NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — A Florida woman charged with killing her 5-year-old son more than 20 years ago has pleaded not guilty in a New Jersey courtroom.
A lawyer for Michelle Lodzinski entered the plea during a brief court hearing in New Brunswick on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old Lodzinski has been in custody since her arrest Aug. 7. She was extradited to New Jersey on Friday and is being held in the Middlesex County jail on $2 million bail.
She has said her son, Timothy Wiltsey, disappeared at a carnival, but investigators said her story kept changing. His skeletal remains were found in a marshy area of Edison 11 months later.
A county grand jury charged her in an indictment handed up in July.
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A Florida woman charged in the 1991 death of her 5-year-old son is scheduled to make her first appearance in a New Jersey courtroom.
Middlesex County prosecutors say Michelle Lodzinski is due to appear Tuesday afternoon in New Brunswick. She is charged with killing Timothy Wiltsey, but her attorney has said she "adamantly denies" the charges.
Lodzinski, 46, has been in custody since her arrest August 7. She's was extradited to New Jersey on Friday and is being held in the county jail on $2 million bail.
She had said her son disappeared at a carnival, but investigators said her story kept changing. His skeletal remains were found in a marshy area of Edison 11 months later.
Lodzinski went into seclusion after her son's remains were discovered, and neighbors said at the time that she didn't appear distraught. In late July, a county grand jury handed up a one-count indictment stating she "did purposely or knowingly kill" Timothy or did "purposely or knowingly inflict serious bodily injury" resulting in his death.
Lodzinski has run into other legal troubles over the years since her son died.
She surfaced in Michigan in January 1994 and said two men claiming to be FBI agents had abducted her at gunpoint outside her apartment building, forced her into a black SUV and drove her to Detroit, where they let her out.
She pleaded guilty in 1995 to making false statements to the FBI and fraudulently using the agency's seal. She was sentenced to probation.
In 1997, Lodzinski was charged with stealing a computer from her former employer. She pleaded guilty to a theft charge in 1998. A federal judge sentenced her to house arrest after she admitted she committed a crime while on probation.
