Missouri man accused of holding woman captive indicted by grand jury on kidnapping, rape charges

(EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo.) — A Missouri man accused of holding a woman captive for a month in his basement has been indicted by a grand jury on charges including kidnapping and rape, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Timothy M. Haslett, 39, was arrested in Missouri in October 2022 after a woman reportedly said she was being held captive in his home.

A grand jury has indicted him on nine charges — including rape in the first degree, four counts of sodomy in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child — Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday.

If convicted of all charges, he faces up to five life sentences and 36 years in prison, he said.

Grand jury proceedings in Missouri are confidential, Thompson noted.

Haslett is currently being held on a $3 million bond and is next due in court on Feb. 17, Thompson said. His public defender, Tiffany Leuty, told ABC News they have no comment at this time.

The suspect was initially charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, and second-degree assault of the 22-year-old woman who allegedly escaped from his Excelsior Springs, Missouri, home last year. He entered a not-guilty plea to those charges in October.

The woman told the neighbors she had been held captive for a month in Haslett’s basement and had been bound, beaten and raped, according to police.

“We would not be here today if not for the bravery of one woman, and of the tireless efforts of the men and women of 16 different agencies,” Thompson said.

The victim, who is Black, fled to the neighbor’s home wearing lingerie, a metal collar with a padlock and duct tape around her neck, according to a probable cause affidavit for the arrest.

Haslett’s basement room was consistent with what the victim described, the affidavit said.

“It was readily apparent that she had been held against her will for a significant period of time,” Excelsior Springs Police Lt. Ryan Dowdy told reporters during a news conference on Oct. 7, according to ABC News Kansas City affiliate KMBC.

Prosecutors said they were still searching for a potential witness, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Missouri community members, including Kansas City community leader Bishop Tony Caldwell, have claimed other Black women have been abducted and murdered without any police follow-up before this incident last fall.

There is no public evidence supporting this claim, police said. The Kansas City Police Department told ABC last fall there were no filed missing person reports to the department, specifically reports from Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, where the woman was allegedly taken.