Husband FREED After Dismembering Wife

Handcuffed person in orange jumpsuit being escorted.

A Connecticut husband’s methodical plan to eliminate his wife and escape alimony payments became America’s first successful prosecution for murder without a body, forever changing how courts handle homicide cases.

Story Snapshot

Richard Crafts murdered his wife Helle in November 1986 after she discovered his affairs and hired a divorce attorney, using a wood chipper to destroy evidence
Connecticut secured its first murder conviction without a full body in 1989, relying on forensic fragments including a tooth crown, hair, and bone chips scattered along the Housatonic River
The case pioneered “no-body” prosecution techniques including pig carcass simulations and trace evidence recovery that revolutionized forensic science nationwide
Richard Crafts, now 82, walked free from prison in late 2024 after serving roughly 35 years of his 50-year sentence, still maintaining his innocence

When a Flight Attendant Knew Too Much

Helle Crafts spent early 1986 collecting evidence the way any savvy woman would when suspicions gnaw at her marriage. The Pan Am flight attendant hired private investigator Keith Mayo after discovering suspicious long-distance phone calls. Mayo’s surveillance photos captured Richard, a pilot and part-time police officer, with another flight attendant. Helle consulted a divorce attorney and confided something chilling to friends: “If something happens to me, don’t assume it was an accident.” Her words proved prophetic. After returning from a Frankfurt-to-New York flight on November 7, 1986, she vanished from their Newtown home, never to be seen alive again.

Richard’s explanation shifted like sand. He told neighbors and the nanny that Helle flew to Denmark, then changed his story to the Canary Islands. Friends and the nanny reported her missing on November 18, but Newtown police initially dismissed the case. Richard’s law enforcement connections complicated early inquiries. His colleagues showed little urgency investigating one of their own, even as Mayo pressed them to act. The private investigator’s persistence eventually forced Connecticut State Police to override local reluctance, launching a probe that would expose a disposal plan so calculated it shocked even hardened detectives.

The Rental Trail That Sealed His Fate

Richard Crafts made meticulous preparations in late November 1986, yet each transaction left a paper trail prosecutors later exploited. He rented an Asplundh Badger Brush Bandit 100 wood chipper, purchased a chest freezer using an alias, and bought a chainsaw, gloves, and a shovel. Snowplow driver John Heim provided the critical eyewitness account, spotting Richard operating the wood chipper near a river bridge during a snowstorm. State Police discovered the rented equipment and Crafts’ peculiar purchases while searching his home on December 26, 1986, while he conveniently vacationed in Florida. The evidence pointed to a grim sequence: blunt force trauma, freezing the body, chainsaw dismemberment, and wood chipper obliteration.

Forensic Breakthroughs Without a Body

Dr. Henry Lee, Connecticut’s forensic expert, orchestrated a groundbreaking investigation that transformed American criminal justice. His team recovered tiny bone fragments, tissue samples, strands of hair, and crucially, a tooth crown along the Housatonic River where Heim witnessed the wood chipper activity. Dental records matched the crown to Helle Crafts on January 13, 1987, providing sufficient evidence for a death certificate and Richard’s arrest. Medical examiner H. Wayne Carver conducted an unprecedented experiment, feeding a pig carcass through a wood chipper to demonstrate the disposal method’s feasibility. This macabre test strengthened the prosecution’s theory that human remains could be reduced to fragments indistinguishable from wood chips and scattered debris.

The forensic team restored serial numbers on the chainsaw and traced rental agreements back to Richard. They hypothesized about missing evidence, including a bed spring never recovered from the Crafts home. Blood and hair samples found at the residence matched Helle’s type. The circumstantial web tightened around Richard, who maintained his innocence with unnerving calm, reportedly taunting family members with the phrase, “Let them dive… It’s gone.” His confidence nearly paid off when the 1987 trial ended in a hung jury, forcing prosecutors to retry the case. In March 1989, a second jury in Stamford convicted him of murder, and he received a 50-year sentence in 1990.

Precedent That Changed Murder Prosecutions

Connecticut’s successful prosecution without a full body established legal precedent that reverberated through courtrooms nationwide. While Michigan secured a “no-body” conviction in 1976, the Crafts case pioneered multi-technique forensic collaboration in the 1980s, before DNA evidence became routine. Dr. Lee’s integration of dental identification, trace evidence recovery, chainsaw forensics, and simulation testing demonstrated that circumstantial evidence could overcome the traditional requirement for a corpse. Prosecutors in subsequent cases cited the Crafts conviction when arguing that fragment identification, rental records, and witness testimony sufficed for murder charges. The case also exposed vulnerabilities in local law enforcement when investigating their own, highlighting how departmental loyalty can obstruct justice.

Helle’s three children lost their mother and grew up with the knowledge that their father committed an unspeakable crime. Newtown residents grappled with betrayal by a trusted part-time officer who exploited his position to delay scrutiny. The Pan Am community mourned a colleague whose international travel schedule inadvertently enabled her to uncover infidelity. Domestically, the case amplified awareness about domestic violence escalation when divorce threatens a controlling spouse’s finances and ego. Richard’s volatile temper and bizarre behavior with firearms had signaled danger, yet legal intervention came too late. The investigation’s success bolstered funding and prestige for forensic science programs, elevating Dr. Lee to national prominence and validating innovative techniques like pig carcass simulations.

The Killer Walks Free Decades Later

Richard Crafts, now 82, completed his transition from prison to a Bridgeport halfway house for veterans in early 2025. Connecticut Department of Correction officials confirmed his release in late 2024 after serving approximately 35 to 38 years of his 50-year sentence, benefiting from parole and good-time credits. Full release is estimated for June 2025. Crafts remains silent publicly, offering no statements or apologies. His release reignited media coverage, with outlets like Oxygen revisiting the landmark case that captivated true crime audiences in the 1980s. The absence of appeals or legal challenges since his 1989 conviction underscores the strength of the forensic evidence that convicted him despite the lack of a recoverable body.

The wood chipper murder endures as a cautionary tale about underestimating forensic science and the paper trails modern life creates. Richard Crafts believed his disposal method constituted the perfect crime, yet rental receipts, eyewitness accounts, and microscopic fragments defeated his hubris. His chilling taunt to relatives—”It’s gone”—epitomized arrogance that forensic experts dismantled piece by painstaking piece. Helle Crafts’ warning to friends about suspicious circumstances proved tragically accurate, validating the instincts of a woman who knew her husband’s capacity for violence. Her legacy lives in the legal precedents that allow justice even when a killer attempts to erase every trace of his victim.