Feb 23, 2024
This is part 3 in an ongoing series on the disapperance of Belinda Van Lith, and the investigation that followed.
Belinda Van Lith (also known as Belinda VanLith) went missing from a home she was house siting on Eagle Lake, outside of Monticello, Minnesota in the summer of 1974. Her case was never solved.
A months-long Forum News Service investigation, in collaboration with the Van Lith family, led to the release of Belinda’s 1,200-page police casefile and an exclusive interview with the main suspect, Timothy 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 on 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 casefile 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.
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.
This episode is written, narrated and produced by Trisha Taurinskas. The Vault's editor is Jeremy Fugleberg.
Trisha can be reached at ttaurinskas@forumcomm.com
To see documents from the case file and photos of Belinda, Crosby and others mentioned in this series, visit inforum.com/belinda