20 20 2025 S01 E31
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00:00Tonight, a woman's husband is shot and killed
00:00:02and she fears she could be next.
00:00:04But everything isn't what it seems
00:00:06when a decades-old family secret comes to light.
00:00:09An all-new 2020 begins right now.
00:00:15My husband is dead.
00:00:18I'm missing my right arm.
00:00:19I feel like I'm just missing my life.
00:00:24I don't know what to do.
00:00:26Miriam gets home, it looked like the house had been ransacked.
00:00:30She sees Alan laying on the kitchen floor.
00:00:33He was shot right in the back of the head.
00:00:3562-year-old Alan Helmick dead.
00:00:38Here in this parking lot,
00:00:39less than two months before Alan was murdered,
00:00:41there was an earlier attempt on his life.
00:00:44Somebody tried to torch our car.
00:00:46So the car actually got torched?
00:00:49We found a vehicle that had a wick in its gas tank
00:00:52and had been set on fire.
00:00:54Never seen anything like that before.
00:00:57We didn't know if this person could come back.
00:00:59Miriam became convinced she was being watched.
00:01:02She thought somebody was trying to come into the house
00:01:05and she was scared for her life.
00:01:06Two weeks after Alan's murder,
00:01:08Miriam finds a dramatic discovery under her doormat.
00:01:11And she goes, what should I do, what should I do?
00:01:13And I said, you call the police and you get away from it.
00:01:15There's a card inside that says,
00:01:18Alan's first, you're next.
00:01:20What do you want me to do?
00:01:23You're next.
00:01:24Run, run, run.
00:01:34Out here in the Western Colorado countryside,
00:01:46the wide open spaces can stretch for miles.
00:01:49In a place this remote,
00:01:51it might seem unlikely that two lonely souls
00:01:54might find each other and a second chance at love.
00:01:58But that's exactly what happened here
00:02:00until one warm summer day
00:02:02when the peace of this place was shattered
00:02:05by unimaginable violence.
00:02:09911, what do you have, what's your emergency?
00:02:11I can't control my husband.
00:02:12You what?
00:02:14My husband is dead.
00:02:17This was a big story that shocked a small town.
00:02:20There's stuff everywhere.
00:02:22He has blood under his head.
00:02:25There was a scare in the community,
00:02:27you know, that something like that could happen.
00:02:29We don't have a lot of crime here.
00:02:31No, I've got to do this.
00:02:35Murders just didn't really happen there,
00:02:38especially murders with so many twists,
00:02:40and especially to a well-respected businessman
00:02:43that everybody really loved.
00:02:46Alan Helmick was a fixture in this community,
00:02:49a man who dedicated his life
00:02:50to helping others achieve their dreams,
00:02:53getting small businesses off the ground
00:02:56and families into their first homes.
00:02:58In fact, he was known as the broker of Main Street.
00:03:02Alan Helmick was a prominent businessman.
00:03:05He had a mortgage business.
00:03:07Everybody respected him.
00:03:09He was firm, but he was very friendly.
00:03:12An avid outdoorsman, Alan took advantage
00:03:14of all Western Colorado had to offer.
00:03:18The Western Slope is just gorgeous.
00:03:21It really is where the West meets a bit of suburbia.
00:03:25And in Whitewater, people had these sprawling homes,
00:03:27very affluent, very safe.
00:03:29How would you describe this town of Grand Junction?
00:03:32We pride ourselves on our outdoor activities,
00:03:35our beaches, our wine industry.
00:03:38Great for families.
00:03:40Alan had grown up in the nearby town of Delta
00:03:43and settled into Grand Junction to raise a family.
00:03:46What was Alan Helmick like?
00:03:49You know, he was a good guy.
00:03:50He was a great athlete.
00:03:53Bob Caccetti was Alan's friend and longtime accountant.
00:03:57Good instincts?
00:03:58Yeah.
00:03:59Oh, he was a risk taker.
00:04:00Oh, he was a gambler.
00:04:04We went to Vegas once.
00:04:06I think by the time we checked in the hotel,
00:04:08he was borrowing money.
00:04:10He recovered, you know.
00:04:11He was a good business person.
00:04:13He took a lot of chances,
00:04:14but it seemed to, more than not,
00:04:16played out and worked well for him.
00:04:18And definitely not one to shy away from attention.
00:04:24One time we were in Mexico.
00:04:26A bunch of us were down there on a fishing trip
00:04:28and the mariachi band came around the restaurant.
00:04:32Alan handed him a few dollars
00:04:34and asked for the trumpet from one of them.
00:04:37And he joined them on the trumpet.
00:04:41And he was really good.
00:04:42It was like, wow, where'd that come from?
00:04:45So it didn't surprise those who knew Alan
00:04:48that after his first wife unexpectedly passed away,
00:04:51he wanted to meet new people.
00:04:53So he decided to try something different, dance classes.
00:04:59And his instructor is this woman, Miriam Giles.
00:05:03Oh, yeah, he came in one time and we were doing something
00:05:07and he says, yeah, I just love dancing.
00:05:11Miriam was a very good dancer, good instructor.
00:05:14She had me dancing, which was a miracle.
00:05:16Alan, I believe, kind of had that love at first sight
00:05:20feeling and really wanted to pursue Miriam
00:05:24and did so on the dance floor.
00:05:26Miriam was 10 years his junior,
00:05:28but Alan didn't let that discourage him.
00:05:30He described meeting Miriam in an interview
00:05:32he did shortly before he died.
00:05:35She didn't want to date me, but I persisted.
00:05:37She's my dance instructor, so I could go on a cruise
00:05:40and not be caught footage.
00:05:42We ended up pretty compatible.
00:05:45Alan seemed reborn.
00:05:47He was so very happy.
00:05:49They ended up falling madly in love
00:05:51and got married within two years of knowing each other.
00:05:54They would talk about how they would go out on their boats
00:05:56late at night to watch the sunsets together,
00:05:58have an evening cocktail, and just how they felt
00:06:01like they had just found a true partner late in life.
00:06:04It was just like a little fairy tale come true.
00:06:07It's June 10th, 2008.
00:06:10Typical, beautiful Tuesday morning in Whitewater,
00:06:14and Miriam leaves to go run some errands.
00:06:18Alan was going to get his car serviced,
00:06:21and then they were gonna meet up for lunch.
00:06:24She stopped to get cigarettes, stuff for her horse,
00:06:28even check on a prescription for him.
00:06:30She went to City Market to pick up his prescription,
00:06:34and found out that he hadn't dropped it off.
00:06:37So she called him, could not get a hold of him.
00:06:40When Miriam gets to the Chinese restaurant,
00:06:42she calls Alan again to see if they're gonna meet,
00:06:44but Alan never shows.
00:06:46Miriam, after 15 minutes, decides to leave and head home.
00:06:53Miriam gets home.
00:06:56It looked like the house had been ransacked.
00:06:59At that point, she sees Alan laying on the kitchen floor
00:07:02on his back with blood under his head.
00:07:05She calls 911 immediately.
00:07:08She's sobbing, she's frantic.
00:07:21We knew patrol had been dispatched out
00:07:23to what was reported as a robbery,
00:07:26and then we had a deceased person on scene.
00:07:29Robin Martin is a detective who worked the case.
00:07:33When the first officers arrived on the scene,
00:07:35they find Miriam distraught and kneeling over her husband.
00:07:39Alan was on the floor in the kitchen.
00:07:42It looked like he had been shot in the head,
00:07:44and we had a bullet casing next to his body.
00:07:47They did a very quick security sweep
00:07:48to make sure there wasn't a suspect still on scene.
00:07:52There's no one in the house.
00:07:53As they conduct their sweep, deputies notice drawers
00:07:57and a trash can tipped over in Alan's office.
00:08:00In the newsroom, we have police scanners,
00:08:03and we heard the call go out saying
00:08:06there was a robbery homicide out in Whitewater.
00:08:09I packed up my camera gear and went out there immediately.
00:08:14What I saw when I got out there
00:08:16was a scene that was taped off.
00:08:19Multiple officers going in and out of the house
00:08:23A lot of media attention?
00:08:24Yes.
00:08:25This was a big deal in that town, I guess.
00:08:27It was, very much so.
00:08:29Everybody wanted to know what was going on.
00:08:32My wife and I were getting ready for bed.
00:08:3410 o'clock news come on.
00:08:36The headline was, there has been a homicide in Whitewater.
00:08:40The Mason County Sheriff's Office
00:08:41has called out to this Whitewater home.
00:08:43I kind of jokingly said to my wife, I says,
00:08:45oh, no, I wonder if that's Alan.
00:08:47I said, no, I wonder if that's Alan.
00:08:49I kind of jokingly said to my wife, I says,
00:08:51oh, no, I wonder if that's Alan.
00:08:53And lo and behold, it was Alan.
00:08:55What they find is 62-year-old Alan Helmick dead,
00:08:58shot in the head.
00:09:00It's detective work 101 that you start
00:09:03with the people closest to the victim.
00:09:05But in this case, Alan's wife, Miriam,
00:09:07was running those errands,
00:09:08expecting to meet Alan for lunch.
00:09:11She even had the voicemails to prove it.
00:09:14Okay, Alan, this isn't funny anymore.
00:09:16I've been sitting here in front of a Chinese place
00:09:18for 15 minutes, so would you call me?
00:09:24Things did not add up.
00:09:25Everybody knew him.
00:09:27Everybody loved him.
00:09:28Who would do such a thing?
00:09:38The Mason County Sheriff's Office
00:09:39has called out to this Whitewater home
00:09:41on a report of a possible robbery.
00:09:43What they find is 62-year-old Alan Helmick dead,
00:09:46shot in the head.
00:09:49After finding her husband, Alan,
00:09:50dead in a pool of blood on the floor
00:09:53of their Whitewater, Colorado home,
00:09:55Miriam Helmick is brought in for an interview
00:09:57with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.
00:10:00Thank you for coming down and helping us
00:10:03get to the bottom of this.
00:10:05We appreciate it.
00:10:07It's Miriam, right?
00:10:09Investigators are trying to solve this murder.
00:10:11The first 24 to 48 hours are critical,
00:10:15and she is the first person you want to talk to.
00:10:19Miriam was at our office.
00:10:20They, as we do with all, what were you doing today?
00:10:24Can you go through your day for us?
00:10:26I had some errands I needed to run today,
00:10:29so he was gonna, we would meet later,
00:10:33so he got in the shower and got dressed.
00:10:36Okay, what time did you leave?
00:10:40And what did she tell investigators
00:10:41about her whereabouts that morning?
00:10:44She started listing off everywhere she had been.
00:10:47She told us that she was calling Alan several times,
00:10:50was getting his voicemail.
00:10:51Hi, Alan, I just wanna let you know I'm going to Walmart.
00:10:55If you're gonna meet me for lunch,
00:10:57let's meet at the Chinese buffet.
00:10:59Love ya, bye.
00:11:01Then what happened?
00:11:03I still hadn't heard from him,
00:11:05and then I went from there to Orchard,
00:11:10Mesa City Market to pick up his prescription.
00:11:12Okay.
00:11:14What time is it now?
00:11:16I probably got there about 10, around 10.
00:11:19Hey, Alan, you need to turn your phone on.
00:11:22Question for you, when we tried to pick up
00:11:25your prescription, they said that you hadn't been by yet,
00:11:28so are we still gonna be able to meet for lunch?
00:11:30It's not like you to call, not call me,
00:11:32so give me a holler.
00:11:33Thanks, bye.
00:11:35And since he hadn't called me back,
00:11:36I thought he was caught up somewhere to meet,
00:11:38so I left him a message and told him I was going home
00:11:40in case he decided to meet me there anyway.
00:11:46Okay, Alan, this isn't funny anymore.
00:11:48I've been sitting here in front of a Chinese place
00:11:51for 15 minutes, and you're never late,
00:11:54so would you call me?
00:11:57Miriam's entire morning is accounted for.
00:12:00She even offers up proof of where she's been.
00:12:04I think I have all the receipts in my pocket.
00:12:07She actually went from one end of the valley
00:12:10to the other end, and we were able to track her movements
00:12:14not only by her receipts, but by her cell phone
00:12:17interacting with cell phone towers.
00:12:20She was tested for gunshot residue?
00:12:23Yes, she was tested for gunshot residue.
00:12:25Her clothes were collected?
00:12:26That's right.
00:12:27They take those items to check them
00:12:29for any kind of gunshot residue or blood spatter
00:12:34that might indicate Miriam had something to do with this,
00:12:39and those results came back negative.
00:12:42She's also caught on several surveillance cameras
00:12:44throughout the morning.
00:12:46Miriam seemingly has an airtight alibi,
00:12:49so naturally, investigators are anxious to ask her
00:12:52who she thinks may have wanted to harm Alan.
00:12:57Did he have any enemies, any problems
00:13:00with any of his contracting work going on, any disputes?
00:13:06Would he share that with you if he did?
00:13:09I think so.
00:13:10He shared a lot with me.
00:13:12Miriam said Alan was generally well-liked,
00:13:14but detectives also knew he'd been a local mortgage broker.
00:13:17Could he have turned someone down,
00:13:19maybe had a disgruntled former client
00:13:22or coworker who was out for revenge?
00:13:26He did not like lying or dishonesty.
00:13:29He would fire people for that,
00:13:30but that was respected.
00:13:32And he had started his own business here decades earlier.
00:13:35Alan had married his high school sweetheart, Sharon,
00:13:38and had four children through 37 years together,
00:13:42but on New Year's Eve 2003,
00:13:45she died of a sudden heart attack.
00:13:48How did that affect him?
00:13:50Friends said that he was quite depressed
00:13:53and wasn't doing that well.
00:13:57And soon afterward, he takes up dancing.
00:14:00He was encouraged to try a new activity.
00:14:03When Alan met Miriam,
00:14:06I know she had a policy of not dating her students,
00:14:10but Alan was pretty relentless.
00:14:14Kieran Wilson was a local journalist
00:14:16in Grand Junction, Colorado, who covered this case.
00:14:19Just days after Alan's murder,
00:14:21she spoke to an emotional Miriam.
00:14:25I met him teaching how to dance,
00:14:28and I didn't really like him while he grew on me,
00:14:34but he was such a gentleman,
00:14:36and he was so sweet,
00:14:37and I just love him to death, you know?
00:14:42Miriam had been dealt her own difficult hand in life,
00:14:44having faced not one but two unimaginable tragedies
00:14:49back in her home state of Florida.
00:14:51Chris Giles is Miriam's son.
00:14:54Grew up in Jacksonville, mom, dad, a sister.
00:14:57What was it like?
00:14:59It was good.
00:15:00Typical kind of four-family.
00:15:03You know, me and my sister were super close.
00:15:04Mom kind of led us to do our things,
00:15:07but was also there to kind of shepherd everything
00:15:09and help us through.
00:15:11In 2000, Miriam and her first husband, Jack,
00:15:14were devastated when their eldest child,
00:15:1623-year-old daughter, Amy,
00:15:18died suddenly after an accidental overdose.
00:15:22How did the family cope with this, with her death?
00:15:25We didn't really talk about it.
00:15:28After a while, things kind of,
00:15:30just kind of started going downhill.
00:15:33And Jack just,
00:15:37he kind of, you know,
00:15:38he just could not live without his daughter.
00:15:42It just tore him apart.
00:15:45And then two years after your sister dies,
00:15:47tragedy strikes again.
00:15:49Yeah.
00:15:50My dad took his own life,
00:15:51and I woke up to the gunshot.
00:15:56Miriam's husband, Jack,
00:15:57shot himself while he and Miriam were in bed.
00:16:01Mom kind of runs out the door,
00:16:03and she's hysterical,
00:16:06just losing her mind,
00:16:09like a scream I've never heard before in my entire life.
00:16:12That was a dramatic change in your family.
00:16:14Yeah.
00:16:15The loss of father.
00:16:16Yeah, and you just,
00:16:17you know, you just,
00:16:19you're trying to figure out how to deal with those things.
00:16:21You gotta deal with the pain,
00:16:22you gotta deal with the hurt, you know?
00:16:24She turned to dancing after all this.
00:16:26Yeah, with kind of her escape,
00:16:28where she kind of felt normal.
00:16:30And then your mom decides to move to Colorado.
00:16:33Yes.
00:16:34And not long after is when Alan Helmick
00:16:37walked through the door of the dance studio
00:16:39where Miriam worked.
00:16:41Everybody's really happy for Alan.
00:16:44He seemed real happy.
00:16:45Yeah, another chance at love.
00:16:47Everybody said that her and Alan
00:16:49were kind of a good team for dancing.
00:16:52They were a real,
00:16:54you know, they were a real couple.
00:16:57So Alan and Miriam decided to build a house together,
00:17:02and they chose the community of Whitewater.
00:17:05The house was set pretty far back from the road,
00:17:09and it was about a 40-acre property.
00:17:12Your mom goes to all this, seemingly happy again,
00:17:15and all of a sudden, this happens.
00:17:23How did you learn that Alan had died?
00:17:26She called me.
00:17:28Called me and told me that he'd been shot.
00:17:34Still kind of another shock to the system.
00:17:36Another loss.
00:17:37Yeah, another loss.
00:17:39So far, investigators don't seem to have much to go on,
00:17:43but about an hour into that police interview,
00:17:46Miriam says something that would raise the eyebrows
00:17:49of any homicide detective.
00:17:52In Delta.
00:17:54Uh-huh.
00:17:55And somebody tried to torch our car.
00:17:57So the car actually got torched in Delta?
00:18:00Uh-huh.
00:18:01Had Alan's killer made an earlier attempt on his life?
00:18:10After Alan Helmick is found murdered
00:18:12in his Whitewater, Colorado, home,
00:18:14his wife, Miriam, is interviewed by investigators,
00:18:17and she tells them about a shocking incident
00:18:19that happened just six weeks earlier.
00:18:23Somebody tried to torch our car.
00:18:25They took a stick or a big, big, like, restaurant skewer
00:18:30and put some kind of gauze on it,
00:18:33and they put it on the car.
00:18:36Here in this parking lot,
00:18:37less than two months before he was murdered,
00:18:39there was an earlier attempt on Alan's life.
00:18:42Someone tried to set his car on fire.
00:18:45It looked like something straight out of a movie,
00:18:47but for the Helmicks, this brush with death
00:18:50was all too real.
00:18:52Tell me about that incident.
00:18:53What happened that day with the car?
00:18:55Well, Alan Helmick and his wife, Miriam,
00:18:57were driving down the road,
00:18:58and they saw a man with a gun,
00:19:00and they were trying to kill him.
00:19:02Tell me about that incident.
00:19:03What happened that day with the car?
00:19:05Well, Alan and Miriam had driven to Delta
00:19:08for the closing on their business.
00:19:11They were selling Alan's title company to a purchaser,
00:19:15and they had finished the transaction
00:19:18and had parked out front.
00:19:20Collected a check?
00:19:21And collected a check for over $100,000
00:19:24for the sale of this business
00:19:27and got in the car.
00:19:30At that point, Miriam went in to use the restroom,
00:19:34and while she's in the business,
00:19:37the car starts smoking.
00:19:39Alan looked in the mirror and saw
00:19:41that the vehicle was on fire.
00:19:43He got out of the vehicle,
00:19:45went to the back of the car,
00:19:48and a wick was in the gas tank.
00:19:51When Miriam comes out,
00:19:53she hears that Alan's screaming at her
00:19:55to bring her to get a fire extinguisher,
00:19:59Upon arrival, we found a vehicle
00:20:03that had a wick in its gas tank
00:20:05and had been set on fire.
00:20:08You ever seen anything like that before?
00:20:11No, no, I had not seen anything like that.
00:20:14It was pretty obvious
00:20:15someone had tried to start that fire.
00:20:17Correct.
00:20:18So if someone was trying to set the car on fire,
00:20:20it didn't quite work.
00:20:21Correct.
00:20:22The fumes did not ignite, fortunately.
00:20:26Were they able to glean anything else from the crime scene?
00:20:29No security cameras from the surrounding businesses,
00:20:32no video footage whatsoever of what had transpired.
00:20:37The police both questioned Miriam and Alan
00:20:40after the car incident.
00:20:43You have no idea who did this to you or Alan?
00:20:46No, not at all.
00:20:48I mean, it's just weird.
00:20:53I don't know.
00:20:54We've been hashing it over from last night.
00:20:56We can't figure it out.
00:20:57Alan didn't have a lot of enemies,
00:20:59and so who would want to kill Alan in that kind of way
00:21:03by blowing up his car?
00:21:05That was a real mystery.
00:21:07Do you know anyone that would have a problem with you?
00:21:10I do not.
00:21:11Over the years,
00:21:12the fact is I was in business in this area.
00:21:15There are going to be some unhappy people
00:21:17because I turn people down on loans from time to time.
00:21:19But I think I was well respected
00:21:22in the civilian loan industry.
00:21:25There are two people that have had a problem with me.
00:21:28Okay, who are those two people?
00:21:30Alan mentions two bankers with whom he had prior dealings
00:21:33but quickly downplays their potential involvement in the arson.
00:21:38I can't imagine them being convicted
00:21:40because they're too much exposed.
00:21:42Right.
00:21:43You know, they do stupid things,
00:21:45but they're not stupid people.
00:21:46Investigators will ultimately determine
00:21:49that those bankers are not involved,
00:21:51but they're exploring every avenue,
00:21:54even asking Alan if he thinks it's possible
00:21:56Miriam could have been responsible for the car fire.
00:22:00Oh, God.
00:22:02No, I don't think that.
00:22:03Not at all.
00:22:04That would be terrible.
00:22:05Why would she do that?
00:22:07So during the interviews with officers,
00:22:09Alan and Miriam had mentioned that
00:22:11Miriam would not hurt Alan or harm him
00:22:15because Alan was worth more to her alive
00:22:19than if he were dead.
00:22:21What would she gain if you died yesterday?
00:22:25What he would get is a mess.
00:22:28She has nothing that was created prior to the marriage.
00:22:31Alan was convinced that it wasn't Miriam,
00:22:34and if the investigators in Delta
00:22:37had any suspicions of Miriam being involved in this,
00:22:41Alan was the first to defend her and say she wouldn't do this.
00:22:46And besides, what reason would Miriam have
00:22:49for trying to kill Alan?
00:22:51He'd always gone out of his way to make her dreams come true
00:22:55with lavish gifts and gestures.
00:22:58His goal in life was to make me happy,
00:23:00and he took care of me.
00:23:02His favorite saying was, have fun like hell.
00:23:04So anytime he knew I was going shopping
00:23:07or he gave me money or anything like that,
00:23:09he would say, have fun like hell.
00:23:12Alan loved Miriam,
00:23:14and he was always happy to dote on her,
00:23:16buying her lavish gifts like her own dance studio
00:23:19and even a horse training business,
00:23:22always intent on making her lifelong dreams a reality.
00:23:29I met Alan and Miriam Helmick at my farm
00:23:32because they wanted to buy some horses
00:23:34to start a horse breeding operation.
00:23:36It was always her passion to start riding,
00:23:39and Alan just said, you know, I'm going to give this dream to you.
00:23:43Horse training centers,
00:23:46it's an extremely difficult way to make a living.
00:23:49Most of those never pay off.
00:23:51It's a labor of love.
00:23:53You told him it was not a good idea to invest in this horse.
00:23:56No, you know, and I said, you know, it's a good hobby,
00:24:00but it's too expensive.
00:24:02And his desire to open up that dance studio came from where?
00:24:06Oh, it had to be Miriam.
00:24:08You had your concerns about him investing in these things.
00:24:11Oh, I told him, I says, get your head up your ass.
00:24:14Sounds like you really wanted to make Miriam happy.
00:24:17I think so.
00:24:19Alan was always very good with his finances,
00:24:22but with the horse business and the dance business,
00:24:25they were hemorrhaging money.
00:24:27As investigators began digging into Alan's finances,
00:24:30they found that bad business decisions
00:24:33had left him in a serious financial hole.
00:24:36But were his money troubles enough of a reason
00:24:39for someone to want him dead?
00:24:41Or could the murder have been more personal?
00:24:44Does Alan Jr. know where you guys live now?
00:24:47Yes, he's been there.
00:24:49He's my wayward kid because he's sort of a bum.
00:24:53Investigators will soon learn
00:24:55about some longstanding Helmick family tension.
00:24:58He said he shows up.
00:25:00When he's not announced, you call the cops.
00:25:10♪♪
00:25:17One week after his untimely death,
00:25:20Alan Helmick is laid to rest.
00:25:23♪♪
00:25:27When we were at Alan's funeral,
00:25:29Miriam sat in a pew in the very front, of course.
00:25:33She was crying, looked real despondent.
00:25:37Alan's family, his daughters,
00:25:39were just heartbroken and devastated.
00:25:43Alan was, he was a really good dad to those kids.
00:25:46He was like their rock and hit them real hard.
00:25:51What's it like around here without him, I guess?
00:25:54Very quiet.
00:25:57I'm missing my right, my right arm.
00:25:59I feel like I'm just missing my life.
00:26:05I don't know what to do.
00:26:14In the days after Alan Helmick's murder,
00:26:16investigators had diligently chased down leads
00:26:19and conducted interviews with people in his orbit,
00:26:22but they hadn't announced any suspects.
00:26:25There was, however, one thing they were pretty sure of.
00:26:29This was not a robbery gone wrong.
00:26:32What stood out to you?
00:26:34It was odd.
00:26:36You had property still in the house
00:26:40that was, you could assume was of value
00:26:43that a normal burglar would take.
00:26:45Like what?
00:26:46Computers, phones, jewelry.
00:26:51The normal type of stuff you would expect somebody to steal.
00:26:54There were drawers pulled out evenly.
00:26:57There was a trash can knocked over.
00:26:59There were drawers that were open
00:27:02that wouldn't hold valuables anyway.
00:27:05And most of the drawers were open in the kitchen, right?
00:27:07Correct, in the kitchen, throughout the house.
00:27:11It just did not sit right, it did not feel right.
00:27:14It was looking staged.
00:27:19And Alan's autopsy confirmed
00:27:21that he probably had not walked in on anyone committing a burglary.
00:27:25There was no indication
00:27:28that Alan had tried to fight off his attacker.
00:27:31It was very clear that he was caught by surprise
00:27:35as he was shot right in the back of the head.
00:27:37Do you think Alan knew his attacker?
00:27:39I don't know. I don't know.
00:27:43But there was someone in Alan's life
00:27:45that Miriam had told investigators he'd been wary of.
00:27:50At one point, Miriam starts pointing fingers
00:27:53at Alan's son, Alan Jr.
00:27:56What did she say about him?
00:27:58Miriam talked about how Alan and Alan Jr. never got along
00:28:02and that there was some falling out between the two of them
00:28:06and some animosity.
00:28:09Tell me more about Alan Jr.
00:28:11He's had, um...
00:28:14Um...
00:28:17He's had, uh, run-ins with the law.
00:28:20What was the relationship between Alan and Alan Jr.
00:28:24three to four months ago?
00:28:26Same.
00:28:27Same distance?
00:28:28He's been that way for many years.
00:28:29Okay. Kind of.
00:28:30Same distance.
00:28:31Okay.
00:28:33Oh, there's some real animosity there.
00:28:36Does Alan Jr. know where you guys live now?
00:28:39Yes, he's been there.
00:28:41And after that car fire six weeks earlier,
00:28:44Alan had also mentioned his strained relationship
00:28:47with his son to those investigators.
00:28:50He's my wayward kid because he's sort of a bum.
00:28:55And, uh, you can't fix that by just handing him money.
00:28:59Alan's personal issues with his son,
00:29:02coupled with the fact that he may have known his attacker,
00:29:05was enough for detectives to bring Alan Jr. in for an interview.
00:29:09Come on in and have a seat.
00:29:10And I, um...
00:29:11Right here?
00:29:12Yes, that's fine.
00:29:13He's the kind of guy that if he saw something that wasn't right,
00:29:16he would give you his two cents about it,
00:29:18and it would not be nice.
00:29:19It would be sharp.
00:29:20He just told it as it is.
00:29:21No, it's sharp.
00:29:22Yeah.
00:29:23Right out.
00:29:24Sure.
00:29:25That's like, you're ****** up, you know?
00:29:26Right.
00:29:27You're a ******.
00:29:28I like you because you're doing this.
00:29:30Alan Jr. goes on to say that his father had effectively
00:29:33cut him off financially.
00:29:35It's the endeavor to give me a dime.
00:29:37Did you ask?
00:29:39No, I'm sure that I had back then.
00:29:41And they repeated, you know,
00:29:43hey, this is something you need to learn.
00:29:45You need to learn to take care of yourself.
00:29:47When asked, Alan Jr. insists he would never hurt his father,
00:29:51and he had an alibi.
00:29:53He was working out-of-state at the time of the murder.
00:29:57Where were you Tuesday?
00:29:58Because everybody's been asking that question.
00:30:00I'm not an ignorant human being.
00:30:03Right.
00:30:04And I would be offended if you didn't ask those questions.
00:30:07In fact, I would be angry with you if you didn't ask them in that way.
00:30:10Would have been working on the computers.
00:30:12At the hostel.
00:30:14Alan Jr. was cleared as a suspect.
00:30:17That's right.
00:30:18No evidence linking Alan Jr.
00:30:20to having anything to do with Alan's murder.
00:30:23So investigators are back to square one.
00:30:26That's right.
00:30:27There were no suspects.
00:30:29We didn't know if this person could come back.
00:30:31I never thought it would happen here
00:30:34or anything like that would ever happen here.
00:30:36It's just always quiet around here.
00:30:39Are you scared that this person might come back?
00:30:42From there?
00:30:45I don't know.
00:30:47Yes and no.
00:30:49I don't want to leave because I'm closer to him here.
00:30:55Had there been a murder in my home,
00:30:57would not want to stay there.
00:31:00Especially not a few days after.
00:31:02But she said it was her home.
00:31:04She said she felt closer to him there.
00:31:07But if Miriam says she felt safe enough
00:31:10to stay in her and Alan's home,
00:31:12that was about to change.
00:31:14And then two weeks after Alan's murder,
00:31:16Miriam finds a dramatic discovery
00:31:18under her doormat at the house.
00:31:21And she goes, what should I do?
00:31:22What should I do?
00:31:23And I said, you get off the phone
00:31:24and you call the police and you get away from there.
00:31:26Was the killer now coming after Miriam?
00:31:41Miriam Helmick came home last Tuesday
00:31:43to find her husband Alan shot and killed.
00:31:45Her quiet Whitewater neighborhood
00:31:47was turned upside down.
00:31:48The baffling murder of businessman Alan Helmick
00:31:51had left a community desperate for answers.
00:31:57Detectives were taking a close look
00:31:59at everyone in Alan's life,
00:32:01even close friends like Ed Benson,
00:32:03who was brought in for an interview.
00:32:06I've known Alan, I was his friend.
00:32:08I've known Alan, oh shoot, I don't know, a long time.
00:32:12So you're good friends?
00:32:13Well...
00:32:14Is it safe to say you're good friends?
00:32:16We're friends, I mean, we're not, I mean,
00:32:18yeah, I mean, we're good friends.
00:32:20Strange interviews with the sheriff's department,
00:32:22the investigator.
00:32:23You know, you go in and we're friends,
00:32:25but yet we were treated as, like, suspects.
00:32:29Did you guys ever have any bad blood
00:32:32between you two or anything like that?
00:32:34Not from my standpoint, no, no, no.
00:32:37Any enemies that you know of without Alan telling you,
00:32:40or any, you know, said rumors that, you know,
00:32:43Alan's not a good guy or anything like that?
00:32:45Never.
00:32:46Okay.
00:32:47Never.
00:32:48And there was that mysterious car fire just weeks earlier.
00:32:52Everyone wondering, could the two incidents be linked?
00:32:56Take it all that there may be connected?
00:32:58A good possibility.
00:33:00I was letting them figure that out.
00:33:02It was, I mean, it was a shock to us.
00:33:05But he never mentioned anything about
00:33:08anybody that could, would do something like that.
00:33:12As days passed with no suspects in custody,
00:33:15Miriam became convinced she was being watched.
00:33:18She reported seeing a white pickup truck
00:33:20with a driver she didn't recognize
00:33:22circling the property,
00:33:24leaving her to wonder whether the same people who killed Alan
00:33:28were now coming after her.
00:33:31I talk to Miriam almost on a daily basis,
00:33:34and in a lot of our conversations she talked about
00:33:36that she thought somebody was trying to come into the house
00:33:39and she was scared for her life.
00:33:41Miriam starts reporting that weird things
00:33:44have been happening around the house.
00:33:46She is saying that she will come home
00:33:49and a door that she knows she locked is unlocked.
00:33:52She was finding lights on.
00:33:54She was finding medicine cabinet doors open that shouldn't be.
00:33:59She saw one or more suspicious vehicles
00:34:02that she didn't know who was linked to them.
00:34:04And mind you, this is a very small area,
00:34:07only a handful of homes out there,
00:34:09and you recognize most of the vehicles
00:34:11that are driving in and out of the area.
00:34:14But the strange happenings at the home
00:34:16weren't the only thing worrying Miriam.
00:34:19With Alan, the sole breadwinner, gone,
00:34:22there wasn't any money coming in.
00:34:24During her police interview, Miriam had explained to investigators
00:34:28that they had a prenup.
00:34:30She really didn't have anything without him.
00:34:32She didn't stand to gain a lot.
00:34:42Miriam's financial situation was fairly dire.
00:34:45In fact, she started selling off
00:34:47some of the property they had together.
00:34:49She said she had no money.
00:34:51All the money was in Alan's name.
00:34:53So I said, well, let me buy the horses back.
00:34:55I'll pay your debt off to the other trainer.
00:34:58That way he'll give you some money for what you need to live on.
00:35:02And then, as Miriam is struggling to stay financially afloat,
00:35:06an ominous message shows up on her doorstep.
00:35:11She was with her friend Penny.
00:35:13They had just gotten back from shopping.
00:35:15She goes up to her front door,
00:35:17and she sees an envelope sticking out from under the mat.
00:35:21And when she opens that envelope,
00:35:24there's a card inside that says,
00:35:26Alan's first, you're next.
00:35:29Run, run, run.
00:35:32She collapses to the ground, becomes very distraught.
00:35:38Miriam calls me, and she's frantic.
00:35:40And she goes, what should I do?
00:35:42And I said, well, you need to hang up the phone
00:35:44and call the police and get out of there.
00:35:46I said, because somebody could be there trying to hurt you.
00:35:49The greeting card is turned over by Miriam to her lawyer,
00:35:53who then notifies the police.
00:35:55I was given a copy of the card.
00:35:57It said, to the grieving window, in block letters.
00:36:01On the front is a picture of a middle-aged female.
00:36:06And it said, insanity, doing the same thing over and over again,
00:36:11expecting a different result.
00:36:14And then inside, Alan spelled A-L-L-E-N.
00:36:18Misspelled.
00:36:19Misspelled.
00:36:20Your was also Y-O-U-R.
00:36:24A grammatical thing, OK.
00:36:27Whoever left it there had cut out the barcode,
00:36:31seemingly in an effort to obfuscate anybody tracing that card,
00:36:36where it was purchased, who purchased it, that sort of thing.
00:36:39It looks like Miriam might be the next target.
00:36:42Maybe there is somebody out there who really wants to kill Miriam as well.
00:36:48After Miriam received the threatening card,
00:36:52she left and she went back to Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, where she's from.
00:36:56She moved in with her son, Chris.
00:36:59How was she coping?
00:37:01Oh, it was not good.
00:37:05You know, it was, you could, it was, there was some brokenness there.
00:37:09I just knew that she was in a bad place.
00:37:12I was trying to help her through that stuff.
00:37:14What did you make of that?
00:37:15I think that's not that abnormal.
00:37:18She didn't have a lot to her name, so she needed to figure out how to live without Alan.
00:37:23Back in Colorado, that bizarre greeting card gives police
00:37:27something they have been desperately searching for, a solid lead.
00:37:33I had actually seen this card before.
00:37:37Just coincidentally, you had seen the card?
00:37:39It's kind of a unique front on a card.
00:37:43It's at this city market that investigators finally get the break they've been waiting for.
00:37:48The person who bought that card with the threatening message from Miriam
00:37:51is caught on surveillance tape here.
00:37:54And just who that person is will take everyone by surprise.
00:37:58You see it clear as day.
00:37:59Then, a bombshell discovery from decades earlier.
00:38:03The piece of evidence that was really the smoking gun,
00:38:07almost literally, was recovered from that lawn in Delta.
00:38:11What investigators find buried here will crack this case wide open.
00:38:25What we had was a man who had led a good life and he ended up murdered.
00:38:30I saw Alan on the floor. He was cold and gray.
00:38:34People were in disbelief. People were scared.
00:38:38He held his hand for a few minutes and tried to make some sense of it all.
00:38:43Miriam comes home. There's a handwritten note.
00:38:46And it says, to the grieving widow,
00:38:49Alan's first, you're next. Run, run, run.
00:38:55It looks like Miriam might be the next target.
00:38:58The killer was now after her.
00:39:01You want twists and turns? There's no shortage of that here.
00:39:05I met Miriam on a dating site.
00:39:09She wrote, saw your profile, and loved it.
00:39:13She was moving on.
00:39:14Two of my girls were like, wow, she's dating already?
00:39:18She's trying to get on with her life in a new state.
00:39:21But another incident with a gun comes to the surface.
00:39:25I heard the shot. Mom kind of runs out the door and she's hysterical.
00:39:28Just screaming. Like a scream I've never heard before in my entire life.
00:39:32Could what they find buried in this yard be the smoking gun?
00:39:44On June 10, 2008, 62-year-old respected businessman Alan Helmick
00:39:49was found dead in his home by his wife Miriam.
00:39:55When we arrived, Alan was on the floor in the kitchen.
00:39:59He had been shot in the head and we had a bullet casing next to his body.
00:40:08The place had been ransacked, but nothing seemed to have been taken.
00:40:13They realized fairly quickly that this was a staged attempt to hide what really happened.
00:40:21A tragic ending to what appeared to be a perfect second chance at love.
00:40:27Both Alan and Miriam were widows.
00:40:30She was his dance instructor for ballroom dancing lessons.
00:40:36I'm missing my right arm. I feel like I'm just missing my life.
00:40:48I don't know what to do.
00:40:50Miriam told police she'd been running errands all morning
00:40:53and provided receipts to back up her alibi.
00:40:58I went to Walmart.
00:41:00Okay.
00:41:02I needed to buy some shirts.
00:41:06Police were at a loss as to who would want this well-liked businessman dead.
00:41:13Alan had some enemies, but nobody was going to kill him.
00:41:17As investigators began to dig deeper, the story took a frightening turn.
00:41:24Miriam comes home.
00:41:27There's a handwritten note, and it says,
00:41:29To the grieving widow.
00:41:34Alan was first. You're next. Run, run, run.
00:41:38It looks like Miriam might be the next target.
00:41:41The real killer was now after her.
00:41:44After Miriam received the threatening card,
00:41:47she went back to Florida, where she's from.
00:41:51When Miriam came back to Florida, I was so surprised.
00:41:55I just couldn't believe it.
00:41:57She gave me a call, and, um,
00:42:00I got a lot to tell you, she says.
00:42:04In Florida, Miriam turned to old friends for support
00:42:08reconnecting with her former neighbor, Aline Lee.
00:42:13Miriam didn't have any money, she said.
00:42:15All I've got is just the clothes I'm wearing.
00:42:18All I've got is just the clothes on my back. I have nothing.
00:42:21I said, I can get you clothes. My girls are your size.
00:42:24I bought a gas card for her, and I gave her a bag of jewelry.
00:42:28I just felt bad for her.
00:42:31While Miriam tries to restart her life in Florida,
00:42:34detectives in Colorado are continuing to work the case,
00:42:38trying to figure out where that threatening card she received came from.
00:42:44They got in touch with the manufacturer of the card.
00:42:46He was able to tell them where these cards were sold.
00:42:50I checked the Hallmark. I checked the Hobby Lobby.
00:42:53We finally get to the city markets.
00:42:57I contacted their loss prevention guy, and they found two sales.
00:43:01One person paid in cash.
00:43:03Didn't know who that person was. The other one was with a credit card.
00:43:06So we had a name, and then he found one more purchase.
00:43:09He called me, and he's like, I've got video.
00:43:12That store uses VHS tapes?
00:43:14That particular store was not as up-to-date as their others,
00:43:18and they did use VHS, and they used it over and over and over again.
00:43:23So by the time we got this tape, it was kind of delicate.
00:43:32It was her. She was wearing the same style of shirt
00:43:36that she had walked in with her interview.
00:43:38It was just a different color combination.
00:43:40You see Miriam going first to the area where the cards are sold
00:43:45within the city market,
00:43:47and then to the cash register where she pays for it.
00:43:52Clear as day.
00:43:55So now it appears that Miriam, the grieving widow,
00:43:58seemingly afraid for her own life,
00:44:00had actually sent that threatening card to herself.
00:44:05But when investigators confront her about this,
00:44:07she says she has an explanation.
00:44:10What Miriam told them is that she felt like the police
00:44:14weren't paying enough attention to the case.
00:44:17They weren't doing much.
00:44:19And so she wanted to kind of jog that with this card.
00:44:23That was probably not the best decision to make.
00:44:28I think it was a mistake.
00:44:30That was probably not the best decision to make.
00:44:34Not what I kind of would have done in this situation.
00:44:37She felt she needed to do this.
00:44:38She felt she needed to.
00:44:43Did that grieving card incident change the way
00:44:45you and investigators approached the case?
00:44:48What innocent person would do this,
00:44:50obfuscate, complicate a murder investigation with this bruise?
00:44:56But remember, when she was interviewed by investigators,
00:44:59Miriam said she had very little to gain from Alan's death.
00:45:04We did a pre-nup.
00:45:05Okay.
00:45:06Everything he has is his.
00:45:08Everything mine is mine.
00:45:09He has more than I do.
00:45:11Okay.
00:45:12With no clear motive in sight,
00:45:14the Mesa County Sheriff's Office
00:45:15turned their attention to Miriam's past,
00:45:18learning about that double tragedy
00:45:20she and her family suffered years earlier in Florida.
00:45:24There was the sudden loss of her daughter,
00:45:26and then a shocking development with her first husband.
00:45:31While Miriam and her first husband, Jack, were in bed,
00:45:35Jack shot himself in the head.
00:45:38Now you say, okay, she's had not one,
00:45:41but two husbands shot in the head.
00:45:44Was there a common thread?
00:45:46And they were both married to Miriam Helmick.
00:45:49Police ruled it a suicide.
00:45:51There were some strange circumstances, though.
00:45:54Things like he used his right hand to pull the trigger.
00:45:58Jack was a lefty.
00:46:02Investigators then started looking back at your father's death.
00:46:07Yes.
00:46:08I woke up to the gunshot.
00:46:10You were just down the hall.
00:46:11Yeah, I was sleeping on the couch in the family room,
00:46:14and I heard the shot.
00:46:15Mom kind of runs out the door, and she's hysterical,
00:46:18just screaming.
00:46:20Like a scream I've never heard before in my entire life.
00:46:23There's certain things in life that can't be faked.
00:46:25Did you question her?
00:46:27No.
00:46:28I know one of the things that came up is that my dad was left-handed.
00:46:31Well, my dad learned how to write left-handed
00:46:33because he had a cast on his arm when he was younger,
00:46:36so he was able to actually use his right hand, too.
00:46:39And you had seen him depressed before this.
00:46:41Yeah.
00:46:44Was the death of her first husband, that case, ever reopened?
00:46:48No.
00:46:49It was ruled a suicide.
00:46:51But with clouds of suspicion gathering over Miriam
00:46:54about the death of her second husband,
00:46:57she does something unexpected.
00:46:59I met Miriam on a dating site.
00:47:03A millionaire match?
00:47:04A millionaire match.
00:47:06Your profile described me to a T.
00:47:10Investigators are starting to wonder
00:47:12if they could actually have a black widow on their hand.
00:47:16I mean, she was finding the husband,
00:47:18she was looking for the money, and then moving on.
00:47:31With suspicion now mounting
00:47:33that she may be the person who killed her husband, Alan,
00:47:36Miriam Helmick does something unexpected.
00:47:39She goes looking for love again.
00:47:46Miriam took me to this website for dating men
00:47:50that had a lot of money.
00:47:52I mean, we're talking about very rich.
00:47:54And she picked out this one guy from Orlando.
00:47:56Had a lot in common with her.
00:47:58He liked to dance, and he loved horses, all this stuff.
00:48:02I met Miriam on a dating site.
00:48:07I owned a dance studio for about six or seven years,
00:48:12and then I had a human resources company for about 20 years.
00:48:17I did very well for myself.
00:48:22Miriam had contacted me first.
00:48:25She wrote, saw your profile and loved it.
00:48:29I can dance, any dance, and I'm pretty good at it.
00:48:35Your profile requirement described me complete to a T.
00:48:41She says, I'm going to go down there.
00:48:43I said, what?
00:48:45I mean, this is just months after Alan had died.
00:48:48Even my girls were like, she's dating already?
00:48:52And I said, no.
00:48:55We met at TGI Fridays.
00:48:57She was very talkative, very nice.
00:49:01We hit it off really good, actually.
00:49:04Miriam even opens up about the recent loss of her husband.
00:49:11Miriam had told me that her husband had died of some brain disease.
00:49:17She said that we both felt he was going to die soon anyway,
00:49:22and there was no big deal.
00:49:24We were just waiting for the time.
00:49:30She handled his death very well.
00:49:32I just thought to myself, okay, well, big deal.
00:49:35Miriam may have been trying to move on and put Alan's death behind her,
00:49:39but back in Colorado, investigators are taking a closer look at her,
00:49:43starting with her alibi from the day of Alan's murder.
00:49:49Went to Orchard Mesa Market.
00:49:52I went to Walmart.
00:49:54I think I have all the receipts in my pocket.
00:49:57She was able to pull out the receipts from her pocket
00:50:01of everywhere she had been that morning.
00:50:03Just didn't seem natural to us.
00:50:05To show up at the police interview with a pocketful of receipts,
00:50:10suspicious or just thorough?
00:50:13I would say very odd.
00:50:15That is not a normal thing.
00:50:17Is that really your first thought,
00:50:19to explain where you had gone in great detail
00:50:23and keeping the receipts?
00:50:25What did investigators make of her alibi?
00:50:27Well, they thought it was suspicious.
00:50:30Didn't make a lot of sense to them.
00:50:34And investigators weren't the only ones with suspicions about Miriam.
00:50:39M-I-R-I-A-M, Helmick, H-E-L-M-I-C-K.
00:50:44Remember that local reporter who sat down with her after Alan's murder?
00:50:48She couldn't shake the feeling that something was suspicious
00:50:52and that something was off with her story.
00:50:55Do you have any plan for the funeral yet?
00:50:57It's tomorrow at ten.
00:51:00You start to get a weird feeling as she's talking.
00:51:03I wanted to get back into dressage
00:51:05and decided I should have a dressage horse,
00:51:10so he bought several.
00:51:11It was all about her.
00:51:13And these interviews are really supposed to be about the deceased.
00:51:18His goal in life was to make me happy.
00:51:21He never wanted me to worry about anything
00:51:24or have any problems or anything,
00:51:26and he took care of me and everything.
00:51:28As I was speaking with her,
00:51:30it went from feeling really bad for her
00:51:35to being suspicious.
00:51:38Are you scared that this person might come back?
00:51:41That was it.
00:51:43Yes, that's the look.
00:51:45I don't want to leave because I'm closer to him here.
00:51:50She started looking to the side.
00:51:54It's just like when you're talking to somebody
00:51:56and you know that they're lying
00:51:58because of nonverbal cues that they have.
00:52:05When I left that house,
00:52:07I've never scurried away from a place so quickly in my life.
00:52:12I was genuinely scared.
00:52:14And while Miriam is talking to the media,
00:52:17the reporters are talking to those closest to Alan.
00:52:23You continue with the investigation.
00:52:25Actually, you interview Alan's children.
00:52:28Yes, right after Alan passed,
00:52:30we were speaking to the daughters,
00:52:33and they had expressed concerns
00:52:35of an inability to get a hold of their dad.
00:52:38He's been completely out of character
00:52:41drastically for the last, since January.
00:52:45You've seen him change.
00:52:47You've seen him change his character.
00:52:54He wasn't answering phone calls.
00:52:57He wasn't returning voicemails.
00:52:59Hi, Dad, it's Portia.
00:53:00I hate to bother you so much.
00:53:02I haven't been able to talk to you,
00:53:04so things are piling up.
00:53:07Hey, Miriam, this is Christy.
00:53:09I've been calling my dad for about a week,
00:53:11and I'm not hearing back.
00:53:13And every time I called, Miriam answered.
00:53:15Before that.
00:53:16His phone.
00:53:17Yeah, okay, his cell phone,
00:53:19which I thought was weird.
00:53:20He always answered his phone.
00:53:23It appeared that he was being distanced from them.
00:53:27I'm like, well, Dad, does your home phone look dead?
00:53:29He's like, no.
00:53:30I'm like, well, how does anybody get a hold of you?
00:53:32Well, Mary doesn't want you to bother me.
00:53:34And when they would call Miriam,
00:53:36there was excuses as to,
00:53:38oh, I'll have him call you back,
00:53:40or he's not around.
00:53:41She certainly, in the days leading up to his murder,
00:53:45was isolating him from his children.
00:53:48Allen's kids couldn't help but wonder
00:53:50why Miriam seemed to be keeping them from their father
00:53:53in the months leading up to his murder.
00:53:56Could it have been something to do
00:53:57with a sudden decline in his health?
00:54:01Father's never sick.
00:54:02You know, my father's like an ox.
00:54:05And every time I would talk to him, he was sick.
00:54:08And did he say what he was sick from?
00:54:10He didn't know.
00:54:12I don't think he had a clue.
00:54:14He said he couldn't even stand up.
00:54:16He was so dizzy.
00:54:17The more investigators dig,
00:54:18the more troubling details they uncover,
00:54:21like a gun that seemed to have disappeared
00:54:24from Miriam and Allen's home.
00:54:26One of Allen's children said
00:54:28she specifically remembered seeing
00:54:30a .25 caliber pistol in his sock drawer.
00:54:34They couldn't find that gun after the murder.
00:54:38Police learn of a shooting incident
00:54:40that had happened outside this house decades before.
00:54:44Could what they find buried in this yard
00:54:48be the break they need?
00:54:55Detectives will often say
00:54:57that when it comes to investigating,
00:54:59there are no coincidences.
00:55:01And for those working the murder of Allen Helmick,
00:55:04they were certain that attempted car fire
00:55:07just weeks earlier was somehow connected to their case.
00:55:14This area is where I was dispatched to a car fire.
00:55:19We saw a car.
00:55:21I was dispatched to a car fire.
00:55:23We saw that somebody had placed a wick
00:55:26in the gas tank of a vehicle.
00:55:28We contacted the driver.
00:55:30We were speaking with him.
00:55:32We were speaking with his wife.
00:55:35So I started questioning both of them.
00:55:38She, I noticed she became a bit nervous,
00:55:42and she'd said that she wasn't feeling well,
00:55:45needed to run to the restroom.
00:55:47I watched her leave the back of the vehicle,
00:55:50not going to the restroom she'd just came out of.
00:55:53Not right here.
00:55:54Not right here where she just went to the restroom.
00:55:56She actually went across four lanes of traffic, which...
00:56:00That's strange.
00:56:01Very strange.
00:56:02Did she ever come back?
00:56:04Not while I was on scene.
00:56:06She stayed over there.
00:56:07She stayed over there.
00:56:09When you were still here, you went into the ladies' room.
00:56:12We did.
00:56:13What did you find there?
00:56:15We smelled the odor of gasoline.
00:56:19It was fairly strong.
00:56:22Since investigators learned that Miriam
00:56:24had been standing at the trunk
00:56:26right before Alan discovered the fire,
00:56:28they decided to bluff him,
00:56:30telling Alan there was surveillance video of the incident
00:56:33to see if he thought his wife could have been responsible.
00:56:37I watched the video.
00:56:39Is she on there?
00:56:41I'm asking you, what do you think?
00:56:42No, how's she on there?
00:56:43Does she like it?
00:56:44I'm asking you what you think.
00:56:45No, but I could be wrong.
00:56:47We bluffed Alan, and he said he didn't believe it.
00:56:52You didn't answer my question.
00:56:54You looked at the video.
00:56:55Yeah.
00:56:56I still looked there.
00:56:59If you'd seen her on the video doing it,
00:57:01I would have been shocked.
00:57:03The crime scene reminded investigators of a movie scene.
00:57:07After all the dust had settled,
00:57:09our investigators started thinking about
00:57:12what had transpired in Delta.
00:57:15They thought, this sounds like the car explosion scene
00:57:20in No Country for Old Men,
00:57:22which had just come out in the last year
00:57:25and was a popular movie where the villain
00:57:28had created a distraction by lighting a magazine,
00:57:32sticking it into the gas inlet,
00:57:34and exploding the car.
00:57:37As police are looking into this,
00:57:39they discovered that the Helmicks had rented that movie
00:57:42about four days prior to the incident.
00:57:45Was this the smoking gun or smoking car?
00:57:49It definitely was part of the investigation.
00:57:53Miriam was not charged with the arson in Delta
00:57:55because of the roadblock put up
00:57:58when Alan demanded the investigation be closed.
00:58:01He did not want to pursue it if we were looking at Miriam
00:58:04and that he would not cooperate with the investigation.
00:58:09And the detectives now investigating Alan's murder
00:58:12are still searching for any hard evidence
00:58:15that Miriam pulled the trigger.
00:58:17After all, they still hadn't recovered a murder weapon.
00:58:22There was the issue of the firearm
00:58:25that was missing from the home.
00:58:28And in talking to the daughters,
00:58:30we knew that there should have been
00:58:33a .25 caliber Lorsen in the house.
00:58:36Because people had seen that gun there before.
00:58:38Correct.
00:58:39As luck would have it, there was an old Helmick family story
00:58:43from decades earlier of Alan's first wife's stepfather
00:58:47firing that same gun into the ground
00:58:49during a domestic dispute back in 1989.
00:58:54Could this gun, now missing, be the murder weapon?
00:58:58There was some evidence that had been in the house
00:59:00in the years leading up to the murder,
00:59:03and no evidence of what he would have done with that weapon.
00:59:07No evidence he sold it, gave it away, traded it.
00:59:11You know, where is this gun?
00:59:13And then investigators bring in a metal detector into the case.
00:59:16Right.
00:59:17Detectives come up with a long-shot idea.
00:59:19Go back to the property where that domestic dispute happened
00:59:23back in 1989.
00:59:25Could they recover the bullet fired from that gun
00:59:28and compare it to the bullet that killed Alan?
00:59:32I received a phone call from the chief investigator
00:59:35at the Sheriff's Department in Mesa County
00:59:38asking me if I would assist them in searching for a bullet.
00:59:42Carol Quarles is a retired law enforcement officer
00:59:45who has experience using a metal detector
00:59:48to search for missing evidence.
00:59:51So your reaction when they asked you to get involved in this case?
00:59:54Oh, yeah, heck yeah.
00:59:56Anytime. Just call me.
00:59:58I love finding evidence.
01:00:00And you started over here?
01:00:01And I started working my way around.
01:00:03And then I just slowly worked my way around
01:00:08to about midway in the yard.
01:00:11And I hadn't found anything.
01:00:14And they were getting nervous.
01:00:15The investigator said, well, maybe you're not going to find it.
01:00:18Yeah, maybe the witness wasn't remembering things right.
01:00:22To which you said...
01:00:23Let me check over there in case the shooter shot
01:00:25into that corner of the yard.
01:00:27And so I walked over there, and it wasn't 30 to 45 seconds
01:00:31that I had the bullet.
01:00:33Where did you find that bullet?
01:00:35That bullet was right in this area right here.
01:00:39It was an aha moment.
01:00:41I mean, it was euphoric.
01:00:44That's the best way that I can explain it.
01:00:47And they dug up that bullet that had been there since 1989.
01:00:52They were able to compare that bullet from the ground
01:00:55to the bullet that was recovered from Alan's headshot.
01:01:00And what we were able to determine
01:01:03was that the two bullets were consistent with each other.
01:01:06The evidence is building up against her.
01:01:10It is.
01:01:11At this point, police believe that they have enough
01:01:14to arrest Miriam for Alan's murder.
01:01:17But this is a woman who police believe
01:01:19orchestrated an attempted firebombing
01:01:21and shot her husband in the head in cold blood.
01:01:25Is she just going to go quietly?
01:01:28She's being investigated for a homicide.
01:01:32You don't ever know that she doesn't have a gun.
01:01:34If she sees you and she's scared, knows what's going on,
01:01:38it's a real game out there at that point.
01:01:41In the fall of 2008,
01:01:43just a few months after Alan Helmick's murder,
01:01:46Miriam was living in Jacksonville, Florida,
01:01:49attempting to move on with her life.
01:01:52But her past in Colorado was about to catch up with her.
01:01:56I was a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
01:02:00here in the Jacksonville field office.
01:02:03I got a call.
01:02:04I said, hey, I got a call.
01:02:07I got a call from Asa County Sheriff's detectives,
01:02:10and they were investigating a homicide in Colorado.
01:02:15Did you have an inkling that she might be a suspect?
01:02:17It wasn't kind of until I was driving home one day
01:02:20and the Grand Junction police called me and said,
01:02:22is she living there?
01:02:23I was like, yeah, she's with me.
01:02:25I don't know what's going on, but she's there.
01:02:31And we sent two investigators down there
01:02:35with an arrest warrant.
01:02:37They handcuffed her and set her right on the ground.
01:02:39She had a blank expression on her face,
01:02:42like a little bit angry-looking almost.
01:02:46Six months after Alan's death,
01:02:48Miriam is charged with first-degree murder,
01:02:51attempted murder for that car fire, and forgery.
01:02:54She pleads not guilty
01:02:56and is extradited from Florida back to Colorado.
01:03:00What we had was a man who had led a good life,
01:03:03and he ended up murdered,
01:03:05and there's a need to bring to justice the right person.
01:03:11A year after being arrested and charged,
01:03:14Miriam Helmick goes on trial
01:03:16here at the Mesa County Courthouse.
01:03:18Prosecutors argue that the grieving widow
01:03:20is actually a cold-blooded killer.
01:03:23Miriam Helmick's standing trial
01:03:25for the murder of her husband was a huge deal.
01:03:28The courtroom was pretty packed.
01:03:30It was a bit chilling.
01:03:32Miriam did not show a lot of emotion.
01:03:35She didn't look like herself.
01:03:38So why do prosecutors believe Miriam killed Alan?
01:03:42They argue the motive was as age-old as they come, money.
01:03:48Financial motive was the critical part of your argument.
01:03:51There were suspicious bank account activity
01:03:55where it appeared that Miriam
01:03:58had forged multiple checks from Alan's account.
01:04:02All told, she had taken about $40,000 out of his account
01:04:07through writing those checks.
01:04:09But the defense pushed back,
01:04:11saying that Miriam had Alan's permission to write those checks,
01:04:15both as his wife and his secretary.
01:04:18Banks had been calling, trying to get a hold of Alan.
01:04:22He wasn't being available to his banker,
01:04:25something that had never happened before.
01:04:27Now there was an urgency.
01:04:29Right.
01:04:30In fact, the banker had reached out to one of Alan's daughters,
01:04:33and that was tension that was building, building, building.
01:04:39Prosecutors put Alan's daughter, Portia, on the stand
01:04:43to testify about the way Miriam seemed to be isolating her father
01:04:47in the months leading up to his murder.
01:04:50He was much less involved in my life.
01:04:54He was much more distant.
01:04:56I called him, and when I didn't get to his phone,
01:04:58I called Miriam's phone.
01:05:00And when they would call Miriam, there was excuses as to,
01:05:04oh, I'll have him call you back, or he's not around.
01:05:07If Alan was discovering
01:05:10that she had been taking money from him without permission,
01:05:14that was a possible motive.
01:05:17How would he have reacted if he had found it?
01:05:19Everything would have been over.
01:05:21He would have had our attorney on the hotline,
01:05:23and it would have been over.
01:05:28And prosecutors argued that Miriam had tried to kill Alan
01:05:31not once, but twice.
01:05:35The first time, in that failed attempt at blowing up his car,
01:05:39they called Miriam's horse breeder and friend,
01:05:42Jerry Yarborough, to the stand.
01:05:45When I went on the stand, I was super scared
01:05:47because I knew my testimony was going to be not so good for Miriam.
01:05:51Jerry told jurors about a conversation she said she had with Miriam
01:05:55after that failed car bombing.
01:05:58She had said that she found out that a car won't explode
01:06:02if it has a full tank of gas.
01:06:04And when she said that, what was her demeanor?
01:06:06She laughed.
01:06:07Did that catch you off guard?
01:06:09Pretty much.
01:06:10But the defense pointed out that if Miriam was after Alan's money,
01:06:14why would she try to blow up his car
01:06:17while he was holding that large cashier's check he had just received?
01:06:23The piece of evidence that was really the smoking gun,
01:06:27almost literally, was the bullet that was able to be recovered
01:06:31from that lawn in Delta.
01:06:34How pivotal was that in tying Miriam to the crime?
01:06:38That was a nice piece of evidence
01:06:40because we didn't actually find the gun,
01:06:43but we had a story about the gun,
01:06:45how it was seen in the home.
01:06:48Now we have a bullet that roughly matches
01:06:52the bullet that was recovered from Alan.
01:06:54But as Miriam's defense pointed out,
01:06:56roughly matched is not the same as a perfect match.
01:07:01Couldn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
01:07:05Then the defense did something you don't often see at a murder trial.
01:07:09The defense calls Miriam Holland to the stand.
01:07:11They called Miriam to testify in her own defense.
01:07:15Once you got inside, what did you see?
01:07:18I saw Alan on the floor.
01:07:20I dropped my bags and went to him.
01:07:24He was cold and gray.
01:07:27I held his hand for a few minutes
01:07:30and tried to make some sense of it all.
01:07:32Miriam stayed on that stand for two days,
01:07:35denying that she had anything to do with Alan's murder.
01:07:38When prosecutors got their chance to cross-examine her,
01:07:41they pressed her on the infamous run, run, run card
01:07:45that she admitted sending to herself.
01:07:48You were just acting at that time, weren't you?
01:07:51Yes, just briefly.
01:07:53You concocted a complete bruise to lead them on a wild goose chase
01:07:57away from you and towards some phantom killer out there, correct?
01:08:02If they'd actually had contacted me or listened,
01:08:05then maybe I wouldn't have been at that point.
01:08:07That was probably not the best decision to make,
01:08:10but I think at that point she was probably broken,
01:08:13just emotionally and mentally broken.
01:08:15That video really did undermine Miriam's credibility.
01:08:18Showing her purchasing that card
01:08:21was very difficult for the defense to rebut.
01:08:27After 16 days of testimony, the jury gets the case.
01:08:32They come back with a verdict in five hours.
01:08:36For a first-degree murder case, you just don't see that.
01:08:40Five hours was very fast.
01:08:43The verdict, guilty on all counts.
01:08:48There was a little bit of a sigh of relief.
01:08:51You thought, good, she's going to get what she has coming.
01:08:56She was sentenced to life without parole.
01:08:59I think that spoke volumes to all of the evidence,
01:09:02circumstantial or not, that was stacked up against her.
01:09:06But Miriam says the jury got it wrong,
01:09:09and she had a lot more to say when we spoke
01:09:12in her first interview since being convicted.
01:09:16Miriam, are you telling me that your husband, Alan,
01:09:19started the car fire himself?
01:09:21Why would he do that?
01:09:33It's now been 15 years since Miriam Helmick
01:09:36was sentenced to life for killing her husband, Alan.
01:09:40Since then, she's been at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility,
01:09:44where she recently called me from.
01:09:50An incarcerated individual at Denver Women's Correctional Facility.
01:09:54Hello, Miriam. Hi.
01:09:56How are you doing over there?
01:09:58Good, good.
01:10:00This is the first time she's spoken publicly
01:10:03since her 2009 sentencing.
01:10:05I asked Miriam about first meeting Alan
01:10:08back when she was his dance instructor in Grand Junction.
01:10:12And was it love at first sight?
01:10:15Well, not really, no, because I was there trying to work,
01:10:19but he just never gave up.
01:10:22Let's just put it that way.
01:10:24He was very persistent.
01:10:26Yes, very.
01:10:28And eventually you fell in love with him.
01:10:31Yes.
01:10:33It was kind of hard not to.
01:10:35He was a very, very kind, very sweet man,
01:10:38and he always had your best interest at heart, usually.
01:10:42Alan's kids say that you were isolating him from them
01:10:46in the months prior to his death.
01:10:49Was that true?
01:10:51No. He would get really pale during the day,
01:10:54and I would make him rest.
01:10:56I think he fell in a way where he could wood-rig
01:10:59so that he could get some rest.
01:11:01It seemed like they always called
01:11:03when he was trying to get a nap.
01:11:05Next message.
01:11:06Hey, this is Portia.
01:11:08I'm starting to get a complex here
01:11:10because you guys have never not picked up your phone.
01:11:13Our pathologist, Dr. Kurtzman,
01:11:15indicated there was evidence of advanced heart disease.
01:11:18So if he was not feeling well,
01:11:20it was probably attributable to the heart disease.
01:11:23Prosecutors say that you fraudulently had written
01:11:26about $40,000 in checks on Alan's money
01:11:30that he was about to find out, and that's why you killed him.
01:11:45Did you steal any money from Alan?
01:11:54Did you have anything to do with starting that car fire?
01:12:07You mean to tell me that Alan started the car fire himself?
01:12:12Why would he try to do that and possibly hurt himself?
01:12:24Miriam says Alan may have tried to set the car fire
01:12:28for the insurance money.
01:12:35It's a claim that's hard to back up,
01:12:38but Alan was adamant with authorities
01:12:41that he did not believe Miriam would ever try to kill him.
01:12:46I had called Alan to advise him
01:12:48that I felt his current wife, Miriam,
01:12:51was trying to kill him.
01:12:53And Alan got upset with me
01:12:56and told me that Miriam would never do that to him.
01:13:01And at that point, he asked me to terminate the case.
01:13:05What about the gun that was missing from your home
01:13:09and Alan's home?
01:13:12I didn't know it was missing until this whole thing,
01:13:15so I have no idea how or where it went.
01:13:19It had an unusual family history, that gun.
01:13:22I know when I first met him two years before that,
01:13:25I saw that he wasn't removing,
01:13:27and I asked him to put it away because I don't like handguns.
01:13:31I just don't.
01:13:33I already had to deal with that kind of thing.
01:13:36It was very unnerving to me.
01:13:39That was the last time I saw him.
01:13:42Now, authorities also questioned your alibi.
01:13:45All the receipts that you had,
01:13:47it looked like you were trying so hard to create an alibi.
01:13:51Were you?
01:13:53It's not uncommon for anybody to pocket their receipts.
01:13:56I had cash and receipts, so they went in my pocket.
01:14:00Done that all my life.
01:14:02It makes sense to us that she shot him
01:14:05before she ran the errands.
01:14:07Then she runs all the errands,
01:14:09and she creates an alibi for herself,
01:14:12on purpose, intending to throw people off.
01:14:19Miriam, did you kill your husband, Alan?
01:14:22I did not.
01:14:25Do you think you'll get out of prison someday?
01:14:29I do, eventually,
01:14:31because I know that I'm going to keep digging,
01:14:35What do you think will prove your innocence now?
01:14:45Wouldn't the blood spatter and the gunshot residue
01:14:49be easily washed off if you took a shower?
01:15:05So you had not washed anything off?
01:15:13Miriam has filed numerous appeals with the courts.
01:15:16They've all been rejected.
01:15:18But she vows to keep on fighting.
01:15:35I'm sorry, it's just not in my nature to do that.
01:15:39How often do you think about him?
01:15:58After the trial, did you see your mom again?
01:16:02I have not seen her since the trial.
01:16:05After so long, what did Miriam finally have to say to her son?
01:16:18Don't forget, you're going to put on your jacket, too.
01:16:21We're not used to the 30-degree weather that's awaiting us.
01:16:26No, we're from Florida.
01:16:29This past November, Chris Giles and his wife Kelly
01:16:32flew to Colorado for a much-anticipated visit
01:16:35to see his mom, Miriam, in prison.
01:16:38So she's in the women's correctional facility.
01:16:41This will be the first time in probably about 15 years
01:16:44that I've seen her.
01:16:46I have not seen her since the trial.
01:16:48Why not?
01:16:50I think, for one, I didn't want to have to just see her that way.
01:16:56I didn't want to see her kind of broken
01:16:58and see her in that situation.
01:17:00I was also kind of mad.
01:17:03I was mad that all this had kind of happened.
01:17:07Over the years, one by one, Chris lost his entire family
01:17:11to different forms of tragedy.
01:17:14It's just kind of a whirlwind,
01:17:16and then all of a sudden this happens.
01:17:18That new husband dies, and then she's arrested.
01:17:21You're trying to figure out how to deal with those things,
01:17:24so you got to deal with the pain, you got to deal with the hurt.
01:17:27Let's rock and roll.
01:17:34He's probably nervous like me, you know,
01:17:36a little bit nervous, a little excited.
01:17:42Our cameras were not allowed inside the prison,
01:17:44but Chris tells me that reuniting with his mom,
01:17:47while complicated, was also healing for him.
01:17:51First thing she did was apologize.
01:17:56What did she say?
01:17:58As soon as we sat down.
01:18:04She said, I'm sorry for everything I put you through.
01:18:07She said, I'm sorry that we had to go through this.
01:18:09But still, once we got to the Allen part,
01:18:12she was affirming that she was innocent of all that stuff.
01:18:16So she kind of, we just hashed out kind of what had happened.
01:18:21Do you believe your mother had anything to do with Allen's murder?
01:18:25I do not.
01:18:26With your father?
01:18:27I do not, no.
01:18:31Seeing your mom was a big step for you after all these years.
01:18:34Yes, forgiveness is a big thing, you know.
01:18:36It's huge when you can work through that and go,
01:18:42I don't have to forget about it,
01:18:45but I can choose to forgive you for it.
01:18:49But when it comes to Allen's family and friends,
01:18:52there are some things that they say they would rather forget.
01:18:58I try not to think about the murder.
01:19:00I more like to think about the fun times that we had with Allen.
01:19:07Those are good memories.
01:19:11What do you think Allen would have wanted people to remember about him?
01:19:15He was a lot of fun,
01:19:17this kind of guy you could meet and have a drink with and have a good laugh.
01:19:25He treated everybody with fairness and respect
01:19:28and gave a lot of love to those around him.
01:19:31Nobody wanted to hurt him except for his own wife.
01:19:36She ended up taking this man's life.
01:19:42If a good man was killed, I don't know whether justice is served or not.
01:19:47She's in jail and apparently she's never going to get out,
01:19:50but he's still dead, you can't bring him back.
01:19:56I think his legacy is that he was tried and true in the community.
01:20:00He did what he said he was going to do.
01:20:04Allen was truly loved by everyone that knew him.
01:20:12Miriam Helmick was sentenced to life plus 78 years.
01:20:16David, she has exhausted her appeals,
01:20:18but she says she still plans to fight for her freedom.
01:20:21That's our program for tonight.
01:20:23Thanks so much for watching.
01:20:24I'm Deborah Roberts.
01:20:25And I'm David Muir from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News.
01:20:29Good night.
01:20:41You