54°
Last October, judges decided to reconsider the case.
Appellate Judge Jose Fuentes on Tuesday cast the tie-breaking 4-3 vote in favor of Lodzinski's acquittal.
"After reviewing the entirety of the evidence and after giving the state the benefit of all its favorable testimony and all the favorable inferences drawn from that testimony, no reasonable jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Lodzinski purposefully or knowingly caused Timothy's death," said Justice Barry Albin in the majority opinion.
Then 23-year-old Lodzinski on May 25, 1991, that her son disappeared from the line at a carnival ride in Sayreville's Kennedy Park when she went to get a soda. Lodzinski became a suspect in the case following a series of inconsistencies she told investigators.
Then, in October of that year, a local schoolteacher was exploring the Edison marshlands when he found a child's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sneaker. He recognized it from the news as one that Timmy was wearing when he went missing.
The teacher brought the shoe to Sayreville police, launching a large-scale investigation. A matching, second sneaker was later found, and the boy's decomposed remains were found around a truck tire in Red Root Creek. His death was ruled a homicide.
Years later, Lodzinski faked her own kidnapping and pleaded guilty to stealing a computer from her job. She wasn't charged in her son's homcidie case until August 2014 -- around the time of what would be his 29th birthday.
Albin on Tuesday said there was insufficient evidence or testimony to conclude that Timmy "by the negligent, reckless, or purposeful or knowing acts of a person, even if that person were Lodzinski.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice Vineland and receive free news updates.
