KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC/CNN Newsource) - Investigators in a rape and kidnapping case in the Kansas City, Missouri area are dealing with a setback. A potential witness to the alleged crime was found dead along the Missouri River.

The state highway patrol says kayakers found the remains of Jaynie Crosdale on an island in the river in Saline County, Missouri. Her face appeared on billboards across the metro area earlier this year. 

Police said she may have known more about a 22-year-old woman escaping the home of Timothy Haslett last year. That woman told police she was raped and tortured for weeks inside Haslett's house. 

Last year, Bishop Tony Caldwell called attention to several missing women in Kansas City's east side, saying police could've done more to find those women.

The original survivor in the case told police a man names Timothy picked her up along Prospect Avenue.

"So many people just, 'I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear it.' Literally," Caldwell said. "A lot of people just wanted to ignore it."

"The fact that she was a potential witness in the case that's pending against him, they're gonna look at him hard," attorney John Picerno said. 

Picerno says the discovery of Crosdale's remains allows police to ask to ask new questions of Haslett. 

"The defendant is a good source of incriminating information," he said. "He might have something in his house or something on his phone that would implicate him."

There are currently no new charges against Haslett in the case. His current charges include first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault.