An Arizona man who was cellmates with a man he claims may have killed a 5-year-old New Jersey boy nearly a quarter century ago is expected to tell his story to a superior court judge Friday.
NEW BRUNSWICK - An Arizona man who was cellmates with a man he claims may have killed a 5-year-old New Jersey boy nearly a quarter century ago is expected to tell his story to a superior court judge Friday.
Michelle Lodzinski is current awaiting trial on charges she murdered her 5-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey, in 1991.
Timmy Wiltsey in a picture taken at his school. (File photo) Before that trial proceeds, however, Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves said he wanted to hear from Damien Dowdle, of Arizona, who implicated someone else in Wiltsey's death.
Dowdle told Lodzinski's attorney and an investigator for the Middlesex County public defender's office, that Bernard Joseph McShane, 53, told Dowdle in 1991 that he had lured a small boy away from his parents, and was about to sexually assault him, but became afraid of detection and strangled him instead.
Dowdle and McShane were sharing a jail cell in Arizona at the time, court documents said.
Lodzinski originally told police that she and Wiltsey went to a carnival in Sayreville the evening of May 25, 1991, and he disappeared when she went to a stand to buy soda.
Wiltsey's remains were found in a marshy area in Raritan Center in Edison 11 months after his disappearance.
According to court documents, Dowdle said McShane told him about strangling the child in New Jersey. However, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua argued Dowdle originally said McShane told him it was in Atlanta, Georgia, and not New Jersey.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.