A Clay County murder trial that has already been delayed once is being pushed back again, with Timothy Haslett Jr. now set to stand trial in August 2027 instead of this month as previously planned. Haslett is accused of murder, kidnapping and rape in a case that began with a woman's escape from his Excelsior Springs home and expanded to include the killing of a woman whose remains turned up in a barrel along the Missouri River.
Trial Pushed Back for the Second Time
Haslett's trial had been scheduled for October 26 of this year, but according to KSHB 41 Kansas City, it will now take place in August 2027. The outlet reports that his original trial date had been set for December 2025 before it was first moved to this fall. A court document cited by the station states that both the state and the defense need additional time to complete discovery in the case.
Haslett appeared in Clay County court for a pre-trial conference on October 9, 2026, per the station's reporting. The station reported contacting Clay County and the office of presiding Judge Shane Alexander as part of its coverage of the delay.
How the Case Began
Haslett was arrested and charged in October 2022 after a young woman escaped from his house on Old Orchard Street in Excelsior Springs, the station's report notes. According to the same account, the woman told police she had been kidnapped, repeatedly assaulted and held against her will in a room Haslett built in his basement.
Court filings referenced in the station's reporting indicate the woman escaped when Haslett left to take his child to school, and that a neighbor took her in afterward. Haslett was indicted in February 2023 on nine charges, including rape, sodomy and kidnapping, and pleaded not guilty, according to NBC News.
A Second Woman's Death Adds a Murder Charge
The case grew more serious on July 9, 2024, when a grand jury indicted Haslett on an additional count of first-degree murder. That charge centers on Jaynie Crosdale, a woman investigators wanted to speak with because she may have had information relevant to the Haslett case before she disappeared.
The Clay County Sheriff's Office says a body in a barrel was located in the Missouri River in Saline County on June 24, 2023, and was later determined to be Crosdale's. With the murder charge added, Haslett's bond was increased to $5 million, and he has remained in custody at the Clay County Detention Center, according to the Clay County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators believe Crosdale was killed sometime between June 6 and October 7, 2022, NBC News reported. Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson told the outlet that photos taken from a device belonging to Haslett showed Crosdale inside the basement of his Excelsior Springs home. Police have said Haslett and Crosdale may have met through commercial sex work, KSHB reported.
Why a Second Witness Matters to Prosecutors
Haslett faces first-degree murder, rape, four counts of sodomy, two counts of assault, kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child, the station's investigative reporting states. Much of that case hinges on a woman identified publicly only as Jones, who is believed to have crossed paths with Haslett through commercial sex work and who escaped what the station's report describes as a handmade dungeon Haslett built.
Prosecutors obtained video testimony from Jones in 2024, the station reported, and have described her as a necessary and essential witness for the state whose testimony establishes elements of the felonies that cannot be proven in any other manner. A proposed deposition would include both Haslett and his attorney, preserving his constitutional right of personal confrontation with the witness against him and his right of cross-examination, according to the same reporting. The state and the defense would be able to use the recorded video at trial, the report notes.
With the trial now nearly a year away, the case remains open while both sides work through the discovery process the court document cited.
