Grace, grief in courtroom as 2 sentenced for dumping man's remains into Lake Superior

GRAND MARAIS, Minn. - Raquel Turner was by turns tearful and angry as she directed her victim impact statement toward two of the people found guilty for their part in destroying and dumping her older brother Ricky Balsimo Jr.'s body.

Turner offered hope for Tommi Hintz — but she cursed Robert West.

"I hope that when you go to sleep at night, I hope you see Ricky's face," she said to West, of Superior, Wis.

Hintz and West, 43, were both in Cook County Court on Tuesday afternoon for back-to-back sentencings — held concurrently for the ease of Balsimo family members, who live in St. Paul and traveled to the courtroom to face the accomplices.

Both played roles, in varying degrees, in getting rid of Balsimo's body after he was shot several times by Jacob Johnson while they were passengers in a car driving around the Twin Cities in July 2021.

It was West who offered Johnson the idea he had long held for disposing of a dead body: dismember it, then dump it in the depths of Lake Superior. West found a secluded spot in rural Wisconsin, saws, fresh clothing and cement for Johnson to use. Later, West solicited Hintz's help in finding a boat to take out on Lake Superior, and he drove buckets containing Balsimo's remains to the northernmost reaches of Minnesota.

West, bushy-bearded, handcuffed and dressed in orange from his T-shirt to his slip-on shoes, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and admonished for the cruelty he displayed — especially the plan he had long envisioned for disposing of a body.

"As I look at the history of this case, you've done virtually everything but pulling the trigger," Judge Michael Cuzzo said. "It's incredibly disturbing you had thought of something in advance and it's something that played out."

West still faces additional charges in Douglas (Wis.) County Court.

Johnson will be sentenced at the St. Louis County Courthouse on Sept. 11.

A distraught Kim Balsimo, in her statement, described her late son as a "mama's boy" and showed a tattoo tribute written in his handwriting on her left arm. Richard Balsimo Sr. spoke about the difficulty of watching his wife grieve and the anger he has been unable to shake.

Hintz, 33, who pleaded guilty last year for her part, was sometimes tearful and expressed regrets for her part in contacting a friend to take West out on a boat in the dark of the night and leading him to Grand Portage — even after she knew what he was carrying in his truck.

She came to the courthouse 495 days sober, with a renewed relationship with her young son — and discomfort that she was going to be late for work in Duluth later that night.

It was Hintz who finally confessed to the Balsimo family — who had searched Duluth and Superior, Wis., made signs and offered a reward — what had happened to Ricky. Cuzzo, in his final months before retirement, gave her a stayed prison sentence of four years, provided that she mind the conditions of her probation, including sobriety.

In six months, she must serve 90 days in jail, unless she can make a compelling case to the judge who replaces Cuzzo that she is still on her best behavior. Next year she faces the same 90-day sentence — and again a chance to have it nulled.

"You are being given a gift and some grace in this matter," Cuzzo said to her.

The Balsimos approached Hintz in the hallway outside the courtroom — despite an order from the court that the latter not ever go near the victims — and said they were hopeful that she could continue to stay sober.

"Good luck," Richard Balsimo Sr. said to her.