PART 4: The Disappearance of Belinda Van Lith

This is part 4 in an ongoing series on the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith, and the investigation that followed.   In part 4 of this series, we explore an alleged confession related to Belinda's disappearance.    In January 2002, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota received a call from a woman who claimed she had information about a confession in Belinda’s case.    The woman told investigators her sister was riding in the back of a truck one to two years prior when she heard their aunt say Belinda’s distant cousin confessed to the crime at some point between 1987 and 1989 while drunk.   The distant cousin arrived at the aunt’s house and allegedly told her that he and a friend forced Belinda into their car while she was walking down the road on a dark and foggy night. Then, he claimed things “got out of hand,” according to the case file.   To learn more about what investigators did next, listen to this episode.    You can find all of our work on this case at inforum.com/Belinda. There, you’ll discover our print stories that accompany every podcast episode. Those stories include images from the casefile, and photos of Belinda, Timothy Crosby and others mentioned in this story. You can also visit our Facebook Group, The Vault: True Crime from the Upper Midwest to discuss the case with others who are listening or reading the series.    If you have any information related to this case, email Trisha Taurinskas at [email protected]