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True Crime Garage
Carnival of Lies ////// Part 3
00:53:58
May 25th is National Missing Children’s Day. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25, 1983 as the first National Missing Children’s Day. He established the annual observance to bring national awareness to child safety and encourage communities to prioritize protection efforts. The date was chosen to mark the sad anniversary of the disappearance of Etan Patz, a six-year-old who vanished from a New York City street corner on May 25, 1979. Twelve years after Etan Patz disappeared and on National Missing Children’s Day 1991, a five-year-old boy named Timothy Wiltsey vanished from a Carnival in Sayreville, New Jersey. This week in observance of National Missing Children’s Day, we take a look at a case that will never leave the hearts and minds of many. This is the unsolved case of Timothy “Timmy” Wiltsey. To learn more about National Missing Children’s Day and/or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children go to MissingKids.org
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- [00:00]
Nick
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- [01:24]
Nick
Welcome to True Crime Garage wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick, and with me, as always, is a man reminding us all that at this year's midterm elections, vote for Pedro. Here is the captain.
- [01:40]
Captain
Vote twice if you can. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend
- [01:49]
Nick
Today we are drinking Hoser Juice Triple IPA by the fine folks at Double Trouble Brewing. According to the folks@lcbo.com double trouble is an expert at creating premium craft beers and we agree they say Hoser Juice Triple IPA erupts with an intense hop profile highlighted by vibrant citrus and earthy pine tones, complemented by a biscuity finish and a hefty 10.8% ABV. A little boozy, a little bit on the boozy side I think, but still a very great craft beer garage Grade three and three quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and praise to our good friends for helping us fill up the old garage Frid Bridge. First up, a cheers to Amy Birch in Louisville, Texas and a big tall
- [02:39]
Captain
cans in the air to Caitlin from Philly.
- [02:43]
Nick
Next, here's a long distance cheers to Carl Thompson Penderson and I'm going to give this one a shot here, Captain in Vale, Denmark. And to everyone who has donated to the beer fund and not got a shout out, please check your spam box or your junk folder because you may just find an email from us sitting in there. To make a donation, go to true crimegarage.com and to everyone that has, we thank you.
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Captain
Yeah B W double R U N buron for everything True crime. Check out truecrimegarage.com make sure, you sign up on the mailing list and. Colonel, that's enough of the B is NAS.
- [03:21]
Nick
All right, everybody, gather round. Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
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Captain
I'm delighted to have the opportunity to help launch the national center for Missing and Exploited Children to tell you that the safety and protection of our children is a top priority on the national agenda. All Americans, and especially our youth, should have the right and the opportunity to walk our streets, to play and to grow and to live their lives without being at risk. These efforts are only the essential first steps and formidable challenges remain. Meeting them is what the national center for Missing and Exploited Children is all about.
- [04:33]
Nick
Timothy William Wiltse, better known as Timmy, was born Aug. 6, 1985. He disappeared at the age of 5 after he was last seen or reported to be last seen at a carnival in Kennedy park in Sarahville, New Jersey. This was on May 25, 1991, which is also National Missing Children's Day. His mother, Michelle, gave varying accounts. In some of these accounts, she turned away while buying a soda and he was simply gone. In others, he was abducted by two men and a woman. The woman who she identified as Ellen. Police, already at the carnival for security and traffic purposes, shut down the event and searched the grounds, but found no trace of Timmy. Investigators pursued the lead about Ellen, but it went nowhere. Michelle's inconsistent statements led police to consider the possibility that she may be involved. In October of 1991, Dan O' Malley found a child's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneaker in the marshlands of Raritan center business park in Edison, New Jersey, across from the Raritan river in Sayreville, and turned it over to the police. Michelle could not confirm that it was Timmy's sneaker. In April of 1992, law enforcement searched the area that same area and found a second sneaker along with a pillowcase, a blue and white blanket, and nearby. Officers recovered a skull and other bones near a tire that was dredged from the red root creek. The county medical examiner identified the remains as Timmy's and ruled the death a homicide, though the exact medical cause of death could not be determined due to advanced decomposition. FBI laboratory testing found no trace evidence on the recovered items, and investigators could not conclusively link them to Timmy or Michelle. Michelle and her parents said they did not recognize the blanket as coming from Michelle's home. And that is where we had left off there, Captain. A missing persons case turned homicide investigation with a new set of what can be considered evidence, but none that could or would yield any real leads or clues into how the boy had gone missing, been killed, or how his remains ended up where they were found 11 months after he vanished. So because of that, I want to hone in on this search and go through it in detail and the results of that search. First, as we know, time is the killer time in this case and the elements of the environment in which these items were found is the killer of physical evidence. That being said, the first shoe was found in October of the previous year. It seems most likely that the boy and some of that other stuff had all been there. Then how they didn't find it in October of 91 instead of April of 92. Well, add that to our list of mysteries here in this week's case. Chalk it up to bad luck or to bad work. But regardless, let's get into the thick of it, my friend. There's an FBI report on this case, on the Timmy Wiltsey case, and it's available online if people want to dig through it. It's 211 pages. So grab a second cup of coffee and a blanket as we start with page one. I'm joking, of course. Maybe a, when we get really late in the game, captain last season, we're just going to do that. We're just going to go through every inch by inch of every single case. I mean, we really could go through 211 pages of this FBI report if, if you do. The FBI is great at many things. They're usually very good at their reports. This one's a little all over the shop. It doesn't, it doesn't read like a chapter book.
- [08:35]
Captain
Yeah, it's kind of Stephen King novel.
- [08:38]
Nick
It's spotty, let's say. But it's a, it's a good, it's a good report. Very thorough. But in regard to this search, because what we get from the FBI report is very different from what you would see on the news here, on the radio or read in the newspapers. You get the behind the scenes action of some of the report and of the search itself. So I'm going to, I've summarized a small portion of this big bulky FBI file here to review some of the details of this search and the behind the scenes action. So it goes something like this from the FBI report. It describes a search near the Raritan center in Edison, New Jersey, which is a large complex of businesses and warehouses. They decided to do this search after investigators learned that the missing boy's mother, Michelle, had actually worked there. And remember, she failed to report that when Giving her work history to law enforcement investigating the case now.
- [09:48]
Captain
But she did work there three years prior, correct?
- [09:51]
Nick
Yes. Michelle worked at a company in Rarington center from September 1988 to March of 1989. And remember, Timothy disappeared on May 25, 1991. I'm going to say this in Michelle's defense. You already said that she, you know, worked there years prior. I'm not convinced that she didn't remember working there. But in her defense, the proximity of where the body or the partial remains were ultimately found, they're not very far from where the boy went missing, if he did in fact go missing from the Kennedy Park.
- [10:30]
Captain
Right. And so do we know how far the remains were found from the business park?
- [10:39]
Nick
Yes. So where she had worked was about 0.4 miles from the location of where the sneaker and the other items and the remains were found. Right.
- [10:50]
Captain
But how far away is this marsh from the carnival he was at?
- [10:55]
Nick
Oh, it would just be a few miles. It's. And what's interesting here is after the body is found or after the remains were found, there's at least one law enforcement officer on the record stating like, there's a lot of places to hide a body out here, which just that statement alone is when we went through the extensive search that was going on shortly after the board boy was reported missing, and that search extended beyond Kennedy park, beyond the carnival and. And into the surrounding areas. This would be, I would say, a neighboring area to the immediate surrounding areas. But with the state with a statement like, well, this would be a. There's a lot of places to hide a body out here. I don't know. I'm just. I'm uncertain. I'm less clueless as to why they did not search this area or if they did, it wasn't a very thorough search when the boy was reported missing in May of 91. I'm very confused, however, why this area wasn't searched better in October of 91 when the shoe was found.
- [12:07]
Captain
Right.
- [12:08]
Nick
And their statement was always like, well, we searched this area, but keep in mind the mom said it wasn't his shoe. Okay, that's fine. But you've been. You've also, years later, will be telling us you think she's been lying to you since the beginning, so why start believing her now? You can't pick and choose when to believe a liar.
- [12:26]
Captain
Well, like I said, you can, but there's a lot of stupid people. But there's also many possibilities. Right? So you go, is it possible that Timmy just walked to this area? And because of the terrain, that's how he passed away.
- [12:45]
Nick
It's too far for that.
- [12:47]
Captain
It.
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Nick
The train.
- [12:50]
Captain
Hold on. If it's within five miles. You're telling me a kid can't walk five miles?
- [12:55]
Nick
I'm. Well, I would believe, yes, that a child would be able to walk five miles. I have a difficult time believing that a child would walk five miles alone and not be seen and nobody come forward. This is not like a. It's not a. There's. This is a heavy, heavily populated area.
- [13:14]
Captain
Yeah, I understand that, but there's times that we have times and cases where eyewitnesses claim to see missing people that they don't see. And then there's times that people just go missing and there's no. There's no eyewitness accounts. So all I'm saying is, as far as law enforcement goes, or anybody that's interested in trying to solve this, you have to put that as a possibility. Is it a possibility that he could have got from the carnival to this area? Sure. And then the other possibility is, did they do any searches in this area? And if so, is that any indication that the child might have been taken by somebody and kept somewhere for a certain period of time?
- [13:59]
Nick
All I can talk about is what was reported. And we know that there were a couple of searches that took place in October of 91 after that sneaker was found. So let's go through this report and you'll. You'll see where. Why I have some issues with. With that. Those searches in particular. Okay. So the. As described, the. The boy disappeared on May 25, 1991. In the fall of 91, a person walking in the area, Dan O', Malley, found a sneaker in an underdeveloped swampland. The building where Michelle worked was about 0.4 miles from this location. The sneaker matched the size that Timothy wore and the make and model and color he was known to wear. This is from. Some of these words are directly from this FBI report. And it states, because Michelle had been viewed as a prime suspect for multiple reasons, investigators considered the proximity a notable coincidence and planned a search. What I'm trying to point out here is what the FBI report states emphatically, but doesn't. But doesn't state exactly what I'm saying. They are saying that this area where the shoe was found by Dan O' Malley in October of 91 became priority only after they figured out that she omitted having worked in the general area.
- [15:26]
Captain
Right.
- [15:27]
Nick
It was less of a priority when the sneaker was actually found In October, they. They took. Basically they took this from about a level 5 to a level 10 once they figured out that she had worked in that general area. What I'm pointing out, the reason why I'm pointing it out, not because I thought this kid put on a pair of roller skates and ended up dead in the swamp on his own accord. I'm pointing it out that this area should have been a priority in October when the damn sneaker was found.
- [15:58]
Captain
Yeah. It's an identifying marker.
- [16:02]
Nick
Absolutely.
- [16:02]
Captain
Yeah. So if we would have found a red tank top, would we would have taken that as serious and look, and
- [16:09]
Nick
it's also, it's close in proximity to where she lived. So like to. To say, well, oh, it's close in proximity to where she had worked at one time. I don't have a full list of all the places that she worked. And that's one thing that we question. Well, it could be that she worked in a lot of locations near this area.
- [16:27]
Captain
Right.
- [16:28]
Nick
But where she lived, where the park is, where he supposedly went missing from, and where she previous worked, previously worked. All three of these locations are not far from where his body was found.
- [16:39]
Captain
But also the identifying marker, these shoes. To me, it's suspicious that she can't say whether or not it's his, the shoe that she bought her son. And I understand that a lot of kids would have bought these shoes, but then it goes back to the mental state, because let's just say she's completely innocent of everything. There's a part of her, and I think she even made these statements, she doesn't want this shoe to be her son's because this inevitably is evidence that her son is not with her or with us anymore.
- [17:17]
Nick
Right. And so. Or she may not, which is her statement, but secretly she may not want it to be his shoe or known to be his shoe because they're getting close to finding his remains that she put there.
- [17:30]
Captain
Right. And if those remains, and possibly those remains would give us evidence to lead us to the killer, which possibly could be his mother.
- [17:42]
Nick
Yeah. So the. The report goes on. Let's. We'll continue through this summary. It says multiple agencies were invited for the search. And the New Jersey State Police provided a cadaver dog for two days worth of search. After the dog searches, teams began a manual search. They quickly found a second sneaker that appeared to match the one recovered in the fall of 1991. The two sneakers formed a matched pair. Investigators then expanded the search area, including. Sorry, I misspoke. Investigators then expanded the search area Concluding that the shoes were likely thrown from a roadway rather than dropped. About two hours later, searchers found a skull in a muddy creek leading to a culvert under the roadway, with additional bones within a few feet. The remains were on the opposite side of the roadway from the sneakers, roughly 100 to 150 yards away. So roughly a little more than a football field away. Edison police department units secured the scene overnight. The edison fire department provided water via a pumper truck to flush debris, and sifting screens were used to recover material from muck dug by hand from the creek bed. Initially, because many bones were found inside a large discarded truck tire in the creek bed with limb bones nearby, investigators suggested the body may have been placed inside the tire and then rolled downhill into the creek. Michelle was interviewed by detectives from the Middlesex county prosecutor's office and the sarahville police department. The report states her demeanor seemed inconsistent with a grieving mother and that she showed little interest in the recovery details. After the medical examiner's analysis, investigators determined most recovered bones were, in fact, those of an animal or animals. The human remains consisted of the victim's skull, several arm and leg bones, approximately half of the pelvis, and the lower jaw. This clarified that the tire rolling theory was raised before the final analysis. So, based on the information that became available at the final analysis, investigators concluded it was more likely the body was dragged or carried down the embankment and then thrown into the creek bed.
- [20:18]
Captain
Yeah, because also, if you put the body in this tire and rolled it down the hill, then the tire becomes identifying marker to possibly identify the killer. And also, he's five years old, so he's not going to weigh much. So whether you're female or male, you should be able to carry this body to dispose of him wherever you see fit, if that makes sense.
- [20:46]
Nick
After investigators recovered only partial remains, the town moved into the grim ceremonial work of mourning. In May of 1992, a funeral for Timothy Wiltse was held in south amboy. The service had the heavy, stunned quiet of a community trying to understand the unthinkable. Timothy's mother, Michelle, looked visibly shaken, so unsteady that her parents had to hold her up and help her to walk. When the service ended, Timothy was laid to rest in nearby Keyport. But the burial did not bring closure for the case. Obviously, it opened a new phase of scrutiny, One that shifted attention away from the carnival and onto Michelle herself. So a week after the funeral, information surfaced that changed the public's understanding of what investigators had been dealing with behind the scenes. So it became known that Michelle had, nearly a year earlier, changed her account of how Timothy disappeared. Police said her story had shifted three times, and it also became public that she had failed to lie detector test. So while this is something that we've already covered in our telling of this story to the public, this is new info. They didn't know this from the time that the boy was reported missing. And on the news, they see the missing person's flyers when they're around and out about in town, and when they are watching the news, they're seeing the boy's picture for months and months and months, and then the body's found. This is information they didn't know during that 11 months. It only came out just after the funeral services. And the reports I have are that it was leaked. I think. I likely think that it was intentionally leaked. And sometimes that's a good strategy. Detectives described Michelle's demeanor during questioning as oddly flat and unemotional, Saying that her way that she was behaving, the way she presented herself, they didn't believe that that matched what they would expect from a mother whose child had vanished.
- [23:00]
Captain
Yeah, but I hate this. I hate how we constantly go, well, we think they should act this way. And they're not. They're not out of control. I mean, I think sometimes you. To me, it's more, are they putting on an act or not? Are they being truthful or not? But somebody sitting in front of law enforcement, Especially if it's FBI and they're approaching that with a stoic manner, I don't find that to lean any way towards Whether I've. I don't find that to lean or swayed me to lean one way, Whether I think they're innocent or guilty.
- [23:41]
Nick
I'm with you. I think the overall of that, I don't put a lot of weight into maybe some very specific behaviors or actions. I would. But we've also seen the flip of this coin, right? Where. Where law enforcement or media or even civilians are reviewing a case or reviewing what they see in the news, and they go, well, I think the person's overreacting on. And intentionally overreacting.
- [24:06]
Captain
Yeah, but again, that goes to my idea. Are they acting? And if. Are they being. Or I guess, are they acting a. In a performative manner again? And also, do I believe that they're being truthful or not? And I think there's multiple things that are working against Timothy's mom. She changes her story. She basically withholds information. And then I think sometimes by not even with the shoe, she's not even really leaning one way or the other on if it's the shoe. I mean, we have the shoebox, so that should tell us some information.
- [24:50]
Nick
Yeah, there's much more with the shoe telling us that it's probably his rather than it's probably not. We talked about that a lot in episode two, and this is what I'm getting at here. And I'm trying to avoid being overly critical about the investigation. I do think that police did a good job. I do think that if. Let's pretend for a moment that Michelle is guilty, well, then it's a. It's an uphill battle for detectives and investigators. She knows a lot and did a lot and put a lot of things into place before he was even reported missing that they're working against in.
- [25:28]
Captain
Right.
- [25:29]
Nick
At a severe disadvantage. That's if we pretend. Right. Clearly that's if we pretend that she did it. Now let's pretend that we don't know who did it, which is how you should conduct your investigation. My critique of this investigation is not that they didn't try hard or that they didn't attempt their best to do a good job. My critique is they honed in on Michelle, whether that is right or wrong, but they allowed that to steer their investigation. They should have searched this area where the sneaker was found better when it was found, regardless if they believed her statement that it wasn't his shoe.
- [26:10]
Captain
Right.
- [26:10]
Nick
What you. What I'm saying is you can see this playing out as them building a case against her in the pub, in the public. This information was leaked about her behavior behind the scenes. I believe it was leaked on purpose. Why? So that the media could ask law enforcement enforcement questions that they previously weren't asking them.
- [26:32]
Captain
Yeah, but we.
- [26:33]
Nick
And. And ask those same questions to Michelle. When you think you have somebody guilty, you're looking for them to lay out an incre. An increment. And. Sorry, you're looking for them to lay out an incriminating statement.
- [26:47]
Captain
Yeah.
- [26:47]
Nick
Or to slip up on one of their lies or several of their lies. And a great way to have that happen organically is for the media to show up with microphones and shoving cameras in the woman's face.
- [26:59]
Captain
Well, it goes back to the point where she says, I moved because of the media attention, so maybe there's some validity to that. And what the problem I have with this investigation is when there's things that point to her story being truthful, they poo poo that there's too much poo pooing in this story. I Mean, just like with the carnival worker saying, I saw this kid and this interaction and with this woman, and then that later, that woman was looking for somebody, maybe saying Timmy or Jimmy. Okay? There's not a million people at this freaking carnival. If somebody's going, hey, I'm looking for a Timmy or Jimmy. Let's just assume that that person was probably looking for a Timmy and not a Jimmy. And we can't just go, oh, well, she looked disheveled, and maybe she was on something. So I don't believe anything she says because that doesn't fit the narrative that I'm trying to build.
- [27:54]
Nick
Yeah, it's. That's my critique of the case that I think that they were chasing Michelle more than they were chasing the case. And look again, if you make it. If you're lucky enough to make it to the rank of detective, that's why you got into the business. I'm sorry to say that. Right. There's a missing kid. Ultimately, he's found. His remains are found in this very area. But where the shoe. I would be if the chief would allow me. I would be there morning, noon and night for seven to 10 days. You would have to drag my ass out of there. I don't care if my wife's making me sleep on the couch every single night. I. This is what I signed. This is what I signed up for.
- [28:35]
Captain
Right. For justice.
- [28:36]
Nick
Super bowl justice for the victims and the excitement of a case like this.
- [28:41]
Captain
Yeah. And then my other problem is when she comes forward and says, hey, and we don't know how this went down. I don't have the transcript of this, but did she come forward and go, hey, you know, that first story I told was kind of B.S. this is really what happened. And if that's all that happened. And she says, well, there was this lady and there was these two guys, and X, Y, and Z happened. If that's all that happened, I can see turning a suspicious eye. But when you have other eyewitnesses that have no connection to the mother, say we saw a child with two men and a woman, then you go, maybe there's some validity to the story. And we don't know how they acted towards her and how she received that. But if she received it, of, I'm telling the truth, and maybe it took a minute for me to tell you the full truth, but this is the truth, and this is why I didn't tell you. I was afraid something bad could happen or something worse could happen. If she felt like nobody believed her, then there's then that becomes a breakdown in communication. So even if you think she is suspicious, if you make her feel like she can come and talk to you and give you as much information and she feels like you're believing her, if you're suspicious of her, you want to keep that gateway open. And I think they kind of shut that off. So then it comes to the shoe and I think she didn't even know how to react. Do I tell them that I think it's the shoe or do I tell them it's not the shoe and doesn't even matter because they don't believe anything I'm saying anyways?
- [30:27]
Nick
Yeah, I don't know. I I tend to think that she didn't have a great answer for the shoe because she had hoped that it would never be found and didn't get that far along in her her plan. One of the polygraphics administrators talking to the media said that her regarding Michelle, her results were quote all over the charts and adding that what disturbed him most wasn't only the inconsistent readings, but her defiant attitude throughout that process. Now, inside her family, the tension had its own shape. Michelle's brother Edward said that Michelle knew that she had failed the polygraph exam and according to him, the realization didn't break her, it angered her. He described her as throwing things and lashing out in frustration at her failing the test.
- [31:48]
Captain
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- [37:06]
Captain
All right, we are back talk. Hands in the air.
- [37:10]
Nick
Cheers to everybody out there and cheers to everybody that went to CrimeCon this last weekend. As time passed, the case remained unresolved, but it did not go quiet. Not at all, my friends. In January of 1994, something happened that made the entire story feel absolutely stranger than fiction. And, and even more volatile. Michelle's car, her vehicle was found idling, yeah, Empty, with the door open at the home that she shared with her brother. Now, to her family, it looked like the beginning of a second nightmare. They reported Michelle missing and feared that she had been kidnapped, too. In fact, they feared what most were probably thinking when they heard of this, that potentially Michelle, the young mother of the once missing boy, may have been abducted by the same person or persons who abducted Timmy. So this is, this is crazy stuff. We've reviewed a lot of cases and have never, we've never had anything like this in any of the cases. Boy goes missing, and then later the mother of the boy goes missing. This would be not quite, but nearly three years after Timothy went missing. So this is from NJ.com here, Captain, and I'll just read a little bit of it. It says on January 21, Michelle's car was found idling outside the Woodbridge apartment she shared with her brother Edward. The door of her white Toyota Celica was a jar and her purse was found inside. Her family feared she had been kidnapped, perhaps by the people who took Timmy. Well, that fear, my garage friends, only lasted for one day because the next day Michelle reappeared.
- [39:02]
Captain
What happened to Michelle?
- [39:04]
Nick
But not in South Amboy, New Jersey, not at home, not at a hospital. Michelle reappeared by walking up to police on a street all the way in Detroit, Michigan. So she tells an officer she had been released by her abductors and that she had been Kidnapped by men posing as FBI agents. And she said these men had told her that they were going to, quote, teach her a lesson for talking about Timmy. Language that sounded like both a punishment and a threat folded into one.
- [39:43]
Captain
Right.
- [39:44]
Nick
Now, back at home, the story took on another sinister prop. This is because two weeks after Michelle returned from the air, quote, abduction. Edward, again, this is Michelle's brother. He found an FBI business card left on her door. You know how the. When the detectives knock and no one's there, they'll. Sometimes they'll stuff a business card, wedge it between the, jam it in the
- [40:10]
Captain
door there, or a slightly used pair of panties.
- [40:14]
Nick
So he finds an FBI business card jammed into the door. On the back of the business card, there's a message on it that just simply says, it's not over. Okay, now the. The actual FBI agent who was overseeing, who had on and off again worked this case. This would prompt him to resume digging. Right, and the investigation quickly found something that didn't fit the kidnapping narrative at all. Okay, so they find a local print shop. They had recently did a job printing FBI business cards for Michelle.
- [40:57]
Captain
Don't be suspicious. Don't be suspicious. So this is just a. Basically a ruse?
- [41:04]
Nick
Yeah. So her statement was, look, I wasn't actually abducted by FBI. I was abducted by people that I figured out during the abduction were posing to be FBI. And this must be some high level stuff. Again, these could be the same people that were involved in the abduction of her son. And they're threatening her because she's talking about the abduction and. And what she knows about her missing son, trying to quiet her, scare her into shutting up and not helping police anymore. That's the general idea here. But the problem with that is these fake FBI business cards weren't made by someone outside of the investigation. They were designed and paid for by Michelle. Right, so the FBI is like, hey, wait a second here, honey. We found this print shop that said you paid for these business cards to be made. And, oh, yeah, the one found jammed in your door, too. We're guessing you place that there as well. So, faced with that discovery, Michelle admitted what all this evidence was pointing toward. That she had faked her own kidnapping. She said that she took a bus and traveled to Detroit and left her car in a way that she knew that people would report her missing. Right. Now, even after she admitted that the kidnapping was staged, she wouldn't talk any more about the stage kidnapping and also would not open up about the deeper issue at the center of everything.
- [42:35]
Captain
The.
- [42:37]
Nick
Because this, the contradictory Accounts that she gave about Timothy's disappearance takes on a whole level, a whole new level of weight here after you've proven one hoax. Right.
- [42:54]
Captain
Well, in fairness to Michelle, she's. She can't talk more about Timothy's case because she might have to kidnap herself
- [43:06]
Nick
and harm herself will result in another kidnapping.
- [43:10]
Captain
Yeah, I mean, this to me is the biggest red flag because what is the point? The point was simply to try to make law enforcement believe that there was something bigger happening here and that she
- [43:26]
Nick
wouldn't be able to help them or assist them in the investigation. I also think that it's important to note she has this great idea. Please hear the sarcasm in my voice there. She has this great idea after the discovery of the remains, not before.
- [43:43]
Captain
Right.
- [43:44]
Nick
This is. It's quite some time after that discovery, but still it's after. So this hoax, this kidnapping hoax, however, will have consequences of its own. You can't just fake kidnap yourself and report it to police and. And claim that the FBI had some level involved of involvement, even if the people were just posing to be FBI agents. Well. And the FBI really doesn't like it when you make fake FBI business cards. Yeah, do that and see what happens.
- [44:14]
Captain
Well, it's kind of weird when she made them on neon green stock. No, but what was her name? Sherry Panini. Didn't she fake kidnap herself? Yeah, and she ended up getting like multiple documentaries. She'd probably write a book about it. She'd probably become a multi millionaire because she fake kidnapped herself.
- [44:32]
Nick
Well, she also got in quite a bit of trouble for that. And.
- [44:34]
Captain
And there should have got more trouble.
- [44:36]
Nick
She's not the only one. She's a wife. And there was another wife that did the same thing, basically. So they could spend a week or a long weekend with another man. Yeah.
- [44:46]
Captain
Listen, no man, no man's worth that.
- [44:49]
Nick
Yeah.
- [44:51]
Captain
What happened to you? Well, I got kidnapped. Here's the FBI card to prove it.
- [44:58]
Nick
So In March of 1995, Michelle was sentenced to six months of house arrest and three years of probation for the FBI related kidnapping hoax because she had not been kidnapped and lied to the police.
- [45:12]
Captain
Wait, what? She. What did she get again?
- [45:15]
Nick
Six months of house arrest and three years of probation.
- [45:19]
Captain
Not enough.
- [45:20]
Nick
So investigators in Sarahville believed they understood her motive. They suspected she staged the kidnapping to avoid being subpoenaed in an investigation involving her boyfriend. So they're actually thinking that her. One of her motives for this was not all about her dead or murdered son.
- [45:40]
Captain
Right.
- [45:41]
Nick
So her boyfriend, he's a police officer.
- [45:44]
Captain
Oh, great.
- [45:44]
Nick
At this time. Okay. In. In a neighboring community. This is Union County. He's in Union county somewhere. And he had been accused. So he had been accused of improperly checking license plate numbers. So he's running plates for Michelle. You. You can't do this. You can't, like, run plates for friends and family. It happens a lot, though. Yeah, but you're not supposed to do this. So improperly checking license plates. And he's running these for Michelle. Now, Michelle is saying that she needs him to run these because she believes that these are vehicles that are following her. She tells her boyfriend, there's been a lot of vehicles following me. I need to know who these people are. I don't feel safe. He starts running these plates.
- [46:29]
Captain
Yeah.
- [46:30]
Nick
So In May of 1995, the department decided to take actions against him over those allegations. She would be subpoenaed to have to testify against her boyfriend. And they think that that is part of the motive for this, of why she did this kidnapping hoax.
- [46:51]
Captain
Well, she also might be afraid of having to take another polygraph test because we know she's not good at that. And then she starts throwing things when she fails.
- [47:00]
Nick
Well, but the other part of that, too, it's not so dumb. Right? Because if she were to be able to sell the abduction.
- [47:09]
Captain
Yeah.
- [47:09]
Nick
Like, hey, I was abducted by these people that I figured out weren't actually FBI. Well, then that would. He's not improperly running these plates. He's running plate numbers because this woman thought she had been followed and then she was later abducted.
- [47:25]
Captain
Yeah, but sometimes you put in too much effort. It's like when somebody says, hey, come over to our house. We're having a Halloween party. But you don't double check to make sure it's a costume party. And you. And you show up half naked, trying to be the sexiest cheerleader you can be, and nobody else is dressed up. And so this whole plan is foiled by the idea of, well, I'm gonna go get business cards made. If she didn't ever make those business cards, we'd be sitting here today going, we don't know if this kidnapping was real or not. She over prepared and put too much effort in.
- [48:06]
Nick
Yeah. So that was in March of 1995. And the dates might be a little jumbled there in that portion of the story, but boils down to when they were deciding to take action against the boyfriend over those allegations. Now, some more time passes, and Michelle kept encountering the justice system in new and interesting ways. But again, this doesn't have anything to do with the death of her son.
- [48:39]
Captain
Right.
- [48:40]
Nick
So in 1997, Michelle is pregnant with her second child. So if Timmy was still alive, this would then be his older brother or younger brother. I'm sorry, Timmy would get to be an older brother. But she, again, pregnant, gets in trouble. She pled guilty to stealing a computer from an employer or former employer. At the time, it was a laptop taken for the reason that she wanted to give it to her police officer boyfriend as a Christmas gift.
- [49:12]
Captain
Oh.
- [49:13]
Nick
Now, it wasn't the former employer who figures out what happened to the laptop. No. It's the boyfriend who receives it as a Christmas gift. He quickly realizes this is stolen property, so he reports it.
- [49:27]
Captain
So he's trying to get his pregnant girlfriend put in jail.
- [49:30]
Nick
I don't think he's trying to. That will be what happens, because she stole somebody's property and tried to gift it to him. So. Yeah, but hopefully he's finally seeing the light is what I'm saying. He reports this. You got to realize sometimes you're with a bad person and it takes some time to. To wake up. It sounds like he. He woke up on that Christmas day, received a laptop as a gift, and then completely woke up and realized, this chick ain't no good. Right?
- [49:55]
Captain
But let me paint you a picture. You're. You're on Tinder or Bumble or whatever the newest dating app is. And you go, oh, this. This woman's. You know, she's pretty attractive, and. And. And she is. Her interests are true crime and true crime documentaries. And you go, oh, we have some stuff in common. So we go to the local Starbucks, and we. We decide to sit down to have some vanilla lattes, right? And to chop it up a little bit. So now we're chopping up, and. And then the point of the date where you go, okay, well, you know, but your. Your profile name seems like it was a nickname. What's your real name? When she states that her name is Casey Anthony, you get up from the table and you run as fast as you can. This individual knew her. Michelle was known by everybody in the community. He knows the situation, and he's law enforcement. So all he has to do. I understand his neighbor in law enforcement, but all he has to do is talk to other law enforcement officers, and if they go, hey, look, we are very suspicious of her. Whether you killed your child or you became very suspicious of killing your child, that is a deal breaker. You don't stay at the Applebee's and order a brownie sundae. You go, hey, it Was nice meeting you. You might be responsible for the death of a five year old child. No thank you. We're not going to be dating. And then when she fakes being kidnapped by FBI agents, you go, yep, not going to be dating anymore. There was all these.
- [51:34]
Nick
Well, and you've already gotten him in trouble for running the plates as well. Or at least I shouldn't say you got him in trouble. He decided to do that for you knowing that it was wrong.
- [51:44]
Captain
Right? Making bad decisions. Right, but, but this is where depending on what employer it was, there's probably no way of them knowing that she took the laptop until he said, hey, this is replacement. This is stolen goods and I'm going to report it. I, I think this was his way of getting rid of her.
- [52:05]
Nick
Yeah, that's what I said. I think he finally saw the light regardless if he was blinded by it before, right? Or not, he finally saw the. I mean you, you don't, you don't get a gift from your girlfriend. And the reported has stolen property if you intend to stay with her.
- [52:21]
Captain
Well, so.
- [52:24]
Nick
Well, I mean, we can't go down every road here. We got to get to this case. I mean, I have everything in every different scenario, but we don't have time to discuss every one of those. No but possibilities.
- [52:35]
Captain
But back to your point, this could be the wake up call where he's like, okay, I gave her the benefit of the doubt here, and I gave her the benefit of doubt here, but she's willing to steal this thing and then give it to me. So now I'm in possession of stolen goods. Okay, maybe, maybe these other things that I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I'm questioning more now.
- [52:56]
Nick
So when this discovery is made, she is arrested again, she spends a day in jail, and then she is later sentenced to four months of house arrest and gets three additional years of probation. Now, in 1998, Michelle left New Jersey behind and moved to the state of Florida. We've referenced Florida a couple times already in our coverage. Remember, she at times had other family down in the Sunshine State. In 1999, she would move again, this time to Apple Valley, Minnesota. There she built a different looking life. She got married in 2001 and started a new family. That same year, she spoke with a reporter from the Star Ledger who visited her. Took, took a trip all the way out to Minnesota to interview Michelle. And Michelle agreed to the interview. She said that she was getting on with her life, but she had still held out hope that the case would be resolved. Her words not Mine, quote, so everyone will know I was telling the truth, end quote. She said, not that I hope they find the killer of my son, right? But I hope that the case is solved so that everybody will know that I was telling the truth. That seems to be the most important thing to Michelle.
- [54:18]
Captain
Bizarre.
- [54:19]
Nick
When pressed when asked which version of her story was true regarding the different explanations of how he went missing, how Timmy went missing, she answered in a way that offered explanation without clarity. She said she had told police different things at different times based on things they said to her, and she insisted she wasn't involved. She refused to go into more detail, briefly reiterating that it all had started when I was standing at the refreshment stand and that was it. That's as much as she would say. Now, as you're probably guessing here, if they had a DK sports book on marriages, I would vote this one, as I would pick the under on this one. The marriage didn't last. Michelle was pregnant with her third child when she returned to Florida. This is in 2003, when she bought a small home in Port St. Lucie, and she was working there as a paralegal. Inside that home, she kept a beautiful picture of Timothy Wiltsey displayed where it could be seen not just by her, but by anyone entering the home. This big, beautiful picture of. Of her son who had past years prior. And she told her son, she was open about it. She told her sons, you know, by this point, she has two boys and would remind them that the boy in the photo was their brother, was their older brother.
- [55:58]
Captain
Right.
- [55:58]
Nick
For a long stretch through the early 2010s, the investigation itself, it didn't really meaningfully advance. The case kind of lingered in the background of official files and family histories. And it really started to feel kind of like the unsolved tragedy that just sits in. In a place, sits in place, heavy, unresolved, while everyone who had any connection to it just grows older. But around the 20th anniversary of Timothy Wiltse's disappearance, an investigator in the prosecutor's office decided to. It was time to start over. Not from scratch, not from the very beginning, but from the evidence standpoint. Let's review everything and anything that may hold any evidentiary value. The investigator returned to details that had long been known and yet never fully explained, asking what might have been overlooked. One item that rose to the top of the stack here, Captain, is that blue and white blanket found somewhat near Timothy's partial remains. At the time it was discovered, the blanket had been shown only to Michelle and to Michelle's parents.
- [57:20]
Captain
Right. And they didn't recognize the brilliant.
- [57:22]
Nick
They didn't recognize it. However, to the investigator looking at the items, specifically this one, and putting a lot of thought into it, it really started to feel much less like a random object and much more like a private clue. And the new investigator believed that it mattered. And when he presented his argument to the team, the other investigators agreed. They focused really on something simple and practical here. When you think about it, we've already said it was hot that day. It was hot and it was humid that day. And their general thought was a child would not likely carry a large blanket through a carnival.
- [58:05]
Captain
Right.
- [58:06]
Nick
Number one. But number two, let's double down on that. A child would not likely carry a large blanket through a carnival, especially on a humid 90 degree day. So with that in mind, they drew a conclusion that redirected the timeline of the disappearance. They reasoned the blanket likely came from Michelle's home. If that was in fact true, then Timothy may have gone from the home to the location where his remains were ultimately found, not from the home to the carnival. And then onward. They believe the blanket may have been used to cover Timothy's body after his death.
- [59:06]
Captain
Want to thank you for joining us here in the garage. So much more to get to. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't live. Sa.