Supreme Court order vacating Lodzinski verdict

1 SYLLABUS This syllabus is not part of the Court’s opinion. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Court. In the interest of brevity, portions of an opinion may not have been summarized. State v. Michelle Lodzinski (A-50-19) (083398) Argued October 27, 2020 -- Decided May 26, 2021 Re-Argued on Reconsideration October 25, 2021 -- Decided December 28, 2021 ALBIN, J., writing for the Court. In 2016, a jury convicted Michelle Lodzinski of murdering her five-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey, twenty-five years earlier. The issue in this case is whether the evidence, when viewed in its entirety, supported the finding that Lodzinski purposely or knowingly caused her son’s death. See N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3(a)(1) and (a)(2). In the days leading up to the May 25, 1991 carnival at Kennedy Park in Sayreville, nothing appeared amiss in the lives of Lodzinski and Timothy. Lodzinski had gotten Timothy his kindergarten graduation gown. She had purchased him a pair of Ninja Turtles sneakers the week before the carnival, and the two went shopping for new clothes the day before the event. On May 24, Lodzinski and Timothy were making plans with Lodzinski’s sister Linda to visit her in Florida. Lodzinski also arranged to take her young niece Jessica to the carnival. Neighbors saw Timothy that night and the next morning. Lodzinski told law enforcement officers that, in the afternoon of May 25, she took Timothy to a park in Holmdel and that they went from there to the carnival in Sayreville, arriving around 7:00 p.m. Lodzinski did not pick up Jessica, as earlier planned. Jennifer Blair (later Blair-Dilcher), Lodzinski’s then-fourteen-year-old niece, and Blair’s then-fourteen-year-old friend Danielle Gerding testified that shortly after their arrival at the carnival, they found Lodzinski standing alone. When they asked Lodzinski where Timothy was, Lodzinski told them that Timothy had been missing for fifteen minutes; she had turned around and he was gone. Blair and Gerding began searching for Timothy, and Gerding spoke with auxiliary police officer Kevin Skolnik. Lodzinski told Skolnik that “she went to get her soda, she turned her back and her son was missing.” Lodzinski described Timothy as sporting a crew cut and wearing a t- shirt and Ninja Turtles sneakers. An extensive search of the carnival and surrounding area by Sayreville police officers and firefighters failed to locate Timothy. A detective searched Lodzinski’s car and found nothing of evidential value.