer first aid squad from the neighboring town of South Amboy. We initially started with 20 members on Sunday night, helping out, and it's been in the hundreds of people that have come

forward to assist us at this point in time. Timmy and Michelle lived just a few blocks from the first aid station where Jim's squad was located. And so this is one of your own that's gone missing. Yes. You immediately spring into action. We decided that we were going to create flyers. Creating flyers was an urgent need. There was no social media back then to blast out Timmy's photo. The challenge was actually getting the flyers you made because it was holiday weekend. So we asked people, could they open up the businesses? If they had a copy machine to make copies for us. Was everyone complying?

Yeah, it spoke to the kind of community we were in, that everyone was all hands on deck to try to figure out what they could do. Michelle's sister arrived from Florida ready to help. How is Michelle doing when you get there? She's just devastated and numb. She didn't talk a lot. She cried a lot. Linda did her best to comfort Michelle. 11 years older, she had always been like a second mother to her.

I was the big sister. There was six of us. And Michelle was the only other girl. I helped cook dinners. You know, I took them big sister. There was six of us. And Michelle was the only other girl. I helped cook dinners. You know, I took them roller skating. Linda and her siblings grew up on the Jersey Shore. She says they didn't have a lot of money, but they made the best of it. We were right down the street from the beach, and we'd swim, and so we'd have fun there. We had the little store down front, and we'd go have a soda.

You know, it was a cute little town. Even though Linda was the oldest, she says Michelle was the stronger one. She would give you the shirt off her back. She's definitely a stronger personality than I am. So it kind of switched around? In high school, she says Michelle was quiet, but also had an adventurous spirit. When her oldest brother, who lived in Iowa, invited Michelle to visit, she jumped at the chance. So she goes out there to take a little trip?

Mm-hmm. Just something different? Something different, because we didn't travel a lot. We didn't go on vacations a lot. It was supposed to be a short getaway, but Michelle met someone and stayed for a while. Then the whirlwind romance got serious. She got pregnant. And even though Michelle was only 17, Linda says she wanted the baby. I do remember the call when she called to say the baby was born, you know. How excited was she? She was excited. She was very excited.

Michelle's son Timothy was born on August 6, 1985 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Did she want to stay in Iowa and raise the baby? I believe she was going to stay because she was with George, and I think she thought that was the right thing to do. That was the plan, to stay with Timmy's father, George Wiltsie. But young love is precarious, especially with a baby, and things between the couple quickly deteriorated. Eventually she asked for my husband to come get her because it wasn't good.

So Michelle and Timmy moved back to New Jersey and in with Linda and her family. Timmy was less than a year old. How was she as a mom when now you're living with her and Timmy, you're seeing it firsthand? She was a good mom. It was just, you know, that was her life. She did whatever she needed to to support him.

Including working several jobs to make sure Timmy was always well-dressed and well-fed. She says Michelle was very active in her son's life and was always around to celebrate every birthday, every holiday, every milestone. And how did you feel having a baby around the house again? I loved it. I had two boys, too. So they were his, like, bigger brothers, you know? It was a happy extended family. But a few years later, Linda and her husband,

struggling financially, felt they needed a change. So they packed up and moved to Florida. Michelle chose to stay in New Jersey and eventually found that apartment near the first aid station. I was so excited. Tara Packard was six years old when Michelle and Timmy moved into the other half of her parents' duplex. Her parents knew Michelle because Tara and Timmy were classmates and best friends at the local Catholic school. Michelle had scraped together enough money to send her son there. Did you and Timmy only grow closer

living in that duplex? Yes, we were pretty much like together every day. Like, we walked to school together. It was a shared backyard, so we'd go out and play together. We would eat dinner at each other's houses. So you two actually shared a wall between your bedrooms in the duplex? We did, and I'd knock on the wall with a toy so he could hear me. It was sort of like we'd do like a code. Tara says she and Timmy complimented each other perfectly. She was painfully shy and he was anything but. His personality was the biggest one in the room and he was as cute as his pictures are.

He loved playing in the backyard. He had like lots of trucks, like dump trucks out there. And he also loved Ninja Turtles. That was his favorite. On the night Timmy went missing, Tara remembers her family was in the middle of dinner. Her mother got a call from Michelle asking if she'd seen him. We immediately stopped eating and my mom and my dad started searching the backyard. They searched the whole apartment because the police were concerned like what if he somehow somebody found him and brought him back or he walked back.

But there was no sign of Timmy. Tara eventually went to bed. You tried to communicate with him with your secret knock, your secret code through the wall. Well, yes, I was so scared and worried about him. So I went over into my closet and got one of my toys out and knocked on the wall and listened. And there was never a sound back. Deafening silence. Tara says excruciating days went by with no news.

Camera crews were camped outside their duplex. Michelle had mostly been staying inside, but did agree to this interview with a WNBC reporter. No clues at this point, no leads, no. I know the police are looking to everything that they get. If somebody has him, I just want him back. I don't care who you are, I just want my son back. Leave him on the street, let someone find him. I just want him back. As Michelle was pleading for her son's safe return,

police were pursuing their first real lead in the case. They had a possible suspect to track down, a woman named Ellen with a mysterious past. Ellen is at the carnival. With a child, a two-year-old child. Police got a tip that she might have something to do with Timmy's disappearance. An urgent search was on. Find Ellen, and hopefully find Timmy.

Coming up. Who is Ellen? She said it was this girl named Ellen who she was familiar with. And Ellen said, listen, have Timmy stay with me. I'll put him on the ride. Go get him a soda. But Michelle says she came back, and Ellen and Timmy were gone? Right.

When Dateline continues. Just a few days after his disappearance, the case of missing five-year-old Timmy Wiltsie had captivated the nation. It was a feature on America's Most Wanted. Flyers got sent out all over the country. His face ended up on milk cartons. Yes, yes. New York Yankee Don Mattingly appeared in the paper

holding a photo of Timmy and asking for his safe return. And Michelle's mother made a tearful plea on local news. It's her only child. This is all she has in life. Please, God, if you have any mercy, give this girl her kid and give me back my grandchild. The whole area was on edge. Parents kept their children close while their kids looked over their shoulders. We really were all afraid that something terrible was going to happen to us. Timmy's cousin Jennifer did her best to comfort her Aunt Michelle.

I think I slipped over right next to her and she was on the couch and I was on the floor. You all love Timmy so much. How are you coping as the days go by? And he's just vanished. It's hard. We're zombies. And you all had the added pressure of the media, you know, camped outside the door. And yeah, that was rough. Me and Michelle would try to go on the back porch to get some solace from them all in the front, hanging on the door and everything. And I remember looking over and I see this news reporter and he's standing on top of somebody's ledge or car or something. And I remember looking over and I see this news reporter and he's standing on top of somebody's ledge or car or something. And he is actually trying to record us in her backyard. Away from the media's glare, police were working tirelessly to find Timmy.

For Detective Keith Hackett, this case felt personal. You yourself have young sons when this is happening, four and six, right around Timmy's age. Was that hitting you? Yes, that could be my son that's missing. The public was putting enormous pressure on law enforcement to solve the case, but investigators weren't saying much. One new lead, Detective Hackett, and other investigators jumped on came from Michelle herself.

It had to do with when she last saw Timmy. She'd only told police part of the story. Timothy wanted to go on a ride. He was also thirsty, so she went to get him a drink. When she came back, he was missing. But now she added new details. She said it was this girl named Ellen who she was familiar with, and Ellen was there with a little girl about two years old and two men. Michelle said she left Timmy with Ellen so she could get that drink. Apparently Timmy wanted to go on the ride before more people got on, so Ellen said, listen, have Timmy stay with me. I'll put him on the ride. Go get him a soda.

But Michelle says she came back and Ellen and Timmy were gone? Right. Michelle told investigators she had been afraid to tell them about Ellen. She was worried when they found out more about this woman, they would think she was a bad mom for leaving Timmy with someone with a questionable reputation. She explained that when she worked as a bank teller, Ellen used to come to her window to cash her welfare checks. Ellen not only cashed welfare checks at the bank, but also was a go-go girl.

Oh, wow. Is that also sort of exotic dancer, like Gentleman's Club? That's how we perceived it. It was a place in Saraboa, Gogorama, I guess, where they had exotic dancers. Michelle felt that this was not the most upstanding profession and was embarrassed that she had left her child with someone like... Right. That's the reason why she said, I didn't tell you about Ellen initially. So the hunt for Ellen was on. Police started searching local gentlemen's clubs. The state police did a sketch of what Ellen looked like to try to track her down and find out who she was.

And the FBI put together a list of all welfare recipients named Ellen or with names similar to Ellen. They printed out photos of those women and showed them to Michelle, but she said none of them looked familiar. The FBI ran down extensively and so did Cerebral trying to identify her. And while the search for Ellen continued, detectives had plenty of other leads to follow. With all the media attention, their phones hadn't stopped ringing all summer. You get a lot of tips and sightings. You might have someone call up and say, we think we saw a kid that looked like Timothy at a truck stop, or we think we saw a kid that resembles Timothy Wiltsie in a campground.

So, of course, when you get those leads coming in, you've got to run them down. But nothing seemed to pan out, and they were getting desperate. The summer comes to an end. How frustrated are you feeling that you're no closer to finding Timmy or finding out what happened? It was frustrating. As time goes on, that opportunity of bringing him home alive shrinks. I mean, that's just a cold hard fact. Detective Hackett says he refused to get discouraged.

He followed every clue. No lead was too small or too outrageous. At one point, we were asked to do a search of a portion of cerebral where a psychic had given us information. So you took the psychic seriously? Well, the psychic's name was Dorothy Allison, a well-known psychic, and she had called with information.

She told them Timmy might be near water at an abandoned factory behind the Sayreville police station. So the detective grabbed the department's cadaver dog, Buffy, and went looking. So you checked? Yeah, with Buffy, for hours, searching. Did you hit on anything? No, no.

Another dead end. But Hackett's luck was about to change. Five months after Timmy disappeared, Dan O'Malley was hiking across the river from the carnival grounds in a marshy area when he spotted something that looked out of place. We were in a desolate, deserted, barren area. What is a child's article of clothing doing here? This discovery you made could potentially be a game changer in one of the biggest cases

this area has ever seen. I agree. Coming up. There was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles child sneaker. A breakthrough or another dead end? He showed it to Michelle, and she initially said that it wasn't his. Like everyone else in the Sayreville, New Jersey area, Dan O'Malley, a high school science teacher, knew all about missing Timmy Wiltsey. It was impossible to avoid. It was so well publicized. He'd read the news and seen the flyers with Timmy's picture in store windows and on telephone poles. I had a 10-year-old boy at the time. Every parent was focused on the story.

So Dan knew what Timmy looked like and what he'd been wearing when he disappeared. It was teenage Ninja Turtle sneakers. An important detail that would pay off on a Saturday afternoon that October. It's about five months after Timmy went missing and you're out for the day, you're at a sports memorabilia. It was a two-day expo, yeah. Dan and a friend attended the expo at the Raritan Center in Edison, New Jersey. We both had an interest in sports cars and sports memorabilia and also the interest in the wildlife. So after they'd had enough at the expo, they decided to take a walk in a marshy area behind the Raritan Center. It was the kind of area that would harbor smaller animals that we were interested in. Dan took us to the place where he and his friend went exploring.

And so you went in here? And we went in right about here. They hadn't been walking very long when something caught his eye. I looked down and there was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles child's sneaker. Was your gut telling you that this is connected to Timmy's disappearance? I always had a sense of unbelief about it because who expects to get, to stumble on what could be a potential... A clue. A big clue. An evidence. A piece of evidence.

Tell us what you did next. I took the sneaker to my car, put it in a plastic bag. He took the sneaker straight to the Sayreville Police Department. There was a nice young officer, took a written report, and I left and I expected them to contact me. This was a Saturday. So I thought, okay, it'll be Monday. And Monday came and went. Nothing? Nothing. But what Dan didn't know was that the police were in fact working hard to determine if the shoe belonged to Timmy. It was a left shoe, size 13, the same size Timmy was wearing. Did you think that this could be

maybe the break you were looking for? You know what? It was just one shoe. Back then, Ninja Turtles was big. It was, like, huge. People had balloons, they had the shoes, they had the T-shirts. But where the sneaker was found was close to the carnival grounds. Where the crows fly, it's a very short distance. You know, you're at the carnival, you cross the river, and then there's Olympic Drive. Sayreville police sent the shoe to the FBI, hoping for DNA evidence that would

confirm it was Timmy's. But the results came back inconclusive. So police tried something else. Eventually showed it to Michelle, and she initially said that it wasn't his. It had a different emblem on it or something. All the while, Dan O'Malley had been waiting for his phone to ring, hoping someone from law enforcement would contact him. I went about my business teaching. I gave it three weeks, and that was very painful and hard just to go three weeks. With still no word from the police, he called the local paper to tell them about the sneaker he'd found. And did they bite? Were they interested in what you had to say?

Whoever picked up the phone referred it to the editor, and he got on the line, and the next day it was front-page news. Now everyone was talking about the sneaker. Detective Hackett says that prompted Michelle to contact the police. Does Michelle take a second look at the sneaker? I believe she took a second look at it and said, hey, it may be his. And then she also brought in a pair of his shoes, dress shoes, and they were sent to the FBI lab for forensic analysis. They do an examination of the wear pattern of the shoes.

Again, the results were inconclusive, but investigators were able to match the model number on the sneaker to the shoe box that Michelle gave them. So was it now appearing that this was Timmy's shoe? I still don't know if they conclusively made that determination that it was his. Timmy's cousin Jennifer didn't need police to confirm what she instinctively knew. The day I heard about the sneaker, I believed it was his. What did it say to you about, you know, what had happened to him? I just thought that whoever took him just had to change his clothes. So they were just scattering his stuff around maybe. There was nothing in me that was going to let me believe that he wasn't coming home. There was no way my life was going

to go on until he wasn't going to be here. Still, the sneaker didn't seem to be leading investigators anywhere. And a search of the area where the sneaker had been found was no help either. The first search that was done after the shoe was found turned up nothing. Well, a servo did that and they didn't find anything. More months went by without any new clues. Until another big discovery in that marshy area. And I got chills up my spine. And this time, a possible answer to the question, where was Timmy?

They said, God, if he's here, let's give us a sign, let us find something. And it was just like a miracle. Coming up, was the search about to end? They found the second sneaker, about 30 yards away from the first sneaker that was found back in October. Detectives also found what might be a key piece of evidence. It was a blanket recovered about 15 feet on the embankment. Who did it belong to?

When Dateline continues. It had been more than five months with no sign of little Timmy. But volunteer EMT Jim Ryan was still determined to find him. I was 22 years old. I believed we could save the world. So he came up with a plan. We didn't want Timmy's story to fade from the spotlight. The National Center for Missing Children had indicated the best way to find missing kids is keep detention on it.

So we're like, okay, how can we do that? Let's get billboards. But billboards were expensive. So to raise money, Jim and the principal of Timmy's Catholic school decided to form a group called Friends of Timmy. Jim had a meeting with Timmy's mom, Michelle. I do have a conversation with her and ask if this is an idea that she'd be receptive to. Was she receptive? She was. Michelle even joined the Friends of Timmy board.

She helped plan their first fundraiser, a basketball game at her son's school. The basketball game involved a radio station out of New York City called WPLJ and the Chippendales. I'm assuming you're talking about hunky kind of men who show off their abs and their muscles. Yes. Jim says the community's response to hunky dancers in a Catholic school gym was lukewarm, to say the least. I think there was, people interpreted that, you know, the Chippendales are here, we're a small community. I have to say, I don't, yeah, the Chippendales to me doesn't seem overly appropriate. Yeah, I don't.

For a missing child. It doesn't. It doesn't at all. He knew it was a misstep, so Jim and the other board members worked on a new strategy. One of the things that you could do easily with Timmy's case is get lost in the distractions. So I tried to stay focused on a five-year-old missing. And so did the FBI. Almost a year after Timmy went missing, agents had a new game plan. The overall conclusion was go back and redo almost every investigative step that had been done and do it again and again. Which

meant taking a second look at the place where the sneaker was found. On April 23, 1992, a team of investigators began scouring the marshy area behind the Raritan Center. Detective Hackett was on the team. You get a call from the FBI to come down here. Yes, the FBI contacted us and requested that we come out here with our cadaver dog to do a search of this area. Within minutes, they made a discovery. They found the second sneaker, about 30 yards away from the first sneaker that was found back in October. It was another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneaker, size 13, a right shoe. It appeared to be a match to the left sneaker found months earlier. Why police hadn't spotted it before was a head scratcher. They continued searching for several more hours but didn't find anything else. Detective Hackett was getting antsy and had an idea. He calls

it divine intervention. The search was concentrated on that side of the road because that's where the sneaker was found. But you decided to search this side even though everyone else was searching that side. Yes. After a few hours, I just kind of took a walk over here on my own just to get a little bit of lay of the land. You had said a prayer that day. Yes. I was getting frustrated. And as I was walking up on the bank right there, I said, God, if he's here, let's give us a sign. Let us find something. And it was just like a miracle. I just happened to look down into this drainage area creek and I saw what appeared to be a skull. Of course, I was very emotional, and I felt in my heart that it had to be Timothy.

He raced back up the embankment to alert the others. What is that moment like where you see what looks like a skull, and it's a small one that could be a child's? Wow, a lot of stuff was run to me like i had kids that age you know but i was like thank you god it was like the craziest thing along with a small skull they found several other bones remnants from the waistband of child-sized underwear and shorts a pillowcase and something else there was a blanket recovered about 15 feet on the embankment that was was taken as evidence, too. A large blue and white heavy cotton blanket.

Is it becoming more and more apparent to you that this is highly likely that this is Timmy? Yeah, well, the next day, they had a forensic dentist look at the skull and compare the teeth with Timmy's dental records. It made a positive identification that it was Timothy Wilsey. Timmy's dental records, it made a positive identification that it was Timothy Wilsey. Timmy's remains were found. You finally had to give up that hope.

God. How did you find out? My grandmother called me and told me to come over to Michelle's house. And so I thought that Timmy was going to be there. I thought they found him. When I got there, he wasn't there. And my grandmother told me they found him. He wasn't coming home.

She says Michelle had been told by police at the station and immediately called her sister Linda. How are you feeling when you get this news that it is him? Devastated but relieved that the search is over and that, I mean, he's with God. He's gone. How's Michelle doing during this time? She's devastated and she's turning to me. Michelle's mom told reporters her daughter was up in Timmy's room on his bed crying.

We want them to find who did this to my grandson. To please just let her grieve in peace. A few weeks later, Timmy's family held a funeral mass for him. How was Michelle at the funeral? She was distraught. Yeah, she was crying. She was upset.

But, you know, I was so upset I wasn't. I felt like I lost my own son. Michelle was in shock. Your dad had to hold her up as she walked up the stairs? My dad was on one side and I was on the other. It was so hard just to see a tiny little casket, you know? I mean, it was like... It's heartbreaking.

My cousin was narrowed down to a shoebox, you know? Like, that's basically what his remains fit into. The medical examiner didn't find evidence of trauma in the remains that were found and couldn't determine how Timmy died, but he did rule it a homicide. Detectives were now on the hunt for a killer, and one person was in their sights. I learned immediately from the first answer she gave that she was not being truthful about this. She was being deceptive.

Coming up... Detectives question Michelle's story. And an anonymous letter offers a new story and a possible new suspect. To whom it may concern, in the case of Timothy Wiltsy, the man you're looking for is... Grief settled over this close-knit community as neighbors shared the grim news that Timmy Wiltsy's remains had been found. I just felt so cold inside. The five-year-old had been murdered. I was pressed to be in shock because I don't even remember crying. Who could have done such a horrific thing? Timmy's after-school teacher, Sister Yvonne, prayed for police to find his

killer. Hopefully, by prayer and hard work, in the end, it will be taken care of. Detectives had been quietly building a list of possible suspects. One of them was George Wilsey, Timmy's father. He hadn't been a part of Timmy's life for years, but they still needed to check him out. He was quickly ruled out of having anything to do with it. Why was he ruled out so quickly? Because he was nowhere near New Jersey at the time that Timothy was missing. Police also interviewed several of Michelle's former boyfriends,

but that went nowhere. And as for the elusive Ellen, the woman Michelle said she left Timmy with at the carnival. Ellen was never found. We could never, despite the massive investigative aspect of that. Remember, Michelle never even mentioned Ellen the first time she talked to the police.

The fact that she told her story in bits and pieces nagged at them, and so did what police perceived as Michelle's lack of emotion the night of Timmy's disappearance. She was at the police station describing the last moment she saw Timmy. To detectives, she sounded nothing like a desperate mom. Is it possible that people handle these situations differently? Yeah, of course. But some of her friends and acquaintances couldn't understand her demeanor. Police had been speaking to several people who knew Michelle and hearing more stories about her puzzling behavior during the time Timmy was still missing.

Jim Ryan told them something odd about the Chippendales fundraiser. Did Michelle get upset when she heard that Chippendales would be a part of the fundraising efforts? My recollection was that Chippendales might have been a contact that she might have developed. And Jim says she wanted the next fundraiser to involve the dancers too. But the board of Friends of Timmy said no. Then Michelle quit. So that was why you ended up parting ways, you believe, over Chippendales? I believe that that would be one of the factors.

Jim says he couldn't believe what happened next. The board got a letter from Michelle's attorney saying they were no longer allowed to use Timmy's image. We're kind of, like, confused and overwhelmed. Our efforts are to locate a five-year-old missing boy who is still missing, and yet a lawyer has drafted a letter informing us that if we put his image up,

that we could be sued. Detectives' eyebrows were raised, but none of this made Michelle guilty of anything. It just seemed strange. And there was more. While police were working tirelessly to find her son, Michelle took off with a friend on a Caribbean vacation. Once after Timothy was missing, she's in the Bahamas, you know, dancing a night away. Detective Hackett heard about the trip

because two off-duty state troopers just happened to be at the same resort. Saw her there and recognized her as, hey, this is the woman whose kid's missing. And they said, well, basically, she was out, having, like, none of the care in the world. Detectives continued to work every angle, including a baffling, unexpected clue. An anonymous letter had arrived

at the Sayreville Police Department the very day Timmy's remains were found. Jerry Lewis was a detective sergeant with the New Jersey State Police. He was asked to examine the letter. To whom it may concern, in the case of Timothy Wiltsie, the man you are looking for is...

The letter claimed a former boyfriend of Michelle's killed Timmy, and it even gave a motive. He had a grudge against Michelle and wanted to get back at her. I know this to be a fact because last February 1991, he wanted me to help him kill Michelle or her little boy. Whoever wrote it made it clear they wanted to stay anonymous. I will not under any circumstances come forward voluntarily because I have waited too long already. I don't know if he found someone else to help him or he did this terrible thing himself, but be certain that he did

it. What was your analysis of the note? Well, it's interesting that Michelle's name both times was spelled with one L. Michelle's name has two L's. The detective wondered, was it spelled wrong on purpose? So is this someone trying to make it look like it's not them? But the most interesting part of this is this part of the statement. I will not under any circumstances come forward voluntarily. Most people say because I'm afraid.

If I come forward and tell you this person's name, they're going to get me. They're going to kill me. And this note says, I can't come forward voluntarily because I've waited too long already. It makes no sense. It's not a reason. They're already coming forward with the note. Jerry didn't believe a word of it,

and he had a surprising suspicion about who was behind it. I think Michelle wrote it. The man that's spelled out here is a former boyfriend of Michelle's that helped the FBI fill out their behavioral analysis. He was helping them with a profile of Michelle? Mm-hmm. Oh, wow. Detectives sent the letter to the FBI to see if there were fingerprints or DNA

that might reveal if she sent it. The results were not what they were expecting. Someone's DNA was on there, but it wasn't Michelle's. They had no idea who it belonged to and couldn't prove Michelle wrote the letter. So this went nowhere. This letter. Right. But Michelle was hardly in the clear. Just the opposite. Police were growing increasingly focused on her.

Turns out the reason the FBI did that second search and found Timmy's remains was because agents did a deeper dive into Michelle's work history. They learned she worked near that marshy area, but hadn't disclosed it in her initial interviews. So this, for them, was a critical piece of information. Why not include that? Right. So law enforcement kept going back to those interviews. And for one investigator, there'd been a moment he thought

Michelle just might crack. Coming up, more strange behavior from Michelle. She exploded and ran out of her house. She dropped an F-bomb on the way out. And she shares a terrifying new detail. She said all of a sudden the man next to Timmy took out a knife and held it to Timmy. When Dateline continues. It had been weeks since the discovery of Timmy Wiltsy's remains, and detectives still hadn't made any arrests. They poured over every detail of the case from the beginning, focusing on their earlier interviews with Timmy's mother, Michelle Lodzinski.

Things weren't adding up. Her story's changing constantly and not sticking to anything, and they couldn't verify her statements, things that she said. It was three weeks after Timmy went missing when Detective Sergeant Jerry Lewis brought Michelle into his office. I was expecting angry, frustrated from everything that I had heard. She was actually lighthearted and laughing. He started the interview by asking her to tell him what happened.

She quickly brought up the go-go dancer, Ellen. She said Ellen left him on the ride, I came back and Ellen's gone. But then she added something new. She said two men with knives were there and one of them threatened her. She said, this man came over and he put his right arm around my shoulder and he said, you know, Timmy has a pretty face and you wouldn't want to do anything to mess that up. So just keep walking and shut up. And she said he showed me a knife in his hand. Jerry says he told Michelle that story didn't make sense. If they want to kidnap Timmy, you're already leaving him with them and you're walking away. No reason for this man to

alert you that they're going to take Timmy by coming up and threatening you. And he questions something else. You're in the middle of a carnival stream. Do something. And she said, well, I was going to, but all of a sudden the man next to Timmy took out a knife and held it to Timmy. This is all new information that you're getting out of her about now these men have knives. Yes. Are you believing any of this? No.

If this was really what happened, that would have been her original story. Two men threatened us with knives and took Timmy. So he decided to take the interview in a new direction and try something unconventional. He told her he knew who had taken Timmy, a diabolical gang, and he assured her none of it was her fault. I was trying to come up with an interview theme who had taken Timmy, a diabolical gang, and he assured her none of it was her fault. I was trying to come up with an interview theme

that would allow her to tell me where Timmy's body was located and yet not accept any guilt for it. He told her the kidnappers were college students making their way across the country. Psychology majors from Berkeley University in California, and they decided to form a gang to kidnap kids starting on the West Coast, moving east. And we've been tracking this group of people and trying to catch them. Wow. So you're telling her a big lie.

Yes. He went on to say he knew the kidnappers told her where they would drop off Timmy, but she wasn't allowed to tell anyone or else they'd kill him. And then they say, keep your mouth shut. Don't say anything about what we're telling you and you're going to get Timmy back. He told her he knew that's why she'd been lying to the police. Is she buying this? Yeah.

She was looking at me intently. She was leaning forward. And I said, so where is this place? And she goes, well, it's in the woods. And there's an abandoned building there, and there's a big tree. I said, man, that's excellent. We're not going to go there, and we're not going to look.

I said, just one last thing, Michelle. Where is this abandoned building? So she just leaned forward, and she was looking down at the ground, and she just never said another word. That was it. And it's just silence. Then another detective who was in the room broke the silence. That person said to me,

Tara, I think she might be lying. And she immediately jumped up, said, charge me or I'm leaving, and she walked out. And with that, the interview was over. But it was hardly a bust. Michelle had changed her story once again, and she played along with Detective Lewis's kidnapper story. No innocent, truthful mom would be going with this story. Five days after that interview, investigators arranged to speak with Michelle again. So far, she'd only spoken

to male detectives. This time, they sent a woman to talk to her. It was sort of the last resort. Mary Robillard was a detective with the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, a rarity at the time. In a very large all-male department, there were three of us. Did you have a kind of a strategy going in? Yes, I did. The FBI had suggested that I find a toy of Timmy's and put it on the table between us and play with it to make her uncomfortable. She arrived at Michelle's house accompanied by two male officers. From the moment Michelle answered the door, they were taken aback. What was her demeanor like? Hostile. Hostile from the get-go. In fact, she was chilling. I worked with all kinds of suspects, all kinds of witnesses over the years, and she

literally made the hair stand up on my arms. And as soon as Mary walked into the house, she noticed something that didn't seem right. On the right-hand side on the way in was a stairway banister, and it was being stripped. All the varnish and everything was off it. The paint cans were there. And I thought it was odd that her child was missing for a couple of weeks, and I commented to her on the banister.

What did she say was wrong with it? She just said it had to be done. Did you think something had happened with that banister that she was trying to cover up? Certainly the thought occurred to me, yes, that it could have been an accidental fall, that he could have been pushed. There were a number of possibilities. Mary and Michelle then left the two officers and moved into the dining room where they could be alone. Did you find a toy, as the FBI suggested? I did. It was a small stuffed animal. She never

looked at it, never said a word about it, just was continually hostile. Do you think maybe she was getting tired of sort of, you know, playing the role of suspect? I'm sure she was. I would have been tired of it if I'd been in her shoes. However, if my son were missing, I would probably be more cooperative. The interview continued with Michelle giving one-word answers. And then Mary says Michelle started laughing. I said, Michelle, why are you laughing? I'm trying to find your son. And that was enough. I pushed her too far. She exploded.

She got up and ran out of her house, uttering an expletive. She dropped an F-bomb on the way out. Wow. Do you think there was any way that her laughter was nervous laughter and it was misinterpreted? Certainly it could have been, yes. But that was not my gut feeling at the time. It was disarming. What was her response when you asked her if she had anything to do with Timmy's disappearance? That's about the time she blew up and said, I'm getting sick and tired of having you guys accuse me of something I didn't do. That was at the end of the interview, right before she bolted out the door. The other officers went after Michelle and brought her back, but she was done talking.

She slammed the door in my back. We were out of there. Even though they had no physical evidence to prove it, many in law enforcement now believed Michelle was somehow responsible for her son's death. They just couldn't get past her lack of emotion at losing her son and her ever-changing story about what happened to him. And there was one more thing. The day after Timmy went missing, police had given Michelle a polygraph test, not an uncommon thing for parents of missing children. When she was first given a FBI polygraph, it was deceptive. She failed.

And a few weeks later, they gave her another polygraph. She failed that one too. But those results weren't admissible in court. And the few things they found near Timmy's remains, like his shoes and that mysterious blue blanket, didn't seem to lead anywhere. So the case grew cold. People went on with their lives.

Then, a few years later, Michelle was suddenly back in the news. In New Jersey, her young son's murder made headlines, and now the woman, once rumored to be a suspect, has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. That was a showstopper. Michelle kidnapped? What is going on here?

Michelle Litsinsky had talked her way into an awful mess. Her varying versions of what happened to her son Timmy turned her into the prime suspect in his murder. There's something strange about the fact that she can't even get the story right in terms of how he disappeared. Why are there so many versions? TV reporter Sabeel Marcellus covered the Timmy Wiltsy story. Is Michelle a murderer or is she a mother who lost her five-year-old son, who should get a lot more compassion? Police had suspicions but didn't have the evidence to build a case. Months went by without a break, then a year, then another. Michelle was in legal limbo, not charged but not cleared, under a cloud of suspicion that simply wouldn't go away. Michelle, who'd always been so strong, was she starting to come apart a little bit?

I believe she probably had a nervous breakdown. Really? And how could you not? For Michelle's niece Jennifer, still just a teenager, losing Timmy was more than she could bear, especially with the ugly taunting she faced at school. Kids are mean, you know. Most of them knew that that was my aunt.

And, you know, they would just walk around talking about baby killer and your aunt's a baby killer. And so I kind of stopped going to school for a little while. Michelle was feeling the heat too. She left South Amboy and moved in with her brother in a neighboring town. But things didn't get any easier. She said someone was stalking her. She thought people were out to get her.

And maybe there was something to it. Nearly three years after Timmy disappeared, Jennifer got a terrifying call from her uncle that something had happened to Michelle. He said, I want to tell you something before you see it in the papers. He said Michelle was kidnapped. A New Jersey mother whose five-year-old son was kidnapped and brutally killed is missing tonight. Michelle kidnapped? How? Why?

Her brother had no answers. He called the police. Michelle's brother says that he found Michelle's car empty, engine still running, and her glasses and purse are still in the car. Where's Michelle? I'm thinking, like, the same people that took Timmy, they came back, and now they're going to kill her. And that's all I could think about.

I was a wreck again. There was no phone call from kidnappers, no ransom note. But there was one chilling piece of evidence. The business card of an FBI agent left at the scene with the words, See you soon. It's not over, written on it. Then, just one day later, Michelle called the police. She said she'd been released by her kidnappers more than 600 miles away, in Detroit. She's unharmed and said two FBI agents approached her at gunpoint and they put a blanket on top of her and abducted her at gunpoint and brought her to Detroit.

Then she said they simply let her go. Her story was equal parts harrowing, equal parts strange. And when FBI agents heard it, they didn't believe a word of it, and for good reason. That FBI business card with the threatening note? Well, the name of the agent on the card was a fake. There was no one at the Bureau with that name. And Michelle's phone call to law enforcement from Detroit came from a payphone next to the Greyhound bus station. It didn't take long for agents to find a Greyhound ticket from Newark to Detroit from the day before,

purchased by Michelle. She got busted. But she was actually in Detroit. She was actually in Detroit, but she had not been kidnapped at gunpoint. She took a bus. You find out it was a lie, that she wasn't really kidnapped.

Then I start getting really angry. How dare you put us through this? And then it gets in the newspaper. And here it comes again. Yep, she murdered her son because look what she's doing now. Why'd she do it? Police had a theory. Remember, Michelle believed she was being stalked, followed by a car.

So she asked her boyfriend, a Union County police officer named Robert Javik, to check out the car. He ran the license plate on a police computer. That's a no-no. He's a police officer, and he's not allowed to use state police resources for personal reasons. And he was basically doing this as a favor for Michelle. That's not allowed. Did he get in trouble at work? He got into big trouble.

An investigation was started at work. Grand jury was assembled, Union County Grand Jury. Javik was not charged, but police say Michelle thought she'd have to appear before the grand jury and didn't want to testify. So she faked her own kidnapping and skipped town. For Jerry Lewis of the New Jersey State Police, none of it made sense, but it did confirm what he already thought about Michelle. It tells you an awful lot about her demeanor and personality, that she would go to those lengths and phony up a kidnapping.

After her anger subsided, Jennifer landed on a more compassionate explanation. Her aunt was, after all, a young woman who not only lost her child, but was accused of killing him by some people in her hometown. She'd been through a lot. She'd been traumatized, you know. And sometimes people do crazy things, you know, say crazy things when they're traumatized. She ended up pleading guilty to having made false statements to the FBI and also fraudulent use of her government seal, that FBI logo that she used on those fake business cards.

Michelle was sentenced to six months of house arrest and given three years of probation. Case closed on a truly bizarre episode. But it didn't help answer what happened to Timmy. That was still the big mystery, and there would be a lot of strange days still to come. Coming up... It's like mystery on top of mystery on top of mystery. And now, a new mystery. I called to talk to my daughters, and they were gone.

What do you mean they're gone? They were gone. When Dateline Continues. If there ever was a time for Michelle Lidsinsky to keep a low profile, this was it. She was still a suspect in her son's murder, and now she was also on probation after staging a fake kidnapping. Michelle was still dating police officer Robert Javik, but managed to find trouble again.

She's still with the police officer. It looks like their relationship was still ongoing. They'd become close during the dark days after Timmy went missing. He was married, but their friendship quickly turned into an affair. The romance continued for several years. In 1995, Michelle gave Javik a very generous Christmas present, a laptop worth more than $3,000. But there was a problem. It wasn't hers to give. She'd taken it from the office where she worked. Before long, Michelle was busted again. He ended up calling for servicing for the computer, and that's when they found out that this computer had been stolen. She ended up spending 24 hours in jail with an additional four months of house arrest. This is getting nutty. It is. There are so many

twists and turns to Michelle's story. It's like mystery on top of mystery on top of mystery. Michelle's relationship with Robert Javik ended, but she couldn't seem to get her life back on track. So in 2001, ten years after her son was killed, she decided to leave New Jersey and move someplace far away where no one knew her. She moved to Minnesota by my brother. She meets a new man in Minnesota. She meets a friend of my older brother. Things were changing for Michelle in a big way. She fell in love and got married, and along the way had two more sons. She also seemed to find the one thing

that had been so elusive to her. Did she seem happy? She did. She seemed, you know, like life was getting back to normal. But there would be no fairy tale ending. The marriage was short-lived, and after just three years in Minnesota, she got divorced and moved again, this time to Florida near big sister Linda. Michelle landed a good job at a law firm and lived a quiet life with her sons. Despite the divorce, was she bouncing back again? She's strong. She was my rock. You know, she's just a strong woman. Jennifer felt the same way about her Aunt Michelle. And when she became an adult and had two kids of her own,

she came to rely on her. I trusted her. I trusted her with my children. I trusted her with me, my life. And now, as a young mother of two girls, Jennifer needed someone she could trust. She'd recently separated from her husband and was in a bad place. What was going on in your life? I had started to use drugs,

and she was begging me, you know, come out here to Florida. She worked for a place that could get me into a good rehab facility, and that she would take care of my girls, and I wouldn't have to worry about anything. So you went down to Florida? Went to Florida. You went into rehab? Went into rehab. Well, I went to a detox center while I was in there. I called to talk to my daughters, and they were gone.

They were at Michelle's place? Yeah. And you called? Yeah. What do you mean they're gone? They were gone. Michelle thought Jennifer was in no condition to take care of her young children and decided to do something about it. She's not giving it back to a drug addict.

I'm sorry. So she reached out to Jennifer's in-laws. She got the two grandparents on the same page, said you guys need to, you know, do what's best and take care of these children. The grandparents agreed that the best place for the girls was with them. Jennifer says while she was in the detox center, Michelle handed over the kids to her mother-in-law, who took them back to New Jersey. You feel that Michelle did the right thing? She did, absolutely.

She was protecting her niece's children. Jennifer, no surprise, didn't see it that way. She loved her mother-in-law, who she knew wanted the best for her kids. Jennifer's problem was with Michelle. I felt betrayed by her. I was so distraught, and I was going through my, you know, drug detox thing at the same time. So what happened when you left rehab? My uncle came and got me and

raced me to the airport. And I just jumped on a plane and went home and got my kids. You got them back? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Sober? Yeah. Well, I had to be. What did you say to Michelle? I told her at the worst time of my life, how could you do that? Like, I've been there for you, for your, for everything. At that point, was that the breakdown of your relationship with Michelle? It wasn't no bitter, you know, I hate you stuff. It was just, I'm not going to talk to you no more. Jennifer and Michelle went their separate ways, but their paths would cross again. And when they did, it would finally blow the investigation into Timmy's murder wide open.

Coming up, could an old blanket warm up a decades-old cold case? It was heartbreaking because now I know the person that I had defended for so many years had knowledge of what happened. Michelle Ludzinski had settled into a comfortable life in Florida. It seemed the chaos of her old life was behind her. And Timmy's murder investigation? That remained ice cold. Are you thinking the case is never going to get solved? Yeah. And I wasn't even thinking about it because I knew Timmy was at rest. That remained ice cold. Are you thinking the case is never going to get solved? Yeah.

And I wasn't even thinking about it because I knew Timmy was at rest. And that was the most important thing. I just thought they put the case on the shelf, you know. They were done. So it would just... It would just sit there and collect dust. Sit there forever. Yeah, forever. Police and prosecutors were stymied.

But there was no way they were going to shelve the case. Not this one. Prosecutors were going to shelve the case. Not this one. Prosecutors were really almost obsessed with this case. I mean, it's this five-year-old kid. Who killed him? It's amazing how many times new prosecutors tried to look at this case and tried to reopen it with no luck. Yeah, one of the prosecutors ended up retiring after and said that that was one of his biggest regrets

is not being able to solve the death of Timmy. Then, 20 long years after Timmy was killed, a new prosecutor decided to take a crack at the case, this time with a different approach. Investigators reached out to Jennifer.

They asked her to get back in touch with Michelle, so she messaged her on Facebook. What did they want you to do? They just, they thought maybe she would tell me something. Try to draw something out of her? Yeah, yeah. Like a confession? Yeah, I mean, anything that had to do with it, you know, with the case.

But she never talked about Timmy at all. It was a long shot that failed. But investigators wanted something else from Jennifer and asked her to come down to their office. They said they had to show me something. That's interesting. Yeah, I'm like, what? You never showed me anything before. It was an old piece of evidence found by an FBI agent in the area where Detective Hackett discovered Timmy's remains. That blue blanket.

Did you think that there might have been a connection between the blanket and Timmy at the time? I don't think we did at the time. When nothing came from a DNA test, investigators essentially forgot about it and didn't show the blanket to anyone for 20 years. Until June 30th, 2011. Jennifer had been kept in the dark about why she'd been summoned to the prosecutor's office. They just opened the door and the blanket was there on the table. Just spread out a dirty, you know, tattered blanket. I just broke down when I saw it. You recognized that blanket right away? Right away. The prosecutor said, do you recognize this blanket? And I said, yes,

you know, it was from Timmy's house. Jennifer, Timmy's cousin and number one babysitter, immediately knew what that meant. There was no reason for that blanket to be next to him unless somebody in his house did something to him and wrapped him in it and threw him away. Jennifer's thoughts turned to the person she'd believed in for so long, her Aunt Michelle. It was heartbreaking because now I know the person

that I had defended for so many years had knowledge of what happened. Learning that the blanket found with Timmy's remains came from Michelle's house convinced prosecutors her story of Timmy being abducted was a lie because he wouldn't have been walking around the carnival with a big blanket. They believe they now had proof that someone with access to the house was responsible for his murder. And they had no doubt that person was Michelle. So they made their move. Linda was at home in Florida with Michelle's two sons. I get a phone call from my sister saying, I've been arrested for Timmy's murder. I said, what?

Like, what are you talking about? Michelle was charged with first-degree murder and transferred to a jail in New Jersey where she would be held until her trial. This is a bombshell for her, for you, your family. It was unbelievable. We were like, how could they arrest you? You didn't do anything. It was a stunning turn of events set in motion by a tattered blue blanket that had been in evidence for decades. It was a game changer.

It was the entire game. Without the blanket, there was no case. Danny Savalas is an NBC News legal analyst. The blanket was the entire case against Michelle because everything else before the blanket was not enough. That's not my opinion. That was the prosecutor's opinion when they declined to prosecute. New Jersey attorney Jerry Crovatin heard about the arrest from a lawyer he knew in Florida. He called me and said, you're not going to believe what New Jersey is doing to this woman. Crovatin read up on the case and agreed to handle Michelle's defense. It was one of the oldest and most prominent cold cases in the state,

which I think is why the state took a hold of this and focused on the blue blanket. You know, you crack a cold case, you get on Dateline. True. The Timmy Wiltsy case had been an emotional rollercoaster for everybody touched by it. And now those people were about to take a wild ride through the courts that nobody could have imagined. Coming up...

There was no physical evidence whatsoever. Will that matter? Sometimes circumstantial evidence is even more powerful than direct evidence. When Dateline continues. It had taken 25 long years to get to this day. March 16, 2016, opening arguments began in Michelle Lidsinsky's murder trial. The New Jersey mother was accused of killing her own son. Prosecutor Christy Bavacqua set the tone.

A mother's instinct is to protect her child. A killer's instinct is to lie. Michelle's character was really on trial. Absolutely. Character evidence is not normally supposed to be part of a trial, but it couldn't be helped in this case because Michelle did not help herself when she gave several inconsistent statements about what happened to Timmy. Prosecutors called a string of investigators to testify, all with the same message. Michelle Lodzinski couldn't keep her story straight and didn't act like a grieving mother. Her demeanor was at times hostile, sometimes vulgar. She had left an interview.

As an investigator, that gets your attention. The state said Timmy had become a burden to Michelle, and she thought life without him would be easier. That was the motive, but they offered no theory about how Timmy died. They said Michelle killed him before going to the carnival, that Timmy was never there. Bavacqua then turned to the evidence and methodically connected the dots of her circumstantial case. This creek where Timmy's remains were found was literally right around the corner from

where Michelle Lisinski used to work. In a theatrical moment, the prosecutor unveiled the faded blue blanket for the jury to see. This blanket right here. Then she paused, letting the moment to see. This blanket right here. Then she paused, letting the moment sink in. Has been identified as coming from the home of Michelle Lizinsky. It would be up to Jennifer

to back up that statement. She knew how important that was, but says taking the stand, facing Michelle, was a terrifying thought. I would imagine there was a lot of pressure on you. Oh, God. I was supposed to testify one day, and I ran away. Really? Yes, I ran away. I went,

and I hid out. I didn't go. While the trial's going on? Yeah, yeah. How did they find you and get you back in there? I came back in. My mom, you know, I called her, finally, and she's, Timothy needs you to do this, and you're very important, you know, to the case. So, yeah, I went. Visibly shaken, Jennifer finally took the stand. Do you recognize this, sir? Yes. Where would you sleep at Ms. Lazinski's apartment? Would you use that blanket? I believe I used the blanket before when I would snuggle up with Timothy. In the end, prosecutors wouldn't rely on Jennifer alone.

Just months before the trial started, two other women who babysat for Timmy came forward to say they also recognized the blanket. Prosecutors put them on the stand, too. Are you positive that this blanket is from Michelle's home? Yes. This was largely a circumstantial case. Was that something that was really working in the defense's favor? Not necessarily. It's a myth that you need direct evidence to get a criminal conviction because sometimes circumstantial evidence is even more powerful than direct evidence.

When defense attorney Jerry Crovatin had his turn, his first priority was to tear down the state's portrayal of Michelle. This case was about character assassination, not about the evidence. This was a good mother who cared deeply for this little boy. Jerry showed the jury a kindergarten graduation gown that Michelle bought for Timmy just before he disappeared. He said buying that was the act of a loving mother, not a killer. Michelle Lutsensky is not the monster they want to paint her as to you.

Character witnesses sang Michelle's praises as a mother and talked about how devastated she was about losing Timmy. Her sister Linda recalled Michelle's anguish the day of the funeral. She was in shock. Her face was all swollen. My dad and I had to hold her from one side to the other, walking up the stairs of the church. The state claimed that Timmy was never at the carnival, but the defense had witnesses to refute that. James O'Connell was one of them.

He was operating a ride that day. The state's theory was Michelle had killed Timmy that day or the day before, had gone to the carnival without him. So if any of the eyewitnesses saw Timmy, identified Timmy at the carnival, that's the end of the state's case. Jurors also heard a lot about the items found in that marsh. But according to the defense, none of them pointed to Michelle as the killer. There was no physical evidence whatsoever. There was no DNA, no hair samples, no fibers, no murder weapon, no confessions, no admissions from her.

Nothing. But there was powerful testimony that the blanket came from Michelle's house. The defense was dismissive of the two babysitters who came forward just before the trial. Given 25 years passing between the event and their interviews, coupled with the glare of the publicity surrounding the beginning of the trial, I doubt the credibility of their identification. Jennifer had identified the blanket without ever hearing about it in the beginning of the trial. I doubt the credibility of their identification. Jennifer had identified the blanket without ever hearing about it in the news.

But that didn't matter to the defense. They saw a clear opening to attack her credibility. You allege that Michelle's niece was really looking for payback with identifying this blanket, that she was going to pay back Michelle for having her children taken away. Correct.

She was in serious trouble, you know, in terms of her addiction at that point. And Michelle didn't feel it was the responsible thing to do to give her children back. And Jennifer hated Michelle ever since for that. Jennifer had issues. And Jennifer was out to get my sister because she lost her children. How angry did Jennifer get over that? So angry that she testified and lied. Jennifer emphatically denies that and says she testified truthfully.

The defense had pushed back on every angle of the state's case and even offered up their own theory of what happened to Timmy. Right before trial, a man came forward and said that another man had confessed to him that he had killed a little boy in a park. Yeah, Damien Dowdle. Damien Dowdle was an ex-con who'd served time for an armed robbery he committed in Arizona with an accomplice named Joe McShane. When they were in prison together, Dowdle says McShane confessed that he'd committed a horrible crime involving a young boy. Years later, when Dowdle read about the Timmy Wiltsy case, it all sounded very familiar.

When Dowdle gets out of prison, he calls me out of the clear blue. He told the defense all about McShane's confession. McShane tells him he had gone to an event in a park, that he had abducted a little boy, and the boy cried out, and he strangled him and killed him to avoid detection. Are you taking this seriously? This is an ex-con. I took it very seriously, because Dowdle reported this at the time that McShane made this statement to him in 1991 to the police. And now, under oath, Dowdle repeated the lurid story. The kid began screaming and crying.

He said that he was afraid that this kid's cries were going to bring people to where he was at. And he said that he strangled the kid. The state had a rebuttal for Dowdle. They called McShane himself. He denied having anything to do with Timmy's death, but Jerry Crovatin thought he'd given the jury something to think about. I certainly thought it raised a reasonable doubt about the state's case. After eight weeks of hotly contested testimony, the case went to the jurors. They deliberated for two days and still couldn't reach a verdict. There's all kinds of astrology that you can use to project,

well, if they're out for this long, it means that. It's all hogwash. When they're out that long, you have no idea what's going on in there. There'd be a verdict soon enough, but that wouldn't be the end of the story. This case still had a Wiltsey had finally reached the finish line. Has the jury arrived with the verdict? Yes, we have. The jury foreman announced the verdict.

Guilty. Michelle Lodzinski, guilty of first-degree murder. The judge would sentence her to 30 years in prison. What was Michelle's reaction? Did she say anything in that courtroom? No, she was heartbroken. How are you feeling after all that work that your team has put into this? Devastated. Felt like it was a miscarriage of justice.

I broke down. I had to tell her boys. They were devastated. How else would they react? You all felt very strongly that she was innocent. I know she's innocent. I was torn in a way of, she was still my aunt, and I just couldn't think about somebody in my family actually being in prison. For police and prosecutors, this was a victory 25 years in the making.

We were all elated. Just to see justice done for that little boy one last time was a lifesaver for me. After the verdict, the jurors got together one last time. They decided to visit the place where Timmy was found. We just wanted to show Timmy that we cared for him. Joe Mulvanerton was an alternate juror. We all brought little toys and balloons to the site, Ninja Turtle. You brought a balloon?

Yeah. Can I read you something? Of course, yeah. Yeah, I had written this right after we went to the site. Along with the flowers and Ninja Turtle toys that we all brought to the site, I also brought a large Ninja Turtle balloon. The balloon, almost as if it were being tugged out of my hand, came loose from the

ribbon and floated straight up into the heavens. I'll forever believe that Timmy took that balloon to let us know he's okay. Cowabunga, dude. What the jurors never imagined is that their verdict wouldn't be the final word on the Timmy Wiltsey case. The legal battle would continue for years. This case never should have been charged. After the trial, attorney David Fassett joined Michelle's defense team to work on an appeal. I was appalled that Michelle had been convicted because of the utter absence of any evidence.

And that was the argument before the appellate court. There simply wasn't enough evidence to prove Michelle's guilt. They rejected all of our arguments, which was very disappointing and deflating. Next, the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to take the case. But one of the seven justices recused himself. He didn't explain why, but it meant only six would decide. And lo and behold, they split three to three. A tie in the New Jersey Supreme Court normally means a conviction stands.

But would it for Michelle? What we decided to do was to ask the court to reconsider the case. Now, I'm told that the Supreme Court of New Jersey had never previously granted a reconsideration motion. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm not aware of one. The defense argued the tie violated Michelle's rights and asked the court to bring in a lower court judge for just this one case. This is like a chess game. This is where it gets even crazier. They make the argument, and it's convincing enough, that the state Supreme Court says,

we're going to borrow a judge from the lower appellate division. Now we'll have seven. Really, it all comes down to this one judge. Tiebreaker. Who's now there just to be a tiebreaker. On December 28th, 2021, that one judge broke the tie in Michelle's favor. Her conviction was overturned.

I screamed. I got on my knees. I was so ecstatic and so happy. And I just was like, wow, after all this time, finally. Michelle walked out of prison that same day. Her lawyers were there to greet her. I'm just grateful for all the people that helped me and stood by my side to get me home to my family and friends. Michelle left New Jersey and reunited with her two sons and her sister Linda. We just hugged her and she said, don't cry, please don't cry. And it was just exciting.

Back in New Jersey, juror Joe Mulvanerton was outraged by the Supreme Court's decision and says his fellow jurors were too. The ones that I've spoken with are as equally shocked and as equally infuriated as I am. Four judges decided that we made the wrong decision. I think that's an indictment on the jury system. In fact, the Supreme Court did say the mistake made at the trial was the jury's, that the evidence didn't support a conviction. So they replaced the jury's guilty verdict with an acquittal. She can't be retried. This is double jeopardy. Double jeopardy, yeah. It can't be retried.

Where's our appeal? Where's the jury's appeal? For Kevin Skolnick, the very first police officer to respond to Timmy's disappearance, the Supreme Court's decision was hard to swallow. She's a free woman. It's like, unbelievable. Were you angry? I was disappointed and upset because, again, this boy cannot rest in peace. Jim Ryan tries not to dwell on the legal twists and turns. He'd rather focus on how his community opened its heart

and came together for a missing five-year-old boy. There are so many good police officers, firefighters, EMS citizens who just rose up and said, we're not going to tolerate someone saying that a five-year-old is missing in our community without doing something. Sad ending, but really showed you what your community was made of. Yeah, they took back control of their community in the worst fear of a child missing. It was probably the biggest case I ever worked. Detective Hackett, now a grandfather, is still haunted by the case

and often thinks about little Timmy. As I see my own children grow, you wonder if Timmy could be walking around today 35 years old. You know, it's a shame. Timmy's name and face, once so familiar, have faded from view over the decades, along with all the possibilities of a long life that should have been his.

I want people to remember him for more than how he died. Timmy was brave and outspoken and full of life, and he was robbed of all of the opportunities that life had to offer. He didn't even make it to his kindergarten graduation. Timmy's kindergarten graduation gown is in an evidence vault now, along with a pair of Ninja Turtle sneakers and a faded blue blanket. Sad reminders of an innocent life frozen in time and a death with questions that may never be answered.

That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again next Friday at 10, 9 central. And of course, I'll see you each weeknight for NBC Nightly News. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.