00:00:00
Here's a quick podcast for all you true crime fans. The case of the missing Reese's.
00:00:06
It was me at the store with my mouth. Motive? Um, they're Reese's. What was I going to do? Stop myself? Tune in next
00:00:16
time to see if I do it again. Spoiler, I will. Wow, that had everything. Reese's,
00:00:25
suspense, Reese's. >> Exclusively on AMC Plus. >> What is this place? >> A gripping new AMC Studios original
00:00:37
series. >> You'll find out soon enough. >> From executive producer Ridley Scott and
00:00:42
acclaimed director Karyn Kusama. >> Something feeds on our souls. >> Starring Dan Stevens, Judith Light, and
00:00:49
CCH Pounder. >> I am not Okay, none of this is okay. >> The Terror: Infamy, new limited series
00:00:57
stream now exclusively on AMC Plus. >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks
00:01:44
for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man reminding us all that at this year's midterm
00:01:51
elections, vote for Pedro. Here is the Captain. >> Vote twice if you can. It's good to be
00:01:58
seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. Today we are drinking Hoser Juice Triple
00:02:07
IPA by the fine folks at Double Trouble Brewing. According to the folks at LCBO.com,
00:02:14
Double Trouble is an expert at creating premium craft beers and we agree. They say Hoser Juice Triple IPA erupts with
00:02:23
an intense hop profile highlighted by vibrant citrus and earthy pine tones complemented by a biscuity finish and a
00:02:32
hefty 10.8% ABV. A little boozy, a little bit on the boozy side I think, but still a very great craft beer.
00:02:40
Garage grade three and three quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and
00:02:46
praise to our good friends for helping us fill up the old garage fridge. First up a cheers to Amy Birch in Louisville,
00:02:53
Texas. >> big tall cans in the air to Caitlin from Philly. >> Next, here's a long distance cheers to
00:03:00
Carl Thompson Pedersen and I'm going to give this one a shot here, Captain, in Vile
00:03:05
Denmark. And to everyone who has donated to the beer fund and not got a shout out, please check your spam box or your
00:03:13
junk folder because you may just find an email from us sitting in there. To make
00:03:19
a donation go to truecrimegarage.com and to everyone that has we thank you. >> Yeah, b w e double r u n beer on. For
00:03:29
everything true crime, check out truecrimegarage.com. Make sure you sign up on the mailing
00:03:34
list and Colonel, that's enough of the beers and ass. >> All right, everybody gather around, grab
00:03:38
a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. >> I'm delighted to have the opportunity to
00:04:08
help launch the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to tell you that the safety and
00:04:14
protection of our children is a top priority on the national agenda. All Americans
00:04:20
and especially our youth should have the right and the opportunity to walk our streets, to
00:04:26
play, and to grow, and to live their lives without being at risk. These efforts are only the essential first
00:04:32
steps and formidable challenges remain. Meeting them is what the National Center for Missing
00:04:38
and Exploited Children is all about. >> Timothy William Wiltsey, better known as
00:04:52
Timmy, was born August 6th, 1985. He disappeared at the age of 5 after he was last seen or reported to be last seen at
00:05:00
a carnival in Kennedy Park in Sayreville, New Jersey. This was on May 25th, 1991, which is also National
00:05:09
Missing Children's Day. His mother, Michelle, gave varying accounts in some of these accounts, she turned
00:05:16
away while buying a soda and he was simply gone. In others, he was abducted by two men
00:05:22
and a woman, one the woman who she identified as Ellen. Police already at the carnival for security and traffic
00:05:32
purposes shut down the event and searched the grounds but found no trace of Timmy.
00:05:38
Investigators pursued the lead about Ellen but it went nowhere. Michelle's inconsistent statements led
00:05:45
police to consider the possibility that she may be involved. In October of 1991,
00:05:51
Dan O'Malley found a child's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneaker in the marshlands of Raritan Center Business
00:05:58
Park in Edison, New Jersey, across from the Raritan River in Sayreville, and turned it over to the police.
00:06:06
Michelle could not confirm that it was Timmy's sneaker. In April of 1992, law enforcement
00:06:13
searched the area that same area and found a second sneaker along with a pillowcase, a blue and white blanket,
00:06:21
and nearby officers recovered a skull and other bones near a tire that was dredged from the Red Root Creek.
00:06:30
The county medical examiner identified the remains as Timmy's and ruled the death a homicide, though the exact
00:06:36
medical cause of death could not be determined due to advanced decomposition. FBI laboratory testing
00:06:42
found no trace evidence on the recovered items, and investigators could not conclusively
00:06:48
link them to Timmy or Michelle. Michelle and her parents said they did not recognize the blanket as
00:06:55
coming from Michelle's home. And that is where we had left off there, Captain. A
00:07:01
missing person's case turned homicide investigation with a new set of what can be considered
00:07:08
evidence, but none that could or would yield any real leads or clues into how the boy had gone missing, been killed,
00:07:15
or how his remains ended up where they were found 11 months after he vanished. So, because of that, I want to hone in
00:07:26
on this search and go through it in detail and the results of that search. First, as we
00:07:32
know, time is the killer. Time in this case and the elements of the environment in which these items were found is the
00:07:39
killer of physical evidence. That being said, the first shoe was found in October of the previous year. It seems
00:07:47
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
00:07:54
'91 instead of April of '92? Well, add that to our list of mysteries here in this week's case.
00:08:01
Chalk it up to bad luck or to bad work. But regardless, let's get into the thick
00:08:06
of it, my friend. There's an FBI report on this case, on the Timmy Wiltsey case.
00:08:12
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
00:08:20
blanket as we start with page one. I'm joking, of course. May- Hey. When we get really late in the game,
00:08:27
Captain, last season, we're just going to do that. We're just going to go through every
00:08:33
inch by inch of every single case. I mean, we really could go through 211 pages of this FBI report. If
00:08:40
>> If you do, >> the FBI is great at many things. They're usually very good at their reports. This
00:08:46
one's a little all over the shop. It doesn't It doesn't read like a chapter book.
00:08:51
>> Yeah. Uh it's kind of >> No Stephen King novel. >> It's spotty, let's say. But it's a It's
00:08:56
a good It's a good report, uh very thorough. But in regard to this search, because
00:09:02
what we get from the FBI report is very different from what you would see on the
00:09:07
news, hear on the radio, or read in the newspapers. You get the behind-the-scenes action of
00:09:14
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
00:09:24
file here to review some of the details of this search and the behind-the-scenes
00:09:30
action. So, it goes something like this, from the FBI report. It describes a search near the Raritan
00:09:39
Center in Edison, New Jersey, which is a large complex of businesses and warehouses.
00:09:46
They decided to do the search after investigators learned that the missing boy's mother, Michelle, had actually
00:09:52
worked there. And remember, she failed to report that when giving her work history to
00:10:01
law enforcement investigating the case. >> Right, but she did work there 3 years
00:10:05
prior. >> Correct. Yes. Michelle worked at a company in Raritan Center from September
00:10:12
1988 to March of 1989. And remember, Timothy disappeared on May 25th, 1991. I'm going to say this in Michelle's
00:10:22
defense. You already said that she, you know, had worked there years prior. I'm not convinced that she didn't
00:10:29
remember working there. But, in her defense, the proximity of where the body or the partial remains
00:10:37
were ultimately found, they're not very far from where the boy went missing if he did in fact go missing from the
00:10:44
Kennedy Park. >> Right. >> And >> So, do we know how far the remains were found from the business
00:10:54
park? >> Yes. So, where she had worked was about 0.4 miles from the location of where the
00:11:01
sneaker and the other items and the remains were found. >> Right, but how far away is this marsh
00:11:09
from the carnival he was at? >> Oh, it would just be a few miles. >> Right. >> It's
00:11:15
And what's interesting here is after the body is found or after the remains were found, there's at least one
00:11:24
law enforcement officer on the record stating like, "There's a lot of places to hide a body out here." Which just
00:11:31
that statement alone is when we went through the extensive search that was going on shortly after the boy was
00:11:38
reported missing. And that search extended beyond Kennedy Park, beyond the carnival, and and into the surrounding
00:11:48
areas. This would be, I would say, a neighboring area to the immediate surrounding areas. But with the state
00:11:56
>> with a statement like uh well, this would be a there's a lot of places to hide a body out here.
00:12:02
I I don't know. I'm just I'm uncertain. I'm less clueless as to why they certain
00:12:07
did not search this area. Or if they did, it wasn't a very thorough search when the boy was
00:12:12
reported missing in May of '91. I'm very confused, however, why this area wasn't
00:12:17
searched better in October of '91 when the shoe was found. >> Right. >> And their statement was always like,
00:12:25
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
00:12:31
You've also, years later, will be telling us you think she's been lying to you since the beginning. So, why start
00:12:37
believing her now? You can't pick and choose when to believe a liar. >> Well, like I said, you can.
00:12:43
>> Well, >> But there's a lot of stupid people, but there's also many possibilities, right?
00:12:49
So, you go, >> Do >> is it possible that Timmy just walked to this area, and because of the terrain,
00:12:58
that's how he passed away? >> It It's too far for that. It The terrain >> If it's within 5 mi Hold on. If it's
00:13:06
within 5 mi, you're telling me a a kid can't walk 5 mi? >> Yeah, I'm Well, I would believe yes,
00:13:13
that a child would be able to walk 5 mi. I have a difficult time believing that a
00:13:18
child would walk 5 mi alone and not be seen, and nobody come forward. This is not like a
00:13:25
it's not a uh There's This is a heavy heavily populated area. >> Yeah, I understand that, but
00:13:32
there's times that we have times and cases where eyewitnesses claim to see missing people that they don't see, and
00:13:39
then there's times that people just go missing and there's no there's no eyewitness accounts. So, all
00:13:45
I'm saying is as far as law enforcement goes or anybody that's interested in trying to solve this, you
00:13:51
have to put that as a possibility. Is it possibility that you could have got from
00:13:56
the carnival to this area? Sure. And then the other possibility is did they do any searches in this area? And if so,
00:14:05
is that any indication that the child might have been taken by somebody and kept somewhere
00:14:13
for a certain period of time. >> All I can talk about is what was reported, and we
00:14:18
know that there were a couple of searches that took place in October of '91 after that sneaker was
00:14:25
found. Let's go through this report, and you'll you'll see where why I have some
00:14:30
issues with with that those searches in particular. Okay, so the as described, the
00:14:39
the boy disappeared on May 25th, 1991. In the fall of '91, a person walking in the area,
00:14:46
Dan O'Malley, found a sneaker in an underdeveloped swampland. The building where Michelle worked was about 0.4 mi
00:14:54
from this location. The sneaker matched the size that Timothy wore and the make and model and color he was
00:15:03
known to wear. This is from Some of these words are directly from this FBI report. And it states, "Because
00:15:10
Michelle had been viewed as a prime suspect for multiple reasons, investigators considered the proximity a
00:15:16
notable coincidence and planned a search." What I'm trying to point out here is what the FBI report states emphatically
00:15:25
but doesn't all but doesn't state exactly what I'm saying. They are saying that this area where the
00:15:32
shoe was found by Dan O'Malley in October of '91 became priority only after they figured out that she omitted
00:15:39
having worked in the general area. >> Right. >> It was less of a priority when the
00:15:45
sneaker was actually found in October. They They took Basically, they took this from about a level five to a level 10
00:15:54
once they figured out that she had worked in that general area. What I'm pointing out, the reason why I'm
00:15:59
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
00:16:05
own accord. I'm pointing it out that this area should have been a priority in October when the damn sneaker was found.
00:16:13
>> Yeah. It's a identifying marker. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah, so if we would have found a a red
00:16:20
tank top, would we have taken that as serious? >> And it's >> Look, it's also suspicious and
00:16:27
>> to where she lived. So, like to to say, "Well, oh, it's close in proximity to
00:16:31
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
00:16:37
that we questioned. Well, it could be that she worked in a lot of locations near this area.
00:16:43
>> Right. >> But where she lived, where the park is, where he supposedly went missing from,
00:16:48
and where she previous worked previously worked, all three of these locations are
00:16:52
not far from where his body was found. >> But also the identifying marker, the shoes.
00:16:58
To me, it's suspicious that she can't say whether or not it's his. The shoe that she bought her son.
00:17:06
And I understand that a lot of kids would have bought these shoes. But then it goes back to the mental
00:17:12
state because let's just say she's completely innocent of everything. There's a part of her and I think she
00:17:20
even made these statements, she doesn't want this shoe to be her son's. Because this inevitably is evidence that
00:17:28
her son is not with her or with us anymore. >> Right. >> And so it's really >> not. Which is her statement, but
00:17:37
secretly she may not want it to be his shoe or known to be his shoe because they're getting close to finding his
00:17:43
remains that she put there. >> Right. And it And if those remains uh and possibly those remains would give
00:17:51
us evidence to lead us to the killer, which possibly could be his mother. >> Yeah. So the the report goes on let's
00:18:00
we'll continue through the summary. It says multiple agencies were invited for the search and the New Jersey State
00:18:05
Police provided a cadaver dog for 2 days worth of searching. After the dog searches, teams began a manual search.
00:18:13
They quickly found a second sneaker that appeared to match the one recovered in the fall of 1991. The two sneakers
00:18:20
formed a matched pair. Investigators then expanded the search area including Sorry, I misspoke. Investigators then
00:18:29
expanded the search area concluding that the shoes were likely thrown from a roadway rather than dropped. About 2
00:18:38
hours later searchers found a skull in a muddy creek leading to a culvert under the roadway with additional bones within
00:18:46
a few feet. The remains were on the opposite side of the roadway from the sneakers roughly 100 to 150 yards away.
00:18:56
So roughly a little more than a football field away. Edison Police Department units secured the scene overnight. The
00:19:03
Edison Fire Department provided water via a pumper truck to flush debris and sifting screens were used to recover
00:19:12
material from muck dug by hand from the creek bed. Initially, because many bones were found
00:19:20
inside a large discarded truck tire in the creek bed with limb bones nearby, investigators suggested the body may
00:19:29
have been placed inside the tire and then rolled downhill into the creek. Michelle was interviewed by detectives
00:19:38
from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and the Sayreville Police Department. The report states her
00:19:45
demeanor seemed inconsistent with a grieving mother and that she showed little interest in the recovery details.
00:19:52
After the medical examiner's analysis, investigators determined most recovered bones were in fact those of an animal or
00:20:01
animals. The human remains consisted of the victim's skull, several arm and leg bones, approximately half of the pelvis,
00:20:10
and the lower jaw. This clarified that the tire rolling theory was raised before the final
00:20:18
analysis. So, based on the information that became available at the final analysis, investigators concluded it was
00:20:26
more likely the body was dragged or carried down the embankment and then thrown into
00:20:32
the creek bed. >> Yeah. Because also, if you put the body in this tire and rolled it down the hill,
00:20:38
then the the tire becomes identifying marker to possibly identify the killer. And also, he's 5 years old.
00:20:48
So, he's not going to weigh much. So, whether you're female or male, you should be able to
00:20:55
carry this body to dispose of him wherever you see fit, if that makes sense. >> After investigators recovered only
00:21:04
partial remains, the town moved into the grim ceremonial work of mourning. In May
00:21:11
of 1992, a funeral for Timothy Wiltsey was held in South Amboy. The service had the heavy stunned quiet
00:21:20
of a community trying to understand the unthinkable. Timothy's mother, Michelle, looked visibly shaken.
00:21:27
So unsteady that her parents had to hold her up and help her to walk. When the service ended, Timothy was laid
00:21:35
to rest in nearby Keyport. But the burial did not bring closure for the case, obviously. It opened a new
00:21:45
phase of scrutiny, one that shifted attention away from the carnival and onto Michelle herself. So, a week
00:21:53
after the funeral, information surfaced that changed the public's understanding of what investigators had been dealing
00:22:00
with behind the scenes. So, it became known that Michelle had nearly a year earlier changed her
00:22:08
account of how Timothy disappeared. Police said her story had shifted three times. And it also became public that
00:22:15
she had failed to lie detector test. So, while this is something that we've already covered in our telling of the
00:22:22
story, to the public, this is new info. They didn't know this. From the time that the boy was reported
00:22:29
missing, and on the news, they see the missing person's flyers when they're around and out about in town. And when
00:22:37
they are watching the news, they're seeing the boy's picture for months and months and months.
00:22:41
And then the body's found. This is information they didn't know during that 11 months.
00:22:47
It only came out just after the funeral services. And the reports I have are that it was leaked. I think
00:22:53
I likely think that it was intentionally leaked. And sometimes that's a good strategy. Detectives described
00:23:00
Michelle's demeanor during questioning as oddly flat and unemotional, saying that her way that she was behaving, the
00:23:08
way she presented herself, they didn't believe that that matched what they would expect from a mother
00:23:14
whose child had vanished. >> Yeah, but I hate this. I hate how we constantly go, "Well, we think they
00:23:21
should act this way." And they're not They're not out of control. I mean, I think sometimes you To me,
00:23:28
it's more Are they putting on an act or not? Are they being truthful or not? But
00:23:36
somebody sitting in front of law enforcement, especially if it's FBI, and they're approaching that with a
00:23:42
stoic manner, I don't find that to lean any way towards whether I I don't find that to lean
00:23:51
or sway me to lean one way, whether I think they're innocent or guilty. >> I'm with you. I think the overall
00:24:00
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
00:24:06
the flip of this coin, right? Where where law enforcement or media or even civilians are reviewing a case or
00:24:14
reviewing what they see in the news, and they go, "Well, I think the person's overreacting on and intentionally
00:24:20
overreacting." >> Yeah, but again, that goes to my idea. Are they acting? And if Are they being a
00:24:28
Or I guess are they acting in a in a performative manner? Again, and also do I believe that
00:24:34
they're being truthful or not? And I think there's multiple things that are working against Timothy's mom.
00:24:42
She changes her story. She basically withholds information. And then, I think sometimes, by not even
00:24:51
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 shoe box.
00:25:01
So, that should tell us some information. >> Yeah, there there's much more with the
00:25:07
shoe telling us that it's probably his than rather than it's probably not. We talked about that a a lot in episode
00:25:15
two. And this is what I'm I'm getting at here and I'm I'm trying to avoid being overly critical about the investigation.
00:25:24
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,
00:25:31
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
00:25:37
things into place before he was even reported missing that they're working against in
00:25:43
>> Right. >> at a severe disadvantage. That's if we pretend, right? Clearly, that's if we
00:25:50
pretend that she did it. Now, let's pretend that we don't know who did it, which is how you should conduct your
00:25:55
investigation. My critique of this investigation is not that they didn't try hard or that they didn't
00:26:02
attempt their best to do a good job. My critique is they honed in on Michelle, whether that is right or wrong, but they
00:26:10
allowed that to steer their investigation. They should have searched this area where the sneaker was found better when
00:26:19
it was found, regardless if they believed her statement that it wasn't his shoe.
00:26:25
>> Right. >> What you What I'm saying is you can see this playing out as them building a case
00:26:31
against her in the pub in the public. This information was leaked about the her behavior behind the scenes. I
00:26:38
believe it was leaked on purpose. Why? So that the media could ask law enforcement enforcement questions that
00:26:45
they previously weren't asking them. >> Yeah, but we see that. >> and ask those same questions to
00:26:50
Michelle. When you think you have somebody guilty, you're looking for them to lay out an
00:26:56
an incriminate incrim- Sorry, learn how to You're looking for them to lay out an
00:27:00
incriminating statement Yeah. Or to slip up on one of their lies or several of their lies. And a great way to have that
00:27:08
happen organically is for the media to show up with microphones and shoving cameras in the woman's face.
00:27:14
>> Well, it goes back to the point where she says, "I move because of the media attention."
00:27:20
So, maybe there's some to that. And what the problem I have with this investigation is when there's things
00:27:27
that point to her story being truthful, they poopoo that. There's too much poopoing in this story. I mean, just
00:27:35
like with the carnival worker saying, "I saw this kid and this interaction and with this woman and then that later that
00:27:44
woman was looking for somebody maybe saying Timmy or Jimmy." Okay, there's not a million people at this freaking
00:27:51
carnival. If somebody's going, "Hey, I'm looking for a Timmy or Jimmy." Let's just assume that that person was
00:27:57
probably looking for a Timmy and not a Jimmy. And we can't just go, "Oh, well, she looked disheveled and maybe she was
00:28:03
on something, so I don't believe anything she says." Because that doesn't fit the narrative that I'm trying to
00:28:09
build. >> Yeah, it's That's my critique of the case that I think that they were chasing Michelle more than they
00:28:16
were chasing the case. And look, again, if you make it if you're lucky enough to
00:28:23
make it to the rank of detective, that's why you got into the business. I'm sorry
00:28:28
to say that, right? There's a missing kid. Ultimately, he's found his remains are found in this very area, but where
00:28:34
the shoe I would be if the chief would allow me, I would be there morning, noon, and
00:28:39
night for 7 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
00:28:45
couch every single night. I This is what I signed up This is the what I signed up
00:28:50
for. >> Right. This is my Super Bowl. >> justice for the victims and the excitement of a case like this.
00:28:56
>> Yeah, and then my other problem is when she comes forward and says, "Hey, and we
00:29:02
don't know how this went down. I don't have the transcript of this, but did she come forward and go, 'Hey, you
00:29:08
know that first story I told was kind of BS. This is really what happened.' And if
00:29:14
that's all that happened and she says, 'Well, there was this lady and there was these
00:29:20
two guys and X, Y, and Z happened.' If that's all that happened, I can see turning a suspicious eye. But when you
00:29:28
have other eyewitnesses that have no connection to the mother say, "We saw a child with uh
00:29:37
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
00:29:46
her and how she received that. But if she received it as of I'm telling the truth and maybe it took a minute for me
00:29:56
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
00:30:02
happen or something worse could happen. If she felt like nobody believed her, then
00:30:08
there's then that becomes a breakdown in communication. So even if you think she
00:30:14
is suspicious, if you make her feel like she can come and talk to you and give you as much
00:30:20
information and she feels like you're believing her, if you're suspicious of her, you want to keep that gateway open
00:30:28
and I think they kind of shut that off. So then it comes to the shoe and I think
00:30:32
she didn't even know how to react. Do I tell them that I think it's the shoe or do I tell
00:30:37
them it's not the shoe and doesn't even matter because they don't believe anything I'm saying anyways.
00:30:42
>> Yeah. I don't know. I I tend to think that she didn't have a great answer for the shoe because she
00:30:49
had hoped that it would never be found and didn't get that far along in her her plan. One
00:30:56
of the polygraphics administrators talking to the media said that her regarding Michelle
00:31:06
her results were quote all over the charts and adding that what disturbed him most wasn't
00:31:13
only the inconsistent readings, but her defiant attitude throughout that process.
00:31:20
Now, inside her family the tension had its own shape. Michelle's brother Edward said that
00:31:28
Michelle knew that she had failed the polygraph exam. And according to him, the realization
00:31:37
didn't break her, it angered her. He described her as throwing things and lashing out in frustration at her
00:31:46
failing the test. >> Coming to Acorn TV. >> There's a killer on the loose. >> Brooke Shields stars in the new original
00:32:08
murder mystery. >> You're killing me. >> You spin some crackpot theory and I find
00:32:13
the evidence. >> I solve mysteries for a living. I think I'm good to go. >> Murder has met its match.
00:32:18
>> You cannot be here. This is a police investigation. >> I've written you. >> What does that mean?
00:32:23
>> He was a big city cop with a small jurisdiction. >> Boomers are so cute when they flirt.
00:32:29
>> You're killing me. All new episodes now on Acorn TV. >> As routine shift and summer plans begin,
00:32:36
it's easy for learning to take a backseat. IXL makes it simple to stay sharp and keep skills fresh in just a
00:32:44
few minutes a day. >> IXL is an award-winning online learning platform that helps kids truly
00:32:50
understand what they're learning. Whether they're building math confidence, strengthening reading and
00:32:55
writing skills, or reviewing science concepts. From pre-K through 12th grade with personalized interactive content
00:33:03
that adapts to each child's level and pace. >> IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school
00:33:10
districts in the US. And studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests. Proven in all 50 states. It's an easy
00:33:18
way to support learning now through summer and into the next school year. >> Make an impact on your child's learning.
00:33:25
Get IXL now. And Going West True Crime listeners can get an exclusive 20% off of IXL membership when they sign up
00:33:32
today at ixl.com/goingwest. >> Visit ixl.com/goingwest to get the most effective learning
00:33:40
program out there at the best price. >> Summer always changes how you get dressed. You want pieces that feel
00:33:48
lighter and more breathable. Things that are easy, but still put together. That's
00:33:52
where Quince comes in. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Think breathable linen and
00:33:59
soft organic cotton. And Quince goes way beyond clothing. They have custom upholstered sofas, ceramic cookware,
00:34:06
premium bedding, and more for your home. It's the kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything.
00:34:13
I've been recommending Quince for a couple years now. And I've been shopping quince.com for a couple of years now.
00:34:20
Why? Cuz they keep me coming back. Cuz they got the good stuff. I love their classic fashion. They got me looking
00:34:27
good for any situation. And you can shop quince.com for men's fashions, women's fashions, shop for
00:34:34
kids, they have travel essentials. And here's a secret, I've purchased a lot of gifts on quince.com. Elevate your summer
00:34:42
wardrobe, go to quince.com/garage for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada,
00:34:52
too. That's q-u-i-n-c-e.com/garage for free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com/garage
00:35:03
Picture this. It's the end of a long week. You're unwinding in the tub listening to your favorite true crime
00:35:10
podcast, and then chronic hives come back again in the middle of the episode. What a
00:35:17
wet blanket. Looks like another spell of itchy, swollen, red, or skin-colored hives. If you have chronic spontaneous
00:35:25
urticaria or CSU, there may be a different treatment option. Worried about your chronic hives
00:35:33
erupting our next episode? Learn more at treatmyhives.com/garage. All right, we are back talking in the
00:35:57
air. Cheers to everybody out there. And cheers to everybody that went to Crime Con this last weekend.
00:36:05
As time passed, the case remained unresolved, but it did not go quiet. Not at all, my friends. In January of 1994,
00:36:14
something happened that made the entire story feel absolutely stranger than fiction and even more volatile.
00:36:22
Michelle's car, her vehicle was found idling >> Yeah. >> empty with the door open at the home
00:36:29
that she shared with her brother. And now to her family, it looked like the beginning of a second nightmare.
00:36:36
They reported Michelle missing and feared that she had been kidnapped, too. In fact, they feared what most were
00:36:44
probably thinking when they heard of this, that potentially Michelle, the young mother of the once missing boy, may have
00:36:52
been abducted by the same person or persons who abducted Timmy. So, this is This is crazy stuff. We've reviewed a
00:37:00
lot of cases and have never We've never had anything like this in any of the cases. Boy goes missing and then later
00:37:08
the mother of the boy goes missing. This would be not quite, but nearly 3 years after Timothy went missing.
00:37:15
So, this is from nj.com here, Captain. And I'll just read a little bit of it. It says on January 21st, Michelle's car
00:37:25
was found idling outside the Woodbridge apartment she shared with her brother, Edward. The door of her white Toyota
00:37:31
Celica was ajar, and her purse was found inside. Her family feared she had been kidnapped, perhaps by the people who
00:37:39
took Timmy. Well, that fear, my garage friends, only lasted for 1 day. Because the next day, Michelle
00:37:48
reappeared. >> What happened to Michelle? >> But not in South Amboy, New Jersey.
00:37:55
>> Mhm. >> Not at home, not at a hospital. Michelle reappeared by walking up to police on a street
00:38:03
all the way in Detroit, Michigan. So, she tells an officer she had been released by her abductors,
00:38:11
and that she had been kidnapped by men posing as FBI agents. >> Mhm. >> And she said these men had told her that
00:38:20
they were going to, quote, teach her a lesson for talking about Timmy. Language that sounded
00:38:27
like both a punishment and a threat folded into one. >> Right. >> Now, back at home, the story took on
00:38:33
another sinister prop. This is because 2 weeks after Michelle returned from the air quote abduction,
00:38:41
Edward, again, this is Michelle's brother, he found an FBI business card left on her door. You know how the when
00:38:49
the detectives knock and no one's there, they'll sometimes they'll stuff a business card, wedge it between the
00:38:56
jam it in the door there. >> Or a slightly used pair of panties. >> So, he finds an FBI business card
00:39:04
>> Mhm. >> jammed into the door. On the back of the business card, there's a message on it
00:39:09
that just simply says, "It's not over." >> Okay. >> Now, the the actual FBI agent who has
00:39:15
overseeing who had on and off again worked this case, this would prompt him to resume digging,
00:39:23
right? And the investigation quickly found something that didn't fit the kidnapping
00:39:30
narrative at all. >> Okay. >> So, they find a local print shop that had recently did a job printing FBI
00:39:38
business cards >> Okay. >> for Michelle. >> Don't be suspicious. Don't be suspicious.
00:39:48
>> So, this is this a >> basically a [ __ ] ruse. >> Yeah. So, her statement was, "Look, I I
00:39:54
wasn't actually abducted by FBI. I was abducted by people that I figured out during the abduction were posing to be
00:40:01
FBI, and this must be some high-level stuff. Again, these could be the same people that were involved in the
00:40:07
abduction of her son, >> Mhm. >> and they're threatening her because she's talking about the abduction and
00:40:13
and what she knows about her missing son, trying to quiet her, scare her into shutting up and not helping police
00:40:20
anymore. That's the general idea here. But, the problem with that is these fake FBI business cards weren't
00:40:29
made by someone outside of the investigation. They were designed and paid for by Michelle.
00:40:36
Right. So, the FBI is like, "Hey, wait a second here, honey. We found uh this print shop that said you paid for these
00:40:44
business cards to be made and oh yeah, the one found jammed in your door, too. We're guessing you placed that there as
00:40:50
well." So, faced with that discovery, Michelle admitted what all this evidence was pointing
00:40:56
toward, that she had faked her own kidnapping. She said that she took a bus and traveled to Detroit and left her car
00:41:03
in a way that she knew that people would report her missing. Right. Now, even after she admitted that the
00:41:10
kidnapping was staged, she wouldn't talk any more about the staged kidnapping and also would not open up about the
00:41:20
deeper issue at the center of everything, the Because this the contradictory accounts that she gave
00:41:28
about Timothy's disappearance takes on a whole level a whole new level of weight here.
00:41:36
>> Mhm. >> After you've proven one hoax, right? >> Well, in fairness to Michelle, she's she
00:41:45
can't talk more about Timothy's case because she might have to kidnap herself. And her consequence
00:41:54
>> will result in another kidnapping. >> Yeah, I mean, this to me is the biggest red flag because what is
00:42:03
the point? The point was simply to try to make law enforcement believe that there was something bigger happening
00:42:11
here. >> Mhm. And that she wouldn't be able to help them or assist them in the investigation. I also think that it's
00:42:18
important to note she has this great idea. Please hear the sarcasm in my voice there.
00:42:25
She has this great idea after the discovery of the remains, not before. >> Right.
00:42:31
>> This is it's quite some time after that discovery, but still it's after. So, this hoax, this kidnapping hoax,
00:42:39
however, will have consequences of its own. You can't just fake kidnap yourself and report it to police and and claim
00:42:47
that the FBI had some level involved of involvement even if the people were just
00:42:52
posing to be FBI agents. >> Well, I don't know. >> And the FBI really doesn't like it when
00:42:56
you make fake FBI business cards. >> Yeah. >> Do that and see what happens. >> Well, it's kind of weird when she made
00:43:03
them on neon green stock. Uh no, but what what was her name? Sherri Papini? Did she fake kidnap
00:43:10
herself? >> Yeah. >> And she ended up getting like multiple documentaries. She'll probably write a
00:43:15
book about it. She'll probably become a multimillionaire because she fake kidnapped herself.
00:43:19
>> Well, she also got in quite a bit of trouble for that. And and there's >> She should have gotten more trouble.
00:43:24
>> the only one. She's a wife and there was another wife that did the same thing.
00:43:28
Basically, so they could spend a week or a long weekend with another man. >> Yeah, listen, no man no man's worth
00:43:36
that. >> Yeah. Uh what happened to you? Well, I got kidnapped. Here's the FBI card to prove it.
00:43:45
>> So, in March of 1995, Michelle was sentenced to 6 months of house arrest and 3 years of probation for the
00:43:53
FBI-related kidnapping hoax because she had not been kidnapped and lied to the police.
00:43:59
>> Wait, what she what did she get again? >> Um 6 months of house arrest and 3 years
00:44:05
of probation. >> Not enough. >> So, investigators in Sayreville believed they understood her motive. They
00:44:11
suspected she staged the kidnapping to avoid being subpoenaed in an investigation involving her boyfriend.
00:44:18
>> Mhm. >> So, they're actually thinking that her one of her motives for this was not all
00:44:24
about her dead or murdered son. >> Right. >> So, her boyfriend, he's a police officer.
00:44:31
>> Oh, great. >> At this time, okay? In in a neighboring community. This is Union County. He's in
00:44:36
Union County somewhere. And he had been accused So, he had been accused of improperly
00:44:43
checking license plate numbers. So, he's running plates for Michelle. You You can't do this. You can't like run plates
00:44:51
for friends and family. It happens a lot, though. >> Yeah. >> But, you're not supposed to do this. So,
00:44:57
improperly checking license plates and he's running these for Michelle. Now, Michelle is saying that she needs
00:45:03
him to run these because she believes that these are vehicles that are following her. She tells her boyfriend,
00:45:10
"There's been a lot of vehicles following me. I need to know who these people are. I don't feel safe." He
00:45:15
starts running these plates. >> Yeah. >> So, in May of 1995, the department decided to take actions against him over
00:45:23
those allegations. She would be subpoenaed to have to testify against her boyfriend.
00:45:30
>> Mhm. >> And they think that that is part of the motive for this of why she did this uh
00:45:37
kidnapping hoax. >> Well, she also might be afraid of having to take another polygraph test because
00:45:42
we know she's not good at that. And then she starts throwing things when she fails.
00:45:47
>> Well, but the other part of that, too, it's not so dumb, right? Because if she
00:45:52
were to be able to sell the abduction, >> Yeah. >> like, "Hey, I was abducted by these
00:45:58
people that I figured out weren't actually FBI." Well, then that would he's not improperly running
00:46:05
these plates. He he's running plate numbers because this woman thought she had been
00:46:10
followed and then she was later abducted. >> Yeah, but sometimes you put in too much
00:46:15
effort. It's like when somebody says, "Hey, come over to our house. We're having a
00:46:20
Halloween party." But you don't double-check to make sure it's a costume party and you and you
00:46:27
show up half-naked trying to be the sexiest cheerleader you can be and nobody else is dressed up. And so this
00:46:35
whole plan is foiled by the idea of, "Well, I'm going to go get business cards made." If she didn't ever make
00:46:43
those business cards, we'd be sitting here today going, "We don't know if this kidnapping was real or not." She
00:46:50
over-prepared and put too much effort in. >> Yeah, so that was in March of 1995.
00:47:00
And the dates might be a little jumbled there in that portion of the story, but it it boils down to when they were
00:47:08
deciding to take action against the boyfriend over those allegations. Now, some more time passes and Michelle kept
00:47:16
encountering the justice system in new and interesting ways. But again, this doesn't have anything to do with the
00:47:25
death of her son. >> Right. >> So in 1997, Michelle is pregnant with her second child. So if Timmy was still
00:47:33
alive, this would then be his older brother or younger brother, I'm sorry. Timmy would get to be an older brother.
00:47:40
But she again, pregnant, gets in trouble. She pled guilty to stealing a computer from an employer or former
00:47:48
employer at the time. It was a laptop taken for the reason that she wanted to give it to her police officer boyfriend
00:47:58
as a Christmas gift. >> Oh. >> Now, it wasn't the former employer who figures out what happened to the laptop.
00:48:06
No, it's the boyfriend who receives it as a Christmas gift. He quickly realizes this is stolen property. So, he reports
00:48:14
it. >> So, he's trying to get his pregnant girlfriend put in jail. >> I don't think he's trying to. That will
00:48:19
be what happens because she stole somebody's property and tried to gift it to him. So,
00:48:26
>> Yeah, but the chances are >> Hopefully, he's finally seeing the light is what I'm saying. He reports this. You
00:48:30
got to realize sometimes you're with a bad person and it takes some time to wake up. It sounds like he he woke up on
00:48:35
that Christmas day, received a laptop as a gift, and then completely woke up and
00:48:40
realized this chick ain't no good. >> Right, but let me paint you a picture. You're you're on Tinder or Bumble or
00:48:47
whatever the newest dating app is. And you go, "Oh, this this woman's you know, she's pretty attractive and I and and
00:48:55
she is her interests are true crime and true crime documentaries." And you go, "Oh,
00:49:01
we have some stuff in common." So, we go to the local Starbucks and we we decide
00:49:06
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
00:49:12
the point of the date where you go, "Okay, well, you know, but your your profile name
00:49:18
seems like it was a nickname. What's your real name?" When she states that her name is Casey Anthony, you get up
00:49:24
from the table and you run as fast as you can. This individual knew her. Michelle was known by
00:49:31
everybody in the community. He knows the situation, and he's law enforcement. So,
00:49:37
all he has to do I I understand it's neighbor in law enforcement, but all he has to do is talk to other law
00:49:42
enforcement officers and if they go, "Hey, look, we are very suspicious of her."
00:49:48
Whether you killed your child or you became very suspicious of killing your child,
00:49:54
that is a deal breaker. You don't stay at the Applebee's and order a brownie sundae. You go, "Hey, it was
00:50:03
nice being with you. Uh you might be responsible for the death of a five- five-year-old child.
00:50:10
No, thank you. We're not going to We're not going to be dating." And then, when she fakes being kidnapped by FBI agent,
00:50:17
you go, "Yep, not going to be dating anymore." There was all these >> Well, you've already gotten him in
00:50:23
trouble for running the plates as well. Or at least I shouldn't say you got him in trouble.
00:50:28
He decided to do that for you knowing that it was wrong when >> Right, making bad decisions. Right, but
00:50:33
but this is where depending on what employer it was, there's probably no way of them knowing
00:50:41
that she took the laptop until he said, "Hey, this is this is stolen goods and I'm
00:50:47
going to report it." I I think this was his way of getting rid of her. >> Yeah, that's what I said. I think he
00:50:54
finally saw the light regardless if he was blinded by it before >> Right. >> or not, he finally saw the I mean, you
00:51:01
you don't you don't get a gift from your girlfriend and then report it as stolen
00:51:06
property if you intend to stay with her. >> Well, so >> I mean, well, I mean, we can't go down
00:51:13
every road here. We got to get through this case. I mean, everything's a possibility in every
00:51:18
different scenario, but we don't have time to discuss every one of those possibilities.
00:51:23
>> to your point, this could be the wake wake up call where he's like, "Okay, I gave her the benefit of the doubt here
00:51:28
and I gave her the benefit of the doubt here, but she's willing to steal this thing and then give it to me. So, now
00:51:34
I'm in possession of stolen goods. Okay, maybe maybe these other things that I gave her the benefit of the doubt, I'm
00:51:41
questioning more now." >> So, when this discovery is made, she is arrested again. She spends a day in jail
00:51:50
and then she is later sentenced to 4 months of house arrest and gets three additional years of probation. Now,
00:51:59
in 1998, Michelle left New Jersey behind and moved to the state of Florida. We've
00:52:06
referenced Florida a couple times already in our coverage. Remember, she at times had other family down in the
00:52:14
Sunshine State. In 1999, she would move again, this time to Apple Valley, Minnesota. There she
00:52:23
built a different looking life. Uh she got married in 2001 and started a new family. That same
00:52:30
year, she spoke with a reporter from the Star-Ledger who visited her. Took Took a
00:52:35
trip all the way out to Minnesota to interview Michelle, and Michelle agreed to the interview. She said that she was
00:52:41
getting on with her life, but she had still held out hope that the case would be resolved.
00:52:47
Her words, not mine, quote, "So everyone will know I was telling the truth." End
00:52:53
quote, she said. Not that I hope they find the killer of my son. >> Right. >> But I hope that the case is solved so
00:52:59
that everybody will know that I was telling the truth. That seems to be the most important thing to Michelle.
00:53:05
>> Bizarre. >> When pressed, when asked which version of her story was true regarding the
00:53:11
different explanations of how he went missing, how Timmy went missing, she answered in a way that offered
00:53:17
explanation without clarity. She said she had told police different things at different times based on things they
00:53:24
said to her. And she insisted she wasn't involved. She refused to go into more detail,
00:53:32
briefly reiterating that it all had started when I was standing at the refreshment stand.
00:53:39
And that was it. That's as much as she would say. Now, as you're probably guessing here,
00:53:46
if they had a DK sports book on marriages, I would vote this one as I would pick the under on this one. The
00:53:54
marriage didn't last. Michelle was pregnant with her third child when she returned to Florida. This is in 2003.
00:54:03
When she bought a small home in Port St. Lucie and she was working there as a paralegal.
00:54:16
Inside that home, she kept a beautiful picture of Timothy Wiltsey displayed where it could be seen not
00:54:23
just by her, but by anyone entering the home. This big beautiful picture of of her son
00:54:29
who had passed years prior. And she told her son, she was open about it. She told her sons,
00:54:36
you know, by this point she has two boys. And would remind them that the boy in the
00:54:42
photo was their brother, was their older brother. >> Right. >> For a long stretch through the early
00:54:49
2010s, the investigation itself it didn't really meaningfully advance. The case kind of lingered in the
00:54:58
background of official files and family histories. And it really started to feel
00:55:03
kind of like the unsolved tragedy that just sits in in a place, sits in place heavy, unresolved while everyone who had
00:55:13
any connection to it just grows older. But, around the 20th anniversary of Timothy Wiltsey's disappearance, an
00:55:20
investigator in the prosecutor's office decided it was time to start over. Not from scratch, not from the very
00:55:28
beginning, but from the evidence standpoint. Let's review everything and anything that may hold any evidentiary
00:55:37
value. The investigator returned to details that had long been known and yet never fully explained, asking what might
00:55:46
have been overlooked. One item that rose to the top of the stack here, Captain, is that blue and
00:55:54
white blanket found somewhat near Timothy's partial remains. At the time it was discovered, the
00:56:02
blanket had been shown only to Michelle and to Michelle's parents. >> Right, and they didn't recognize the
00:56:09
blanket. >> They didn't recognize it. However, to the investigator looking at the items,
00:56:14
specifically this one, and putting a lot of thought into it, it really started to
00:56:20
feel much less like a random object and much more like a private clue. And the new investigator believed that it
00:56:28
mattered. And when he presented his argument to the team, the other investigators
00:56:36
agreed. They focused really on something simple and practical here when you think about it. We've
00:56:42
already said it was hot that day. It was hot and it was humid that day. And their
00:56:46
general thought was a child would not likely carry a large blanket through a carnival.
00:56:52
>> Right. >> Number one. But number two, let's double down on that. A child would not likely
00:56:59
carry a large blanket through a carnival, especially on a humid 90° day. So, with that in mind, they drew a
00:57:08
conclusion that redirected the timeline of the disappearance. They reasoned the blanket likely came from Michelle's
00:57:16
home. If that was in fact true, then Timothy may have gone from the home to the location where his remains were
00:57:24
ultimately found, not from the home to the carnival and then onward. They believed the blanket may have been used
00:57:31
to cover Timothy's body after his death. >> Want to thank you for joining us here in
00:57:54
the garage. So much more to get to. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter.
00:58:36
>> LinkedIn's AI-powered job search can help you find the most relevant roles based on your goals and experience. It
00:58:42
cannot help you find something to talk about in the elevator. >> So, uh ride any dragons this weekend?
00:58:48
>> It can help you find your next job just by describing it in your own words. It
00:58:52
cannot stop your coworker from describing their dreams. >> So, I was flying, right?
00:58:57
>> And while we can't help you advance in the office foosball tournament, LinkedIn can help you advance in your
00:59:03
career. LinkedIn is the network that works for you. >> When you're craving something extra
00:59:08
delicious, extra saucy, and extra extra, there's Applebee's all you can eat. An unlimited spread of flavorful favorites
00:59:15
for just $15.99. You get all the tender signature riblets, all the crispy boneless wings, all the golden brown
00:59:22
double crunch shrimp, and endless classic fries. All at a price that is just right. Applebee's all you can eat
00:59:28
for just $15.99 per person per order. Now, that's eating good in the neighborhood. Limited time only, so
00:59:34
hurry in to your nearest Applebee's today.