Cabins by the Lake /// Part 2 /// 766 | Forensic Files

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nah [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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[Music] 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 housesitting they looked at him for a
period of time it seems like again the notes in the case File say that he was cleared we are uncertain on what they
basee 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 sus supect 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 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 a 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 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 the 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 Andor kill kit that somebody would drive around with this is
not something out of the ordinary when we talk about these very violent sist 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 yeah
Timothy is a real piece of [ __ ] 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 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 14th 1974 so this would be
approximately the day before she goes missing less than 24 hours before she's on counted for 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 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 investig Ator opinion of this attack
that took place 6 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 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 14th 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 right 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 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 vanli 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 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 Vault 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's
sister to attend the party with her then it stands the reason that she may have return 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 sisters 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 and also that 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 right if you're just running next door to to say hey uh remember remember
there's that party tonight I want you to go with me and and what do we know about
these [ __ ] stain 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 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 housesitting 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 um 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 well we have to remember this is
1974 so we're not going to be able to do a internet search history on 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 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 16th 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 in highly suspicious given that They confiscated material literature that's that talks about
burying people in manure for the purpose of getting away with it so so this piece
of [ __ ] is driving a piece of [ __ ] mobile but also this Lake it's I think it's roughly what 36 Acres of of Lake
yeah it's not small so that gives you plenty of areas that probably are not common place
for people to go that you could find a spot to bury a body pretty easily 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 was covering his and
found on his car from my understanding here Captain he does get charged in this particular case he does receive um 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 uh he may already have one murder under
his belt by the time he's attacking this woman 6 months after Belinda disappears
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 mine hunter 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 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 right 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 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
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 Edmond keer 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' 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 smart move 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 th 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
hardworking 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 in so it's right around midnight on a Friday
in July 1987 we had have a young woman aged 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 asked 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 it 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 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 [Music] 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 with all 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 in charged with criminal sexual
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[Music] Android 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 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 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 and he's not denying right I mean he would be foolish to try to deny he she points to his apartment say this is
what happened to me and this is who did it and that 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 give me some
money and a ride and we got into a physical altercation so he's not he's not 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 douche
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 yeah with the plea agreement he only gets 41 months in prison so not
good Bob it's not not not a great situation no but the but also with this kind of planning in this
level you 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 W I wouldn't be surprised if there is a slew of other victims 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 uh is in Ramsey County we've already discussed Wright County a little
bit so we are two counties away from Ramsey County we're back in Wright County 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 hosena hosen what 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 disc recoveries 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 montelo 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 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 re County but even though this is a separate Discovery we we still believe
that this is the same victim 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 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 1:00 a.m.
September 27th 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 th 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 right 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 warned 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 isn't that a 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 and 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 right 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
he's definitely capable of it 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 right 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 Lamb's like
right remember when when Hannibal Lecter tells chice that the pattern of the victims where they're found where he
might be acquiring the victims seems random and 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 third victim found because that was the only one that he weighed down he
the Jame 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 CET 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 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 well it makes sense I think with his age as as well but I 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 there's just yeah 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 yeah there were um it looks
like three or maybe four That Got Away so I guess some could make the the argument of well he was unsuccessful if
he were to be a serial killer he 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 um we do know that he remains
thankfully he's locked up still to this day uh 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 prior 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 I 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 this guy is out walking around ass off the streets that's going to be one
of my slogans when I when I run for president ass off the streets 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 thing 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 yeah
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 and the big problem with blinda 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 and and give some kind of details it's it's one of those cases where it feels
closed but it's not closed 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 he if in fact he did use manure I look I I know that when uh
and 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 uh 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 in from his vehicle and manure would speed up rapidly speed up the decomposition process people use it for
it could be used for farming or for for gardening but people that have knowledge
of manure know that you 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 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 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 look there could be other victims that got away and just weren't able to identify
him 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 lit's disappearance or about the life and crime 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 [Music] 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 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 vanlith family reviewing all 1,200 pages of the Belinda vanlith 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 vault podcast and that's in partnership with the
inform.com people so if you want to do some reading do it over at inform.com and for that recommendation and many
more go to our website true Crim garage.com and until next week be good be kind and don't with
[Music] don't be afraid to dream don't be afraid to take risks it's not an either I plan
for my future or I live my life today it's I plan for my future and I'm living my best bucket life right now it's never
too early it's never too late so get started on your bucket list today

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

Part 2 of 2

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17 year old Belinda VanLith has been missing for fifty years now. At the time of her disappearance she was described as five foot five inches tall, about one hundred ten pounds with blond hair and blue eyes. Belinda was house sitting for a neighbor at the time. She failed to attend her sister’s going away party on June 15th, 1974. Her family contacted the Sheriff’s office and reported her missing the following day. Accounts from that time have narrowed her disappearance to prior to the party. Foul play is suspected. Anyone with information about Belinda VanLith is asked to call the Wright County Sheriff’s Office at 763-682-7879 or 763-682-7637.

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Brief Summary

Belinda van Lith's disappearance is linked to suspect Timothy Crosby, whose violent history raises concerns about additional victims.

Key points

The Disappearance of Belinda van Lith. Exploring the mysterious case of Belinda van Lith's disappearance and the suspects involved.
Timothy Crosby's Arrest. Introducing Timothy Crosby, a key suspect in Belinda's disappearance, arrested for a serious crime.
The Twist in the Case. A shocking twist reveals a potential connection between Timothy Crosby and Belinda's disappearance.
Timothy Crosby's Abduction of a Young Woman. In July 1987, Timothy Crosby abducts a young woman, leading to a dramatic escape.
Nancy and Dan's Twisted Romance. A romance writer becomes a suspect in her husband's murder, blurring fiction and reality.
Timothy Crosby's Plea Agreement. Crosby pleads guilty to lesser charges, receiving a light sentence despite serious crimes.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's good to be seen and good to see you.

1:50WatchJun 12, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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