2nd suspect arrested in death of St. Paul man who was shot, dismembered, dumped in Lake Superior
Aug. 12—A second person is under arrest in connection with the homicide of a St. Paul man whose remains were found in Lake Superior after he was shot and dismembered, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced Wednesday.
Tommi Lynn Hintz, 31, of Duluth, was booked into the St. Louis County jail on a Cook County, Minn., warrant, which was issued when she was charged with being an accomplice after the fact to felony murder and aiding and abetting interference with dead body — conceal a body.
Richard Balsimo, 34, was killed on June 20, and his remains were recovered near Grand Portage on July 15 and 16.
Robert Thomas West, of Duluth, was charged on July 16 with aiding an offender and interference with a dead body in the case. Prosecutors say another man fatally shot Balsimo.
Hintz was acquainted with West, 41, and a 35-year-old man, who she said contacted her about 4:30 a.m. on June 20 and wanted her to travel south from Duluth toward the Twin Cities, according to the criminal complaint against her. He asked her to bring gasoline, saying he couldn't run out. When she asked why, the man said, "Please don't make me tell you what I have on me" and she assumed he meant drugs, the complaint said.
The man later gave Hintz a ride and she saw what she believed to be two bullet holes in the passenger seat. She "stated at this point she started to 'piece things together,'" according to the complaint.
Hintz said West asked her on June 22 if she knew anyone with a boat because he wanted to go fishing. She told him about a commercial fisherman in Grand Portage. When they stopped at a camping area about 15 minutes before arriving, Hintz asked West if he was paranoid and he answered, "Ya with a dead body in the back," the complaint said.
They met the fisherman, whom West told he had some of his grandmother's valuables he wanted to dump in the lake. Hintz said she went to bed.
The next day, Hintz said she overheard a conversation where West talked about three buckets and then told her that the 35-year-old man shot Balsimo "in self-defense" and his body had been chopped up, the complaint said.
On June 24, after the 35-year-old was arrested on unrelated charges, he contacted Hintz and told her to gather all his property. She took a bag that she believed to contain a gun and gave it to West, according to the complaint.
An attorney for Hintz wasn't listed in the court record Wednesday.
Additional charges are expected, according to the BCA.
