Every Town - Helena Greenwood - Attacked & Assaulted by a Stranger - Del Mar, CA

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

It's the interesting and brave story of brilliant DNA scientist Dr. Helena Greenwood today. She had her life and goals planned out, but the tragedy of fate intervened one night when she attacked and assaulted by a stranger while she was at the height of her glorious career. She displayed courage and determination to put her attacker behind bars, but he soon pulled a one-two punch by killing the brilliant scientist in 1985. But even beyond her death, Helena made sure she had a hand in letting justice triumph, As to how she did it exactly, stay tuned to find out.--------------------------------------------💀 Exclusive Video Content & Access: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 🥇 Watch This Episode on Youtube!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbXm5YJ7_KQ&ab_channel=ScaryMysteries--------------------------------------------🎧 Scary Mysteries PodcastApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scary-mysteries/id1273612861Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkTAll Others: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579 Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine, because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between. With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime.

Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a darkest. side. Brilliant DNA scientist, Dr. Helena Greenwood, had her life and goals planned out, but the tragedy of fate intervened one night when she was attacked and assaulted by a stranger while she was at the height of her glorious career. She displayed courage and determination, though, to put her attacker behind bars, but he soon pulled a one-two punch by killing the brilliant scientist back in

1985. But even beyond her death, Helena made sure that she had a hand in letting justice triumph. As to how she did it exactly, stay tuned to find out. I'm Andrew Fitzgerald, and welcome to this week's episode of Everytown. Now let's head to Del Mar, California, where we learn about the very brave story of scientists telling to Greenwood, who got the justice she'd justice. deserved in a very unique way. By normal standards, most people consider it relatively young to die at the age of 36. In their mid-30s, many individuals are racing to the pinnacle of their careers, building the

foundation of their own family life or happily overseeing the growth of their offspring. So, when life is cut short after three decades, it's generally considered a premature death. One can only sigh and feel sorry for the person whose life is perceived as only half realized. The same sentiments were shared by most people when then 36-year-old Dr. Helena Greenwood was murdered in 1985 in the house she shared with her husband in Delmar, California. She may have died young, but she led a life well spent as an esteemed DNA scientist and as an astute business executive of a progressive biotechnology company. Helena actually hailed from England, born there in 1949, as the only child of an accomplished couple.

Her father, Sidney, had become the head of the Southampton College of Art, and then went on to attain the prestigious title of fellow Royal Society of Art, while her mother, Marguerite, went on to become a geologist. It was inevitable for Helena to become as brilliant as her parents. In 1976, at 26 years old, She earned a doctorate's degree in chemical pathology in the University of London. It was indeed an amazing achievement for a woman in her mid-20s. She became prominent as an author of many scholarly articles and professional journals.

Professor John Landon, who supervised Helena's doctor of philosophy degree, recalled that she was in the top 10% of scientists definitely determined and focused. Of course, Sidney was one proud father, who only had the fondest memories of his beloved daughter. When asked about her, after she passed, Sidney thoughtfully said, She was a happy, well-behaved child. She had so much to look forward to, and she had done so much already. In the late 70s and early 80s, Helena, who was already married to Roger Franklin, became keenly interested in the energized climate of biotechnology.

It was a gold rush time of new science, new applications, technology breakthroughs, and there was loads of money available to spend and make. Soon, Helena and her husband, a gentle land planner and architect whom she had known since their teenage years, opted to relocate to California, the epicenter of the biotech world. It was a decision that propelled Helena to greater heights career-wise, and the last thing, her or her husband ever expected, was that there could be a grave threat to Helena's life. In California, the English couple settled in Atherton,

a town incorporated in San Mateo County, which is regularly ranked as the most expensive zip code in the United States. Her intelligence and knowledge and biotechnology soon landed Helena a job at the Sivoc Company in Palo Alto, which was in stiff competition with the Abbott Corporation, within the medical diagnostics business. Being business savvy, she quickly rose to the position of the company's director of international marketing and met the company's expectations.

In fact, she produced a miracle. Sam Moorashima, a Sacramento scientist working at Siva, as one of Helena's staff members said, Abbott was beating our brains out in the domestic market. Because of that, we should have had to lay on. of 200 people, but Helena's incredible performance in the international market saved us. To this day, when I'm faced with a tough problem, I often ask myself, what would Helena have done? Another colleague, Denise Apcar, also attested to Helena's workaholic and go-getter attitude. She was on the go all the time, consulting with scientists and physicians all over the world,

trying to find out what was needed and what she could provide in diagnostics. The downside, if one could indeed call it such, was having children taking a back seat until Helena had settled in at her career. Her success also developed her reputation as someone demanding and difficult to work for. Denise attributed this to Helena's British mannerisms, youthful impatience and limited experience working as a manager. Outside work, she spent as much quality time as possible with her husband, Roger. They were a young couple, very much in love, who were inseparable during their free time,

spending it sailing, far out at sea, or tending together their English-style garden at their small starter home. These were rare occasions, though, as both Helena and Roger were also focused on their respective professions, at a time set them apart when business travels to other states were necessary. In one instance, when Roger flew out of California, Helena had experienced a trauma which could be considered as the first serious strain in her almost perfect life. She was sexually assaulted by an unknown intruder. Roger was on a business trip to Washington, D.C. in the first week of April in 1984,

leaving his wife alone at their quaint Atherton Haven. It turned out to be an unforgettable springtime for Helena. On the night of April 7th, she retired to her bedroom at around 10.20 p.m. And put herself to sleep by reading a book. After almost an hour, she was awakened by a tall man moving through the shadows of her bedroom. His face was concealed by a sweatshirt hood, pulled tight, that only exposed his eyes. He was holding a gun in his left hand, while the flashlight was carried by his right, In her testimony later, she said that she sat up in bed and wound the bed sheets tightly around her, but it didn't do her any good.

At first, the intruder demanded money and then demanded more. Helena said she pushed him back and resisted his advances, telling her attacker, No, I can't go through with this. I don't want to do this. But the man successfully assaulted her sexually and then robbed her before disappearing into the night. Afterwards, Helena called the police and then her friend, Tom Christopher, who drove her to the hospital. She spent the rest of the night at the family's home in Oakland, where she would be safe and looked after. In the afternoon the following day, Tom drove Helena back to her house to get some clothes

because she feared spending another night in her Atherton house alone. While waiting for her to pack her clothes, Tom wandered onto the deck beneath the kitchen window. that was the means of the break-in. He noticed a teapot lying on the ground and immediately called Helena. She said that the pot was supposed to be on the windowsill, where she left it after making a cup of tea before bed the previous night. Thinking alertly, Tom called the police, headed by Atherton Detective Captain Steve Chappet,

whose team was able to find a single usable fingerprint off the lip of the pot while conducting the investigation at Helen's house. That would have been a significant lead that could move the case forward, but the fingerprint recovered didn't match any prints in their system. Thus, no arrest was made. An investigators busied themselves searching for a suspect. Ten months later, Luck lit up their path.

Captain Chappet's attention was drawn to a report about a man who was caught masturbating in front of the bedroom window of a third. 13-year-old girl in Belmont, a city about six to nine miles away from Atherton. The exhibitionist reportedly wore a hooded sweatshirt that covered his face, similar to the disguise of the man who assaulted Helena. He was identified as David Frediani, whom Captain Chipput and Belmont police officer Joe Farmer eagerly wanted to question. During the questioning, Captain Cheput remembered that they got around to casually asking David

about Dr. Greenwood's case. The suspect in their custody spared with them and claimed that he didn't know anything about the burglary or the sexual assault incident that involved the woman. Then Captain Cheput suddenly hit him with this statement. We've got your fingerprints. David's face suddenly changed. Captain said he started frantically grabbing

that he had done all those things when drunk and he didn't know what he was doing. Then suddenly he stopped like he knew he should shut up. David's fear was palpable as he stammered and then he clamored up and asked for a lawyer. At the time, 30-year-old David worked as a financial analyst in San Francisco and had no prior encounters with the law. He pleaded innocent in Helena's case to forcible oral copulation, burglary, and the use of a gun to commit a felony. In May of 1985, Helen had testified at his preliminement. in her hearing. She noted similarities between David, who was a complete stranger to her and her

assailant, but she couldn't make a positive identification. What prosecutors possessed, though, was the fingerprint and a serology analysis from sperm left in the pillowcase and narrowed the blood down to that shared by one in every seven men. This was as good as a god during the time before advancements were made using DNA evidence, which Helena was steadfastly working on. David, who was now facing up to 20 years in prison for the assault, was released on bail, and his trial was scheduled for September of 1985. Roger and Helena were naturally dismayed that her alleged assailant was allowed bail and continued to live a normal life.

The couple wanted a fresh start in a new environment, so they moved to San Diego, California. by stroke of luck, and, shall we say right timing, a man in San Diego named David Cohn, a developed technology by which DNA could be used to speed up the diagnosis of infectious disease from months to minutes in some cases. Mr. Cohn's inventions use DNA probes to replace traditional cultures. This would enable physicians to quickly determine accurate diagnoses and give prompt and precise treatment.

pulling his resources and energy together with science entrepreneurs Tom Adams and Howard Berndorf. Mr. Cohn started a firm called GenProbe, a research company focused on advancing DNA testing. However, they also needed a respected scientist to convince physicians and their suppliers about the breakthrough value of what they intended to offer them. Mr. Adams, then CEO, remembered Helena from earlier business encounters as an eloquent, excellent scientist. In early 1985, he then hired her as Jen Probes' vice president of marketing. It was an exciting time for Helena, as well as Mr. Adams, who had nothing but praises for her. He said, she was an extremely bright scientist with a winning smile.

She was a big factor in our company, getting ten. of the first product approvals from the FDA using DNA probes. Mr. Adams also got to know the not so optimistic side of Helena as she opened up to him about the ordeal she went through before relocating to San Diego and that she had to go back up north to give her testimony in court. Helena poured out her feelings about her experience being attacked, which scarred her for life for sure and forced her to undergo counseling. Mr. Adams thought Helena truly feared David Frediani, but she was likewise determined to nail him in her testimony.

Unfortunately, though, that day never came. Helena and Roger woke up to a beautiful and fair morning in Del Mar, where they settled in on Thursday, August 22nd, 1985. That particular morning, Roger left earlier than Helena and headed to his office in San Clemente. Helena was also preparing to report to Gen Probe where she was expected to attend a scheduled business conference as someone who habitually arrived in the office at nine on the dot every single morning. It was very unusual for her to not show up for an important meeting. Her colleagues were worried that she was a no-show and immediately sensed that something was wrong. One of Helena's co-workers called up Roger who immediately left work and went home to check on his wife.

When he arrived at the house, he found that their house's gate was jammed, making it difficult to open. So he climbed over the fence, and on the other side, Roger discovered Helena's lifeless body lying on the ground, which was blocking the gate. She was dressed for work, and her office papers fluttered about in the afternoon soft ocean breeze. She had been strangled and then beaten to death. The autopsy report confirmed that Helena died of strangulation, but the crime scene appeared clean of evidence. Unfortunately, the only physical piece of evidence police could collect were minuscule skin particles from underneath her fingernails

that were too tiny for DNA analysis at the time. Clearly, the woman fought like hell to defend herself. It was as if she knew she would die and was desperate to secure DNA evidence as she frantically clotted her attacker. The crime seemed intensely personal, for who would strangle the death someone in broad daylight and then staged the scene to look like a botched robbery. For Roger and the police, only one name came to mind.

Helena's assailant, David Frediani. Of course, Helena was scheduled to testify David's trial on sexual assault charges in just three weeks. Police couldn't have asked for a strong, longer reason for killing her, and that was to stop her from testifying against her assailant. Her death was a big blow to her father, Sidney, who was still in grief over the death of his own wife, and Helena's mother just a few weeks earlier due to leukemia. When police officer Joe Farmer ran David Frediani's name through the Department of Motor Vehicle

Records, he found out that he had been an offender-bender near northern Los Angeles seven days before Helen was murder. Authorities immediately thought that David, who still lived in the Bay Area, had been monitoring Helena's movements and home. When asked by Captain Cheput what he was doing near L.A., David replied that he was headed for Lake Tahoe, but decided to take a trip south instead at the last minute. However, even though David had been in the area shortly before the murder, nothing concrete could tie him to the crime. So in September of 1985, David Frediani's assault trial against Helena

was pushed through as scheduled. Her death didn't deter the legal proceeding, and her earlier testimony was admitted in the case. David was found guilty, but the verdict was set aside on appeal for technicalities unrelated to the evidence. He finally agreed to a plea bargain with a six-year sentence, three of which he served before returning to the Bay Area and resuming his work at Pacific Telephone as a financial analyst. As for Helena's murder case, it was finally sent by the San Diego Sheriff's Department to its homicide archives and was part of the many unsolved cold cases that gathered dust. Fast forward to 1999, the San Diego Police Department reopened 300 cold cases, hoping that new scientific advancements could identify the perpetrators.

The one who was persistent in pursuing Dr. Greenwood's case was Detective Laura Heelig, a sheriff's homicide detective assigned to the Archives Department. In the 14 years since Helena's murder, exciting developments had occurred in the field of DNA research, most notably the advent of the PCR method, which allowed scientists to replicate a microscopic sample of DNA, until it was of useful size. It was a breakthrough that DNA scientists had achieved first in 1987,

which Helena herself had helped research. Detective Helig pushed for the DNA analysis of the tiny scrappings from beneath Helena's fingernails and never lost faith that the new signs would lead to the killer. Finally, utilizing the PCR method, the skin particles embedded under her fingernails were definitely found to be a match, to David's DNA. It was a bittersweet reminder that Helena's relentless efforts in DNA research weren't in vain. She was indeed a scientist to the core and that she knew science would one day catch up to

forensics. The irrefutable evidence led to the eventual arrest of David in December of 1999. Unfortunately, this momentous event wasn't witnessed by Helena's husband Roger, who had died of cancer in his early 50s during the summer of 99. As expected, David was charged with murder, but he again pleaded not guilty, sticking to his story of being in San Francisco when Helena was killed. But luckily, the jury didn't believe him. Without advances in DNA, said prosecutor Valerie Summers, this murder might have gone

unprosecuted. It's been a long time coming to justice. On January 29, 2001, David Frediani, now 46 years old, was convicted by the San Diego County Superior Court for the murder of Helena Greenwood back in 85. On March 19th of that year, he was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole as ruled by Superior Court Judge John Einhorn, who told David that the court would show him no mercy, just as he showed no mercy to Miss Greenwood. The judge declared,

Helena was probably the most blameless victim this court has ever seen. The callous, vicious, senseless attack on her, first of a sexual nature, then her murder, is a shock to this community. Helena's father welcomed the good news and congratulated the police for their persistence in bringing justice for Helena and her family. And then, just the day after the verdict, Sidney Greenwood himself succumbed to cancer,

joining his wife and only daughter in the afterlife. The ashes of Dr. Greenwood were buried next to her mothers in the yard of the Bouldray Church outside of Limington and Hampshire, England. She may have died young, but Helena will always be remembered as an extraordinary DNA scientist and researcher on reading DNA gene sequences. The very technique she had studied and advanced, which detectives, say, ended up trapping her own

killer, David Frediani, and convicting him of her murder. Undoubtedly, this is Helena's most remarkable achievement, and the best reward she could have given herself. Thanks so much for tuning in, and if you want even more creepy stories from us, then check out our YouTube channel and podcast called Scary Mysteries. Over there on the YouTube channel, you'll find each episode of Everytown as well, complete with a cool video component if you'd rather watch it like a show. And if you really want to show us some love and support and watch truly terrifying videos, then check us out at patreon.com slash scary mysteries. There's a new video every week over there, plus the chance to get involved with ideas

and picking the videos that we post each week. So head on over there to get involved, and I'll see you soon. So that's it for this week's episode of EveryT, Tune in next week for another one filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because who knows? Maybe your town will be next.