Cold case: Research leads to charges against killer in 1979 assault

PADUCAH, Ky. — Malinda Baltz listened as Timothy Wayne Krajcir told a story she hadn't heard before — that the confessed serial killer had forced sexual contact with a woman in Paducah.

The tale came as a surprise to Baltz and Paducah Police Detective Sgt. Brian Laird. Baltz then spent five years digging through cold case files, trying to match Krajcir's story to an unsolved mystery in the western Kentucky city.

“With this one we knew that something was there because he told us about it,” Laird told The Paducah Sun.

The research turned up a matching case from 34 years ago, resulting in a grand jury charging Krajcir, who has admitted to killing nine women, being charged in Kentucky with first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, kidnapping of an adult and first-degree sexual abuse on Jan. 1, 1978.

Now, prosecutors are trying to bring Krajcir to Kentucky from Tamms Correctional Center in Illinois to face the charges. A paperwork error delayed Krajcir's scheduled arraignment on Thursday in Paducah.

Krajcir previously admitted to killing 29-year-old Joyce Tharp of Paducah in 1979. Because of that slaying, Laird and Baltz met with Krajcir, who agreed to tell law enforcement about all his previous crimes as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid a death sentence.

After Krajcir told the story of the sexual assault, Baltz set out to find a single needle of a case in a haystack of old files.

“We pulled all the cases from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s and went through every one,” Baltz said.

A year of searching turned up a case with some similar details, but after police interviewed people associated with that case, they recalled another incident that seemed to match Krajcir's story. Baltz and other officers spent the next four years finding and interviewing people, trying to determine if the details matched up.

“You have to be able to back it up with more than just what one person says,” Baltz said. “You have to speak to several different people.”

Baltz told grand jurors in March about the interviews. Baltz and Brian Laird declined to reveal information about the alleged sexual abuse because of the pending case against Krajcir, although Laird said it was based on statements Krajcir made to police.

Laird said a woman whom police believe was a victim of burglary and sexual abuse in the case has died. A man, whom police believe was kidnapped as part of the same case, is still alive.

Baltz found satisfaction in seeing Krajcir charged with the crimes after more than three decades.

“It means a lot to me,” she said. “It means a lot for what we're able to do for this victim. “The cold cases are very personal to me.”