Bond hearing set for Excelsior Springs man charged in kidnapping, rape case
An Excelsior Springs man accused of keeping a 22-year-old captive in his basement is scheduled to appear in court Monday after another woman authorities connected to the investigation was found dead under suspicious circumstances.
Timothy M. Haslett, 40, has been held in the Clay County jail for the better part of a year after a barely-clothed woman went down the street of his home begging neighbors to help her. A metal collar was locked to her neck, restricting her breathing, and she reported to police she had been kidnapped from Kansas City and held against her will for roughly one month.
Haslett is held in the county jail on a $3 million bond as he faces a nine-count indictment alleging rape, assault, kidnapping and other felonies. Prosecutors on Monday said they wanted that bond amount increased in light of new circumstances after a body found in the Missouri River was identified as 36-year-old Jaynie Crosdale, whom police have sought since January as a “potential witness” in Haslett’s case.
In a motion filed this week, prosecutors argued an increase in bond was necessary after new evidence emerged that led to “greater concern for the safety of the community than had previously been addressed.”
In January, a photograph of Crosdale, who is Black, was broadcast by Excelsior Springs police and the Clay County Investigative Squad as they sought information related to the investigation of Haslett.
Kayakers came across Crosdale’s body June 24 in Saline County, roughly 65 miles east of Kansas City, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Her remains were positively identified Sunday.
Details of Crosdale’s death — and precisely how it pertains to Haslett’s ongoing criminal case — have not been disclosed by authorities. But prosecutors say the office is “working closely with law enforcement to gather all evidence and information that is needed to build the strongest case possible and deliver justice” for Crosdale.
The investigation of Haslett began Oct. 7 when a 22-year-old Black woman, identified in court papers as T.J., told authorities she escaped Haslett’s home while he brought his child to school. She recalled being picked up in early September on Prospect Avenue in Kansas City and then bound in a room “he had built,” where she was repeatedly sexually assaulted and whipped.
Neighbors in Excelsior Springs who interacted with the woman that morning before she was taken to the hospital said she appeared terrified and talked of Haslett killing two people she knew.
Haslett was arrested that morning outside his home.
Excelsior Springs police, assisted by KCPD forensics investigators and the FBI, searched his house in the 300 block of Old Orchard Avenue for three days. They also brought a cadaver dog, a canine trained to detect human remains, to examine his rental property and pickup truck last year — though they never made any findings public.
Authorities have publicly acknowledged Haslett was under investigation for “other crimes” but have declined to be more specific.
The case struck a nerve among many Black Kansas City leaders and residents as Haslett, who is white, is accused of holding a Black woman captive in his home for weeks, after police had dismissed concerns made on social media that a killer was on the loose and that Black women were going missing in Kansas City.
One of the issues raised regarded concerns around reporting missing persons and the barriers critics say the Black community faces in making missing persons reports.
Police have said previously that there were no active missing persons cases that corresponded with the evidence in the Haslett case.
Haslett’s bond hearing is scheduled for Monday in Clay County Circuit Court.
