MONTICELLO

Minnesota sends young contingent to Republican National Convention with 1/3 of delegates under 34

April Baumgarten — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:59:52 GMT

MILWAUKEE — At age 21, Aaron Farris is one of the youngest Minnesota delegates in attendance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

But the Albert Lea man is in good company. The Minnesota Republican Party estimated a third of the state’s delegation is under age 34.

The fact that so many young Republicans came to the convention from Minnesota shows that young people understand issues that affect their parents and grandparents also affect young voters, Farris said.

“I think it is that realization that, even though these are issues that some young people don’t really think about that much, they are issues that we need to care about and we need to be focused on," he said. "We need to actually vote like we care about those issues."

Minnesota has 39 delegates who could vote. Kip Christianson, a 33-year-old delegate from Monticello, Minnesota, said he believes more than 15 delegates are less than 34 years old.

“They are really excited,” he said. “They come from all sorts of backgrounds.”

Farris said this is his first time at a Republican National Convention. He said his expectations were pretty high, but the first day was better than he could imagine.

He recalled seeing former President Donald Trump coming onto the convention floor and waving to the crowd. The bandage on his right ear served as a reminder that a gunman tried to assassinate Trump in Pennsylvania about 48 hours before the convention started.

“That was one of the most electric experiences I’ve had,” Farris said.

He also got to see country singer Trace Adkins perform at a reception on Sunday. The speakers have also been incredible, he said.

Farris said he has enjoyed talking to people from across the country about their “visions to fix America.”

This is also AK Kamara’s first Republican National Convention. The 40-year-old from Forest Lake, Minnesota, was elected a National Committeeman for the convention, making him one of the youngest to be elected to such a post.

Those attending the convention have all been positive, he said.

“The mood has been so high energy,” Kamara said. “People seem so motivated.”

Seeing Gen Zers and Millennials as delegates shows that they are coming into their own in the world of politics, Kamara said. Older generations have been reluctant to hand over power to younger generations, he said.

“What I’m seeing now is that we are stepping into these different roles where we are taking power for ourselves,” Kamara said.

Trump picked U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, of Ohio, to be his running mate, Kamara noted. At 39 years old, Vance is the first Millennial to be a vice president candidate.

Millennials have “been put through the meat grinder,” Kamara said, noting life-altering events like 9/11, the housing crisis of 2008 and the coronavirus pandemic. They can use that experience to shape the world, he said.

By taking positions of power and getting involved in politics, Millennials are changing the way they present themselves to the world.

“This ain't your granddaddy’s Republican Convention anymore,” he said.

Christianson said he attended the 2016 convention as a delegate. He sees himself as a mentor to the first-time delegates.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the 120 people we have here from Minnesota who are attending this delegation as a delegate or as an alternate,” he said. “This is an experience they will remember for their entire lives.”

]]>

The Disappearance of Belinda Van Lith on The Vault podcast is ready to 'binge-listen'

Trisha Taurinskas — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 19:04:39 GMT

MONTICELLO, Minn. — The Vault podcast, Forum Communication Co.'s premier true-crime investigative podcast, has now released a new full-season dedicated to looking into the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith.

Van Lith was 17 years old when she vanished from a home she was house sitting on Eagle Lake, just outside of Monticello, Minnesota. On June 15, 1974, she didn't show up to her oldest sister's going-away party. Belinda's family knew from the start that she did not run away. But investigators labeled her as a runaway, anyway.

Six months after she went missing, investigators learned that the last person to see Belinda had committed a horrendous crime at the same location Belinda was last seen.

The Van Lith season of the podcast — designed to stand alone but also accompany the written-word series of articles on Van Lith's disappearance — doesn't just give listeners the facts of law enforcement's investigation into Belinda's disappearance. It takes listeners on a behind-the-scenes journey of Forum News Service's pursuit for the truth.

For 50 years, Belinda's family was kept in the dark regarding critical aspects of their sister's disappearance, and corresponding investigation. That darkness was lifted when they obtained the 1,200-page investigative file.

The series also includes an in-person interview with Crosby, the main suspect and suspected serial killer who is now locked up at the secure sex offender treatment program facility in Moose Lake.

The 7-part series is now available to binge-listen on all major podcast apps (search "The Vault FCC") — or listen to every episode for free, below.

]]>

Part 7: How Belinda's family and a reporter teamed up to find answers in the 50-year-old case

Trisha Taurinskas — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 12:31:00 GMT

Editor’s note:

This explainer column is the culmination of Vault investigative reporter

Trisha Taurinskas

’ yearlong investigation into the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith that resulted in

a multi-part series of articles and podcast episodes

documenting what is known about Van Lith’s disappearance and decades of police investigations that led to a main suspect — but have yet to result in a conviction.

I didn’t know much about Belinda Van Lith when I reached out to her sister a year ago.

Belinda’s name was among more than a dozen on a story list of cold cases to cover. Her case seemed different, though.

Belinda went missing on June 15, 1974, from a home she was house-sitting on Eagle Lake, just outside of Monticello. She was 17 years old.

A quick search of the archives didn’t uncover any press coverage of her 1974 disappearance. Her story didn’t appear anywhere until 2009, when the Pioneer Press uncovered a search warrant application related to her case.

The Wright County Sheriff’s Office, along with the St. Paul Police Department, had executed a search warrant at the home of Timothy Crosby, the last known person to see Belinda. She had gone to his cabin the day before to ask for his sister, Sue. Crosby was staying at the cabin, alone.

The search warrant allowed investigators to collect a DNA sample from Crosby.

The 2009 coverage in the St. Paul newspaper informed the public, for the first time, that Crosby was a suspect in Belinda’s case — and at least one other unsolved murder.

It was the first time Belinda’s family members learned that, too.

Over the course of 50 years, Belinda’s family members received no substantial updates in the case. They lived most of their lives wondering what happened to their sister — and if Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators cared about her case at all.

I met with Belinda’s siblings in April of 2023. They were ready to seek answers — and information — related to their sister’s case, so we went to work.

I called the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and said we would be covering this story with or without their cooperation. I gave them a heads-up that if they didn’t provide the family with information, we’d be writing a story about a family who was kept in the dark for 50 years.

Belinda’s siblings called the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, too.

Lt. Mike Lindquist with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division responded. The department made a decision to close Belinda’s case, which made the contents of Belinda’s investigative file available to the public — and her family members.

In August, Lindquist knocked on Cindy’s door and handed over a flash drive. Inside were the contents of her sister’s investigative case file.

When Cindy inserted that flash drive into her computer, more than 1,200 pages related to her sister’s case became available to her. A lifetime of mystery was unveiled.

A few days later, I went to Cindy’s home to retrieve the contents of the file. She told me she and her siblings had no idea about the amount of work that went into their sister’s case.

They wish they had.

The contents of the file provided more than just information — it was proof that Belinda had not been forgotten.

Belinda’s dad, Clifford, died from complications related to a car accident in 1988. Her mother, Beverly, died in 2014. They went to their graves not knowing the truth behind their daughter’s investigation.

Each investigative body calls the shots when it comes to cold case transparency. It’s up to the discretion of investigators to choose what they’d like to reveal to the public.

Covering missing persons and cold cases has allowed me to speak with many investigators over the past few years. And it’s true — each detective does things a little differently.

Some are open to answering questions and want to partner with the media to get information out to the public to, potentially, help the case. Others take a closed-off approach, believing any release of information will compromise the integrity of the investigation.

In Belinda’s case, it was the latter.

From 2008 to 2014, Lindquist and his team executed multiple search warrants at Timothy Crosby’s home. They brought in FBI cadaver dogs and dug up the area around the old Crosby cabin. They searched the field where Crosby had gotten stuck the evening of Belinda’s disappearance — and they dug through the ground of a shed on the property Belinda was house-sitting when she went missing.

Belinda’s family had no clue any of this was happening — until they read it in the investigative file.

The file also revealed the Wright County Sheriff’s Office repeated failures in the early days, weeks and months following Belinda’s disappearance.

Six months after Belinda went missing, Crosby kidnapped a young woman in St. Paul and took her to his cabin, where he chained her to a bed and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. She escaped, and gave investigators a detailed account of the horrific experience.

After his arrest, Crosby was questioned regarding Belinda’s disappearance. He denied any involvement, yet he failed a polygraph test.

Investigators then executed a search warrant at his St. Paul home in January of 1975. The only recorded evidence was a journal. The first entry in that journal occurred two weeks after Belinda went missing.

The cold case review into Belinda’s disappearance included an interview with one former officer who was a part of the team that searched Crosby’s home. The officer told investigators in 2008 that items discovered in the Crosby home were not documented, including a manual on ways to hide a body.

After the search warrant was executed, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office dropped its investigation into Timothy Crosby.

At that time, Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators did not search the field where his car had gotten stuck the night of June 15, 1974. They did not search his cabin or nearby property.

Women’s clothing discovered in Crosby’s vehicle following his arrest was not shown to Belinda’s friends and family members, according to the investigative file. Instead, the clothing was given back to the Crosby family at the request of their attorney.

Crosby was sent to St. Peter Hospital’s treatment program for sexual aggressiveness.

After his release, he went on to kidnap at least two other women.

In 1983, he offered a young woman a ride while she was walking down the street. When she was in the car, he took out a knife and threatened her. She fought back and managed to escape through the passenger side door.

Charges related to that case were dropped, and Crosby was once again sent to St. Peter Hospital’s treatment program for sexual aggressiveness.

In 1987, Crosby held a young woman captive in his St. Paul apartment, where he strangled her unconscious, tied her wrists and ankles, chained her to a bed, and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. She escaped by throwing herself, naked, out of his apartment window.

He was sentenced to 41 months at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwater before being transferred to St. Peter Hospital for a brief stay.

In the wake of the 2009 search warrant application uncovered by the St. Paul reporter, another victim came forward. Crosby had paid her to perform sexual acts in his presence. She was 17 years old.

Crosby was arrested and convicted for using a minor in a sexual performance. From that crime, investigators obtained another search warrant that allowed full access to his home and property.

They uncovered a secret, locked room with a bed and an array of cameras. A saw discovered in his locked trunk was taken into evidence for another case.

Encrypted files on his computer revealed images and information related to violent sexual activity, including a handbook on how to abduct and kill women.

That information was used in the state’s argument to indefinitely commit Crosby as a sexually dangerous person to the Moose Lake Sex Offender Treatment Program facility, where he will likely spend the rest of his days.

I sat down for an interview with Crosby at the secure Moose Lake facility in January. He claimed the police files related to the three victims who escaped included “data errors.” He denied any involvement in Belinda’s disappearance and insinuated that her family might have had something to do with it.

Belinda’s family does not see the main suspect’s detainment as justice for Belinda. They still do not know what happened to their kind and smart sister on June 15, 1974. Her body has never been found.

They are, however, glad he is not able to hurt any more women.

Crosby would not be locked up today, though, if an ambitious reporter didn’t find the 2009 search warrant application.

Investigators throughout the years went to great lengths to keep any information related to Belinda’s disappearance out of the public eye for fear that it would compromise their investigation. That mentality also extended to Belinda’s family members, who were kept in the dark for decades.

It’s an interesting twist in this story. When information about Belinda’s case was made available to the public, it led to his 2009 arrest and investigators’ access to Crosby’s home and property.

Without that newspaper article, Crosby would likely still be a free man today.

To read the whole Belinda Van Lith series, go

here.

To listen to the full line-up of podcast episodes about this investigation, go

here

.
]]>

Part 5: Renewed search for Belinda Van Lith led to arrest of main suspect — for another crime

Trisha Taurinskas — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:01:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This is Part 5 in a Forum News Service investigative series related to 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 the

Van Lith investigation page.

Listen to

The Vault podcast

for related episodes.

EAGLE LAKE, Minn. — The Wright County Sheriff’s Office quest to investigate Timothy Crosby for the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith led to his arrest — but not for the crime they set out to uncover.

The investigation into Crosby as a suspect in Belinda’s disappearance was intensified in 2008 during a cold-case review, conducted in coordination with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Belinda went missing on June 15, 1974, from a home she was house-sitting on Eagle Lake, located outside of Monticello.

In coordination with Belinda’s family, Forum News Service obtained the roughly 1,200-page law enforcement case file related to her investigation by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office. The file reveals a stalled investigation that picked up steam in 2008 and was aimed at one man: Timothy Crosby, Belinda’s one-time neighbor.

The file also included a detailed account of Crosby’s crimes, which includes a history of sexual assault and three cases in which kidnapping victims escaped from him.

The renewed investigation into Belinda’s case, which began in 2008, included a re-examination of Crosby’s former Eagle Lake cabin, where he was staying alone the weekend she went missing. The cabin was located 100 yards from where Belinda was staying, and Crosby was the last known person to see her.

In addition to another look at the Cornwell residence, where Belinda had been house-sitting when she vanished, investigators honed in on the field where Crosby had gotten his vehicle stuck on the evening of Belinda’s disappearance.

Crosby’s DNA was collected in 2009 when investigators executed a search warrant at his St. Paul home.

The details of the search warrant application were obtained by a local media outlet which reported that Crosby was a suspect in Belinda’s disappearance — and the murder and dismemberment of Martha Ann Bacon, whose remains were discovered in 1993 near Eagle Lake.

The story caught the attention of a woman who reached out to investigators and told them that Crosby had paid her 17-year-old daughter to perform sexual acts.

Crosby was convicted in December 2009 on a charge of soliciting a minor for sexual acts.

While Crosby served his sentence, investigators continued their investigation into him. They unleashed cadaver dogs, excavated properties, submitted weapons for DNA analysis and executed a full-scale search warrant on his St. Paul home.

Items uncovered in his home were critical to the state’s successful argument that Crosby was a danger to the public. He was civilly committed in 2013 to the Minnesota Sex Offender Treatment Program facility in Moose Lake, where he is being held indefinitely as a dangerous sexual recidivist.

Crosby has not been charged in relation to Belinda’s disappearance.

'Garbage pulls,' surveillance and neighbors

In May 2008, Officer Dave Clemence and now Lt. Mike Lindquist with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office began searching through the curbside garbage bin at Crosby’s St. Paul home, where they discovered a long, brown braid of hair “that appeared to have been cut off a person,” according to the report.

Lindquist recently told Forum News Service that BCA testing revealed the hair was synthetic.

Two months later, in July 2008, another garbage pull revealed a pink and black bra that had been cut between the cups. Crosby had previously cut the bra of a woman he kidnapped and sexually assaulted. The cut was in the same location.

Wright County investigators began surveilling Crosby in 2009. They followed him as he went to and from work. Then, they installed a GPS tracking device on his truck. Crosby rotated vehicles, though. When investigators discovered he also drove a blue Hyundai, they applied — and were granted — a warrant to install another.

Investigators also spoke with Crosby’s neighbor, who told them about some odd behavior. Crosby covered his basement windows with newspapers.

The neighbor also noticed something that stood out to investigators: He regularly observed Crosby “messing around” with the door handles of the blue Hyundai, according to the report.

Two of Crosby’s former victims reported the passenger-side door handles didn’t work from the inside. They had been cut off. This had also been reported by a woman whose cabin was adjacent to the Crosby cabin.

Her two daughters confirmed that with investigators in 2008 and 2009.

Searching the Crosby cabin

Investigators discussed searching the Crosby cabin when they reopened the case in 2008. The new owner agreed to allow investigators to conduct a thorough search.

“This cabin was the scene of a kidnapping and rape incident in December of 1974,” Lindquist wrote in a 2009 report. “It is believed that evidence from other crimes may still be present at this cabin.”

The FBI assisted Wright County Sheriff’s Office on June 15, 2009 — the 35th anniversary of Belinda’s disappearance — on an indoor search of the Crosby cabin and shed.

The FBI’s Evidence Response Team swept the main floor and basement of the cabin, along with a shed on the property. Three items of interest were taken into evidence, including a sickle, a green metal angle iron and a piece of wood with screws, all of which were left behind by the Crosbys.

Investigators submitted the items to the BCA for DNA analysis, with the intention of cross-referencing any DNA extracted from the items with Belinda’s DNA profile, which was created through saliva samples from her family members.

Investigators also hoped to cross-reference DNA from the items with the DNA profile of Martha Bacon, whose dismembered remains were discovered in Wright County in 1993. Her murder remained unsolved.

By August, the BCA notified investigators that blood had been detected on all three submitted items. Two months later, the results of the DNA analysis came in.

DNA was not obtained through the blood samples, according to BCA Forensic Scientist Joe Cooksley’s report.

In a recent interview with Forum News Service, Cooksley explained possible reasons for the results. The sample derived from the three items included very small blood samples. While he could not definitively say, the lack of DNA extracted from the blood sample could have meant it did not belong to a human.

“Sometimes it’s possible with very small blood stains that you would get a limited amount of DNA. Typically, you’d expect to see some amount of DNA,” Cooksley said. “For these particular samples, what we do is we extract DNA from the sample and then we’ll do a process called quantification, where we’d determine how much DNA was obtained from the extracted DNA. For all of these samples, the value was zero.”

The samples also endured decades of harsh environmental factors while stored in the shed, including hot summers and cold winters. There have been instances in which the BCA was able to retrieve DNA samples from decades-old blood that has been subjected to harsh environmental factors, Cooksley said. There have also been times when those factors did damage the sample, though.

As far as advancements in DNA technology, Cooksley said it wouldn’t necessarily change the outcome in this particular case, mainly because of the very small size of the sample.

The blow to investigators didn’t halt their investigation — it expanded the scope.

Digging for evidence

Through 2013, Lindquist continued to pursue Crosby as a suspect in Belinda’s case — in conjunction with the two sex workers whose remains were discovered in the 1990s near Eagle Lake — and arrangements were made to include the FBI’s certified cadaver dogs as part of the investigation.

The search included two canines.

The first dog alerted officials while searching the southwest exterior side of the cabin, which faces the shores of Eagle Lake. Investigators then led the dog into the basement, where it honed in on the interior portion of the southwest side of the cabin.

The next step involved FBI agents taking a core dirt sample from the ground near the area where the dog picked up the scent of human remains. That sample was placed in an area away from the cabin. This time, the second dog was brought in — and that dog honed in on the sample, placed by the FBI, in the area away from the cabin.

The search of the Crosby cabin. Images provided by Wright County Sheriff's Office

Investigators were hopeful that an excavation of the outdoor area of the southwest portion of the cabin would reveal evidence of a crime.

“Experts do not understand what part of human decomposition odor a dog can identify,” Lindquist wrote in his search warrant application. “However, practical criminal investigative experience, training records, proficiency assessments, annual certification assessments and case law all support the ability of the property trained Victim Recovery Dog to be able to scent discriminate and identify the odor of human decomposition.”

In June of 2014, Wright County investigators, in conjunction with the BCA, excavated the area under the deck of the former Crosby cabin, located near the shorefront on the southwest side of the cabin.

A backhoe was used to scrape the area under the deck layer by layer until it reached a depth of 3 1/2 feet. The search didn’t uncover any human remains.

Excavation of Crosby cabin land. Images provided by Wright County Sheriff's Office

Ground-penetrating radar was also used to scan the inside of the basement to determine if remains could have been buried beneath the basement floor.

“The technician was unable to locate any disturbances in the soil beneath the cement floor,” Lindquist wrote in the report.

Searching the field

Another part of the puzzle: the manure pit where Crosby had gotten stuck on June 15, 1974 — the day Belinda disappeared.

Lindquist was joined by Detective Jason Hermansen on May 20, 2009, when they visited the new owners of the land.

The parcels of land had been split up and sold separately following the 1988 and 1989 deaths of the two brothers who lived on and owned the property, which included 230 acres of farmland, a homestead, a barn and other outbuildings.

A few days after their first visit, Lindquist and Hermansen returned to the area. This time, they were able to locate the spot where the manure pile had been, since grown over with high weeds and grass.

That area borders a wooded area, and investigators noted in their report that it could be a “prime location to hide a body.” While looking around, they found two bones and took them into evidence. They were later determined to be animal bones.

Investigators tracked down the nephew of the land’s previous owner, who was around in June 1974. He recalled his uncle talking about the young man who had gotten stuck in the manure pile.

The nephew told investigators his uncle was working in the barn in the early hours of the morning when Crosby entered, covered “head to toe” in manure. That fall, the nephew was present while his uncle went through the manure pile, looking for signs of Belinda. During that dig, he was startled when his uncle uncovered a chicken wing — he thought, at first, that it was a body part.

Five years passed before cadaver dogs were taken out to the field.

The FBI joined Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators in spring 2014 to thoroughly search that field, particularly the area on and near where the manure pit had been located.

Cadaver dogs trained to identify clandestine graves were unleashed in the field and bordering wooded area. They didn’t find anything.

A search warrant for Crosby’s DNA

Investigators with the St. Paul Police Department, in coordination with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, executed a search warrant at Crosby’s St. Paul home in June of 2009.

They were there to collect his DNA for the Belinda and Bacon cases.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press picked up the story, and published an article with the headline, “Two cold cases, a single suspect.” The story unveiled the nature of the search warrant and informed the public that Crosby was a suspect in at least two cases: the disappearance of Belinda and the dismemberment of Bacon.

That story caught the attention of a woman who recognized Crosby’s name. Her 17-year-old daughter had been hired by Crosby to conduct odd jobs around his house — and had been paid to perform sexual acts in his presence.

The 17-year-old was interviewed by investigators, and she had a lot to say.

Survivor's report leads to arrest

The girl had met Crosby through his wife’s family members. Not too long after they were introduced, he hired her to do yard work and cleaning projects. Crosby paid her generously at first, which made her more inclined to keep coming back.

Crosby eventually began loaning the 17-year-old money to support her methamphetamine habit. In return, he’d keep her busy around his house, working alongside her.

He also spent time driving with the girl around St. Paul, talking. While together, he’d regularly park his car at the back of a nearby cemetery. On one occasion, she told investigators he said, “Do you know how lucky you are that I can control myself now?”

On at least one other occasion, she said he told her, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

It didn’t take long for Crosby to begin offering her money to undress and perform sexual acts in his presence. On one occasion, Crosby picked up another woman while driving with the 17-year-old. He took them to a motel in St. Paul.

The 17-year-old told investigators she felt Crosby planned this. When they arrived, he didn’t need to check in — he already had the key. The 17-year-old locked herself in the motel bathroom while Crosby paid the other woman to perform sexual acts.

The girl noted to investigators that Crosby acted differently toward the other woman. He was mean and aggressive, which was a side of him she had not previously seen.

Months later, Crosby offered to give the 17-year-old girl money to engage in sexual acts with another woman in his presence. He took them both to the same motel.

Based on the girl’s testimony, Crosby was arrested on Sept. 4, 2009, and charged with using a minor in a sexual performance, solicitation of a minor to practice prostitution and hiring a minor to engage in prostitution.

A secret locked basement room

Crosby pleaded guilty to using a minor in a sexual performance. On Dec. 28, 2009, he was given a 24-month stayed sentence, with the stipulation that he undergo sex offender treatment, according to court documents related to his appeal. Crosby did not participate in sex offender treatment, which was a violation of his agreement with the court.

Crosby was granted probation in May 2011, but was promptly detained while the state of Minnesota prepared its case for his civil commitment as a sexually dangerous person. A search warrant executed on his St. Paul home following the 2009 charges was critical in this case.

The search was conducted by the St. Paul Police Department, in coordination with the FBI, BCA and Wright County Sheriff’s Office.

This time, they had full access to the interior and exterior of the home — including a secret, locked basement room.

The items discovered in that basement played a pivotal role in the state of Minnesota’s arguments in support of the indeterminate civil commitment of Crosby in 2013.

Editor's note: This is part 5 of Forum News Service's

ongoing investigation

into the Belinda Van Lith missing persons case. Follow

The Vault

for updates. If you have information in this case, please contact Mike Lindquist with Wright County Sheriff's Office at

763-682-1162.

]]>

Part 4: Suspects in Belinda's case included a man who claimed he kidnapped Jacob Wetterling

Trisha Taurinskas — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 13:31:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This is Part 4 in a Forum News Service investigative series related to 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 the

Van Lith investigation page.

Listen to

The Vault podcast

for related episodes.

EAGLE LAKE, Minn. — Belinda Van Lith’s 1974 missing persons case was kept alive through tips from the public. Investigators determined two of them warranted thorough examination, yet they led the law enforcement to a series of complex rabbit holes and disappointing dead ends.

One stemmed from an alleged drunk confession from a distant relative. The other related to a man who falsely confessed to the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling and owned the home Belinda was looking after when she vanished on June 15, 1974.

These tips were revealed in the 1,200-page investigative file related to Belinda’s case, which was obtained by Forum News Service in August with the help of family members. The file reveals glaring failures in the early stages of the case and the Wright County Sheriff’s Office efforts to remedy the investigation more than three decades later.

The investigation has not yet led to any charges related to Belinda’s disappearance, nor has Belinda been found, yet it did lead to an unrelated conviction for the prime suspect, Timothy Crosby.

Crosby, who went on to become a serial abductor, is now locked up at the Minnesota Sex Offender Treatment Program in Moose Lake., Minnesota In a recent interview with Forum News Service, he denied any involvement in Belinda’s disappearance.

A drunk relative confesses?

In January 2002, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota received a call from a woman who claimed she had information about a confession in Belinda’s case. Belinda was 17 years old when she went missing on June 15, 1975, from a home she was house sitting on Eagle Lake, near Monticello, Minnesota.

The woman told investigators her sister was riding in the back of a truck one to two years prior when she heard their aunt say Belinda’s distant cousin confessed to the crime at some point between 1987 and 1989 while drunk.

The distant cousin arrived at the aunt’s house and allegedly told her that he and a friend forced Belinda into their car while she was walking down the road on a dark and foggy night. Then, he claimed things “got out of hand,” according to the case file.

He said they drove to a nearby cemetery, where she ended up in a grave that had already been dug.

When they got the tip, Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators tracked down the woman who allegedly heard this confession firsthand.

She said the man who confessed would regularly come over drunk during the 1980s. She tried to ask him follow-up questions to the confusing and troubling confession, but he wasn’t coherent enough to provide answers.

It had been decades since the initial confession was supposedly made, and investigators believed Belinda likely went missing during the daylight hours. Yet, they tracked down the man who allegedly made those claims – and all of his close acquaintances over the years.

Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators were thorough. They conducted interviews with his ex-wives, family members and friends. They tracked down records from cemeteries in and near the area where Belinda went missing. They attempted to monitor his phone calls and conduct in-person surveillance.

They also talked to Belinda’s mother, Beverly Van Lith, to get a feel for the family’s relationship with the distant cousin and ask her about allegations that she had confronted him.

Beverly, it turned out, had not confronted the cousin.

In the end, investigators determined the confession was not credible and that the distant cousin was not responsible for the disappearance or death of Belinda.

After clearing allegations that Belinda’s distant cousins could be involved, investigators put a microscope on Timothy Crosby, the last person to see her, and the man whose home Belinda was house sitting when she went missing: Duane Cornwell.

The Cornwell investigation

Cornwell was initially considered a person of interest at the start of Belinda’s investigation in June 1974. He was initially cleared after providing investigators with an alibi.

Belinda was house-sitting for Cornwell while he was away with his band in Nashville at the time she went missing. When he arrived home on June 15, 1975, his mother’s vehicle was parked in the driveway.

The two, collectively, realized Belinda wasn’t around.

When Belinda was reported missing, Cornwell told investigators he and a bandmate had stayed at the Scottish Hotel in Nashville and checked out on the evening of June 14, 1974, before making the 14-hour trip home.

But investigators noticed a discrepancy when they attempted to match his story to records obtained by the Scottish Hotel. A teletype returned to the Wright County Sheriff’s Office stated that Cornwell checked out on June 13, along with his bandmate – one day earlier than Cornwall had claimed.

That inconsistency didn’t alarm investigators at the time, yet his possible involvement in Belinda’s disappearance came to light when he was looked at as a person of interest in the Jacob Wetterling case.

A Wetterling connection?

Wetterling was an 11-year-old boy who went missing in October 1989 from Stearns County, which borders Wright County. His case remained unsolved for 27 years until a 2016 confession by Danny Heinrich led investigators to his remains, located near his abduction site.

Portions of Stearns County Sheriff’s Office reports related to Wetterling’s case are included in Belinda’s investigative file, which was obtained by Forum News Service. It is not clear when these files were handed over to Wright County, but they were referenced during the 2008 cold case review of Belinda’s disappearance.

One month after Wetterling went missing, Cornwell told authorities he knew where the 11-year-old had been buried. A task force responded by showing up at his Stearns County home. After briefly refusing to cooperate, he got in a squad car and led investigators on an unsuccessful late night drive throughout rural portions of the county.

After officers sensed Cornwell could be in a state of mental instability, they returned to his home. There, he told an officer he had killed Wetterling and buried him under the dog kennel on his property. He was arrested and taken in for questioning before being sent to a nearby hospital for treatment related to mental illness.

Officials with the Wetterling task force continued to investigate Cornwell, though. A search warrant was executed at his Stearns County property and officials interviewed his ex-wives and friends.

Months after his arrest, hospitalization and treatment, Cornwell was visited by an investigator from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. This time, the questions related to Belinda’s case.

Focus on Belinda

Cornwell denied having anything to do with Belinda’s disappearance. He recounted his trip to Nashville. He recalled pulling into his driveway, shortly after his mother arrived. He told investigators how he and his mother looked for Belinda throughout the house, but realized she wasn’t there.

Cornwell provided details regarding conversations with Belinda’s father in the days after she went missing. Belinda's father had been over at his residence days before she went missing to fix a blown fuse on an outside power box.

He also recalled telling a close friend that he believed one of his ex-wives could have been responsible for Belinda’s death. He hired Belinda to watch the house because he was afraid the ex-wife would steal his property if it was left unattended.

The BCA investigator followed up with Cornwell’s ex-wives. They all reported his issues with alcohol, mental health issues and physical violence.

One of those ex-wives said something that stood out to Wright County Sheriff’s Investigators when they dove back into Belinda’s case file in 2008.

One of Cornwell’s ex-wives told a BCA investigator that while Cornwell was hospitalized in 1989, he allegedly mentioned a shallow grave under a shed. His ex-wife believed the alleged grave could belong to Belinda.

In 2008, Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators filled out a BCA Cold Case Card application — an initiative that showcased cold cases on decks of cards — for Belinda’s case. The application would put Belinda’s case back in the spotlight. In order to apply, officials with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office had to provide details regarding the case. It seems this process sparked investigators’ curiosity.

Months later, a cold case review into Belinda’s disappearance was launched by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the BCA — and investigators honed in on Cornwell’s former residence.

Searching the Cornwell property

Thomas Grue purchased Cornwell’s home in 1975. He learned early on that Belinda had gone missing from the residence when investigators knocked on his door shortly after he bought the house.

“When we bought the place, we found out about the situation with Belinda. And then we had investigators who were trying to follow up and find out, and they came out several times and did a walk through of the property,” Grue told Forum News Service in a recent interview at his residence.

Then, more than 30 years later, another set of investigators knocked on his door asking him questions about Belinda.

He showed Wright County Sheriff’s office investigators around the property. He filled them in on improvements he’s made on the home over the years, which includes an addition to the south side and an accompanying basement. During that project, which required extensive digging, he never came across anything he felt was related to Belinda’s case.

Grue made other improvements to the area. He landscaped the yard and updated the barn. He changed the outdoor pole power source. The dirt floor shed remained the same, though.

That shed would later become the site of an excavation dig related to Belinda’s disappearance.

In 2013, a team of investigators led by Wright County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Mike Lindquist with the Criminal Investigations Division dug up the area in and around that shed.

“In review of the interior portions of this garage they did notice the floor was dirt. In the southeast corner of this garage they found a location which appeared lower than the other three corners,” Lindquist wrote in his report.

Search of Cornwell Home

During the search, investigators dug down three feet. On the top layer of the dirt floor they discovered a small, multi-colored beaded necklace. Grue, however, had daughters who grew up on the property.

They also discovered a small animal bone and remnants of an old cloth item with a clasp.

Small bone and piece of cloth with clasp

It was the final push to fully investigate Cornwell’s possible involvement in Belinda’s disappearance, and it led investigators to narrow down the suspect pool to one man: Timothy Crosby.

In conjunction with the dig on Grue’s property, Lindquist led a full-scale investigation into Crosby’s possible involvement in the disappearance of Belinda and the death of two women whose dismembered remains were discovered near Eagle Lake in the early 1990s.

Search warrants were executed. A blood-stained sickle left behind at the Crosby cabin was analyzed for DNA comparisons and areas around the cabin were unearthed. An excavation dig was conducted in the field where Crosby had gotten his vehicle stuck the night Belinda went missing. Cadaver dogs were unleashed, and bones were sent in for DNA analysis.

These efforts did lead to the arrest of Timothy Crosby, but not for the crime they initially set out to solve. Instead, the investigation pulled on a string that unraveled evidence supporting his conviction for the use of a minor in a sexual performance.

Editor's note: This ongoing series will continue soon. Follow

The Vault

for updates.
]]>

Part 3: Three women escaped the main suspect in her disappearance. What they experienced was harrowing

Trisha Taurinskas — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 14:12:00 GMT

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
]]>

Part 2: He was the last to see her alive. When he later attacked a woman, he finally became a suspect

Trisha Taurinskas — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 13:31:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 in a Forum News Service investigative series related to 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 the

Van Lith investigation page

MONTICELLO, Minn. — A young woman’s escape from a ‘69 Chrysler Newport on a cold Minnesota evening in December 1974 forever changed the course of Belinda Van Lith’s missing person investigation.

Belinda had vanished just a few months before on June 15, 1974, while the 17-year-old was house-sitting a residence on Eagle Lake, near Monticello. Timothy Crosby, who was staying alone in his parents’ cabin 100 yards away, was the last known person to see her.

Investigators didn’t initially consider Crosby a suspect. He was the 18-year-old son of a St. Paul police officer. He was quiet, with no known criminal record.

That all changed when the Wright County Sheriff’s Office received a phone call on Dec. 31, 1974, regarding a sexual assault that took place at a familiar cabin the previous day.

Crosby had kidnapped a 19-year-old young woman near the University of Minnesota. He pointed a gun to her head as he forced her into handcuffs, blindfolded her and took her to his cabin on Eagle Lake. He tied her up and sexually assaulted her. Then, he drove her to a nearby park and threatened to kill her.

Yet, she escaped — and the information she provided to law enforcement caused Wright County Sheriff’s Office investigators to consider Crosby as a potential suspect in Belinda’s disappearance.

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 and an exclusive interview with Crosby.

The investigation reveals glaring failures in the early stages of Belinda’s case, including many missed opportunities to fully investigate Crosby’s possible involvement in her disappearance.

Many suspicious signs were downplayed or ignored. Law enforcement did not attempt to search the field where Crosby’s vehicle was stranded the night Belinda went missing. They did not examine evidence stemming from Crosby’s December 1974 crimes that could have, potentially, put Belinda’s case to rest.

Meanwhile, Belinda’s case file shows, Crosby earned a record over the next decade as a serial criminal, kidnapping and assaulting multiple women. Yet he faced only light punishment, or charges against him were dropped.

The Wright County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division attempted from 2009 to 2013 to fill the gaps left behind from the initial investigation, yet their efforts did not lead to justice for Belinda or her family.

In 2010, the state of Minnesota successfully argued that Crosby was a sexual recidivist and a danger to the public. As a result, he was committed to the secure Moose Lake Sex Offender Program facility, where he is currently locked up. He has not been charged with crimes related to Belinda’s disappearance.

Crosby is named as the sole suspect in the investigative file. In an interview with Forum News Service, he denied having anything to do with Belinda’s disappearance.

The Wright County Sheriff’s Office has declined opportunities to answer questions presented by Forum News Service related to this case.

The case that opened their eyes

The laundry list of items discovered by investigators in Crosby’s vehicle in the early morning hours of Dec. 31, 1974, showed he was prepared for the kidnapping and sexual assault of his victim — and that he was violent.

The young woman was hitchhiking near the University of Minnesota when Crosby offered to give her a ride on Dec. 30, 1974. She accepted, yet very quickly realized she was in danger.

She tried to leave through the passenger’s side, but she couldn’t — the door wouldn’t open.

“I turned around and he had a gun pointed at my side and he had handcuffs in the other hand and he told me to put my hands behind my back,” the victim told investigators in a Dec. 31, 1974, interview, after she escaped. “And then he pushed me back and headed out on the freeway and the direction he went was towards St. Cloud.”

Crosby kept his gun out during the one-hour drive to his family cabin on Eagle Lake. He threatened to shoot her if he made her nervous. When they arrived at the cabin, he sexually assaulted her at knifepoint. He poured rubbing alcohol on tissue paper and used it to cover her mouth. He handcuffed her and took photos of her with his Polaroid camera.

Then he took her back to his car and drove to Montissippi Park in nearby Monticello. Women’s clothing and underwear had been found in that very park four months earlier, in August 1974.

Crosby eventually began driving back toward the University of Minnesota that evening. He told her he’d drop her off where she had initially requested. Yet, he didn’t.

The victim saw a cop car and maneuvered her foot onto the gas pedal. The cop followed. She began aggressively honking the horn in an attempt to alert police that she was in trouble.

Eventually, Crosby lost control of the car and crashed into the boulevard.

“I knew he was going to kill me because I knew he wasn’t going to let me go,” the victim later told law enforcement.

Inside Crosby’s car, officers discovered a revolver, a long-blade hunting knife, a butcher knife, masking tape, ammonia inhalants, rope and handcuffs. Crosby also had a Polaroid camera and film, which he had used to take photos of his victim while she was restrained at his Eagle Lake cabin.

The photos he took of the victim were found strewn about the floor of the car.

Evidence list

A roll of photos was taken and developed by investigators, but “the film showed no recognizable pictures,” according to the police report.

They, too, noticed Crosby’s passenger’s side door was incredibly difficult to open.

“Part of the door latch is missing and while the door can be opened from the inside, it is quite difficult to do so, requiring both hands to do so,” the report states.

All of this information lined up with what the victim told officers: She was unable to initially get out of the passenger door, and that Crosby was prepared.

Inside Crosby’s vehicle, investigators also found an array of women’s clothing, including a yellow halter top, a navy blue shirt with an embroidered frog, women’s underwear and a pink bra that had been cut.

The victim told investigators he forced her to wear women’s clothing while he assaulted and photographed her. Crosby told investigators that the clothing belonged to his sister, yet there were no documented efforts to prove that to be true.

The search warrant

The Wright County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the St. Paul Police Department where Crosby’s father worked as a police officer, executed a search warrant on the family’s St. Paul home.

They documented just one item: Crosby’s diary, which began roughly two weeks after Belinda went missing. The diary was returned to Crosby, with no documentation of its contents.

In a letter penned by Crosby on July 11, 1975, he thanked then-Wright County Sheriff Darell Wolff for the swift return of his diary.

“I would like to give you my personal thanks for helping me to receive my diary so quickly from your county,” he wrote.

Investigators would learn in 2009 that there could have been other items of interest discovered during that search.

Jim Powers, who worked for the Wright County Sheriff’s Office in 1975, remembers a few other items that weren’t documented: two locked metal case files, and a photocopied list of 50 ways to dispose of a body. One of the items on the list, he recalled, was putting the body in manure.

The Crosby cabin was not subject to a search warrant at that time.

Missed opportunities

It wasn’t clear what Belinda was wearing when she went missing. Investigators didn’t ask Crosby, the last known person to see her, when they knocked on his door days after she vanished.

Her family didn’t know, either.

Belinda’s siblings — and friends — were not shown the clothing Crosby forced his victim to wear. They weren’t shown the clothing found in the park and his vehicle, either.

They didn’t know, at all, about the clothing obtained by law enforcement until they received the investigative file in the summer of 2023.

Now, they’re wondering if they still have a chance.

Forum News Service has filed a records request with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office for information related to the physical evidence list in Belinda’s case. At the time of publication, that request has not been filled, or denied.

The request was made to determine if clothing discovered in Crosby’s vehicle was returned to his father.

In March of 1977, Crosby’s family lawyer requested that the Wright County Sheriff’s Office return the handcuffs, revolver and clothing taken as evidence. The attorney stated the items belonged to Glen, Crosby’s dad.

Correspondence included in the investigative file between then-County Attorney Wyman Nelson and Wright County’s Sheriff Jim Powers on April 8, 1977, indicates Glen might have gotten what he wanted.

“Do you have any objections? The case they were involved in were disposed of,” Nelson typed in the message, referring to Glen’s request. “The father will probably prevail. Let me know.”

Below that printed statement is a handwritten note, addressed to Powers.

“We have no basis to hold these items,” it states.

The field

In the days following the December 1974 kidnapping and sexual assault, Wright County sheriff’s officers went back to the drawing board in Belinda’s case and began asking Crosby’s Eagle Lake neighbors some questions.

Residents of at least two cabins told investigators they remembered Crosby was staying alone on Eagle Lake the weekend Belinda vanished. They also recalled that, on the day she went missing, Crosby had gotten his ‘69 Chrysler Newport stuck in a nearby farm field, which left it covered in manure.

After numerous interviews, officers nailed down the details and timeline of the incident: Crosby had gotten his vehicle stuck in the field during the evening hours of June 15, 1974, and returned back to his cabin in the early hours of June 16.

That’s when neighbors saw Crosby hosing off his car.

Former Wright County Sheriff’s Office Detective Robert Kammer told investigators during a 2009 interview that the farmer who owned the land where Crosby was stuck came forward a couple months after the incident.

Crosby told the land owner on the evening of June 15 that he and his girlfriend were “parking” when his vehicle became stuck, yet there was no one else in the car when the farmer arrived to help.

The check Crosby handed over to the farmer for his services had bounced, and he wanted Crosby to be held accountable.

Crosby had a different explanation, though.

In 1975, Crosby told investigators he had been drinking at a local bar and veered off the road on his way home, causing his car to crash into the manure.

Despite this information, the 1975 investigation into Belinda’s disappearance did not include a search of that field. (That wouldn’t happen until three decades later, which will be further explored in a future part of this series.)

Belinda’s siblings were never given any information related to the crimes Crosby committed in December of 1974 at the last known location where their sister had been seen.

They were not told that Crosby was the last known person to see Belinda — and they certainly were not aware that Crosby had been stuck in a nearby farm field the evening Belinda went missing.

A case gone cold

Crosby was charged with aggravated kidnapping with a dangerous firearm, robbery and sexual assault for his December 1974 crimes.

His legal team cut a deal — he pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping while possessing a firearm, a term that carries a minimum of three years in prison. Instead, he was then sent to St. Peter Hospital’s Intensive Treatment Program for Sexual Aggressiveness.

With Crosby behind bars, Belinda’s case seemed to go cold. Crosby, meanwhile, was granted parole in 1982 and released from St. Peter Hospital.

In the years after he was released, two more female victims escaped from Crosby. One woman escaped his vehicle after being held at knifepoint. The other threw herself out of his apartment window after being held captive for 16 hours.

Each woman lived to tell their story. What they told investigators in Belinda’s case exposed Crosby and provided clues to his potential involvement in Belinda's disappearance.

Van Lith investigation page

. To listen to the corresponding podcast series related to this story, check out Forum Communications’

The Vault Podcast

wherever you listen to podcasts.
]]>