MN MN - Belinda VanLith, 17, Little Eagle Lake, 15 June 1974

[theshadow45]

Belinda has been missing for 50 years today.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In July of 2009, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Paul Police Department executed a search warrant at Crosby’s St. Paul home to collect saliva for DNA analysis for the Morris case, Bacon’s case and the investigation related to the 1974 missing persons case of Belinda Van Lith, the subject of a recent investigative series by Forum News Service .

Slaying of 25-year-old woman remains open 30 years after her body was discovered in rural Minnesota

Victoria Marie Morris was last seen in the summer of 1994. In October of that year, her remains were discovered in Wright County alongside the weapon used to kill her.

www.bemidjipioneer.com

 

[Shot tower17]

In July of 2009, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Paul Police Department executed a search warrant at Crosby’s St. Paul home to collect saliva for DNA analysis for the Morris case, Bacon’s case and the investigation related to the 1974 missing persons case of Belinda Van Lith, the subject of a recent investigative series by Forum News Service .

Slaying of 25-year-old woman remains open 30 years after her body was discovered in rural Minnesota

Victoria Marie Morris was last seen in the summer of 1994. In October of that year, her remains were discovered in Wright County alongside the weapon used to kill her.

www.bemidjipioneer.com

As much as I would like to see this SOLVED, the case becomes....... JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM.

In July 2009, police executed search warrants to obtain a sample of Crosby’s DNA as part of a criminal investigation that has no direct connection to this case; Crosby was excluded as the source of the perpetrator’s DNA. LINK -
In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of: Timothy Joseph Crosby.

 

[Diane Redfern]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Listeners who tuned in to The Vault podcast’s 7-part series on the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith can now listen to the full hour-long interview with the main suspect in her case, Timothy Crosby.

Forum News Service conducted an exclusive interview in January 2024 with Crosby at the secure Moose Lake Sex Offender Treatment Program facility, where he has been locked up for more than a decade.

Van Lith was 17 years old when she went missing 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.

She hasn’t been seen since.

Full interview with main suspect in Belinda Van Lith's disappearance is now available on The Vault podcast

Timothy Crosby was the last person to see 17-year-old Belinda Van Lith, who went missing in 1974 from a home she was house sitting on Eagle Lake, outside of Monticello, Minn.

www.brainerddispatch.com

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is Belinda’s birthday.

 

[Sweetluv]

June 15, 1974..thinking of Belinda!

 

[gremlin444]

As much as I would like to see this SOLVED, the case becomes....... JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM.

In July 2009, police executed search warrants to obtain a sample of Crosby’s DNA as part of a criminal investigation that has no direct connection to this case; Crosby was excluded as the source of the perpetrator’s DNA. LINK -
In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of: Timothy Joseph Crosby.

However, as it stated in the article this post was in reply to, they were also using the DNA for the Victoria Morris case, and Martha Bacon.

You can read an non paywalled exact copy of that article from June 2024 here by WDAY:

Slaying of 25-year-old woman remains open 30 years after her body was discovered in rural Minnesota

Victoria Marie Morris was last seen in the summer of 1994. In October of that year, her remains were discovered in Wright County alongside the weapon used to kill her.

www.inforum.com

The focus of the article is Victoria Morris--she was found next to the murder weapon that had male DNA on it.

"In July of 2009, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Paul Police Department executed a search warrant at Crosby’s St. Paul home to collect saliva for DNA analysis for the Morris case, Bacon’s case and the investigation related to the 1974 missing persons case of Belinda Van Lith, the subject of a recent investigative series by Forum News Service .

If Crosby’s DNA had been matched with the unknown male DNA discovered on the murder weapon, the county would have sufficient evidence to file charges. Crosby was not charged with a crime after his saliva was collected."

Now, on June 5, 2025 that same paper/station has a new article which gives us more definite detail which case Crosby's DNA wasn't a match for:

They thought the identity of the severed head would be known by now. Faulty DNA samples are derailing efforts

Bone Lake Jane Doe was among the cases of dismembered women of the 1990s, although her identity remains unknown.

www.inforum.com

"However, a cold case investigation into Morris’ death revealed unknown male DNA was discovered on the weapon, according to a 2009 St. Paul Pioneer Press article.

Like Bacon, Morris was a sex worker in the Minneapolis area. Investigators theorized the perpetrator was also likely a customer familiar with the Wright County area.

Crosby was also named a suspect in Morris' case at one point. However, his DNA did not match the male sample taken from the murder weapon."
And in fact....the warrant for the DNA was from the investigation into Morris' death:

Two cold cases, a single suspect

A St. Paul man with a record of sexually assaulting a prostitute and a female hitchhiker is a suspect in the 1994 death of a prostitute and the 1974 disappearance of a woman in Wright County, accor…

www.twincities.com

From all the articles I've read and podcasts I've listened to about Belinda, they didn't find any DNA that could belong to her perpetrator.