Suspected KC kidnapper charged with murder of woman found in barrel on Missouri River

A Clay County man held behind bars for the better part of two years on kidnapping and rape charges is now accused of murdering a woman whose body was discovered by kayakers in the Missouri River roughly 13 months ago.

Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson on Tuesday announced a first-degree murder charge against Timothy M. Haslett Jr., 42, of Excelsior Springs, who is held on a $5 million bond. Haslett is accused of killing Jaynie Crosdale , 36, of Kansas City, who had vanished months before her body was found stuffed into a blue barrel in June 2023.

Police have long suspected Haslett of being involved in Crosdale’s death. He was first arrested Oct. 7, 2022, outside his home after a young woman said she escaped a torture chamber in his basement where she was held as his “Sex Slave,” according to court documents filed Tuesday.

After her escape, the other woman — identified in court documents as T.J. — told authorities Haslett kept two other women captive in a chamber of his basement who did not “make it,” according to court documents.

Asked Tuesday whether police were investigating Haslett for additional crimes of violence, Thompson said the investigation remained ongoing and the charges filed represented the facts currently available to law enforcement.

Thompson called the crimes Haslett is accused of “brutal and barbaric,” saying the surviving victim lived through physical, psychological and sexual assault that amounted to “torture.”

“Our work continues,” Thompson said. “I would urge anyone who knows anything about this case to contact the Excelsior Springs Police Department.”

Haslett is represented by an attorney with the Missouri State Public Defender’s office. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities suspect Haslett sought vulnerable victims, preying on Black commercial sex workers specifically. Both alleged victims connected to Haslett, who is white, are Black women.

The investigation into Haslett has captured national attention. It has been followed closely in Kansas City as advocacy groups have questioned whether cases of Black women who were unaccounted for were being taken seriously.

During the press conference Tuesday, Thompson said law enforcement in Clay County is dedicated to protecting all residents.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, or how much money you have in the bank, what your job is,” Thompson said. “You deserve equal protection.”

The charges against Haslett were brought before a grand jury, which indicted him on 10 felonies. In addition to first-degree murder, the Excelsior Springs man is charged with four counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of second-degree assault, kidnapping, and endangering the welfare of a child.

A probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday outlines in brutal detail the abuse T.J. says she endured while held prisoner by Haslett.

She said he dressed her in lingerie and only offered her food after raping her. She was chained up in a “dungeon,” repeatedly drugged and forced to use a bucket as a restroom.

During her month-long imprisonment, the woman said, Haslett told her he had suffocated one woman with a gas mask and killed another with an electrocution device inserted in her vagina.

After Haslett’s arrest 21 months ago, Excelsior Springs police spent days searching through his home, using cadaver dogs to look through his property. They found a room consistent with the torture chamber described by T.J., along with surveillance cameras, videos and pictures.

Authorities linked Crosdale to Haslett based on protographs discovered during their searches. During the early stages of the investigation, a public awareness campaign led by Excelsior Springs police sought to locate Crosdale, including with a billboard ad, calling her a “potential witness” in the case.

Before Tuesday, authorities had yet to say how Crosdale died or when exactly she disappeared. Her body was in an advanced stage of decomposition when authorities recovered the barrel in Saline County, roughly 65 miles east of Kansas City.

In January 2023, witnesses who knew Crosdale, including family, contacted police saying she had been missing for several months. Police found no evidence of her being alive after June 2022.

On June 24, 2023, Saline County Sheriff’s deputies and the Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to a report of human remains located in a blue barrel. The remains were discovered by travelers on a kayak trip who removed the barrel, which had been stuck on logs, and dropped it, revealing a human skull.

Authorities forensically identified the remains as Crosdale roughly one month later. The blue barrel her body was discovered in is also similar to others discovered on Haslett’s property during the search nearly two years ago.

Haslett is due to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 10 in the Division 4 courtroom in Clay County Circuit Court.