In the darkened night of February 12, 1977, a 28-year-old Hollywood actress with a reputation as a “party girl” was brutally murdered on a quiet street in West Hollywood, California. Christa Helm â who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the given name Sandra Lynn Wohlfeil â was stabbed a reported 22 times as well as bludgeoned on the head and face with a blunt object or fist.
Her murder has never been solved. But Helm reportedly dated a wide array of celebrities â including New York Jets Hall of Fame quarterback “Broadway” Joe Namath, who led the Jets to their first and only Super Bowl victory, in 1969.
In the early 1970s, Namath was at the height of his fame. In 1972, Namath led the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes and earned his fifth Pro Bowl appearance.
Namath Far From Only Famous Boyfriend
But then, the other celebrities linked to Helm were also world famous, including Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and musician Johnny Rivers.
There is no suggestion that Namath or any of the famous men Helm reportedly dated were tied to her murder.
At the same time, according to investigator and journalist Jamey DuVall â who maintains the Who Killed Christa Helm? website and says he is the author of an upcoming book of the same title â Helm kept a “sex diary” in which she chronicled her intimate experiences with various celebrities, including ratings of famous men and their sexual performances.
Diary Went Missing on Night of Slaying
She is believed to have kept the diary with her at all times, in her purse. But the purse went missing the night of her murder and has never been found.
“This has led to speculation that the attacker might have been after her diary,” Duvall wrote on his site. “If Christa had planned to publish this diary – or use it as a tool in a blackmailing scheme – it could provide yet another motive for her murder.”
Now, in an interview published August 3 by The Daily Mail, Duvall revealed what he said is new information about the case â information that could potentially point in a different direction than the “sex diary” motive.
Investigator Reports Link to Second Murder
On the same night that Helm was murdered, a sex worker named Shelia Green was also brutally stabbed to death off of Mullholland Drive in Los Angeles, about five miles from the spot where Helm was slain.
“DuVall’s research uncovered that police in 1977 did believe Helm and Green’s cases were committed by the same perpetrator â although there is no evidence the pair knew each other,” the Mail reported.
The investigator told the Mail that Helm herself may have been an “escort” at some point, and while living in New York City â the period when she would have dated Namath â she fell into the orbit of a man named David Stein, who Duvall described as “a male madam. He was using women to dig up information on wealthy clients. Christa could have known too much.”
Stein died in 2021 without being questioned by police, according to the Mail report.
Helm Sends Ominous Postcard
In 1976, just months before her murder, Helm sent a postcard to a friend, according to the Mail, that read, “Iâm in over my head, and I might need to disappear for a while. If anything happens to me, please take care of Nicole.”
“Nicole” refers to Nicole Clements, Helm’s daughter born when the actress was just 17 from her relationship with a 34-year-old karate instructor in Milwaukee.
“My mother was a very complicated woman, like so many of us,” Clements told the TV show Mysteries and Scandals in 2018. “She used her brain as well as her charm. She was warm and loving to those of us she loved and cared for. She was also fearless with her ambition.”
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