The Woodchipper Murder

1
The Woodchipper Murder

• Joe Layton
• and
• Suzanne Visser

2
Historical Background

• Throughout history, the American criminal justice
  system relied on finding a body to prove a
  homicide occurred
• This was based on the ancient common law idea of
  corpus delicti (the body of the crime), or the
  need for a body to prove a crime
• Attitudes began to change in the 1980s as the
  population increased and both men and women
  became transient workers
• The Woodchipper Murder Case, resolved without
  discovery of a corpse, was one of the first to
  contribute to a change in the court system

3
General Case Information

• Date November 18, 1986
• Location Newtown, Connecticut
• Suspect Richard Crafts, pilot and auxiliary
  police officer
• Victim Helle Crafts, stewardess and Richards
  wife

4
Divorce Connecticut StyleIf something happens
to me, dont think it was an accident. Helle
Crafts

• Richard Crafts had a history of flirtation and
  several extramarital affairs
• Richard also showed violence toward his children,
  owned more than 100 guns and live hand grenades,
  and kept his money separate from Helles
• Helle knew about Richards affairs and hired
  private detective Keith Mayo to collect evidence
  against him for divorce
• When she finally tried to serve him the divorce
  papers, that was the final straw

5
The Final Day

• Helle was last seen by coworkers on the night of
  November 18
• On a snowy November 19, Richard woke up nanny
  Dawn Marie Thomas and his three children and
  drove them to his sisters house
• He insisted Helle would meet them there but she
  never showed up, nor did she ever return home
• Richard told people various different accounts of
  her whereabouts

Helles close friends and coworkers began to
worry
6
Preliminary Evidence

• On November 22, Dawn Marie noticed that pieces of
  the master bedroom carpet were missing and
  Richard claimed he had spilled kerosene on it
• On December 4, Richard easily passed a lie
  detector test
• On December 13, investigators located a piece of
  deep blue carpet with a dark stain on it in a
  landfill

Forensic investigation was led by Dr. Henry
Lee, director of the Connecticut State Police
Forensic Laboratory
7
The Evidence Builds

• Master Card credit bills showed that Richard had
  purchased a Westinghouse freezer and rented
  machinery from Darien Rentals in November
• On Christmas Day, investigators searched the
  Crafts home and removed carpets, guns, hand
  towels and washcloths, fiber samples, and part of
  a king size mattress
• Lee performed luminol and TMB tests in various
  locations, a blood spatter analysis, an
  antihuman hemoglobin test, ABO blood typing, and
  a test in which he typed PGM Isoenzymes

8
Presumptive Blood Tests

• Luminol Test
• A dry powder made from three chemicals that is
  added to hydrogen peroxide solution or distilled
  water
• Blood stains are identified by a bright
  luminescence
• Must be used in the dark and at temperatures
  above freezing

• TMB Test
• A mixture of chemicals that is added to ethanol
  and glacial acetic acid
• Blood stains are identified by a blue color
• Does not need to be used in the dark

Samples should be collected before
application Both reagents are placed in spray
bottles and applied to areas in
question, sparingly if on the wall Both
reagents react with the heme group of hemoglobin
in red blood cells specifically the iron in
the heme group catalyzes oxidation reactions in
the reagents that lead to luminescence or color
change
9
Blood Spatter Analysis

• Luminol and TMB tests indicated blood patterns on
  the floor, walls, and especially the mattress
• There were three different sized blood spots
  those of quarter-dollar size, a six-by-one-inch
  smear, and small specks
• Lee determined that the smaller spots were
  produced by a medium velocity impact force at an
  angle of ten degrees

10
Further Blood Tests

• An antihuman hemoglobin test was performed to
  prove that the bloodstains were human and ABO
  blood typing was used to determine the blood type
  
• An electrophoretic test to type PGM Isoenzymes
  was performed PGM is a genetic marker in red
  blood cells which becomes inactive after twelve
  months

11
A Key Witness Emerges

• At 330 am on November 20, Joseph Hine saw a
  U-Haul van with an attached woodchipper parked on
  the side of the road while snowplowing
• He also saw a man in an orange poncho standing
  next to the truck
• The truck was parked near the Lake Zoar part of
  the Housatonic River

12
Evidence Recovered from Lake ZoarHelle Crafts
is found

• 69 slivers of bone, including a truncated piece
  of skull
• 2,660 strands of blond hair
• Three ounces of human tissue
• Two teeth
• Five droplets of blood
• Portions of a finger and a toe
• One fingernail and one toenail

Blue-green fibers Envelope shreds with
Helles name Stihl
chainsaw and bar
13
Multidisciplinary Analysis

• Odontologist Dr. Karazulas identified the two
  teeth by examining Helles dental records one
  tooth had a crown and the other was attached to
  jawbone
• Lees staff determined that the hair was bleached
  and still had roots attached, and that the bones
  had all been cut with the same heavy instrument
  and were still greasy
• Dr. John Reffner, a textile expert, testified
  that all hair fibers came from the same source
• Dr. Bruce Hoadly, professor of wood sciences,
  showed that recovered woodchips were from the
  Brush Bandit Richard rented
• Lees staff recovered evidence from the Stihl
  chainsaw and restored the filed-off serial number
  

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Forensic Experimentation

• Lees staff put the carcass of a pig through the
  woodchipper and showed that the bone fragments
  had sizes, shapes, and patterns similar to those
  recovered from Lake Zoar
• Lee demonstrated, using three types of kerosene
  and one type of diesel, that all four stains
  would disappear from a carpet after five minutes

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Murder Theory

• (1) On the night of November 18, Helle arrived
  home and she and Richard argued violently
• (2) Richard bludgeoned Helle to death while she
  was bent over bed changing the sheets
• (3) Helles body was placed in an old freezer and
  soon transferred to a new freezer
• (4) Richard drove Dawn Marie and the children to
  his sisters home on the morning of November 19
• (5) During the day, Richard dismembered Helles
  clothed body with a chainsaw and refroze the body
  parts
• (6) On the night of November 20, Richard ran
  Helles body parts through the woodchipper at
  Lake Zoar

17
Trial Outcome

• There were two trials
• The fist was held in New London, CT and was
  declared a mistrial due to a stubborn juror
• The second was held in Norwalk, CT and found
  Richard Crafts guilty of murder he was given a
  99 year sentence in state prison

18
References

• Court TVs Crime Library. 2005. The Woodchipper
  Murder Case. 18 Feb. 2005 lthttp//www.crime
• library.com/notorious_murders/family/
• woodchipper_murder/index.html?sect12gt.
• Evans, Colin. The Casebook of Forensic Detection.
  New York John Wiley Sons, Inc., 1996.
• Herzog, Arthur. The Woodchipper Murder. New York,
  NY Henry Holt and Company, 1989.
• Lee, Henry C. Dr., and Thomas O. ONeil. Cracking
  Cases, The Science of Solving Crimes. Amherst,
  NY Prometheus Books, 2002.