Overview
- Helle Crafts, a 39-year-old flight attendant, vanished on November 18, 1986 after returning home from a Frankfurt flight, and a friend, Rita Buonanno, later reported her missing.
- Records showed Richard Crafts had rented a U-Haul truck and a 1,200 kg wood chipper a month before her disappearance, claiming he was clearing trees.
- Highway worker Joseph Heinz reported seeing Richard Crafts near Lake Zoar around 3 a.m. with a wood chipper, guiding police to search the area.
- Investigators found human remains and personal items mixed with fresh wood chips, a mailing label bearing Helle’s name, and a chainsaw with blonde hair recovered from the Housatonic River.
- After two trials, Richard Crafts was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in the state’s first no-body murder case, and he was released early in 2020 after serving 30 years.