Cheryl Kassay Naimo of Jamesberg said she saw Lodzinski and her son Timmy nearly every day, and her memories of them are of a loving, nurturing mother who adored her son, Timmy, and told him so. Watch video
JAMESBURG -- When Michelle Lodzinski was indicted in August of 2014 for murdering her 5-year-old son, 23 years after she reported him missing at a carnival in Sayreville, her childhood best friend said she was initially stunned.
Cheryl Kassay Naimo of Jamesberg said she saw Lodzinski and her son Timmy nearly every day, and her memories are of a loving, nurturing mother who adored her little boy and was always ready to tell him so.
"Her whole day and night was about him and for him and taking care of him," said Naimo, who said she first met Lodzinski in their hometown of Laurence Harbor in Old Bridge. "She was always huggy and kissy. She always told him, 'I'm proud of you.' "
However, Naimo said their friendship started to change on the night of May 25, 1991, the night Lodzinski reported Timmy Wiltsey went missing. And in the months after his remains were found in a creek at an industrial park in Edison in April 1992, the friendship continued to fade, and Naimo said she secretly harbored doubts about whether her friend was revealing everything she knew about Timmy's disappearance.
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"I still couldn't imagine her doing it--couldn't imagine her hurting him, never mind doing what they say was done to him," Naimo told NJ Advance Media in an interview earlier this week before Lodzinski's court appearance Wednesday.
Lodzinski's attorney Gerald Krovatin sought to have the case dismissed but the judge denied the motion, setting the course for a trial in January.
Lodzinski's arrest was not inconceivable either, Naimo said, "because of all the strange things that had gone on prior to her arrest."
Lodzinski ultimately gave three versions of how Timmy disappeared, and failed a polygraph test. In 1994, she was arrested for staging her own kidnapping, allegedly by FBI agents who drove her to Detroit and abandoned her.
"There were too many discrepancies that always gave you doubt in the back of your mind," Naimo said.
Because Lodzinski and Naimo spent so much time together, Naimo said she found it strange that the first time she heard of Timmy's disappearance, it was from the TV news, teasing to a story about "a 5-year-old boy missing from a New Jersey carnival. And they mentioned something about the Ninja Turtle sneakers. I just knew Timmy had Ninja Turtle sneakers."
Naimo said she immediately called her friend. "I asked her if it was Timmy and she said yes," she said. "It was a quick phone call and then she said she had to go to bet back to the search."
She always wondered why Lodzinski didn't call to let her know what had happened. However, she said she explained it away as her friend being frantic.
Lodzinski initially told police her son disappeared from the carnival at Kennedy Park when she turned away for a moment to buy a soda. She later said two men, including one holding a knife, had taken Timmy. A third version said two men were accompanied by a woman whom Lodzinski recognized from from her former bank teller job.
Naimo said she and Lodzinski drifted apart following a weeklong trip to the Bahamas they took together after Timmy's remains were found, to escape the reporters camped outside her house. During the trip, Naimo asked how she was handling the loss of her son and the pressure of the investigation, but Lodzinski never talked about any of it. Naimo tried to shrug it off as Lodzinski just needing a break.
"I started pulling away, pulling away, and she did also," Naimo said.
Naimo said she was last questioned by authorities in 2009, when she was shown the blue and white blanket found in proximity to Timmy's remains. Lodzinski's niece Jennifer Blair broke down in tears and identified it as belonging to Timmy when authorities showed it to her in 2011, according to recent court documents.
"I don't recall seeing it, not say I have never seen it. It just didn't stick in my memory," she said.
As the trial grows closer, Naimo said she is reminded of how tragic it was to lose Timmy and the friendship of Lodzinski, who celebrated holidays with her family.
"Losing Timmy was heart-breaking. It was like losing a family member. To be honest, it was heart-breaking losing her as a friend too. You have somebody that close to you all those years and all of a sudden you don't talk to them anymore."
"I hope --this is just a hope -- that she doesn't know anything about it. That she is being 100 percent truthful," Naimo said. "I feel sad for her."
Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.