What we learned from prosecutors in the trial of Michelle Lodzinski, who is accused of murdering her 5-year-old son in 1991. Watch video
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Prosecutors revealed their case over the last two weeks as to why a jury should convict Michelle Lodzinski of murder for killing her 5-year-old son Timothy Wiltsey nearly 25 years ago.
Lodzinski has maintained throughout the years that she had nothing to do with her son's disappearance or death, and prosecutors opened their case by telling jurors that they had no direct evidence to tie her to Timothy's death.
Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua said, however, that the state had plenty of circumstantial evidence linking the former South Amboy woman, now 48, to the death of her son.
Fourteen days of testimony and 39 witnesses were presented to jurors before prosecutors rested their case last week.
Here's the five major points the prosecution made:
* She didn't want to be a mom: Lodzinski had her son when she was 17 and had to drop out of high school. She was struggling to support the two of them, often holding down two jobs. And when her son goes missing, witnesses testify that Lodzinski had a calm demeanor, and even has an affair with the spouse of a couple who has taken her in so she can escape the media.
* Timothy was never at the carnival: Lodzinski told police she took the boy to a carnival in Kennedy Park in Sayreville about 7 p.m. May 25, 1991. He went on some rides and disappeared while she was buying soda at a concession stand. Police could not find any witness whose account of seeing a boy matching Timmy's description could be verified. The case sparks a nationwide hunt for the boy.
* Lodzinski kept changing her story: Within three weeks of reporting him missing, Lodzinski gave at least four different versions of how he disappeared. The final version was that he was abducted by a woman named Ellen and two men after she (Lodzinski) was threatened with a knife. Investigators tried to track down Ellen, who Lodzinski said she knew when she was a bank teller, but failed.
* Timothy's remains were found near his mother's job: Investigators learn that, a year before Timmy disappeared, Lodzinski worked for a company located in a building about a quarter of a mile away from where some of Timothy Wiltsey's skeletal remains were located in the Raritan riverbed near Raritan Center off Olympic Drive. Witnesses also identified a blue blanket similar to one in Lodzinski's house, and a sneaker that Timothy may have been wearing when he disappeared.
* No cause of death, no weapon: Medical experts can't determine how the boy died because his body lay exposed to the weather and in water for so long that decomposition and animals quickly removed all evidence. As a result, prosecutors can't provide a description of a weapon used to commit the murder or say that he was suffocated or strangled.
Lodzinski had been a suspect for several years, officials said, but she was never charged in her son's death. In 2011, a tip to Crime Stoppers leads investigators to re-examine the case. While the tip turned out to be useless, according to county Sgt. Scott Crocco, the office decided to reopen the investigation.
The trial resumes Tuesday morning before Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves with the defense calling witnesses.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.