Turns out there is a potential serial killer in Kansas City, despite denials from police
For weeks, the Black community in Kansas City has complained that there was a string of Black women and girls being abducted and possibly murdered. Rumors of a serial killer have circulated and been called “unfounded” by police.
Now, a 22-year-old Black woman identified only as “T.J.” has escaped a Missouri basement where she was held for weeks as her kidnapper repeatedly whipped and raped her. T.J. made her escape on October 7 while her captor was out of the house to take his child to school. Running to a neighbor’s house, she beat on the door and pleaded for help. The woman told Ciara Tharp, the neighbor who let her in and assisted her, that she had friends that hadn’t made it out alive and claimed that the man who abducted her had killed them.
Police were sent to the residence of Timothy M. Haslett, Jr. after T.J. fled captivity in his home in Excelsior Springs. The home has now been boarded up and marked with police tape while the case is further investigated. At present, police say they are looking into the possibility of at least two more victims. According to the community, there may be more.
The Kansas City Defender has uncovered social media posts made by Haslett that reveal he is a dangerous white supremacist who believed we are in a race war and made many disturbing posts on his Facebook page.
Thirty-nine-year-old Haslett pleaded guilty last week to charges of rape, kidnapping, and assault.
Rumors had been going around social media and the community for weeks. Bishop Tony Caldwell, a community leader, was featured in a video posted by The Kansas City Defender in which he talked about the area where women had been going missing. It is the same location where the recently escaped woman said she was abducted.
In response to the rumors and Bishop Caldwell’s video, the Kansas City Police issued a statement that the claims were “completely unfounded” and insisted that there was no basis for the rumors. Now, Officer Donna Drake, speaking on behalf of the department, has told reporters that the statement was made because no formal missing person reports had been made.
The Clay County Prosecutor stated in the probable cause statement for the arrest that T.J. reported to police that Haslett held her captive in a small basement room he had built. She was secured with handcuffs on her wrists and ankles. The victim had multiple injuries on her back where she had been whipped while restrained.
When police arrived at the home of Haslett’s neighbor, they found T.J. wearing latex lingerie. She had a metal collar with a padlock and duct tape still secured around her neck. She said that Haslett had picked her up from Prospect Street in Kansas City in early September 2022. This is the same area noted by Bishop Caldwell in his video.
According to social media rumors, there are at least four Black women and three girls who have gone missing from the same area. The investigation is still in the early days. It remains to be seen how many women may have been harmed or killed by Haslett or how many might have been prevented if police had taken claims by the community more seriously instead of flatly denying their concerns while a monster roamed free.
Sources: Newsweek, Huffington Post, KMBC, Fox4KC, Kansas City Defender
Doing Crime 