1

Richard Crafts Helle Crafts

2
The Woodchipper Murder
Married
3
The Woodchipper Murder
Married
Guns
Machinery
Travel
2
1
3
Had trouble
with money
Hired P.I.
Helle dropped off at home
4
1986
Nov 19
th

Nov 18
th

Richard sent the children to his sisters house
Dec 1
st

P.I. contacted
the police
Only Richard answers the phone
5
Police investigation
Richard: wife disappeared
Passed a lie
detector test
1
Carpet fragments
Strange purchases
Chainsaw
Freezer
Woodchipper
No blood
2
3
6
Christmas Day 1986
Crafts house searched
Bloodstains on mattress
1
Matched Helles
blood type (O+)
Witness placed wood-chipper at Lake Zoar
Searched river bank
1
Human hair
Letters
7
Search of the lake
Reservoir with a dam
Water level lowered
to facilitate search
Lake Zoar
8
Search of the lake
Chainsaw
1
Human tissue
Human hair
Blue clothing fibres
Serial number restored Richard
9
2660 strands of bleached hair
Search of the lake
2
69 slivers of human bone
3
5 droplets of human blood
4
2 teeth
5
Helles
hair color
O+
One proved to be Helles
Chainsaw
1
10
A portion of a human finger
Search of the lake
3 oz human tissue
7
8
1 human fingernail
9
1 portion of human toe nail
10
A truncated piece of human skull
6
11
January 1987
Richard Crafts arrested
Evidence of murder of Helle Crafts
Bail posted at $750 000
How did Richard Crafts kill his wife?
12
Reconstruction of events
Helle beaten to death on early Nov 19
th
?
Police assumption
Body preserved in freezer
1
2
13
Richard Crafts murder plan
Sent children to sisters
house in Westport
Made up a story about
electricity problems
Returned to Newtown to
dispose of Helles body
Lake Zoar
14
Used chainsaw to cut up Helles body
3
Ran Helles body parts through woodchipper
4
Helle beaten to death on early Nov 19
th
?
Police assumption
Body preserved in freezer
1
2
Reconstruction of events
Used a pig carcass
15
Re-enactment
Put it through a woodchipper
Effect of woodchipper on a human body?
16
Re-enactment
17
Pig remains
Re-enactment
Consistent with
human remains
found in lake
rental
witness
body parts,
tooth
hair, tissue
(serial number restored)
rental
hair
tissue
fibres (rug)
Richard Crafts sentenced to 50 years in prison
Network of Evidence
18
Types of forensic work
Comparison leading to Association
Locards Principle:
19
Summary
Reconstruction & Re-enactment
Every contact leaves a trace
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3
1
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