Tommi Hintz Charged In Connection With St. Paul Man's Killing, Dismemberment
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Duluth woman is now the second person charged in connection with the killing and dismemberment of a man whose remains were found in Lake Superior last month.
Tommi Hintz, 31, is charged with accomplice after the fact to felony murder and interference with a dead body or scene of death. Robert West, 41, was charged with the same counts in late July.
The remains of 34-year-old Richard Balsimo of St. Paul were found in buckets and a tote bag on Lake Superior near the shore of Grand Portage in mid-July. Authorities believe he was killed around June 20.
According to a criminal complaint, West confessed to helping dismember Balsimo and planning the disposal of his body.
Charging documents for Hintz said she delivered gasoline to West and another man on June 20, and when she asked why West needed gasoline, he said, "Please don't make me tell you what I have on me."
The next day, while riding in the other man's car, Hintz saw two bullet holes. She told investigators that was when she began to "piece things together."
On June 22, West asked Hintz if she knew anyone with a boat, and she introduced him to an acquaintance in Grand Portage. While on the way to meet the boater, West and Hintz allegedly stopped to do drugs. Hintz asked West if he was paranoid, and he said, "ya with a dead body in the back," according to the complaint.
West allegedly told the boater he wanted to dump some of his grandmother's valuables. The next day, West told Hintz Balsimo had been "chopped up," and that the other man West was with on June 20 shot Balsimo in "self-defense."
The complaint also states Hintz held a gun for the other man, before West took it, dismantled it and threw it into Lake Superior. Authorities later found the gun.
Hintz is in custody.
