Cabins by the Lake /// Part 2 /// 766

Summary

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True Crime Garage

Cabins by the Lake /// Part 2 /// 766
June 12, 2024

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Episode Overview

In this intense and detailed installment, hosts Nic and the Captain continue their deep dive into the decades-old disappearance of 17-year-old Belinda Van Lith from Minnesota in 1974. The episode shifts focus from initial suspects to an unsettling and dangerous figure: Timothy Joseph Crosby. Tying together case notes, police interviews, and pattern analysis, the hosts walk listeners through the increasingly disturbing connections between Crosby’s criminal activity and Belinda’s likely fate, alongside raising broader issues about repeat sexual predators and potential serial killings in the region.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Revisiting Suspects and Introduction of Timothy Crosby

• [02:58] The episode begins by examining how police suspicion shifted from Dwayne Cornwell (owner of the house Belinda was sitting) to Timothy Crosby, whose family's cabin was only 100 yards from where Belinda disappeared.
• Crosby’s Profile: Roughly Belinda’s age, living near Cornwell, arrested for kidnapping and rape six months after Belinda vanished.
• Criminal Kit: Crosby’s vehicle contained a gun, knives, rope, handcuffs, and women’s clothing—indicative, as Nic notes, of a “rape and or kill kit”.
  • Nic: “This is not something out of the ordinary. When we talk about these very violent sadist types, what comes to mind here is a Ted Bundy type that's driving around with these, these instruments of rape and murder...” ([07:50])

Crosby’s Timeline and Statements

• [08:07] Early police interviews with Crosby days after Belinda disappeared note his claim that “she visited my home on Friday, June 14, 1974.”
• Contradictions Decades Later: In an exclusive interview with The Vault Podcast, Crosby denies ever knowing Belinda or telling police she visited but police files say otherwise.
  • Nic: “He’s simply denying that he said the name Belinda, but for whatever reason, that’s what is recorded in the police file...” ([11:23])

The Scenario & Theory of Belinda’s Disappearance

• [13:40] Host speculation: Belinda may have visited Crosby’s home a second time seeking his sister for a party, giving Crosby a window of opportunity to act.
• Literature on Crime: Police recover books from Crosby’s home on rape, murder, and body disposal (including using manure).
• Physical Evidence: After Belinda's disappearance, neighbors report seeing Crosby’s car covered in mud or manure.
  • Nic: “If that was the case, then that seems highly suspicious given that they confiscated material literature that talks about burying people in manure...” ([17:00])
• Opportunity and Proximity: Small community, isolated cabins, ample opportunity for an unsupervised attack.

Crosby’s Pattern: More Offenses and Escalation

• [22:18] Reoffended in the early 1980s—another abducted woman escapes from a tampered car door.
• [24:12] In 1987, Crosby kidnaps and tortures a 21-year-old sex worker in St. Paul for 16 hours; she escapes by kicking out a nailed-shut window.
  • Nic: “She jumps out of this window screaming and yelling... She ran, hands tied behind her back into the parking lot...called the police...” ([27:55])

Legal Responses and (Lack of) Justice

• [32:23] Despite repeated violent crimes, Crosby serves short sentences, works plea deals, and is routinely released only to reoffend.
• Captain: “He seems pretty comfortable talking to police and lying to police and lying to everybody. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a slew of other victims.” ([32:33])

Suspected Serial Offenses: The Link with Area Murders

• [35:52] Between 1992 and 1994, a series of dismembered female remains—many of sex workers—are found in Wright County and surrounding areas.
• Community Advocacy: The Whisper advocacy group raises alarms about a potential serial killer targeting sex workers; Crosby fits the geographical and behavioral profile.
• No Concrete Proof: Authorities unable to directly link Crosby by forensics; belief remains strong in the community and advocacy groups that he is responsible for a portion of these murders.

Pattern Analysis and Psychological Motives

• [41:22] Nic compares Crosby’s predatory behavior to themes in “Silence of the Lambs”—pointing out escalation, shifting risk, and victim selection driven by compulsion.
  • Nic: “It seems a little random because the first victim taken was actually the third victim found...He killed what he coveted. What do you covet? You covet what you see every day... It's almost playing that scenario out in real life.” ([42:11])
• Crosby’s Inability to Stop: Hosts underscore Crosby’s repeated pattern of sexual violence and suggest that some predators cannot be rehabilitated.

Legal Disposition & The State’s Final Actions

• [43:34] Crosby eventually civilly committed for life in 2009 as a sexually dangerous person, after repeat offenses made his status as an unrehabilitatable predator clear.
  • Nic (quoting John Douglas): “You cannot rehabilitate somebody who's never been habilitated in the first place...” ([44:16])

Investigation Shortcomings & The Frustration of Unsolved Cases

• [46:42] Early missteps: Evidence (like women’s clothing found with Crosby) not matched to missing persons nor presented to families.
• Captain: “The big problem with Belinda's case is we don't have answers. We have a pretty good idea of who's responsible... but unless they somehow discover her body...it feels closed, but it's not closed.” ([47:06])

The Ongoing Mystery and Call to Action

• [50:00] The hosts stress that there may be more victims—some never identified or whose attacks were never reported. If you have information, contact the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Crosby’s Vehicle:
  “This is not something out of the ordinary. ... Ted Bundy type that's driving around with these, these instruments of rape and murder in his vehicle...”
  — Nic ([07:50])

• On Police Record vs Crosby’s Claims:
  “He says, I don’t really know who she was and I did not tell police that I saw her...But the notes...say that you told police days later that it was Belinda that came to your house.”
  — Nic ([11:23])

• On Early Evidence Mishandling:
  “They found women's female clothing...they didn't show that clothing to Belinda's family to ask could it have belonged to another victim. Instead, these items were returned to his family as they were his possessions.”
  — Nic ([46:42])

• On Crosby’s Predatory Cycle:
  “Everything we can see about this guy is he’s reenacting and has so many shared characteristics and tactics of people that we’ve reviewed that have killed...I’m just thankful that he is locked up.”
  — Nic ([45:12])

• Captain’s Wry Humour:
  “Ass off the streets, that's going to be one of my slogans when I run for president.”
  — Captain ([45:40])

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Key Timestamps

• [02:58] — Transition from Cornwell to Timothy Crosby as primary suspect
• [07:50] — Discovery and analysis of Crosby’s “kill kit”
• [11:23] — Contradictory statements from Crosby (via Vault Podcast)
• [13:40] — Hosts’ theory about how the crime may have played out
• [17:00] — Reports of Crosby’s car covered in mud/manure (possible evidence)
• [22:18] — Account of Crosby’s 1980s offenses and vehicle tampering
• [24:12] — 1987 kidnapping and survivor’s escape
• [32:23] — Crosby’s repeated plea deals, pattern of reoffending
• [35:52] — 1993–94 series of dismembered remains and suspected serial murders
• [41:22] — Discussion of M.O., compulsion, and risk
• [43:34] — Crosby’s civil commitment, public safety issue
• [46:42] — Early police investigation oversights
• [47:06] — Frustration: case feels closed, but remains open
• [50:00] — Call for information/tip hotline

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Conclusion & Resources

The episode’s message: While there may never be absolute closure for Belinda Van Lith’s family, robust circumstantial evidence and behavioral analysis point to Timothy Crosby as a highly likely suspect—one whose predatory patterns and cycle of violence echo classic profiles of serial sexual predators, and who likely has more victims than the record shows.
Nic and Captain urge anyone with information about Belinda Van Lith or Crosby’s activities to contact law enforcement, and recommend further listening/reading on the case via The Vault Podcast and coverage from Inform.com.

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Recommended Resources

• Wright County Sheriffs Office: 763-682-7879 or 763-682-7637
• The Vault Podcast (exclusive Crosby interview and thorough file review): [available through Inform.com]

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True Crime Garage: The only rule—be good, be kind, and don’t litter.

Transcript

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[Nick (Host)]

plan to help you preserve your progress and create something that lasts. Let's find your rich Edward Jones Member SIPC. Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick. And with me at as always is a man who knows that Father's Day is the dirty stepchild of holidays. Here is the captain.

[Captain (Co-host)]

You're not mad at me, you're just mad at your dad. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick (Host)]

Today we are still sipping on Hitchhiker India Pale Ale from Good People Brewing company. This IPA has a great color and a delicious citrus punch. It's a full on flavor profile with this beer, 7.8% ABV. So drink this one in your garage. Garage grade four and a half bottle caps out of five. And here's some cheers to our friends. First up, a big shout out to Johanna from Red Lion, Pennsylvania.

[Captain (Co-host)]

And a big we like your jib to Jamie west and Katy, Texas.

[Nick (Host)]

And last but certainly not least, we have a shout out to the back door from Westfield, New York. Everyone we mentioned, they went to our website and donated to the beer fund. And for that, well we thank you.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah bwrrun. The best way to support the show is tell a friend, tell your mama, tell your papa, tell your cousins, tell your ugly brother. Check out the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure you subscribe. Colonel, that's enough of the business.

[Nick (Host)]

All right everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. Well now here is the twist in this true crime story as promised. Now as we continue to think about and examine the disappearance of 17 year old Belinda Van Lith. Let's explore these other options and how police arrived at the idea that somebody else could be involved. Remember we talked about Dwayne Cornwell, the owner of the home that she was house sitting. They looked at him for a period of time. And it seems like again, the notes in the case file say that he was cleared. We are uncertain on what they base that off of. I'll tell you this, Captain, there are notes and there's information in large parts of this investigation, many years later, that will circle back to Dwayne Cornwell. But for now, we need to get to someone who is often referred to as the main suspect or potentially the main suspect in the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith. And when we say main suspect, that is in large part in the eyes of the public. But it also sounds like this opinion is shared by many of those persons in law enforcement that have worked this case over the years. Because six months, approximately six months after Belinda vanished, the detectives would be hit with a twist in the case. This is from December of 1974. And we are now going to introduce a man. His name is Timothy Crosby, Timothy Joseph Crosby, if you want to look him up online. Timothy Joseph Crosby was roughly Belinda's age. He was slightly older than Belinda, but he comes into play by a crime that he's going to commit. A very serious, serious and dangerous crime. But also for the fact that his parents cabin is reported to be approximately 100 yards from the Cornwell residence where Belinda was staying. So in December of 1974, this Timothy Crosby, some reports put his age at 18, some put him at 19 in December of 1974. But regardless, he's a young man just a little bit older than Belinda Van Lith, living near the Cornwell residence. He is arrested for kidnapping and rape. The victim here is a young woman and her information that she's giving to police is that when she was kidnapped by Timothy Crosby, he took her back to the Eagle Lake cabin where he lives. Now, the young woman who would escape tells detectives that she believed that Timothy Crosby was planning on killing her. She tells police that she believes that Timothy Crosby not only kidnapped and sexually assaulted her and threatening to kill her, but she's saying, I believe he planned this. This wasn't something that he just, you know, spur of the moment, victim of opportunity. She's saying that she believes that he went out looking for a victim. So the portions of this story that we have the details of go something like this. So she manages to escape from the clutches of Timothy Crosby. Law enforcement then locates him in his vehicle. They find a gun, a hunting knife, a butcher knife, rope, handcuffs, and they find women's clothing. This is all indicative of a rape and or kill kit that somebody would drive around with. This is not something out of the Ordinary. When we talk about these very violent sadist types, what comes to mind, obviously here is a Ted Bundy type that's driving around with these, these instruments of rape and murder in his vehicle, in his possession, on his person at most times should he encounter a potential victim or see an opportunity. So the detectives, they begin to explore this possibility that a neighbor, Timothy Crosby, could have been involved in the disappearance of Belinda. Right before they're saying, we have no signs of foul play. And then they're like, wait a second, look at this dude and what he's accused of and how close he is in proximity to our missing person.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah, Timothy is a real piece of shit.

[Nick (Host)]

The other problem for Timothy Crosby and what I think is a very interesting part of this investigation and the timeline that we didn't include yesterday is it's already in the police report that Timothy Crosby told investigators this is days, just days after Belinda went missing. You know, when they're out interviewing people, they're talking to people. I want everybody to be clear here though. While they're looking for Belinda for a couple of days after she goes missing and talking to people nearby, talking to people that knew her, they're not searching the lake, they're also not going into homes and searching homes at this time. However, they do have notes on a conversation that was taken between them detectives and this Timothy Crosby. So he tells investigators that, oh, she, she visited my home on Friday, June 14, 1974. So this would be approximately the day before she goes missing. Less than 24 hours before she's unaccounted for.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah. So not only is his parents house close to the cabin she's watching, he has now some kind of contact or interaction with our missing person. He's also responsible for kidnapping and raping somebody. This, this is a no brainer.

[Nick (Host)]

And I think it goes, it's a long, it goes a long way for our speculation and the theory that suggests that he's involved in the disappearance of Belinda, that this victim's opinion and the investigator, seemingly the investigator's opinion of this attack that took place six months after she went missing, that it, it all seems very premeditated, it's planned out and he has everything that he needs to carry this out. Now, was murder going to be involved with this victim here, we can only go off of her statement, of her saying that at one point during this attack and while he was attacking and torturing her, that he had told her at some point that he was going to kill her. Now we have investigators looking at this guy and they have already in their notes that he says that Belinda came to his home on Friday, June 14, 1974, less than 24 hours before it's believed that she went missing. The Vault podcast made, I think, a brilliant observation here and they did a couple things that were very interesting too to, I believe, further this investigation and expand on the level of, of what we would be willing to all agree upon that that suggests that maybe Timothy Crosby is the person responsible for Belinda's disappearance. So they interview Timothy Crosby decades later. This is an exclusive interview. To my knowledge, they are the only people that he spoke to regarding her being missing and him being a suspect in the case.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Right.

[Nick (Host)]

And it's a recorded interview. So we know the words are his words. This is not somebody saying, oh, he told us this, this is his words. And, and what his statement to them was, Well, I don't remember seeing Belinda. He also says that he didn't know who she was. That doesn't seem completely crazy because we have the Van Lif family saying that, well, she was house sitting for somebody that we didn't know either. So he says, I don't, I didn't really know who she was and I did not tell police that I saw her the day before she went missing. He says again, decades later, what I told police was was that I remember someone coming to the house and asking for my sister and my sister wasn't home at the time. I told this person that and she left. The interesting tidbit here, Captain, is very quickly, the good people at the Volt podcast, they point out to him, to his face, they say, look, you can say that today, you can spin it that way today, but the notes, what's in the police file says that you told police days later that it was Belinda that came to your house, right? Not, not somebody. So he's not 100% denying it. Even all of these years later, he's simply denying that he said the name Belinda. But for whatever reason, that's what is recorded in the police file, the Vault people. This is a brilliant observation. He says to them, whoever came to the house asked for my sister because there was going to be some kind of party that weekend and I think the person wanted my sister to attend the party with them, it stands to reason that if it was Belinda that dropped by the house asked for his sister and she's not there, she's talking about the going away party, right? They point out that, look, if she wanted her friend or somebody she knew, her associate, which happens to be Crosby sister to attend the party with her, then it stands to reason that she may have returned the following day to ask again if she was there. Now let this. We have several persons from the neighborhood that are saying that they were aware that Timothy Crosby was home alone that weekend. That parents are gone, so sister's gone. Now let this play out in your head. If, if he is this horrible guy as the, the, the crime of kidnapping and sexual assault would paint him to be, rightfully paint him to be in December of 1974, then what if he says, you know what, she comes back the following day. Now he's had some time to make some preparations. He says, oh yeah, she's, she's home. My sister's home. Come on in. And now she's in the house with Crosby and Crosby's residence alone. This now gives you the scene to possibly explain when she was attacked, when she was kidnapped, and why we are not seeing obvious signs of foul play at the home, that she was house sitting.

[Captain (Co-host)]

And also the, the cabin is very close, so you don't need to take a bunch of items with you. You might not even need to shut the door.

[Nick (Host)]

Right.

[Captain (Co-host)]

If you're just running next door to, to say, hey, remember there's that party tonight. I want you to go with me. And what do we know about these stained dick faces? They like to commit crimes. If they're married and their wife goes away with the kids, great opportunity to, to commit a crime. Same goes with somebody that lives with their parents. All my parents are gone for the weekend. Here's a great time for, for me to try to commit a crime.

[Nick (Host)]

Yeah, this is, this scenario gives him the opportunity. And if it plays out the way that it possibly did, where she did return the next day, or let's say somehow he figures out, remember we pointed out yesterday that based off of statements of other persons that knew Belinda, there were people outside of her family that knew she was house sitting and knew that she was likely alone in that house. So whether she came back or not, which I think that she did, and that's maybe when he saw his opportunity to strike. But either way he had an opportunity to prepare for it and wait for her if she were to come back or prepare for it and then go and take her from the house that she was house sitting, this part gets very strange because the way that it's reported, we talked about some of the items that they found in his vehicle. And because he took the victim back to his home in this December 1974 attack, they're going to search his home. They get a search warrant and they. They're not permitted to just walk in. They have to get an actual warrant to carry out this search of the home. And while there, they. They recover some literature on rape and murder. Now, this could be just as simple as these were true crime books, right? But it's noted that these are items that they found and confiscated. It's been reported that there was literature on how to dispose of a body or how to conceal a body.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Well, we have to remember this is 1974, so we're not going to be able to do Internet search history on

[Nick (Host)]

this piece of one part that will be problematic for. Amongst others, for Crosby is one of those ways of disposing of a body from this literature was to bury the body using manure. It's been. I want to be clear here on this because it's been reported a couple different ways, but we have persons who later are telling police, oh, wait a second. On Sunday, June 16, we remember seeing Timothy coming home in his car in his vehicle that he owns, covered in mud. Now, other reports say that, oh, we remember him coming home in his vehicle and it appeared to have been covered in manure, which, if that was the case, then that seems highly suspicious given that they confiscated material literature that. That talks about burying people in manure for the purpose of getting away with it.

[Captain (Co-host)]

So this piece of shit is driving a piece of shit mobile. But also this lake, I think is roughly what, 36 acres of lake.

[Nick (Host)]

Yeah. It's not small.

[Captain (Co-host)]

So that gives you plenty of areas that probably are not commonplace for people to go, that you could find a spot to bury a body pretty easily.

[Nick (Host)]

The people that say that they saw his vehicle covered in mud or covered in manure or what have you, they report that they were led to believe by Timothy that he got his vehicle stuck in a nearby field, and that was the explanation he gave for whatever it was covering his and found on his car. From my understanding here, Captain, he does get charged in this particular case, he does receive some punishment, but it's. It's never enough. Right. When, when, if. If he intended on killing this individual, and I have no reason to believe that he didn't. If he ended. If he was going to kill her and he premeditated this, this is. To me, we're talking about a budding serial killer. He's. He's reading about it, he's studying about it, he's collecting items to carry out these attacks and these murders. He's going out looking for victims. And if he's responsible for Belinda's disappearance and then later this attack, he may already have one murder under his belt by the time he's attacking this woman six months after Belinda disappears.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Well, and one of the things that we were talking about off the mic is I was telling you that in the Long island serial case that Rex has been charged with two more counts of murder, but also one of the things that they found in his house was a copy of Minehunter by John Douglas. And in that book, he has all these notes on basically how to commit. How to commit a crime and get away with it, how to commit a murder and get away with it, and even has notes on this is what I did in this one murder case. And I need to make sure I don't make that mistake again.

[Nick (Host)]

Yeah, there are some of these types that are smart enough to study the persons that did these things before them. And I know in several cases where they are saying, I'm not just studying prior serial killers, I'm studying to find out what got them caught.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Right.

[Nick (Host)]

Or what complicated the investigation for law enforcement and how they, you know, what worked, what did, how were they able to successfully get away with it and what also got them caught. And so they're. Some of these types are smart enough that it's not a trial by fire situation for them because you get caught once, you're likely locked up for good, or maybe you get the death penalty. This is a situation where it's. They go into it studying up and knowing what potentially would work and what potentially won't. So now is, that's the big twist. Right now is where we present the monster to you, the listener, and then have to examine the mystery of when did he start to perpetrate his string of horrible crimes and how many victims do we have? Just what exactly is this individual responsible for and how many has he hurt along the way?

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah, but these sick bastards, no matter how much studying they do, the urges are too strong. Anybody in their right mind would go, hey, let's not kidnap and rape and murder the girl next door. You see what I'm saying? Because there's a direct connection to me. But I think what we can't understand and what we'll never be able to understand is the intensity of these urges that they have.

[Nick (Host)]

Well, and he's able to talk his way into getting some not severe punishment for this attack in 1974. And then he reoffends again in the early 80s. And this was a, this was a really smart and brave victim here. He had A woman in his car who would later tell police that he threatened to kill her, he had assaulted her, he was transporting her somewhere. For what purpose we do not know. But he's transporting her somewhere and she's telling police later like he, the, the car door was rigged in such a manner that you, you could use the latch on the inside to get out. But law enforcement double checked this and they're like, it does work on occasion, but it's incredibly difficult to make the door open, the passenger side door. And we've seen Edmund Kemper, you know, outfitted his vehicle so that persons other than himself couldn't get out. We know that Ted Bundy did. He, he, he took out the, the passenger seat in his vehicle so it'd be easier to transport a body or to conceal someone on the floorboards while transporting them. So this is again another commonality with these types. And so she's saying I, I couldn't get out of the car. So listen to this maneuver. This is how smart she is. She, when they're driving, she said he didn't seem to know where he was going, right. Like he's driving. Then he backtracks, makes turns that don't really make any sense. And she said that she spotted a police car and so she's like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make him wreck his car in, in eyesight of this police officer.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Smart move.

[Nick (Host)]

And she's successful doing this. And then when the cop comes up now he's going, you know what happened? She's explaining it to him. And but the problem here is again, he gets charged with some, some lesser charges than what he was probably intending to do. This is, this is one where we have some very detailed information. So now we're going to go to 1987. We are in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is not far from where Belinda vanished, not far from where this Timothy Crosby grew up. But it's 1987. The population in St. Paul at the time is roughly a little more than 270,000 people. I was going to say good, hard working people. But as we know, we quickly will see One of the St. Paul residents is not a good person at all. That would be Timothy Crosby. So it's right around midnight on Friday. And so it's right around midnight on a Friday in July 1987. We have a young woman, age 21, she's standing on a street corner in St. Paul when a vehicle pulls up to the curb in front of her. The car was a common One, Nothing remarkable about it. The driver is a white male in his early 30s. He rolls down the driver's side car window and tells the woman that it's still pretty warm out for the midnight hour. The young woman approaches the car. The two chat briefly before she agrees to get into the vehicle. Now the man, the driver, will later be identified as Timothy Crosby. Once inside the vehicle, the two agree to some arrangements. $30 is the deal. And they were heading back to his apartment. They arrive at his place after about 10 minutes of driving. They pull up and walk inside. He grabs a couple of beers from the fridge. She makes herself comfortable on the couch. It doesn't take long for them to both make good on their agreement. After she ask him sorry. Afterwards, she asked him if he would give her a ride. She wants to go home. It's late and she's tired and walking was not going to work for her. The man, Timothy, did not give her an answer, said he stood up, stepped towards her, and faster than she could react to it, he puts his hands on her throat. He's strong and he's squeezing. She tried to stand up, but she couldn't. He's too strong. Then the corners of her eyes went black. And then all of a sudden, everything. It all went black. Later, she wakes with no idea of how long she's been out for. She's awake, but she couldn't see her arms. Her legs are tied down. There's duct tape over her eyes and mouth. And he's on top of her. He's hurting her again. Now she must have been tied up for a couple of hours when eventually he. He either let her up and it sounds like he removes like the tape covering her eyes. He unties her legs, then unties her arms. He tells her to stand up and turn around. Then he tied her hands behind her back. This time he's using wire that's digging into her skin. So he leaves the room. And this young woman wasted no time at all. She fell onto her back on top of the bed. Raises her knees to her chest and of her might, she thrust her both of her feet forward, kicking out the window in front of her. This cutting her feet and legs. So she jumps out of, I believe this was a ground level apartment. But she. She jumps out of this window screaming and yelling. She ran, hands tied behind her back into the parking lot. Within seconds, there's two men out there working on a car. They come to her aid, pull her into their apartment. They call the police, they call the paramedics. And this Abducted woman. This poor woman easily identified her attacker because the apartment her attacker lived in, that apartment, it belonged to him. The man was 31 year old, Timothy Joseph Crosby. He was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct and false imprisonment.

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[Captain (Co-host)]

All right, you beautiful people, we are back. Cheers to the people in the back, in the front and the sides to the windows, to the walls. Cheers, Colonel.

[Nick (Host)]

Cheers. We talked about the premeditation or suspected premeditation in the 1974 attack carried out by Timothy Joseph Crosby. Let's talk about the premeditation in this attack. So it was determined that he held and tortured this woman for 16 hours. And if anybody were to try to tell me that he was not going to kill her, I would tell you you are wrong. Now how do, how and why would I believe that this was premeditated? The window that she kicked out, she couldn't open the window. Yeah, her, her arms are tied behind her back. But had they not been, the police discovered this window had been nailed shut. So he's got a bedroom window that's nailed shut. I guess you could argue it was for security purposes. I would argue he's trying to keep somebody in rather than keep people out. And what would back up this argument is he had taped cardboard all around this window. So unless he did that in the brief time that she was unconscious, he had done that prior to going out and picking up a sex worker and returning her to his apartment.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah, I think your gut feeling is the same as mine. This guy is thinking about these things, fantasizing about these things, planning these things and taking preparations. I think this is proof that he's making preparations in order to commit these crimes.

[Nick (Host)]

And he's not denying. Right. I mean, he would be foolish to try to deny it. He, she points to his apartment, say this is what happened to me and this is who did it. And that's where it took place. He doesn't fully deny it, but he, he does alter the story quite a bit. When he's talking with police, he's saying, look, we, her and I had a relationship, right? And we get back to my apartment and she, she threatened me. She says, I'm going to scream rape if you don't some money and a ride. And we got into a physical altercation. So he's not, he's not saying he didn't do any wrongdoing. He's just saying I didn't do what she said that I did. I wouldn't believe this guy. Police didn't believe this guy. The courts didn't believe him. And clearly he's not, he doesn't, he's not going to put up too much of a fight because he eventually will plead guilty. And unfortunately he also works out a plea agreement in the situation. So he gets some of the charges dropped. He pleads guilty to, to being a Doucheburger, some charges in October of that year again we are now in 1987. He has offended once that we know of on record and reoffended multiple times on record for this.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah.

[Nick (Host)]

With the plea agreement he only gets 41 months in prison. So not good. Bob. It's not a great situation.

[Captain (Co-host)]

But also with this kind of planning and this level, you have to say on some level, because of the planning and preparation, there's some level of sophistication and also he seems pretty comfortable talking to police and lying to police and lying to everybody. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a slew of other victims.

[Nick (Host)]

Oh yeah, exactly. And what we're going to see here, Captain, is the inability to directly tie him to murder victims but then constantly reoffending when these women were lucky enough to escape, smart enough and lucky enough to escape. So let's go to mid August of 1994. So we're actually in a different county now. St. Paul is in Ramsey County. We've already discussed Wright County a little bit. So we're two counties away from Ramsey county. We're back in Wright county and in fact to be even more specific, we are in Silver Creek Township of Wright County, Minnesota. And this is always beyond strange and quite gross as well. But we've reviewed other cases similar. What was meant to be a nice day turned out to be rather tragic and frightening. This when a dog retrieved human remains. This was a right foot and leg that was cut below the knee. This was found in a swamp area in Silver Creek Township, Minnesota. This, according to reports, was the third discovery of its kind in about a year's time period. So in the fall of 1993 to the summer of 94, Wright County Sheriff at the time was Don Hosenpa said that the discovery could be linked to the September 1993 disappearance of 31 year old Martha Bacon. Martha was from Minneapolis and had an arrest record that included prostitution. Now as to the other discoveries, in October of 1993. So after this poor woman went missing, dogs from the area dragged home a hand and a forearm that was later confirmed to belong to Martha Bacon, and then they dragged home her arm and leg bones a few days later. This is the farmlands area in northern Wright County. This is where we have swamps that edge up close to gravel country roads. The sheriff tells reporters that it would be easy for someone to simply fling human body parts from the roadside into a watery grave, adding that the person who did this was probably a former resident, a hunter or traveler who was familiar with the area. And this area is basically the area west of Monticello, according to the sheriff. Okay, he says, former resident, hunter, traveler, someone who is familiar with the area. That leaves a whole lot of people and a whole lot of possibilities. But it does not exclude RPOS that we've been talking about today. Timothy Crosby, as we know, and we already discussed, lived and grew up in Wright County.

[Captain (Co-host)]

But even though this is a separate discovery, we. We still believe that this is the same victim.

[Nick (Host)]

Yes. And that's what the sheriff was saying at the time. He's like, we, it would make sense that unfortunately, that we're just now recovering more of the same victim. He does go on to clarify that this, the third of discovery of its kind was a mile, approximately, a mile and a half from the others. But he does go on to say that this discovery is different and better for their investigation because in the other cases, the other two cases, when the dogs came home with remains, they were simply out running wild and returned. They had no idea where or how far the dogs could have ventured and then brought that back right here. He's saying it's quite different because this dog was with its owner and the owner was a hunter. They were walking the area together when the dog made the discovery. The unfortunate part, though, too, for the investigation and in all parts of this, in fact, is on all three occasions, they did put together a team of dozens of people to search the immediate area where the remains were recovered or. Or brought to a location. And all three of those searches turned up nothing. The sheriff stated that their reports were that Martha Bacon was last seen around 1am Sept. 27 or 28th, 1993, on a North Minneapolis street. Martha was not married. She had no children. Authorities have openly speculated that she was killed by a customer. So we're talking about a situation where this is a murder that no one has ever been able to confirm that Timothy Crosby is responsible for. But what they're. What they're saying is they think that he's these ideas, these plans, these schemes, this desire to rape and murder and abduct women has never left him.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Right.

[Nick (Host)]

And he was in the area. And they're starting to say that, look, we, we have a problem here. And a lot of us collectively are saying the problem is Timothy Crosby. That information was from August of 1994. In October of the same year, the body of an unidentified woman was found in Frankfurt Township. Then the following month after that, in 1994, November of 94, we have Wright county investigators who were meeting with several detectives from the Twin Cities, and they're talking of setting up a task force. This is because Wright county has those two murders, Martha Bacon and the unidentified woman. And then we have the organization, this victim advocacy group titled Whisper. Whisper is a, or was at the time a Twin Cities advocacy group that works for women involved in sex related businesses. And they were working very hard at the latter part of 1994 and had been doing so for about 24 months, trying to warn people about a possible serial killer, active serial serial killer in the area that they believed was targeting female sex workers. The group released the names of eight women. Eight women. This, including Martha Bacon and the unidentified woman. But these women were all killed since 1992, who all had a history of sex work. Now, like Martha, some of these other victims had been dismembered. But the law enforcement agencies in communication with the media at the time, they did go on to add that there was no common method of. There was no common method used in the killings. Now, if we're finding portions of victims, dismembered victims method. Well, that's definitely a method. But also it's, it would be very difficult to say, well, a gun was used in all of these, or strangulation was used in all of these. So I, I think that's what they're, they're hinting at. But what, what I would say is I, you, in, in some of these cases, you likely could not determine what killed them. I want to be clear here too. We're not saying, and Whisper was not saying, and the authorities weren't saying back in 1994 that they believe Timothy Crosby to be responsible for all eight of these murders.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Right.

[Nick (Host)]

They weren't even saying that they believe, you know, but, but it's as it sits today in 2024. Yeah, there's a lot of people that believe he is responsible for a portion of those eight that we just discussed.

[Captain (Co-host)]

He's definitely capable of it.

[Nick (Host)]

Well, and let's. Okay, let's go down the Road of. Like you said, right now, he's. He's changing. He's adapting his victimology and how he selects a victim with some of these victims and some of them smart, smart ones that were lucky enough to get away, he's unsuccessful, that they. Because they escape if. If in fact his plan was to murder them. But those, but those ones, we know for sure he is the perpetrator of those very horrible violent sexual crimes.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Right?

[Nick (Host)]

And so to me, it's like he knows that he can get the woman in his car because of their working at the time, but also, it seems very Silence of the Lambs, like, right, remember when. When Hannibal Lecter tells Clarice that the pattern of the victims, where they're found, where he might be acquiring the victims seems random. And Lecter even says it seems desperately random. And when they review the victims in that fictitious case, they go, well, it seems a little random because the first victim taken was actually the third victim found because that was the only one that he weighted down. He, James Gum, Buffalo Bill, went to further lengths and efforts to conceal that body that he did not do in the other murders, the later murders. What did we learn about that fictitious character was that he killed what he coveted. What do you covet? You covet what you see every day. This is almost like it. It's almost playing that scenario out in real life. If, in fact, Crosby is responsible for the disappearance of Belinda. He. He saw that. He saw that victim close to him where he grew up, where he lived.

[Captain (Co-host)]

He.

[Nick (Host)]

He couldn't, like you said earlier, couldn't resist the urge, even though it added a different risk factor to his crimes. And that might be. That might be his very first one.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Well, it makes sense, I think, with his age as well, but I wonder if there's some kind of. Maybe part of his fantasy is I'm going to give them opportunities to get away from me. Maybe that's part of the fantasy. Who knows? Because there's just like you said, there's a handful that have got away. And the ones that got away, we know exactly who's responsible for those crimes.

[Nick (Host)]

Yeah, there were. It looks like three or maybe four that got away. So I guess some could make the argument of, well, he was unsuccessful. If he were to be a serial killer, he would have been unsuccessful in those cases. So maybe he never. Maybe he's not responsible for Belinda. And maybe, maybe he never carried out, never actually killed. We do know that he remains, thankfully, he's locked up still to this day, because. And we'll backtrack here in a minute. But in 2009, the district court committed Timothy Crosby indeterminately as a sexually dangerous person and sexual psychopath personality predicated on a finding that Timothy Crosby re. Engaged in a cycle of sexual misconduct. This is over and over and over again going back to six months after Belinda went missing. And then every time he's busted, they're finding in his possession literature, videos, images depicting behavior consistent with his prior, his own priority, violent sexually sexual behavior. So they're basically saying like, like what John Douglas told us when we interviewed John Douglas a while back when he said the worst of the worst. You know, you cannot rehabilitate somebody who's never been habilitated in the first place. And so a person like this who just keeps reoffending and he keeps carrying out very similar, very violent crimes. All, every victim saying he was going to kill me ultimate bag. This guy's just going to keep, keep doing it. So the system in Minnesota creates this, this, I'm not going to call it a loophole, but creates this standard of, hey, you reoffend, you reoffend, you reoffend, you do X, Y and Z. And we're going to figure out a way to keep your ass off the streets for good. Because nobody's safe. There's not a woman, not a female safe in the area. If this guy is out walking around,

[Captain (Co-host)]

ass off the streets, that's going to be one of my slogans when I, When I run for president. Ass off the streets.

[Nick (Host)]

And look, there's other information that we just didn't have time to get into. There's other attempts at assaults, there's other assaults, there's other victims that have been named over the years that many people think that he is responsible for persons that were killed. And again, he. Everything we can see about this guy is he's reenacting and has so many shared characteristics and tactics of people that we've reviewed that have killed three, four, five, a dozen different women. It's. I, I'm just thankful that he is locked up. Now, let's keep in mind when, when they busted him in six months after Belinda went missing for that attack, I think that one misstep, they found women's female clothing.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Yeah.

[Nick (Host)]

In his possession. A misstep. There was. They didn't show that clothing to Belinda's family to ask could it have belonged to another victim. Instead, these items were returned to his family as they were his possessions. These might be. You might have found these items in his possession, but they may be evidence of prior crimes, rapes or murders or kidnappings.

[Captain (Co-host)]

And the big problem with Belinda's case is we don't have answers. We have a pretty good idea of who's responsible for her going missing. But unless, look, this is just my opinion. Unless they somehow discover her body or somehow, you know, piece of Timothy, when he's in jail, decides to confess to the crime and give some kind of details. It's one of those cases where it feels closed, but it's not closed.

[Nick (Host)]

Yeah, well, and keep in mind too. So we talked about those eight murders and we talked about the good work that the advocacy group Whisper was carrying out trying to warn everybody in the area for two years that they believe these eight missing or murdered women may have all fallen prey to the, to a serial killer that was hunting female sex workers in the. Yeah, do the math. Right. Like he, he gets his 41 months sentence at the end of 1987. Well, these murders start taking place in 1992. He's out. He's out at this time and he's not out for very long. And again, I think that cycles back to something you were talking about prior that we do not understand the urge and the power of that urge that these guys seem to get that some of them get. And so he's out. He knows the consequences. He absolutely knows the consequences because he's been caught and locked up before. Yeah, but he's of the type, he cannot stop himself. And I think a large part of that is because the sex, the murder, the rape, it's. That's all a part of it for him. Some of these women look that he's picking up. He could have paid money and they probably would have agreed to stay willingly with him for a night or a weekend. But that's not what he was after. He's just trying to get somebody in his car so he can, he can do, so he can Rape, murder, torture. Yeah, that's what he is about. And Belinda's case, unfortunately, all these years later remains an open case. They're still looking for if, if in fact he did use manure. I, look, I, I know that when in Back to the Future with Marty McFly when he, when he vandalized Biff's car, Biff immediately was able to tell that it was manure and not mud or dirt. Again, some of the reports are, are people stating that they saw manure. They thought manure was on covering his car after Belinda disappeared. This is just days later, others saying that it was dirt or mud. So I don't Know how what we could base that off of. But if it was in fact manure, that's is highly suggestive of him carrying sex, successfully carrying out a crime that he was studying for, based off of the literature and the items that were found in his home, recovered from his home and from his vehicle. And manure would speed up rapidly, speed up the decomposition process. People use it for. It can be used for farming or for. For gardening. But people that have knowledge of manure know that you don't want to try to grow something in manure right away. It needs time to break down. It needs to be mixed with things. The gases that it releases will burn the roots of. Of what you try to plant in it, and the plants will die. So that whole process would certainly speed up the decomposition. If one was trying to bury and conceal a body. There could be people out there that have more knowledge about Belinda's case. Again, it's still an open case. We're coming up on 50 years. There's also people out there that, that might know more about Timothy Crosby. And he could have victims here that we did not discuss this week in True Crime Garage.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Look, there could be other victims that got away and just weren't able to identify him.

[Nick (Host)]

Exactly. Or because of their lifestyle at the time, were not comfortable going to police. Police want this information. We need to fill in this guy's timeline because if he is, if he's outside of prison, if this dude is breathing, he's a danger, a big threat to society. Anyone with any information about Belinda Van Lith's disappearance or about the life and crimes of Timothy Crosby, we ask that you call the Wright County Sheriff's Office. And we have two phone numbers here for you. One is 763-682-7879. Or call 763-682-7637.

[Captain (Co-host)]

Want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage for everything. True crime. Check out true crime garage.com and while you're there, sign up on the mailing list. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners?

[Nick (Host)]

Let's give out a little bit of recommended listening and I guess some reading goes along with this as well. This is the Vault Podcast. For several months, Forum News Service worked with the Van Lith family, reviewing all 1200 pages of the Belinda Van Lith police file and conducted an exclusive interview with the main suspect in the case. The investigation reveals the details in a thorough, yet stalled investigation that spanned decades and included multiple investigative agencies, search warrants, detailed interviews and land Excavations. Again, that's the Volt podcast, and that's in partnership with the Inform.com people. So if you want to do some reading, do it [e-mail] and for that recommendation and many more, go to our website, truecrimegarage.com and until next week, be

[Captain (Co-host)]

good, be kind, and don't.

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