- Testimony by defense witnesses began Thursday in the Michelle Lodzinski murder trial
- Five witnesses testified in Superior Court in New Brunswick
- The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday
NEW BRUNSWICK - On May 25, 1991, carnival worker James O'Connell remembers putting a boy that he thought was Timothy Wiltsey on a children's ride at a Sayreville carnival.
He said the boy was about 5, wearing a red tank top, shortsand Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneakers, similar to the outfit Timothy was reported to be wearing before he allegedly went missing from the Kennedy Park carnival.
O'Connell, of Rahway, was the first witness in the Michelle Lodzinski murder trial to report seeing Timothy at the carnival.
Lodzinski, 48, a former South Amboy resident, is accused of killing Wiltsey, her son, whose skeletal remains were found in Raritan Center, Edison, nearly a year after he reportedly went missing. She was long considered the main suspect in her son's disappearance and death, but she wasn't arrested and charged until August 2014. Her attorney entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf.
Testimony by the defense, led by Lodzinski's attorney, Gerald Krovatin, began Thursday in Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves' courtroom,two days after the prosecution rested.
READ:Follow the Lodzinski murder case — all you need to know
WATCH:Judge declines to toss case against Lodzinski
READ:Testimony: Timothy Wiltsey's death was a homicide
Now, nearly 25 years after Timothy went missing, O'Connell testified he isn't sure the boy he saw at carnival was Timothy.
"I can't say it was him, but I believed it to be him," O'Connell said.
O'Connell said that in 1991 he was working for a company that ran carnivals,and he was responsible for setting up rides, operating them and tearing them down before the carnival moved to the next location.
On May 25, 1991, he was operating a children's ride at Kennedy Park that features motorcycles and trucks. O'Connell said he remembers putting a boy that he thought was Timothy on the ride, and took him off the ride when it was finished. He said he remembered talking to the boy about his sneakers.
"I didn't see who brought him to the ride and who he walked away with," said O'Connell, adding that at that time he believed the boy to be Timothy, but now he couldn't say it was Timothy with any certainty.
Lodzinski had told police several versions about how Timothy disappeared from the carnival, one of which involved a woman, who worked as a go-go dancer, taking Timothy from the ride.
"Would you remember a go-go dancer," Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain asked.
"Depends on how cute she was," O'Connell answered.
Jeff Larson, a guitar teacher and school bus driver in Tabernacle, testified in 1991 that he worked as a seasonal park ranger at Holmdel Park, where Lodzinski allegedly went with her son before going to the carnival.
He remembered operating a gas-powered utility cart around 1 p.m. one day, driving through a field and saw an orange basketball rolling around in the field. He said a small boy was nearby and he returned the ball to the boy. Larson said he doesn't recall what the boy was wearing and he didn't recall seeing anyonecloseto the child.
Larson said he remembered the encounter because the park didn't have a basketball court.
"You don't know if you saw Timothy Wiltsey in Holmdel Park?" asked Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua.
"That is correct," Larson said.
The nearly 25-yeartime gap presented some challenges for the first two defense witnesses, who at times had difficulty recalling certain details.
Eileen Monnier, of the Parlin section of Sayreville, testified that she became friendly withLodzinski when they both worked at South Amboy Memorial Hospital. Monnier said Lodzinski visited at her home, with her son, Timothy, about three or four times.
She testified that her Old English sheep dog was sleeping one day when Timothy arrived. The boy startled the dog and the dog bit Timothy on the face.
The boy was taken to the hospital, where a plastic surgeon was called in to repair his face. Monnier could not recall how many stitches Timothy received or the date of the incident.
On cross examination, Bevacqua asked if Lodzinski could have lied and told a babysitter and her boyfriend that Timothy was bitten by a neighbor's dog and received 72 stitches.Monnier said it was her dog that bit Timothy.
Monnier also testified that her brother-in-law helped Lodzinski get a job at a Raritan Center company near where Timothy's partial skeletal remains were found nearly a year after he went missing.
Retired Sayreville Police Lt. Robert Dunworth told Krovatinthat he could not recall if a carnival worker was shown two photos depicting Timothy.
Dunworth also had difficulty remembering specific times without referring to his police report.
"I've been retired almost 20 years and I've had a lot of time to forget about police work," said Dunworth, who retired from theforce in 1997 and now lives in Virginia.
He testified about Lodzinski going to the hospital in June 1991, apparently in connection with a mental breakdown, but later signed herself out of the hospital.
Dunworth recalled police removing the carpet from Lodzinski's home after she moved out to have it testedbut could not recall what the test results showed.
On cross examination by LaMountain, Dunworth recalled Lodzinski's "laissez-faire attitude" about her son's reported disappearance from the carnival.
"She seemed to enjoy the attention toward her," he said, adding that she wasn't hysterical or crying.
"Why did you remember her behavior?" LaMountain asked.
"It was very uncharacteristic of a mother of a 5-year-old who was missing for that long of a period of time," he said.
Dunworth said the prosecutor's office was called into the case early because no one sawthe boy at the carnival and nothing Lodzinski said could be verified. He said police learned that a worker who reported seeing Timothy at the carnivalwas relying on information from other carnival workers.
Krovatin also asked Dunworth if he ever told a news reporter something he had never before said to anyone, that Lodzinski was both the victim and the suspect.
"I don't recall making that statement," Dunworth said.
The trial will resume Tuesday
Staff Writer Suzanne Russell: 732-565-7335; srussell@mycentraljersey.com
