Michael Lodzinski said the question of who killed Timmy Wiltsey, the 5-year-old reported missing from a carnival in N.J., has divided his family.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- He has been there for his older sister throughout the trial, offering his support and love.
But Michael Lodzinski had privately come to believe in a terrible truth -- that his sister, Michelle Lodzinski, had killed her 5-year-old son, Timmy Wiltsey, all those years ago.
On Wednesday morning, after a jury convicted his sister of murder in Timmy's 1991 death, Michael Lodzinski finally said it aloud.
"I'm glad Timmy got justice," he said.
There was a sense of resignation to the statement.
The question of who killed Timmy left a rift in the family for years, Michael Lodzinski said. Some found her shifting stories too incredible. It could only have been her, they thought.
Other family members refused to believe Michelle Lodzinski was capable of killing her own child. After all, she had created a new life for herself in Florida, raising two other sons, Daniel and Benjamin, now 18 and 14.
"The family is divided, and if people don't embrace this verdict, they will remain divided," he said.
Michelle Lodzinski guilty of murdering son
Lodzinski, 48, was found guilty of murder after eight weeks of testimony in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick. It was a circumstantial case, with no witnesses to what happened on May 25, 1991, the day Timmy disappeared.
His body would be discovered nearly a year later in a marsh, not far from where Michelle Lodzinski once worked in the Raritan Center.
"Michelle's the only one who knows what happened," Michael Lodzinski said. "At least now, this part has been done, but there's never going to be closure. There's just what's right, and justice has been done for Timmy. We loved Timmy dearly."
He said his sister's surviving children, now living in Florida with another sibling, will be devastated by the verdict.
"My nephews have lost their mom," he said.
Michael Lodzinski, also a Florida resident, said his parents, too, face the horror of losing both a grandchild and a daughter.
"Their daughter is convicted of murdering their grandchild," he said. "They lose no matter what."
The brother has faced his own inner turmoil. Despite his belief that Michelle Lodzinski committed the crime, she is still his big sister.
"I still wanted to be there for her also," Michael Lodzinski said. "There had to be some family for her."
After the verdict was read, eliciting a gasp in the courtroom, Michelle Lodzinski bowed her head and began to tremble.
Seated behind her, in the courtroom's first row, Michael Lodzinski called out to her.
"I love you sis," he said. "I love you very much."
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