Richard Crafts
- Active
- 1986–1986
- Region
- Newtown, Connecticut, USA
- State
- CT
- Kind
- Single
- Status
- Convicted
- Victims
- 1
Helle Crafts, a Danish-born flight attendant, disappeared from her Newtown, Connecticut, home in November 1986, after telling friends that if something happened to her they should not assume it was an accident. A snowplow driver reported seeing a woodchipper near Lake Zoar in the middle of the night, and divers and searchers there recovered human remains, including a tooth crown matched to her dental records. Her husband, airline pilot Richard Crafts, was convicted of murder in 1989 after an earlier mistrial, the first murder conviction in Connecticut without a body. He was sentenced to 50 years and released early in 2020.
Ask the Atlas about this case →
Victims
We remember the people whose lives were taken.
- Helle Crafts, 39 · November 18, 1986
Born Helle Lorck Nielsen in Charlottenlund, Denmark; a flight attendant and mother living in Newtown.
Timeline of locations
- November 18, 1986Crafts home, Newtown (Crime scene, approximate area)
Helle was last seen on November 18, 1986, after returning from a flight. State police searched the house on December 26 while Richard Crafts was in Florida.
- December 1986Lake Zoar (Housatonic River) (Recovery site, approximate area)
A snowplow driver had seen a rental truck towing a woodchipper near Lake Zoar in the early hours. Searchers recovered small human remains, a tooth crown matched to Helle's dental records, and a chainsaw traced to Richard Crafts.
- 1988First trial, New London (Court / trial, approximate area)
Crafts's first trial ended in a mistrial on July 15, 1988, when a single juror refused to continue.
- November 21, 1989Second trial, Norwalk (Court / trial, approximate area)
A second jury convicted Crafts of murder on November 21, 1989. Judge Martin Nigro sentenced him to 50 years in prison.
Watch, listen, read
Watch
- Forensic Files: The Disappearance of Helle Crafts (series, Medstar Television (Forensic Files))
Read
- The Woodchipper Murder (1989, Arthur Herzog (Henry Holt))
Sources
- Murder of Helle Crafts (Wikipedia)
- Richard Crafts, wood chipper killer, released from prison (Patch, Feb 2020)
- Crafts appeal heard by state Supreme Court (The Newtown Bee, April 2, 1993)
Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.