Man Murders Scientist to Prevent Her from Testifying
By: Liz Jin
Tags: Women, Sexual Assault, True Crime, Crime, Murder

Man Murders Scientist to Prevent Her from Testifying

Helena Greenwood; Photo source.

In 1984, Helena Greenwood, a 35-year old scientist, was sexually assaulted in her home. She bravely reported this incident to the police, and her assailant was soon arrested and charged. Sadly, Helena would never live to see the trial as her attacker strangled her to death just weeks before she was set to testify against him.

It would be 14 long years before police would arrest Helena’s killer. In an incredible twist of fate, the crucial DNA evidence that helped convict her killer was the very research that Helena had championed while she was alive.

Who was Helena Greenwood?

Born in England in 1949, Dr. Helena M. Greenwood was a talented DNA scientist. Earning her doctorate in chemical pathology from the University of London at the remarkable age of 26, professors described her as determined and focused. Her intelligence, combined with her business savvy, made her highly sought-after in the booming biotech industry of the late 70s and early 80s.

Helena and her husband, Roger, a land planner and architect, soon moved to California, the epicenter of the biotech world. Helena joined a company specializing in medical diagnostics and quickly rose through the ranks to become director of international marketing.

Helena and Roger were very much a young couple in love. Despite their demanding professions, Helena and Roger spent as much time together as possible, sailing and fixing up their quaint starter home in Atherton, an upscale suburb near San Francisco.

Atherton is a wealthy town located in San Mateo County, CA; Photo source.

Sexual Assault

On April 7, 1984, Helena was alone in her house as Roger was out of town on business. At around 11:20 pm, a man broke into the house through the kitchen window. Helena woke up to see a tall man in her bedroom, wearing a hooded sweatshirt that covered his entire face except for his eyes. Helena courageously tried to resist his advances to no avail. The man sexually assaulted and robbed Helena before disappearing into the night.

After calling the police, Helena called a close friend to come to take her to the hospital. While waiting for Helena outside, this friend noticed a teapot on the ground outside the kitchen window and alerted Helena. Helena explained that the teapot should have been on the window sill, which is where she had left it after making herself a cup of tea before bed. Thanks to their quick thinking, police were able to lift a usable fingerprint off the teapot’s lid.

The fingerprint didn’t match any prints in the system, but police caught a break 10 months later when they came across a report of a man caught exposing himself to a 12-year old girl in nearby Belmont. Like Helena’s attacker, this man had worn a hooded sweatshirt covering his face. The man’s name was David Paul Frediani, and the police were eager to talk to him.

David Frediani’s mug shot; Photo source.

In 1984, David was a 30-year old accountant with no priors, and he confidently feigned ignorance when police questioned him about Helena’s burglary and sexual assault. But when police confronted him with the damning fingerprint evidence, David’s demeanor immediately changed. Detectives recall him trembling with fear before stammering that he had been drunk at the time of the crime and didn’t know what he was doing. He then clammed up and asked for a lawyer.

At the preliminary hearing, David, who was facing 20 years in prison for the assault, was released on bail. His trial was scheduled for the summer of 1985.

Dismayed that David was at large but determined to move on with their lives, Helena and Roger moved to San Diego for a fresh start. Professionally, Helena was as successful as ever, and she took a job as Vice President at Gen-Probe, a research company focused on advancing DNA testing.

Helena and Roger moved to San Diego after Helena’s assault; Photo source.

Helena’s Murder

On August 22, 1985, Helena failed to show up to work for an important meeting. As someone who habitually arrived at 9:00 am on the dot every morning, her co-workers immediately sensed that something was wrong and called her husband. Roger had left for work earlier than Helena that day. When he rushed home, he found Helena’s strangled and beaten body in their garden.

The crime seemed intensely personal. After all, who would strangle someone in broad daylight and then stage the scene to look like a robbery gone wrong?

The answer was obvious to Roger and the police: David Frediani. Helena was supposed to testify at David’s trial in 3 weeks. Police couldn’t have asked for a stronger motive.

Whoever the attacker was, it was clear that Helena fought like hell to defend herself. It was as if she knew she would die and was desperate to secure DNA evidence as she frantically clawed at her attacker.

Helena was a happy and confident woman; Photo source.

Unfortunately, the only physical evidence police could collect were minuscule skin particles from underneath her fingernails that were too tiny for DNA analysis. Furthermore, even though David had been in the area shortly before the murder, nothing concrete could tie him to the crime.

David was convicted of sexual assault, but the murder case went cold.

Relying on Helena’s pre-trial testimony, the sexual assault and robbery case moved forward. David was sentenced to 6 years and served 3 before moving back to the Bay Area and resuming his accounting practice.

Meanwhile, Helena’s case was relegated to the San Diego Police Department’s cold case files, where it sat for 14 years.

Advances in DNA analysis finally solved the murder case.

In 1999, the San Diego Police Department re-opened 300 cold cases hoping that new scientific advances could identify the perpetrators.

In the 14 years since Helena’s murder, exciting developments had occurred in the field of DNA research, most notably the advent of the PCR method, which allowed scientists to replicate a microscopic sample of DNA until it was a useful size.

PCR is one of the most important biological tools ever invented; Photo source.

Those skin particles under Helena’s fingernails that had been too tiny for analysis back in 1985 were now definitively shown to be a match to David Frediani. It was a bittersweet reminder that Helena’s career in DNA research and her dying efforts weren’t in vain. She was a scientist to the core, and I like to think that she knew science would one day catch up to forensics.

In 1999, David was finally arrested and charged with Helena’s murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sadly, Roger died of cancer before he could see justice for his wife.

Conclusion

I don’t know whether it was arrogance or supreme stupidity that led David to murder Helena. Perhaps he mistakenly thought that his sexual assault trial could not proceed without a live victim. He can ponder this while spending the remainder of his days in prison.

Helena in her youth, presumably with her parents; Photo source.

As for Helena, I wonder what this brilliant woman would have gone on to accomplish. Tom Adams, a former CEO of Gen-Probe, predicted that were she alive today, “she’d be CEO of her own company.”

But what struck me the most about this story was how one act of violence can alter someone’s life forever and leave scars invisible to the world.

At work, Helena was a confident and capable executive. However, in private, she was struggling with her attack’s psychological effects and seeing a counselor. Rather than see this as a weakness, I am in total awe of her courage and strength. This man had terrorized her, humiliated her, and violated her sense of safety and self. Some people would understandably want to sweep the entire ordeal under the rug and pretend it never happened. But Helena was determined to face David in court.

That is how I choose to remember Helena. Not as a victim or even as a scientist, but as a badass fighter who fought with everything she had to give.