Editor's note: This is Part 3 of a multi-part investigation delving into the missing persons case of Belinda Van Lith. To read the other articles published in the series thus far, go here. To listen to the corresponding podcast series related to this story, check out The Vault Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Three women escaped from Timothy Crosby in the years after Belinda Van Lith went missing.
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One year after his release from St. Peter Hospital’s treatment program for sexual aggressiveness for crimes related to his 1975 kidnapping, Crosby made a pattern of his behavior.
On April 25, 1983, Crosby kidnapped and stabbed a young woman in St. Paul after offering to give her a ride. She told St. Paul Police officers that after she accepted the ride, he took a knife out of a scabbard on his belt and attempted to stab her side. He cut through her shirt, but she grabbed the knife and fought back.
She fought off Crosby and escaped from his vehicle. She had cuts to her forearm, wrists and hands.
Witnesses wrote down the license plate of Crosby’s vehicle, and law enforcement determined it belonged to Crosby. When they showed up to his house, Crosby was on the phone. An officer documented in a report that Crosby said to the person on the other end of the line, “The police are here, I’ve got to go. I just tried to abduct someone.”
Officers discovered the knife inside Crosby’s vehicle, along with a bag that contained a rope and a knotted cloth. He was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery – yet, the charge was dropped.
“It was felt that Crosby would be best off back in treatment,” Saint Paul Police officers, coworkers of Timothy Crosby’s father, wrote in the report.
Crosby was returned to St. Peter Hospital, with a release date of 1988. Yet, he was let out early on a work release program and granted full parole in 1986.
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A months-long Forum News Service investigation, in collaboration with the Van Lith family, led to the recent release of Belinda’s 1,200-page police case file, which includes a detailed history of Crosby’s crimes and light punishment. The file also reveals glaring failures in the early stages of Belinda’s case, including numerous missed opportunities to thoroughly investigate Crosby’s possible involvement in her disappearance.
Crosby is indefinitely locked up at the secure Minnesota Sex Offender Program in Moose Lake. In a recent interview with Forum News Service, he denied involvement in Belinda’s disappearance.
On July 18, 1987, Crosby offered a ride to a woman walking down the street near University Avenue in St. Paul. The woman got into his car and agreed to have a drink with him at his St. Paul apartment, according to the victim's statement assembled about the encounter.
The victim tried to leave Crosby’s apartment after having one drink, but he grabbed her from behind and threw her to the floor. He choked her, and she fell unconscious. When she came to, her hands were tied behind her back. Her feet were bound together. He had removed her clothing. He had placed tape over her mouth and eyes. Crosby repeatedly sexually assaulted the woman.
The woman attempted to escape 16 hours later when Crosby briefly left her alone in his apartment.
With her hands still tied behind her back, she broke through the apartment window and threw herself to the ground. Two men standing outside of the apartment building noticed – and immediately called police.
Law enforcement surrounded Crosby's apartment building, and he surrendered. He told officers he didn’t understand why the victim did what she did – he claimed he thought they were dating. He also, in the same interview, said he had paid her $30 for sexual acts.
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Crosby was arrested on charges of false imprisonment and sexual assault.
He pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to 41 months at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwater before being transferred to St. Peter Hospital for a brief stay. He was released on Dec. 17, 1990.
A brief look at Crosby, again
Two years after Crosby left St. Peter, BCA Special Agent Dennis Sigafoos confronted at Builder’s Square in St. Paul on May 14, 1992 and told him he was investigating Belinda’s disappearance and suspected murder.
Sigafoos told Crosby he was the prime suspect.
“At this time Crosby did not say anything but just glared,” Sigafoos wrote in his report about the meeting.
Crosby told Sigafoos that a man he met at St. Peter Hospital could clear his name, by providing information that Belinda was still alive.
He asked investigators if he’d receive an apology when they found her.
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Crosby echoed that sentiment during a 2024 interview with Forum News Service when he alluded to the possibility that Belinda had run away – and that he deserved an apology for law enforcement’s suspicion that he was involved.
The BCA nailed down the name and address of the man Crosby referenced. They made attempts in 1992 and 1993 to reach him. There’s no indication in Belinda’s casefile that they tracked him down.
After that, the case, seemingly, went cold once again – until a tip came in that took investigators in an entirely different direction.
From 2002 to 2008, a new detective on the case fully investigated and vetted three other potential suspects related to Belinda’s disappearance, including two of Belinda’s distant cousins and the man who owned the home Belinda was house sitting when she vanished.
Eventually, though, Wright County Sheriff’s Office Detective Mike Lindquist honed in on Crosby and put the investigation into high gear.
This is Part 3 of the Belinda Van Lith investigation . Part 4 is coming soon.
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