Killer gets 40 years in prison for Duluth-area dismemberment

DULUTH - Jacob Colt Johnson, who was found guilty of second-degree murder for the killing of Ricky Balsimo Jr., received the maximum statutory sentence of 40 years in prison Monday afternoon at the Cook County Courthouse.

Johnson was found guilty on two counts of second-degree murder nearly two years after he fired several shots at Balsimo while they were passengers in an SUV driving around the Twin Cities. Johnson returned to the Duluth area with Balsimo's body in the backseat, which he later dismembered in a borrowed RV parked on land in rural Wisconsin.

A St. Louis County jury found aggravating factors were present in the killing — the dismemberment and concealment of the body — which retiring Cook County Judge Michael Cuzzo noted in delivering the maximum sentence, according to Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken.

It was uncharacteristic for the Balsimo family not to hear from Ricky — particularly on Father's Day, his sister Raquel Turner testified during the trial. Through their own door-knocking and sign-making, and with the help of Duluth-based private investigators from APS Investigations, the Balsimo family found out what happened to him: Ricky Balsimo had been dumped in Lake Superior, about a mile from the shore in Grand Portage, Minn.

Five members of the Balsimo family offered victim impact statements on Monday, some acknowledging Ricky's three sons, who will grow up without a father.

Johnson argued self-defense during his trial, which ended in early August. The jury deliberated for about three hours before finding him guilty on two counts. He also faces charges for mutilating a corpse in Douglas County, Wis.

Robert West and Tommi Hintz, accomplices who helped get rid of Balsimo's body, were both sentenced in August at the Cook County Courthouse. West, who said in court that he had long held an idea of what he would do with a dead body, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He assisted Johnson with burning evidence, buying tools and disposing of the body. He drove to Grand Portage and met with a commercial fisherman who took him out on Lake Superior to drop the 5-gallon buckets and duffel bag.

West appeared via live video in Douglas County court, where he faces more charges, on Monday morning.

Hintz, who connected West with the boat and also drove to Grand Portage, was given a stayed prison sentence of four years, provided she mind the conditions of her probation. In the next two years she will twice face 90 days in jail — time that she can approach the court about nullifying if she stays stays out of trouble.