Lab examinations of items found with Timmy Wiltsey's remains didn't link them to the boy, a retired FBI agent said. Watch video
NEW BRUNSWICK -- A retired FBI agent, who organized the search that led to finding the remains of 5-year-old Timothy Wiltsey in 1992, testified Wednesday morning none of the items found with the remains were conclusively linked to the boy or his mother.
Ron Butkiewicz took the witness stand in the 12th day of testimony of the trial of Wiltsey's mother, Michelle Lodzinski, who is charged with the boy's murder.
Butkiewicz identified the blanket, balloon, pieces of clothing, sneaker and other items found on April 23 and 24, 1992 during a search of a swampy area off Olympic Drive on Raritan Center in Edison, and said all of the items were sent to the FBI laboratories for examination of any forensic evidence that could link them to Wiltsey or his mother, but the results were "inconclusive."
Lodzinski, 48, reported her son missing the evening of May 25, 1991 from a carnival in Sayreville, launching a massive search by Sayreville police, the New Jersey State Police and the FBI.
Butkiewicz said he was assigned to the case in January 1992, replacing another FBI agent, and, after discussing the case with the other law enforcement agencies involved, he set up an interview with Lodzinski.
He said he met her in early April 1992 at her attorney's office in Linden where she recounted the story of how her son was abducted by a woman named Ellen and another man who threatened her (Michelle) with a knife.
Under questioning by Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua, Butkiewicz said Lodzinski was "dramatically, surprisingly unemotional."
He also interviewed Lodzinski's mother, Alice, in April 1992 who told him her daughter worked for Florida Fulfillment in Raritan Center several years back.
Butkiewicz said that was significant to him because "I knew a sneaker had been found there that was suspected of belonging to the boy."
He told the jury he obtained the address of Florida Fulfillment at Raritan Center and drove to the site.
Butkiewicz said he decided to organize a search of the area where the original sneaker was found because, "Michelle Lodzinski gave several different versions of what occurred to law enforcement, because she showed hostility during her interviews."
"All of those things get your attention as an investigator," he said. "Then, when I learned she worked a five or time minute walk away from where the sneaker was found, my suspicion that she murdered her son went off the charts."
Lodzinski was charged with her son's murder in August 2014, after the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office reopened the case in 2011.
The trial resumes Wednesday afternoon before Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.