Helle Crafts murdered fed through woodchipper

1996 was a significant year in a few respects. The long-running, crime-solving drama Murder, She Wrote ended after 12 seasons. But another show debuted in the same year – a show that would run even longer than the Angela Lansbury classic. With the legendary Peter Thomas as its narrator, the true crime series Forensic Files debuted on April 23, 1996. As its very first case, the new series featured The Disappearance of Helle Crafts, which has a correlation with another 1996 landmark. The movie Fargo had premiered just six weeks prior. A title card in the film's intro indicates that the Coen brothers' tale was based on a true story. While this was largely a fabrication, the use of a woodchipper to dispose of a victim's body was in fact based on Helle Crafts' demise.

Humble beginnings of Forensic Files series

Forensic Files's first four seasons ran 13 episodes each – later seasons would repeatedly include more than 40 episodes. But it was easy to see the show's producers had begun to create something built to last. The series found a blend of drama and information that other true crime shows lacked. At the risk of alienating viewers who mightn't sit through the science and processes that lead to an arrest, Forensic Files sought to educate the viewer. And they'd apparently found that this was exactly what a large audience wanted. Interviews with the victims, families, investigators, and experts were combined with storytelling, and it was all tied together with articulate, well-paced narration. This formula didn't change in 14 years, but from this original episode, a few things did.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Several of the earlier episodes used some disturbingly close framing on the interview subjects. Thankfully this practice didn't last long, but even without high-definition, this "zoom-in" was too much. The case also featured an unnarrated dramatization for its introduction. This technique didn't survive the pilot – future episodes would showcase Thomas' all-star narration from the start. Finally, the episode ended with title cards that indicated the outcome of Richard Crafts' trial and sentencing.

Richard Crafts' coverup becomes uncovered

The jury found Crafts guilty of murder, and he received a sentence of 50 years. Though it was likely Richard Crafts would be quite old if he was ever to get paroled, I'm not sure I agree this was a harsh enough sentence for such an egregious crime. I understand the stipulations of second degree murder, and I think given the circumstances and lack of a criminal past, another scenario could've seen Richard convicted of merely this. It seems his was a crime of passion – a momentary burst of anger which ended with Helle's tragic death. Given the location and weapon of choice, a plea to second degree murder (the truth) might've gotten Richard an easier sentence. But his extensive cover-up and the heinous way he attempted to dispose of Helle's body should've netted Richard Crafts a term of life without parole. It takes an especially evil person to take the gruesome steps he took that night. I suppose if you don't think you'll get caught, then you believe your young children won't learn their father is vile enough to dismember their mother's frozen body and feed it through a woodchipper.

Richard's infidelity was the beginning of his path to ruin. It seemed Helle wanted to end their relationship in a divorce, though it's hard to know the degree of infighting this created. Was there a dispute over custody of the children? Over the distribution of assets? Or was Richard Crafts just the type of person who wouldn't let his wife leave him, despite the fact that he was responsible? The evolution of technology has made telephone use both easier and harder to use for evidence in an investigation. On one hand, cell phones are normally personal, and some use burner phones to make their clandestine contacts. But the ability to trace calls to and from these phones and geolocate them from the cellular towers they utilize make them a liability. In Richard's case, he'd apparently made phone calls from his own home's landline. This strange number appeared on the couple's long distance bill, and Helle had reason to be suspicious.

World-famous forensic expert: Dr. Henry Lee

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Police were lucky to have someone as skilled as Dr. Henry Lee as the head of the state's forensic laboratory. Dr. Lee's presence at the Crafts' home during the search was invaluable. The episode stated it was Dr. Lee who located the blood spatter on the edge of the mattress, and he analyzed the angle and intensity of these stains. Medium velocity spatter is often created with a hand-held weapon in a up-close attack. A lot of focus was put on these almost-invisible specks of blood until the episode revealed there was a six-inch smear of blood next to them.

It was Dr. Lee's laboratory that tested the blood on the mattress and "clean" towels found hanging in the bathroom with orthotolidine. Future episodes cite phenolphthalein for ‘presence of blood' tests, but likely it wasn't in common use in 1986. Additional tests on the blood included a species test, antigen test, and a microscopic examination – these revealed the blood was human, type O+, and circulation blood (and not menstrual blood). All of these signals were strong indicators that Helle Crafts had been assaulted in the couple's bedroom.

Overwhelming evidence against Richard Crafts

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The collection of poor choices made by Richard Crafts deserves a review here. While I don't believe Richard did anything as brainless as Jason Funk in the murder of inspector Katie Froeschle, were there a few blunders he could've foreseen? To begin with, a snowplow driver alerted police to spotting a woodchipper at three o'clock in the morning. If the person towing this industrial-grade machinery was going from point A to point B, I don't think the snowplow driver would've even recalled seeing him. Instead, the woodchipper was parked on the side of the road at two different times, an hour apart. It's no wonder this was significant and memorable. As it was a snowy evening, Richard Crafts probably thought people wouldn't be on the roads in the middle of the night, and this would give him the privacy and time he needed to commit his atrocity.

If investigators hadn't spotted the mail to Helle Crafts by the river, having gone through the woodchipper almost untouched, I wonder how long they would have continued to search the area. There was a good deal of hair, fiber, and bone fragments – would these items have been discovered without the initial lead? It took extensive searching by the river's edge to locate the specific tooth that fit the crown that'd been located. The episode implied that this was the most significant evidence that the victim was indeed Helle Crafts. But by the overwhelming amount of additional evidence (hair, fiber, bone, tissue, blood, and even the nail polish), I think a conviction was inevitable.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

To Richard, disassembling the chainsaw and throwing the parts into the river would cover his tracks. And to confound anyone that might ever find the parts, Richard Crafts had taken the extra step of filing or grinding the tool's serial number to obscurity. Little did he know that when metal is engraved using compression, the deformity goes well below the surface. Recall the episode In the Bag (s12e27) where Gregg Myers attempted to obscure the serial number from a shotgun. It took investigators only minutes with an acid solution to discover the weapon's identification.

Despite all the physical and circumstantial evidence (recall Richard couldn't give their live-in Nanny a reason why he'd ripped up the bedroom carpet), the show's conclusion indicated that Crafts continued to maintain his innocence. When this is the case, I like to learn what the convicted's alternate explanation is. Richard had initially told two different stories about Helle being away on vacation. But the woodchipper rental receipt, eyewitness, dental identification and more make any alternate scenario impossible to conceive.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

There was already plenty of physical evidence, but I'm curious: What did Richard do with the carpet – was its disposal unrecoverable? How about the freezer from the garage in which Richard stored his wife's body? And finally, along with being a pilot of Eastern Airlines, Richard was apparently a part-time policeman. Is that really a thing? Shouldn't "policeman" be someone's primary vocation considering all the procedures and training involved?

Where is Richard Crafts now in 2024?

Richard Crafts was tried twice. The first in May of 1988 ended in a hung jury with one hold-out for acquittal. The second trial ended in November 1989 with a guilty conviction for Richard and a sentence of 50 years. In January 2020, Richard Crafts was released from prison after serving just over 30 years.