Jury Selection Continues In Trial Of Woman Accused Of Killing Son In Decades-Old New Jersey Cold Case
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Opening statements in the trial of a mother charged in the 1991 slaying of her 5-year-old son in New Jersey are set to get underway later this week.
Jury selection is expected to continue Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of Thursday's scheduled opening statements in the trial of Michelle Lodzinski, MyCentralJersey.com reported.
Lodzinski has maintained that her son Timothy Wiltsey disappeared from a Sayreville carnival. The boy's remains were found about a year later at an Edison industrial complex where Lodzinski once worked.
She was arrested in August 2014 after a grand jury indicted her on a first-degree murder charge in the boy's death. Lodzinski's attorney has pleaded not guilty on her behalf.
Prosecutors claim they have evidence against Lodzinski, including a blanket found near Timothy's body. Investigators said Lodzinski and her mother both denied recognizing the blanket, but that another key witness immediately recognized it.
The trial is expected to last several months.
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.
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