A genetics expert testified there was no DNA link between hair found on a blanket and Michelle Lodzinski's hair.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- There was no conclusive proof that a hair fragment taken from a blue blanket found near the remains of 5-year-old Timmy Wiltsey genetically compared to hair taken from his mother, Michelle Lodzinski, an expert said Thursday afternoon.
The expert, Charity Holland, was testifying during the 13th day of testimony at Lodzinski's trial for her son's murder in May 1991.
Holland worked for a Pennslyvania laboratory that was asked in June 2014 by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to perform DNA testing on the hair fragment found by the New Jersey State Police laboratory on the blue blanket in 2012.
The tests were for mitochondrial DNA, the type of DNA handed down from mother to child, she explained.
Holland said the laboratory was provided with samples from Michelle Lodzinski and Jennifer (Blair) Dilcher, Lodzinski's brother's daughter.
She said the tests proved to be inconclusive, meaning that there was one single difference in the genetic profile between the blanket and Lodzinski and Dilcher, so the two women were not excluded as a possible match to the hair, but neither did the hair match them.
Under cross examination by Gerald Krovatin, Lodzinski's attorney, Holland said there was no positive DNA match between the hair on the blanket and Michelle Lodzinski.
She said the laboratory also received a hair found on a pillow case from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office in November 2015.
The pillow case was found near the blue blanket when the boy's remains were found in April 1992 in a swampy area of Raritan Center in Edison, 11 months after his mother reported him missing from a carnival in Sayreville on May 25, 1991.
Holland said the laboratory testing of the hair found on the pillow case excluded the hair completely as belonging to either Lodzinski or Dilcher.
Lodzinski was charged with her son's murder in August 2014, although she had been the prime suspect since early in the investigation after giving police several difference stories of how he disappeared. She has maintained she had nothing to do with her son's disappearance or death.
Sgt. Scott Crocco of the major crimes unit in the county prosecutor's office testified Thursday morning that the case was reopened in 2011 after a tip came in to Crime Stoppers--a tip that was investigated and proved unusable, but he said led to a decision to reinvestigate who killed Timothy Wiltsey.
The trial will resume Tuesday morning 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.