sexual assault. prosecutors had his fingerprints on helena s teapot. and they also found serological evidence. we also presented evidence that the semen on the pillowcase in helena greenwood s bedroom, first, that it was semen and, second, it was from a type o, individual, who was a secreter, and a mutase of one plus all matched frediani s abo type. dna testing was still in its infancy. at the last minute when faced with the fingerprint and serological evidence, he pled no contest to the assault and was sentenced to five years in prison. but frediani said he was innocent of her murder.
helena s kitchen. fortunately, the friend had the good sense not to touch it. that teapot was taken into evidence, taken to the crime lab and fingerprints were developed. imagine the teapot, there were three fingerprints in this position as though someone had picked up the teapot from the windowsill and placed it on the deck. helena told police she made tea before going to bed, then placed the teapot on the windowsill. it appeared the assailant moved it before crawling through the window. unfortunately, the fingerprints didn t match any on file with the police department. with no other leads, the case went unsolved until one year later. a man was arrested while exposing himself to a
that, i guess. and it was clear that helena valiantly fought her attacker. this woman put up a hellacious fight. it was evidenced by the fact that her fingernails, two of them were found at the scene. she had broken off two of her fingernails while scratching this person. at the autopsy the medical examiner discovered petechial hemorrhages in helena s eyes, an indication of strangulation. there were no signs of sexual assault. but under helena s fingernails were tiny traces of what appeared to be blood. unfortunately, the sample was too small for forensic analysis. what comes to mind when there s a bizarre murder, strangulation in broad daylight? you think marital trouble. you think crime. you think drugs. i mean, helena never got within a thousand miles of any of those things. and that simply deepened the mystery. helena s husband, roger, was the first person police interviewed.
12-year-old girl outside an apartment in belmont, california. that suspect was david paul frediani. belmont was only seven miles from helena s home. the suspect, david paul frediani was a 42-year-old accountant with no prior arrests. since frediani resembled the man helena described, police compared his fingerprints to those found on helena s teapot. they matched. one of the things i asked him was he had denied even being involved in the initial sexual assault against mrs. greenwood. i remember asking him, you never assaulted this woman? he said no, i never did any of that. they then told him we have your fingerprints. at that point, according to the detective, he took a deep breath, let it out, began trembling. he could actually see his chest moving in and out and made a statement as to the effect of i was really drunk when i did
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