May 14, 2019
Say True-Crimers, here's a couple of brain teasers for the next time you want to stump a fellow Murder Maven: What was the investigation covered in the very first episode of "Forensic Files"? Or how about this: What was the first "no body" murder trial to result in a conviction in the State of Connecticut? Well surprise! The answer to both questions is the same - it's the gruesome-yet-freakishly-weird 1986 case of Helle Crafts, whose husband, Richard, was convicted of killing her in their Newtown Connecticut home, throwing her body in a brand new Westinghouse freezer purchased just for the occasion, chopping her frozen body parts into bits with a brand new Stihl chainsaw (obviously this was someone who insisted on quality brand-name products), then renting a wood chipper to shred those bits and send them flying into nearby Lake Zoar. Yep, you guessed it - the Cohen Brothers didn't invent the - let's call it the "Wood Chipper Paradigm" - when they wrote the screenplay for "Fargo" - Richard Crafts thought up the idea all by himself some 10 years before Steve Buscemi's leg protruded out of that famous chipper on movie screens across America. And unlike the movie, the real-life case featured Dr. Henry Lee - one of Melissa's monument-worthy heroes. Join her as she re-tells the truly bizarre tale of one man's epically brutal - and monumentally stupid - attempt at avoiding divorce.