Missouri woman was caged, killed and dismembered – and police only found out about her when they received photos

Missouri mother Cassidy Rainwater was tortured and murdered in 2021

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Anonymously submitted photos alerted authorities to Cassidy Rainwater’s cruel fate. They showed her locked in a cage and partially naked.

Rainwater was first reported missing in the Lebanon, Missouri, area in August 2021 by a friend who had not seen her for six weeks, according to a statement from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office shared by OzarksFirst.com and reviewed by PEOPLE.

The boyfriend told police Rainwater was last seen with a man later identified as James Phelps, police said. On Sept. 1 of that year, police interviewed Phelps, who told them Rainwater stayed with him until she got back on her feet. He also claimed she had left for Colorado in the middle of the night about a month earlier.

The case completely broke out two weeks later after the FBI told the sheriff’s office it had received an anonymous tip with a series of photos labeled “Cassidy,” PEOPLE previously reported.

The photos showed a woman – who police said was “instantly recognizable as Rainwater” – locked in a cage. Other photos showed Cassidy being dismembered while her body was tied to a gantry crane normally used for game.

Related: Missing Mo. woman Cassidy Rainwater was held in a cage before brutal attack and dismemberment, authorities say

On Sept. 16, police arrested Phelps and searched his Lebanon property, according to the arrest affidavit. Rainwater’s dismembered remains were later found on an adjacent property.

After searching Phelps’ electronic devices, including his cellphone, they discovered messages he had exchanged with another man, Timothy Norton, in which they discussed their plans to kill Rainwater on July 24, the probable cause statement said.

Officers questioned Norton, who confessed to Rainwater’s murder and said Phelps asked him to come and kill her. Norton told them Rainwater was sleeping on the floor of Phelps’ cabin when they attacked her, put a sack over her head and strangled her to death, the statement said. Norton then described how he helped Phelps dismember her lifeless body.

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Norton and Phelps were both charged with first-degree murder in connection with Rainwater’s brutal death. In April 2023, Phelps accepted an Alford plea, meaning he acknowledged there was enough evidence for a conviction but without actually pleading guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, court records show.

Norton pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June 2023 and received the same sentence as Phelps. Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killing.

KY3 interviewed Norton after he pleaded guilty. “I deserve to die,” he told the outlet, “and I’m ready for it.”

KCTV spoke to the father of one of Rainwater’s children in 2021.

“I was always worried about her, just because of her past,” the man, identified only as Ben, told the outlet. “She was in a bad way. She and I talked and I said, ‘You know, come to Kansas City. We’ll work things out.’ She was hoping to get her life back on track.”

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