Editor’s note: This is Part 6 in the Forum News Service investigative series looking into the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith, including an exclusive interview with the main suspect in her case. To see everything published in the investigation, visit our Belinda Van Lith investigation page. Listen to The Vault podcast for associated episodes.
MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — A secret basement room and encrypted computer files sealed Timothy Crosby’s fate.
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For more than a decade, the main suspect in Belinda Van Lith’s disappearance — from a home on Minnesota's Eagle Lake in June 1974 — has been locked at a high-security facility for the state’s most dangerous sex offenders.
Crosby’s involuntary commitment to the secure Moose Lake Sex Offender Program facility came after investigators with the FBI, Wright County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Paul Police Department executed a search warrant at his home.
Investigators uncovered a locked secret room in Crosby’s basement, which contained an assortment of cameras surrounding a bed. Encrypted files discovered on his computer revealed handbooks on how to abduct, torture and kill women, among other violent and graphic material.
The discovery came on the heels of Crosby’s confession that he hired a 17-year-old girl to perform sexual acts, which resulted in a conviction for using a minor in a sexual performance.
The conviction, paired with explicit material found in his home, was the last straw in Crosby’s decades-long spree of violent and sexual crimes against women — and effectively resulted in his life sentence.
Crosby’s history of kidnapping and sexual assault was included in Belinda’s 1,200-page Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigative file, obtained in August 2023 by Forum News Service and Belinda’s family members.
The Forum News Service investigation into the Belinda Van Lith missing persons case is based on multiple interviews with family members, friends, witnesses and law enforcement officials, reports obtained from three investigative agencies, as well as an in-person interview with Crosby, the main suspect.
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Crosby became a suspect in Belinda’s case six months after she went missing, when he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a young woman at his Eagle Lake cabin.
He told Forum News Service in a recent in-person interview that he sees no merit in the Wright County Sheriff’s Office’s focus on him as a main suspect in Belinda’s disappearance.
Crosby was staying alone in that cabin the weekend Belinda went missing. She was housesitting a home just down the road, roughly 100 yards from his cabin.
Belinda remains missing. Crosby was the last known person to see her.
The 2009 arrest and discovery
The series of events that led to Crosby’s 2009 arrest would arguably not have happened without the cold case review of Belinda’s case, decades after her disappearance.
The tip that led investigators to Crosby’s 2009 arrest for hiring a 17-year-old to perform sexual acts stemmed from the work of a St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter, who discovered the search warrant application.
That application named Crosby as a suspect in Belinda’s disappearance and the 1994 murder of Victoria Marie Morris. The Pioneer Press coverage exposed that information to the public for the first time.
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In the wake of Crosby’s arrest for hiring a minor for a sexual performance, among other charges, another search warrant was executed on his St. Paul home. This time, investigators had free rein to search the interior of the home, including the basement.
Crosby’s 17-year-old victim told investigators Crosby had shown her a padlocked “secret room” room in the basement, which included a desk, bed, and miscellaneous cameras and video equipment. Accessing the basement was only possible through a basement near the back of the home, which she said was kept locked.
The main floor of Crosby’s home was cluttered and full of “filth,” according to the victim’s statement. The basement, though, was kept incredibly clean.
“She states that Tim Crosby keeps this basement area surprisingly clear and it has an overwhelming bleach smell,” Wright County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mike Lindquist wrote in his report.
That information was confirmed when investigators with the FBI, Wright County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Paul Police Department executed the search warrant at Crosby’s home. They used a bolt cutter to cut the padlock on the door to the secret room — and later discovered the lock could be opened by a key found on Crosby’s keychain, which was confiscated when he was arrested.
Investigators found a number of items in the basement that were later used to prove Crosby had not stopped his pattern of sexually violent behavior — and that he was likely to reoffend.
Officers collected a hacksaw blade in the trunk of his car.
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“This made officers suspicious as to what this hacksaw blade was used for, as it was with pornography and other odd objects, and locked in the trunk so nobody could easily access it,” Lindquist wrote in the report.
The saw was collected for evidence in the case of Martha Bacon, whose dismembered remains were discovered in Wright County in 1993. Investigators believe a saw was used in her dismemberment, according to the report. That case is ongoing, and its filings remained sealed by a judge.
In addition to the saw, more than 30 items were collected and taken into evidence, including a number of newspaper clippings and magazine articles about rape, serial killers, homicides and sex offenders.
A Mac computer collected in the main living area was taken and sent to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for forensics analysis. Court records related to Crosby’s civil commitment appeals revealed the contents of encrypted files discovered on that computer.
“These files contained hundreds of images depicting a wide array of sexually explicit content, including torture, rape, bondage, abduction, child pornography, bestiality, and death. They also contained numerous articles about abduction, torture, rape, and murder of women and girls,” the court documents state.
Those documents also revealed that law enforcement found an abduction handbook, though that item was not listed in the investigative file.
“And police found a handbook that contained instructions on how to abduct, torture, and kill a woman for pleasure,” the court documents state.
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All of the items collected, in addition to Crosby’s violent sexual history and his 2009 confession to using a minor in a sexual performance, led the state of Minnesota to pursue his involuntary civil commitment as a dangerous and violent sexual recidivist.
Minnesota law allows the involuntary commitment of individuals who have been deemed a sexually dangerous person with a sexual psychopathic personality through convincing evidence presented in court procedures.
The state argued the items collected at his home, in addition to his 2009 arrest, indicated he was a danger to the public and likely to reoffend.
The interview with Crosby
Nestled in a wooded area less than a mile from Interstate 35, razor wire fencing surrounds the grounds of the high-security Moose Lake Sex Offender Program facility.
In December 2023, Crosby agreed to an in-person, recorded interview with Forum News Service at that very location.
A month later, Crosby sat down with a reporter and a microphone in a meeting room at the facility — and the interview began.
Crosby told Forum News Service there was an innocent explanation for all of the material gathered by investigators. He used locks to keep his children out of dangerous areas, and other people used the computers in the house, he said.
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The state’s argument was backed up by the testimony of three forensic psychologists, who testified that Crosby’s actions in 2009 — in addition to the sexually violent materials collected at his home — proved a cycle of harmful violent, sexual behavior.
“The question before the district court was whether Crosby's psychosexual condition and his course of behavior reveals a current trajectory toward reoffense and renewed danger to others,” court documents state.
According to the psychologists, it did.
Crosby’s record was central to the state’s argument in favor of his commitment. Yet in his interview with Forum News Service, he denied the accuracy of information that led to his four convictions.
“From what I’ve read from those three things, there’s data errors in the reports,” Crosby said. “Just the ones that I’ve read. That’s an error, that’s an error. There’s nothing I can do to fix the errors.”
In the same interview, he said his actions were merely a reflection of his immaturity.
“Did I do stupid things when I was younger? Yes,” he said. “Did I understand why I was doing them? No.”
Crosby’s known crimes include:
- On Dec. 30, 1974, Crosby kidnapped a 19-year-old woman in St. Paul. He pointed a gun to her head. He handcuffed and blindfolded her. He took her to his cabin on Eagle Lake, where he tied her up and sexually assaulted her. She escaped — and her witness statement led to Crosby’s arrest for aggravated kidnapping with a dangerous firearm, robbery and sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping while possessing a firearm — the sexual assault charge was dropped. He was sent to St. Peter Hospital, which at the time was the state’s top treatment facility for sexual aggressiveness.
- On April 25, 1983, Crosby kidnapped and stabbed a young woman in St. Paul after offering to give her a ride. He threatened her with a knife, but she fought back and escaped. He was charged with aggravated kidnapping, but the charge was dropped. He, instead, was sent back to St. Peter Hospital.
- On July 18, 1987, Crosby took a woman to his St. Paul apartment, where he tied her up, repeatedly sexually assaulted her, and kept her captive. She escaped 16 hours later by jumping out of his apartment window. He 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. After his release, he was transferred to St. Peter Hospital but voluntarily exited the program.
In his hourlong interview with Forum News Service, Crosby denied the facts of the three police reports related to the women who escaped. All three police reports included full transcripts of the victims’ statements and corresponding evidence that backed up the women’s claims.
His refusal to accept responsibility played a key role in the judge’s belief that Crosby has not taken accountability for his acts of sexual violence.
“At trial Crosby testified about his history of sexual violence in a manner that led the district court to deem the testimony incredible, finding that Crosby made excuses for his behaviors, minimized his conduct and remembered only things that made him look better,” Judge Kevin G. Ross wrote in his decision.
Is Crosby’s commitment justice for Belinda?
Timothy Crosby’s civil commitment is potentially a life sentence.
The road out of the Moose Lake facility requires commitment on behalf of the offender to attend treatment programs and therapy sessions, all of which are voluntary. If an offender is seen progressing in treatment, they are considered a candidate for the St. Peter facility.
Reintegration into society is the focus at St. Peter. An offender who is still considered dangerous, or lacks accountability for their actions, is not a candidate for reintegration.
Crosby told Forum News Service that he refuses — and will continue to refuse — sex offender treatment at the Moose Lake facility. He continues to skirt accountability for his criminal history.
That means the main suspect in Belinda’s disappearance will likely spend the rest of his days locked away from society.
But, is that justice for Belinda?
Her siblings were not informed, at the time, of the search warrant executed at Crosby’s home. They did not know Crosby was considered the main suspect, and they were not aware of his civil commitment petition and court proceedings. They learned all of this when they received the investigative file in August 2023.
Had they been kept in the loop, Crosby’s commitment might have felt like justice. Yet, they still do not have the answers they need.
“Where’s the final closure? We want 100 percent closure for us,” said Wendy, Belinda’s sister. “Where’s her body?”
Crosby still denies any involvement in Belinda’s disappearance.
When asked if he killed Belinda or had anything to do with her going missing, he gave Forum News Service a nonsensical response.
“No,” Crosby said. “There ain’t nothing I can do about anything. Can’t change, unless you guys find something after the fact. [If] somebody comes up and says, ‘Oh yeah, I was.’ You know what I’m trying to say? Unless somebody comes up. Of course Duane or Dwight can’t. But did anyone even look at maybe there was a family thing going on? Some of the family members might have been mad at her?”
The interview with Crosby also revealed new information regarding his possible involvement in Belinda’s disappearance.
In the days after Belinda went missing, Crosby told investigators she had been at his cabin on June 14, 1974 — the day before she went missing — looking for his sister, Susan. That was the extent of the information he provided at the time.
Belinda wasn’t close with Susan, but Belinda’s siblings believed she went to the cabin that day to remind Susan about Pam’s going away party, scheduled for the next day, June 15, 1974. Susan and Pam were close friends at the time.
Crosby confirmed that belief and revealed to Forum News Service that he gave Belinda a reason to return.
“I’d swear somebody had said something about a party, and that’s why somebody was looking for Susan,” Crosby said. “[Belinda asked] was she going to come up there. And I said, yeah I think Susan’s coming up this weekend.”
Susan did not go to the cabin that weekend, and Belinda did not show up to her sister’s going away party.
The release of the investigative file and statements Crosby made to Forum News Service provide more pieces to the puzzle surrounding Belinda’s disappearance.
But, the heavy weight of the unknown for the family has not been entirely lifted.
Belinda’s family members still do not know what happened to their kind, intelligent sister on June 15, 1974. They’re left with missing pieces that can be filled only with theories and likely possibilities, but they do not know where Belinda’s remains rest.
Someone has the answers they’ve longed for, though. The question is: Are they capable of taking accountability?
Editor's note: This is part 6 of Forum News Service's investigation into the Belinda Van Lith missing persons case. If you have information in this case, please contact Mike Lindquist with the Wright County Sheriff's Office at 763-682-1162.
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