‘Script from a horror film’: Man gets maximum sentence for mutilating corpse, dumping body in Lake Superior

SUPERIOR, WIS. - Jacob Colt Johnson was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for mutilating the corpse of the longtime friend he fatally shot — time that will follow the 40 years Johnson is already serving in Minnesota for the murder of Ricky Balsimo Jr.

Judge George Glonek went with the maximum sentence for the felony, and opted to tack it on to the end of Johnson’s current prison time rather than for it to run concurrently, which Johnson’s lawyer was pushing for. After he is out of prison in Minnesota, Johnson, 38, will have 7½ years in Wisconsin, then five years of extended supervision contingent on good behavior.

In making his decision, Glonek considered the lengthy, long-running and increasingly violent list of crimes on Johnson’s record. Glonek talked about the impact Balsimo’s death has had on the dead man’s family. And the judge wondered what kind of person would be capable of such heinous treatment of a corpse.

“This is the script from a horror film,” Glonek said.

Johnson pleaded no contest in early January. As part of the deal, he was convicted without a trial in exchange for the prosecution dropping a gun charge. With the plea, Johnson stops short of admitting guilt.

Johnson fatally shot Balsimo while driving around with friends in the Twin Cities area. The other passengers fled; Johnson drove back to the Twin Ports — briefly ditching the car while he attended his daughter’s birthday party. He used carpenter tools to dismember Balsimo in a trailer in rural Wisconsin, then used concrete to weigh down the body parts in buckets and in a tote bag. Robert West pitched it all into Lake Superior.

Balsimo’s family reported him missing on June 20, 2021. Then they took on the search. Divers from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found Balsimo’s remains, based on the family’s tips, about a month after he was last seen.

Members of the Balsimo family, each wearing a “Justice for Ricky” T-shirt, offered victim impact statements. His mother, Kim Balsimo, remembered the smell of her son’s body as it thawed and decomposed and the quick decision to cremate him. This smell, she said, has stayed with her.

His sister Cassandra Hernandez said Johnson’s actions will forever affect their family — and that his freedom would affect society. Raquel Turner, his younger sister, said Johnson has shown no remorse.

Johnson was dressed in orange from his shirt to his slip-on shoes. His head was shaved, his beard a long brown nest. Asked by the judge if he had a comment, he was brief.

“No, Your Honor,” he said.

A St. Louis County jury found Johnson guilty on two counts of second-degree murder with aggravating factors — dismemberment and concealment of Balsimo’s body. West and Tommi Hintz, who in varying degrees helped hide the body, were also convicted. West was sentenced to 15 years in prison and is at a correctional facility in Faribault, Minn. He will be sentenced in Wisconsin in April. Hintz was given a stayed sentence of four years, provided she comply with the terms of her probation.

Members of the Balsimo family were glad Tuesday for the maximum sentence, but wished Wisconsin’s prosecutors had been harder on Johnson.

“We’re happy it turned out the way it did,” Richard Balsimo Sr. said. “But we wish it would have gone to trial.”