July 21, 2021- 2:43 p.m.
Robert Thomas West, 41, is charged with being an accomplice to felony murder and helping to conceal the body after the remains of 34-year-old Richard Anthony Balsimo were discovered in a five-gallon bucket and a tote bag in Lake Superior last week.
Police say the victim had been dismembered and he had a bullet wound in his torso. Minnesota man has been arrested after he allegedly dismembered a man’s body and then persuaded a commercial fisherman to take him into the middle of a lake so he could dump the remains, which he claimed were his grandmother’s valuables.Â
The person who killed Balsimo – who vanished from St Paul on June 20 – has not yet been arrested, according to authorities.
The case unfolded after police say that a female witness later contacted them to say she had met West and another man at West’s home the same day Balsimo was reported missing.
She claimed the other man, who hasn’t been named, was nervous about something being discovered in his car and that she had spotted bullet holes in the passenger seat.
West allegedly told the woman that he had a ‘dead body in the back’ of his car and that the other man at the house had shot Balsimo in ‘self defense’.
The body was then ‘chopped up’ in a camper, according to police.
The fisherman told police he took West out on the boat and saw him drop two five-gallon buckets and a tote bag into the lake.Â
West is facing 20 years in prison if convicted. Â
West had allegedly told him it was his dead dog, despite earlier saying it was his grandmother’s remains.
Police say the fisherman later led them to the area of the lake where West is alleged to have dumped Balsimo’s body.
Investigators were able to retrieve one of the buckets and the tote back last week.
Balsimo’s torso was found in the bucket, while the tote bag contained pants and the victim’s casino player’s card.
A medical examiner who confirmed the remains belonged to Balsimo ruled that he died of ‘homicidal violence’.
When questioned by police, West allegedly admitted to dismembering the body and disposing of it.
West is charged with one count aiding an offender and one count Interference with a dead body.
Investigators say they anticipate additional charges in the case.
