Woodchipper Killer Richard Crafts Passed Polygraph

[George W. Maschke]

Richard Crafts, who in 1986 killed his wife Helle Crafts, dismembered her body with a chain saw, and passed it through a commercial woodchipper, reportedly passed a lie detector test. Danbury, Connecticut News-Times writer Karen Ali reports on the case in an article titled, "Woodchipper murder: 20 years later." Excerpt:

One of [Newton, CT Patrolman Henry] Stormer's colleagues told him that Crafts passed a lie detector test, but Stormer "just didn't believe it," he said. Lie detector tests aren't 100 percent foolproof and aren't admissible in a court proceeding.

During Vietnam, Crafts supposedly flew for Air America, a branch of the CIA, and law enforcement officials suspected he had training in how to avoid a lie detector, Stormer said.

CourtTV's on-line Crime Library provides further details:

Their suspicions aroused, Newtown police requested that Crafts submit to a lie detector test. He agreed and passed the test on December 4 [1986]. Even though polygraph examinations are inadmissible as evidence in court, they can be a useful tool for investigators. But since Crafts passed the test, it had the opposite effect on the Newtown detectives. One investigator wrote in his report that "based on the polygraph examination and my numerous conversations with Mr. Crafts, he does not know where his wife is."