Was Justice Served? The Case Of Dale Helmig

On Sunday, August 1, 1993, a boater found the body of 55-year-old Norma Helmig floating in the Osage River, ten miles east of Jefferson City, Mo.

The Midwestern United States had experienced heavy flooding that summer, causing widespread destruction and taking many lives. So, when the woman’s body was discovered, she was presumed to be another victim of the raging floodwaters – until they examined her.

    »Go Behind The Scenes With John Walsh

Norma was dressed in a nightgown and had been tied to a cement block. This was no accidental drowning.

Norma Helmig had last been seen on Wednesday, July 28, 1993. It had been an exciting day for her because she’d shared good news with her oldest son, Dale: Dale’s estranged wife, Teresa, had finally given him permission to visit with his two kids that weekend.

It had been months since Norma and Dale had spent time with the children, so they planned on having a big family barbecue at the house they shared.

Dale’s father and Norma’s husband, Ted, had recently moved out of the house after he and Norma decided to separate. After 39 years of marriage, Norma was finally divorcing her husband because of what court papers describe as physical and mental abuse.

But even after the separation, things continued to get uglier. After a restraining order was issued, witnesses say that Ted threatened Norma, threw hot coffee in her face at a diner, and sold off their mutual assets.

That’s when Dale moved into the small house at Pointer’s Creek with his mother.

Pointer’s Creek is a farming and recreational area with few houses, used by campers, hunters, and boaters, ten miles southeast of Linn, Mo.

Two rivers lie between Jefferson City and Linn: the Missouri River, which borders Jefferson City, and the Osage River, which is ten miles further east towards Linn, Mo.

During the summer of 1993, both the Missouri and Osage Rivers broke their boundaries, flooding much of the surrounding area.

Dale had spent Tuesday night, July 27, with friends in Holt’s Summit, Mo. after floodwaters closed down the Missouri River Bridge in Jefferson City, his usual route back to Pointer’s Creek

On Wednesday morning, the bridge was still closed, this time due to a propane tank that had washed downstream and become lodged under the bridge.

So Dale says that he drove the 48 miles east to Hermann – but the bridge there was closed, too. Dale then drove another hour west to Fulton, where he checked into a motel room for the night.

At around 8 p.m., Dale stopped by a Wal-Mart store to buy toiletries before checking into the Travelier Motel in Fulton. At the same time, 25 miles away, the Missouri River bridge re-opened to traffic; and Norma met her sister, Dorothy, at the American Legion hall in Jefferson City to play bingo.

After the bingo game ended at around 9:30 p.m., Norma had a few beers at the Legion’s bar with a male friend. According to the bartender, a short time later, her husband, Ted, came in and sat at the other end of the bar. He left at 10:30 p.m., without saying a word to Norma.

Around the same time in Fulton, Dennis Hazelwood was delivering a pizza to Dale’s room at the Travelier Motel. Dale says that after eating the pizza and watching some TV, he went to sleep.

Witnesses said that an hour later, at 11:30 p.m., Norma left the American Legion bar and drove to the Country Kitchen diner, also in Jefferson City, where she would frequently eat a late breakfast after bingo.

She left the diner at 12:30 a.m., Thursday morning, to drive back home to Pointer’s Creek, a 40-minute drive. She was never seen alive again.

At 2:30 a.m., a neighbor saw car headlights pull up to Norma’s house. There were no lights on in the house, because coincidentally, there had been a power blackout in that region between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.

That morning, at around 9:30 a.m., Dale says he checked out of the Travelier Motel, drove across the re-opened Missouri River Bridge into Jefferson City, and went to the La Casa Restaurant, where he met a coworker.

The two left to go bid on a painting job, returned to the La Casa in the afternoon, and had beer and dinner with friends. Then, Dale drove with another friend, Donny Martin, to The Jungle Bar, where he ran into an acquaintance named Stacey Medlock. She and Dale ended up spending the night together.

On Friday morning, Dale invited Stacey to the house. He told her that he’d be picking up his kids and wanted her to meet them.

When they arrived at the house, Norma’s car was in the driveway, but she wasn’t there. Inside, Dale noticed that things were out of place, and after searching the house and yard, he first called family members, and then the sheriff.

Sheriff Carl Fowler seemed to believe that foul play was involved – even though there was no sign of a robbery or violent struggle. Folwer began to suspect Dale of the crime.

On Saturday, when Dale was with his children in Jefferson City, Sheriff Fowler reportedly told Dale’s younger brother, Rich, “I knew your brother did this from the minute I walked down here.”

Sunday, two days after she was reported missing, Norma’s bloated body was found in the Osage River, with a cement block tied around her waist.

Sheriff Fowler considered Dale the prime suspect, even though Ted Helmig had a history of violence against Norma and had violated the very restraining order the sheriff had served him with.

»Arrest and Interview of Dale Helmig
»Norma Helmig Murder Police Report
»Country Kitchen Incident

According to Ted, Fowler even told him, “You ought to be my number one suspect, but you’re not.”

Dale was ultimately charged with his mother’s murder, and the case went to trial on March 4, 1996.

Dale’s defense attorney was Chris Jordan, whose counsel Dale says proved to be more of a detriment than a help.

A recent petition to the court best summarizes the trial: “Dale Helmig was convicted of murdering his mother only because the weakness of the state’s case was exceeded by the lawyer’s inept defense.”

In order to fairly present the events of the murder trial, AMW repeatedly tried to interview prosecutors Kenny Hulshof and Robert Schollmeyer, defense attorney Jordan, Sheriff Fowler, and Missouri State Trooper Robert Westfall. All declined our requests.

At the trial, the prosecution contended that Dale killed his mother over a $200 phone bill. They stated that Dale then drove to the Osage River Bridge and dumped his mother’s body into the floodwaters below, yet they offered no factual evidence linking Dale to the crime.

Throughout the trial, Prosecutors Schollmeyer and Hulshof skillfully presented a torrent of innuendo, hearsay, and facts turned upside-down.

Dale and his mother’s mutual love ultimately became a relationship filled with distrust, greed, and fear, they said.

The incident in which Ted threw coffee in Norma’s face was transformed into Dale doing the deed.

Dale’s evening at the Travelier Motel became a 17-hour tale of disappearance and murder.

Norma’s sister Dorothy Bauer’s belief that Norma was still wearing her favorite nightgown ultimately became a statement by Dale – confirming to jurors that Dale knew too much, too soon, and therefore must be the killer.

And Dale had a guilty conscience, Schollmeyer said, because he refused to come back to the house on Saturday to search for his mother with the other family members – withholding from the jury the fact that Dale had been told by Deputy Sheriff Paul Backues not to come to the house on Saturday with his kids.

But, prosecutors went a step further: they elicited testimony from Missouri State Trooper Robert Westfall that contradicted his own written report:

Mr. Hulshof: Sir…did Dale Helmig ever deny killing Norma Helmig to you?

Trooper Westfall: No, sir, he did not.

That statement, according to Westfall’s own report, was wrong, and the defense never challenged it.

Jordan’s primary defense of Dale was the assertion that Norma’s death had been self-inflicted – an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription medication – which is an absurd claim, considering that her body was found in a river, tied to a cement block.

Jordan called no alibi or character witnesses, and failed to challenge any of the prosecution’s distortions and outright falsehoods.

It took the jury four and a half hours to find Dale Helmig guilty of murder.

He was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of probation or parole, and has so far been incarcerated for thirteen years.