Who was Richard Balsimo? Minnesota man gets 40 years in prison for chopping friend's body and disposing it in Lake Superior
DULUTH, MINNESOTA: Richard Balsimo was killed and his body was dismembered before being disposed in Lake Superior in 2021.
As per the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, the victim’s body was dumped in parts in Lake Superior by convict Jacob Johnson.
Who is Jacob Johnson?
A jury sentenced Jacob Johnson to 40 years in prison on Monday, September 11, for brutally murdering Richard Balsimo.
As per investigators, Johnson murdered Balsimo in St Paul sometime around June 20, 2021. He went missing soon afterward and later dive teams searched off the coast of Lake Superior in Grand Portage, Minnesota.
“I am pleased to see the court hold Jacob Johnson fully accountable for the severity and cruelty of the crime he committed. My thoughts continue to be with Mr Balsimo’s family and loved ones."
"Not even the maximum penalty under the law can bring Ricky Balsimo back to them, but I hope this sentence brings them some measure of accountability,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.
Where did the killing take place?
As per the Duluth News Tribune, Balsimo and Johnson drove from Duluth to Minneapolis and St Paul the night before Balsimo went missing. In the two cities, the pair reportedly picked up two women.
These women told police during the interview that the defendant and the victim got into an argument which escalated after Balsimo threatened everyone inside Johnson’s Audi Q5 with a knife, reports Law and Crime.
Minutes later, the women claimed that they heard a loud noise and dispersed from the vehicle. Investigators, as per the affidavit, believed it was the sound of Balsimo being shot in the head.
According to prosecutors, Johnson drove after the shooting to Superior, Wisconsin, where he enlisted the help of Robert Thomas West.
At this moment, Johnson dismembered Balsimo’s body and put it in the buckets and a tote bag. West, along with a woman, drove towards Lake Superior to Grand Portage.
A GoFundMe page created for Balsimo calls him an amazing man with a “heart of gold” whose life was stolen. “Ricky was a father, son, brother, uncle, nephew and friend,” read his page. His “life mattered to so many.”
The update on the page said, “We as a family spent weeks away from our children and loved ones to try to find Ricky, we went through every dollar to our names to find out what happened to him, we even put our own lives in danger going straight to the people involved in Rickys disappearance to get answers.”