A man who has a history of posting racist and misogynistic texts online and who is already in prison, accused of committing serious sex crimes from his own dungeon, is now charged with murder.
Timothy Haslett Jr., 41, was first arrested in late 2022 after a 22-year-old Black woman ran to the home of one of his neighbors and said she had escaped from his sex dungeon in the Kansas City suburbs after a month of captivity.
On Tuesday, Clay County District Attorney Zachary Thompson announced that Haslett is now charged with first-degree murder in the death of sex worker Jaynie Crosdale, 36, whose body was found in a barrel in a Missouri river in June 2023. She had been shot to death.
The 22-year-old victim previously told detectives that Haslett reported two other black women he had kidnapped who “did not survive.”
That victim said Haslett regularly drugged her, forced her to perform sexual acts, rarely fed her and liked to wear women’s lingerie in front of her. Haslett’s behavior was described by Thompson as “barbaric.”
Timothy Haslett of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, who was already charged with rape, kidnapping and assault, now faces a murder charge
Jaynie Crosdale, 36, was found dead in a barrel in the Missouri River in June 2023
Haslett was linked to Crosdale’s death after the barrel she was found in appeared in photos investigators took at his home. A photo also was found showing the slain woman in his dungeon, officials said.
When the woman’s body was found, her cousin, Nikiyah Crosdale, said KCUR that the victim, named J-Bird, was “full of energy and zest for life.”
Prosecutors believe she was murdered in June 2022. Her body was found by kayakers on the Missouri River. Before that discovery, she was considered a potential witness in the original case.
The case against Haslett began in October 2023, when Haslett’s surviving victim showed up at a home in the Excelsior Springs community scarred, emaciated, and wearing a garbage bag and a metal collar around her neck.
She managed to escape while he was taking one of his children to school. Shortly after his arrest, his ex-wife demanded full custody of the couple’s young child.
That woman told one of Haslett’s neighbors, nurse Lisa Johnson, about her ordeal. She described the suspect’s sex dungeon, which was equipped with restraints, weapons, including shock devices, and cameras.
She said she was given $350 by Haslett to go home with him. After getting into his truck, she accused Haslett of pointing a gun at her and forcing her to perform sexual acts. He then gave her drugs, which knocked her unconscious.
Once home, the victim said she was abused and tortured on a daily basis and forced to use a bucket as a toilet.
“It was such a soft ‘help me,’” Johnson told DailyMail.com in 2022. “And I looked through our clear screen door and this girl was hunched over the side of the stairs.
‘I could tell right away that she was in big trouble. She looked like something out of a horror movie.
‘She had a metal homemade device strapped tightly around her neck and she had duct tape pulled from her face, which had covered her mouth.
“Her wrists and ankles were mangled. You could see she had been tied up and beaten. The wounds all over her body, wrists and ankles were actually bleeding.”
After her rescue, investigators found a Samsung phone containing photos and videos of the dungeon and of women in captivity.
“The physical, psychological and sexual torture described by the suspect’s surviving victim is brutal and barbaric,” Thompson said.
The 22-year-old victim said she was only able to escape on Friday, October 7, when Haslett, 39, was taking his child to school
Police have put up a fence around Haslett’s dilapidated rental home, where he is said to have held the woman captive since September
After entering the residence, officers with the Excelsior Springs Police Department said they found a room in the basement that matched what the victim had described
“When crimes like this happen in our community, it can be devastating. I want the citizens of Clay County to know that the men and women of the Clay County District Attorney’s Office work hard, both in and out of the courtroom, to keep them safe and to bring justice.”
As a result of her statements, Haslett was charged with rape, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. In 2023, he pleaded not guilty. His bail was set at $5 million.
Despite his claims that two of his kidnapping victims died, Haslett has only been charged with one count of murder so far. Missouri is a death penalty state.