Murder of Helle Crafts

The special edition DVD of the 1996 film Fargo contains a statement that the film was inspired by the Crafts case, particularly the very end of the film where a character is killed and their body is put through a woodchipper.

Richard Crafts' murder trial began in May 1988 in New London, where it was moved due to extensive local publicity. The case went to the jury after 54 days. On July 15, 1988, the 17th day of jury deliberations, a single juror—the only juror in favor of acquittal—refused to continue with deliberations, and the judge declared a mistrial. A second trial in Norwalk ended in a guilty verdict on November 21, 1989. Richard was sentenced to serve 50 years in prison. On January 30, 2020, Richard was released from prison and sent to live at a halfway house in Bridgeport. Richard was released early because of “statutory good time,” which allows huge chunks of jail time to be lopped off sentences for good behavior and jailhouse jobs. Crafts's maximum release date was listed by the State Department of Correction (DOC) as August 1, 2020.

A prosecution for homicide requires an official determination of the death of the alleged victim; typically this is done by identification of a body, which was not available in this case. With the help of a forensic dentist, the tooth crown found on the water's edge was positively matched to Helle's dental records. On this evidence, the Connecticut State Medical Examiner's Office issued a death certificate on January 13, 1987; Richard was immediately arrested. In preparation for trial, state medical examiner H. Wayne Carver obtained a pig carcass that was fed through a woodchipper. The shape of, and marks on, the pig's bone chips after this process were similar to the shape of Helle's bone fragments, strengthening the hypothesis that Richard had used a woodchipper to dispose of his wife's body.

On November 18, 1986, friends dropped Helle off at the couple's Newtown residence after she had worked a long flight from Frankfurt, West Germany. She was never seen again. That night, a snowstorm hit the area. The next morning, Richard said he was taking Helle and their children to his sister's house in Westport. When he arrived, Helle was not with him. Over the next few weeks, Richard gave Helle's friends a variety of stories as to why they were unable to reach her: that she was visiting her mother in Denmark, that she was visiting the Canary Islands with a friend, or that he simply did not know her whereabouts. Helle's friends were aware that Richard had a volatile temper and grew concerned. Helle had told some of them, "If something happens to me, don't assume it was an accident." On December 1, the private investigator Keith Mayo reported her missing to the Newtown Police. Richard Crafts was known to local law enforcement for his work as a volunteer police officer in Newtown, and in 1986 Crafts was working as a part-time police officer in the nearby town of Brookfield. According to Mayo, Newtown Police initially dismissed his concerns, saying that Helle would probably return.

Helle Nielsen married Richard Crafts in 1975 and settled with him in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. Helle continued working as a flight attendant while raising their three children. In 1986, Helle began to suspect that Richard was engaged in extramarital sexual activity, and confronted him about suspicious long-distance phone calls, which angered Richard. Helle met with a divorce attorney and hired a private investigator, Keith Mayo, who snapped photos of Richard kissing another flight attendant outside her New Jersey residence.

Helle Crafts (English: /ˈhɛlə ˈkræfts/ (listen); born Helle Lorck Nielsen; July 7, 1947 – November 19, 1986) was a Danish flight attendant who was murdered by her husband, Eastern Air Lines pilot Richard Crafts. Her death led to the state of Connecticut's first murder conviction without the victim's body.