MO Serial Killer & Rapist

Black Women Targeted

Around 08:00a. on October 7th, 2022, a 22y.o. Black woman escaped her imprisonment within an Excelsior Springs, MO home owned by 39y.o. Timothy Haslett, Jr. She was taken in by a neighbour of the suspect after escaping & knocking on the woman's door and pleading for help, allegedly wearing nothing but a trash bag, latex undergarments, and a metal collar with a padlock. The victim, identified as T.J. within court records (to protect her identity), alleges she was chained-up by her wrists and ankles in a room the suspect built in his basement. She claims Haslett tortured her with whips and raped her & her friends who she says were killed by him. T.J. told officers at the scene of the residence that she got a ride from Haslett in the beginning of September from Prospect in Kansas City.

Speculation about the police's distrust of Black victims is the main topic of discussion in/out of the community as allegations of negligence & incompetence loom, some coming from a local community leader, Bishop Tony Caldwell. In a minute-long video produced by Kansas City Defender, Bishop Caldwell calls-out the media, public officials, and police in the area for the lack of care for, and attention paid to, missing & murdered Black women, citing 4 murdered and 3 missing. Due to the local police force's dismissal of the communal concern as "unfounded rumour", many media entities covering the story are not digging into the situation further, including the Atlanta Black Star, ABC, & Newsweek.

Timothy Haslett's social media posts are quite telling when it comes to his racial views, some posts including, "when [black people] decide to act like my equal, then we can discuss their equality", &, " “the race war started a long time ago, wake up ya dumb bitch.” Haslett also claimed Breonna Taylor's death was well-deserved. This brings to mind the way people too often try to use the rise in interracial dating/coupling as an indicator for the level of racism in society (as if the white people who enslaved our Black ancestors weren't sexually attracted to them as it's extensively documented throughout slavery).

Bishop Caldwell later told Kansas City Defender regarding the suspect, "That was the description of the guy we were talking about and that was the location we said they were being taken from. That’s exactly what we were telling people... the people in the street don’t trust [the police], and now, we can see that’s rightfully so."

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Sources:

• Kansas City Defender

• oxygen.com