‘He’s done more’: Excelsior Springs police suspect Timothy Haslett in woman’s death

As authorities continued to search the Missouri River for clues about what happened to a Kansas City woman whose remains were discovered in June, the Excelsior Springs police chief says alleged kidnapper and rapist Timothy M. Haslett Jr. is a “potential suspect” in her death.

That comes after months of speculation regarding whether there is more to the case that began to unravel in the Northland suburb one morning last fall, when another woman, barely clothed with metal collar locked around her neck, told police she escaped from Haslett’s basement and had been held there against her will for about a month.

“This is one of those cases that keeps you up at night,” Excelsior Springs Police Chief Gregory Dull told The Star during a phone interview Tuesday.

“My personal opinion: He’s done more than what he’s already charged for,” he said of Haslett. “But being able to prove that is a totally different thing.”

A Clay County grand jury indicted Haslett on charges of kidnapping, rape and seven other felonies in March. The 40-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty to the crimes, has been jailed since October and is being held on a $3 million bond.

The case has garnered national attention, in part due to concerns raised around the reporting processes for missing persons. Local Black leaders expressed frustration when the investigation broke shortly after Kansas City police had dismissed concerns on social media that a killer was on the loose and that Black women were going missing.

Neighbors of Haslett’s told The Star in October they knew little about Haslett other than he lived in the house with his young son. Others who interacted with the 22-year old woman who reportedly escaped said she believed Haslett had killed two people and feared he would kill her too.

When the woman, identified as T.J. in court documents, spoke with detectives, Dull said, she told them she had not actually seen anyone else in the house while she was captive there.

“She was repeating what Haslett had told her,” Dull said. “Now, was he telling her this to manipulate her and control her? Or was that true?”

“At this point, we still don’t know.”

Body found in Missouri River

For the better part of a year, the case has been investigated by Excelsior Springs police and the Clay County Investigative Squad with assistance from other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. Over the months, it has faded and resurfaced from public view as authorities have periodically shared more details.

Earlier this week, the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office announced a new development in the case as authorities positively identified human remains as those of Jaynie Crosdale of Kansas City.

That discovery marked the end of a months-long search to find the 36-year-old Black woman, whose face and name appeared in January on metro billboards as a “potential witness” police wanted to question. Kayakers on June 24 happened upon a blue barrel containing her body in Saline County, roughly 65 miles east of Kansas City.

The body was in a state of advanced decomposition at the time, and it took authorities about one month to positively identify her.

Investigation of Timothy Haslett continues

Authorities have yet to say how or when Crosdale died, and Haslett has not been charged with a crime related to her death. But prosecutors sought to have Haslett’s bond increased in court Monday based on evidence of Crosdale being present at his home at some point before she disappeared.

A Clay County judge ultimately determined no bond increase was necessary for Haslett, who has been declared indigent and is represented by Tiffany Leuty Winningham of the Missouri Public Defender’s Office.

After the bond hearing, Leuty Winningham said Crosdale had visited Haslett’s home, saying there was surveillance video to support that. She said the two met for consensual sex. She declined further questions on the facts of the case Monday.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, have said the investigation is a “dynamic” one that is building at a “rapid pace.” Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson accompanied Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators on Tuesday amid a search of the river for additional evidence in the investigation of Crosdale’s death.

For Excelsior Springs police, Dull said detectives have continued to work diligently on the case over the past 10 months. Since the discovery of Crosdale’s body, he said, they have begun reaching out to people they first contacted months ago in hopes of jarring memories — and says there has been little success on that front so far.

Excelsior Springs police believe Crosdale was at Haslett’s home sometime before T.J. was confined there, though Dull declined to be specific about when. Asked whether Highway Patrol, the agency tasked with identifying Crosdale’s body, was investigating her death as a homicide, Dull said he assumed so.

“She didn’t get in the barrel by herself,” Dull said, adding that area investigators are working closely with the state agency “to follow wherever the evidence leads in that case.”

Clue found in Blue barrels

Part of the investigation involves a set of blue barrels found at Haslett’s home during a three-day search of the property in October. Dull described the one Crosdale’s body was located in as similar.

The barrels in question, Dull said, have rubber seals on top and appear to be advertised for commercial uses, such as storing solvents and petroleum products. He said they do not look like the ones “you typically see” at a hardware store.

“The fact that she was found in a blue barrel that is very similar to the blue barrels that he had on his property, and the fact that she was there at his property, we would be remiss if we didn’t look at him as a potential suspect,” Dull said.

As of Tuesday, Dull said T.J., who told police she was tied up, whipped, and frequently raped in a small room Haslett built in his basement, was the only “known victim” in the case. He added that detectives had not “identified anybody who would either be an associate or a potential victim.”

“Doesn’t mean that there aren’t some … but at this point we haven’t identified anybody,” Dull said.

Like T.J., Dull said Crosdale was never reported missing to police — something he finds “sad.”

“If there are other victims, I don’t believe they’ve been reported missing,” Dull said, saying he believes they would likely have complicated backgrounds that include substance abuse and possibly sex work. “That’s sad to me.”

“I’ve been hoping and praying that we would have a break in the case for some time,” Dull added. “And I’m hopeful that if (Haslett is) at all responsible for Jaynie Crosdale’s death that we would be able to prove that and she would be able to have justice done in that case.”

The Star’s Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.