New charges involving second victim to be filed in Excelsior Springs rape, kidnapping case
New charges involving a second victim are being brought against alleged kidnapper and rapist Timothy Haslett Jr., a spokesperson for the Clay County prosecutor announced Tuesday afternoon.
Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson is holding a news conference at 3:30 p.m. at the Clay County Administrative Building to announce the new charges.
Last year, a Clay County grand jury indicted Haslett, who is now 41 years old, after a malnourished woman, wearing a collar locked around her neck, ran to a neighbor’s house and said she had been restrained in a man’s basement in Excelsior Springs. She said she escaped a room built to keep her confined while Haslett drove his child to school.
The grand jury indicted Haslett with one count of first-degree rape, four counts of first-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
The case garnered national headlines as details of the woman’s account became public, and again when another woman authorities described as a potential witness in the case was found dead in a blue barrel floating in the Missouri River.
The case also struck a chord among Black Kansas Citians, who questioned whether police do enough to address cases of missing Black women.
Haslett, who has pleaded not guilty, has been held in the Clay County jail since October 2022. His bond is set at $3 million.
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch provided some information for this story.
