Snapped: Women Who Murder - Helen Frazier

Episode Date: August 11, 2024

When an apparent slam dunk murder investigation becomes muddied by intricate stories, police discover their star witness is much closer to the murderer than they were initially led to believe.Season 26 Episode 20Originally aired: January 5, 2020Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The podcast, How I Built This, gives you a front row seat to how the biggest companies were built and the innovators, entrepreneurs, and dreamers behind them. In a new episode series called Advice Line, we're helping listeners solve their own business challenges in real time. Listen to How I Built This early and ad free on Wondery+. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagge. And we're the host of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondry that takes you along the

twists and turns of some of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims, and what's left once a facade falls away. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. After decades of false starts and broken hearts, one Iowa couple takes shelter in each other's arms. Them two just seemed like they were in love. Everything was like peachy and cream, you know? It seemed their lives were finally on solid ground, until a shocking crime knocked them off their feet.

She heard a thud, the suspect ran out the door, and the victim was on the ground. I'm asking you to come to me right now, please. Within hours, detectives are closing in on a suspect. When you first hear the details, you think, OK, this one's going to be a slam dunk. But as the investigation unfolds, a disturbing picture emerges.

There is this guy from Chicago who's a drug dealer that she's scared of. He'd let out Andre money in the past and had not paid him back. Stories weren't adding up. It could have been a fairy tale ending. Investigators have to follow what's being told to them and this led them a lot of different places. January 2nd, 2017, Des Moines, Iowa. It's 2.30 p.m. when an officer with the Des Moines Police Department hears her radio crackle to life. Whenever we have a critical incident that occurs, the dispatch will actually put out a long, loud tone over the radio.

And I remember them putting out the address and stating that somebody was calling in about a possible stabbing As officer chaplain rushes to the scene emergency operators keep the 911 caller on the line Missy awake right now. No, he's not Listen to me. Is he breathing? They did say that the victim's girlfriend was on scene and that he had been stabbed. I'm asking you to come to me right now, please. Okay, we have him on the way there now. Where was he stabbed at? The right side, up the upper chest. Within minutes, Officer Chaplin arrives at the home on East 9th Street.

There, she sees an open door. I could hear someone in the doorway saying, in here, I'm in here. I did see the victim laying on his back on the floor with what I assumed was the collar kneeling next to him on the floor. I began to ask her, where did he go, in regards to the suspect that she was dating stabbed him. She said that he had just ran out the door. So at that point, I remember feeling an officer behind me.

I told him to search the house, and I went directly to the victim to try to render aid. The victim is 55-year-old Andre Brown, and Officer Chaplin is attempting to save his life. The first thing that I did was just check for a pulse, and he did not have a pulse. It was worth still trying to do CPR and reviving the victim at that time.

So that's when I began to do chest compressions on him. I was focusing on saving his life. After growing up in a Chicago foster home, Andre Brown knew he wanted to see the world. Andre and Deborah, his sister, came to us as foster children. They had been in three different foster homes, and then, his sister, came to us as foster children. They had been in three different foster homes, and then we got them and we raised them until they were grown. I went to college in 79.

He joined the Marines in like the first part of the 80s. He went to Japan, to Okinawa. Andre, he just loved traveling. He enjoyed it. He achieved rank. He was a military police. So, you know, he was proud. He did a great job. Though he returned to Illinois after he was honorably discharged, Andre never lost his taste for adventure. Uncle was always just a flat by night type of man.

Like, you could be here for two months and then go. I think Andre liked variety, not only in women, but in places, people, places, and things. Andre was a different uncle. He's not like nobody else, but I could always count on him. For many years, André made a living in the construction industry and worked as a laborer for Procter & Gamble. I don't remember a time my uncle wouldn't work. He always worked. On the rare occasion he wasn't working, André enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

My uncle was always the life of everything when he was around when I was a child. He had a little bar that was by the river on Washington Street. Everybody knew him up in there. He'd go in there and buy us beers. He was just a fun guy. He would laugh, joke, make everybody in the room laugh. Though when it came to dating, André shied away from commitment. He never married, but he did have plenty of chances over the years.

I don't like the women. I don't remember nothing else other than I'm always having a cute girlfriend somewhere. As he approached 50, the lifelong bachelor once again longed for another change in scenery and settled on Des Moines, Iowa. There was freedom, there was nobody, the family wasn't there. I think he just wanted to do Andre. By 55, Andre was living a simple but satisfying life.

Andre was living a simple but satisfying life. Then, in October 2016, he met 51-year-old Chicago native and kindred spirit Helen Frazier. Helen's beautiful. She's beautiful and sweet talker. I don't think she had a problem getting a man. At a young age, Helen fell in love with a man named Johnny Burton.

And in 1985, they welcomed their first child into the world. Johnny was not married to Helen, but Helen has three sons, they're fathers, Johnny. The relationship didn't last. And by the early 90s, Helen found herself alone. Helen, I believe, didn't have much stability at the time. The brothers were always with Johnny. I do know that Helen did hold a job at one point, not sure where, but it would be one of those

on and off again moments where she was doing okay in her life, then the streets would come back around. Helen did struggle with substance issues. It was mainly alcohol. Despite her hardships, in Helen's 40s, she experienced newfound joy when she became a grandmother. Helen has six grandchildren, and Diamond, her son, we have a son together. She adores our son.

She'll sit there, spend time with them, play with them, you know, getting a grandmother mode. You know, she's really good at doing that. When Helen met Andre in October 2016, she was more focused on taking care of herself and her grandkids than finding love. But Andre came across as the kind of man she could rely on. Andre was a veteran and he seemed like he was a good guy. He was kind-hearted. He was generous with those that he liked. Andre would do anything for you.

And I think that's why Helen saw a safe place, a hard worker, because Andre was going to always have a job. Always. Soon, Andre and Helen started dating. He seemed like he was happy. They seemed like they was getting along pretty good. They were going out to look karaoke's and stuff. They were having a good time.

While neither Helen nor Andre wanted to move too fast, life had other plans. She was homeless. She had been the victim of crimes while she was homeless. And that wasn't something that she wanted to go back to. And he told her, you can come stay with me until you get on your feet. So he let her come and stay with him. I spoke to her and, you know, we had a good conversation, you know, and I just told her,

you know, at the end of the day, just take care of my uncle, love my uncle, and be good to my uncle, you know. And she was like, oh, I love your uncle. I'm going to be there. my uncle and be good to my uncle. You know, she was like, oh, I love your uncle. I'm going to be there. A few months into their relationship, Helen and Andre celebrated the holidays together. And as the couple brought in the new year,

both Helen and Andre had high hopes for 2017. Helen and Andre, it just seemed like they were very affectionate around the holiday. And them two just seemed like they were very affectionate around the holiday, and them two just seemed like they were in love, like near marriage. It could have been a fairy tale ending. But on January 2, 2017, a horrifying crime seems to have robbed them of their happily ever after. Andre Brown has been stabbed. He's bleeding. He was not moving.

He did not appear to have any signs of life. As a panicked Helen is ushered out of the room, first responders make a final desperate attempt to revive Andre. The whole time I was doing chest compressions on the victim, it was quiet, there was no movement, there was no active bleeding. His lips were chapped, his eyes were dry.

It was clear to me that he was already dead. Coming up, detectives get crucial details from their only eye witness. She heard a thud. When she came out, she said she saw Andre on the dining room floor. And a potential motive emerges. He had owed Andre money in the past

and had not paid him back. While the rest of Des Moines, Iowa rings in the new year in January of 2017, 51-year-old Helen Frazier is living her worst nightmare. She made a 911 call reporting that Andre, her boyfriend, had been stabbed. When the officer gets there, she starts doing CPR until medics arrive, and then they take over. And then he's pronounced dead. And then he's pronounced dead. And then he's pronounced dead.

And then he's pronounced dead. And then he's pronounced dead. And then he's pronounced dead. Des Moines homicide detectives arrive on the scene within minutes. There wasn't actually a whole lot of blood at the scene. A lot of the blood soaked into the clothes that he'd been wearing.

He was wearing a shirt. He was wearing a sweatshirt over that, and he was wearing a coat over that. When detectives take a closer look at Andre's injuries, what they find comes as a surprise, a single stab wound to the upper right area of his chest. It was like an angle. But if you had seen the injury, it

was just a very small laceration, and you wouldn't think anything of it. It was a straight in and straight out. There was no other path of the wound. It was just one six-inch deep wound in his chest. It was unusual, I suppose, in the sense that it was a single stab wound. But it punctured his lung. It punctured his aorta twice, which started substantial

internal bleeding. It seems Andres' killer struck him down with one fatal blow, one that detectives believe he never saw coming. He doesn't have defensive wounds. He also had a knife in his coat pocket, suggesting he didn't have a chance to defend himself. Who came into Andre's home, took him by surprise, and killed him before he could react? The only potential clue lies in a sink full of dirty dish water. When law enforcement processed the scene, there was in fact a knife in the kitchen sink,

but the kitchen sink was full of water, and we were unable to obtain any trace evidence off the knife that was in the sink. Could the knife be the murder weapon? Detectives know that Andre's girlfriend, 51-year-old Helen Frazier, may be the only one who can answer that question. So after I got a view of the scene,

I went back to the station because Helen Frazier was already there. She had been taken to the station by a patrol officer and I wanted to obviously interview her to find out what had happened. So she was our only witness. Helen is desperate for information about Andre's condition.

I refrained from telling Helen during my interview that Andre had died, so there was still kind of that hope that he was alive. We don't like to tell witnesses about a death because obviously that changes their emotional frame of mind, and we don't want that to affect getting the information that we need. Helen tells detectives that Andre means the world to her.

Helen described her relationship with Andre. She sometimes referred to him as her. Helen described her relationship with Andre. She sometimes referred to him as her fiance. She said she loved him. Her demeanor was very polite. She's a very yes ma'am kind of person when she talks to you. Helen says she had spent the day preparing food

for a New Year celebration that was planned for that evening. The plan, according to Helen, was she was cooking this food for this gathering and that she and Andre were both going to go to it. According to Helen, Andre stepped out for a short trip to a nearby convenience store while she finished up in the kitchen. Andre had left home to walk a block or so to a nearby convenience store to buy some beer and cigarettes. block or so to a nearby convenience store to buy some beer and cigarettes.

Upon his return, Andre didn't have time to remove his coat before an unexpected guest showed up, 69-year-old Milton Leake. Milton Leake was supposed to be a friend of about 10 years for Andre. Milton was a homeless individual, and he had stayed there a few months prior to this murder happening.

Helen claims when Milton showed up that afternoon, Andre was not happy to see him. He wanted to talk to Andre. She explained that Milton had owed Andre money in the past and had not paid him back. She also claimed that Milton stole a coat when he last stayed there and never returned it. Helen says as she continued to cook, Andre and Milton's conversation began to escalate. They were arguing that she was cooking in the kitchen. She heard a thud. When she came out, she said she saw Andre on the dining room floor.

The suspect ran out the door and the victim was on the ground. Helen says that as Milton fled, she saw a bloody knife clutched tightly in his hand. When she is telling what happened, she says that the murder weapon left the house with the murder. Helen then rushed to Andre's side. Helen stated that after she found Andre, she got on the phone to call 911 to get help.

After hearing her account, detectives deliver the painful news. When we did tell her that Andre had died, she was distraught and was crying. Despite her grief, Helen offers to help the investigation in any way she can. Helen was very cooperative with the investigation. She could send it to a search of the house. She could send it to a search of her phone.

However, at this point, Helen's statement may well be the most valuable piece of evidence they've obtained. It's a pretty strong case when you've got an eyewitness telling you, I was there, I was present during the homicide, and this is the person that did it. So yeah, it looked like a relatively strong case. When you first hear the details, you think, OK, this one's going to be a slam dunk, and we can put it to rest pretty quick.

Detectives immediately get to work tracking down Milton Leake. When she identified Milton as a suspect, we informed all of our officers that we needed to find this man. We're going to do it right the first time because we may not get a chance to do it a second time. The quicker that they find the person who actually did this, the quicker they can maybe get somebody that's dangerous off the streets. For 24 hours, detectives combed the streets of Des Moines looking for any sign of the alleged assailant. We went to all the stereotypical places you would look for a homeless person.

We looked at soup kitchens. And lucky enough, we found him at one here downtown in Des Moines. So we brought him in for an interview on the next day, on the 3rd of January. Milton admits to detectives that he knows Andre and Helen. The October before, Milton had spent a few days at Andre's house and we believe that overlapped with when Helen was staying there. So the three all knew each other.

Milton even admits that he owed Andre money. He said it was no big deal. He and Andre would lend each other money. He didn't think anything of it. When investigators confront him about Andre's murder, Milton appears surprised to learn of his friend's death and even more surprised to learn that he's the prime suspect. He denied it the whole time.

He was upset, but not out of control upset, but he was just said, I didn't do it. He was very adamant that he did not do it. Detectives ask Milton to prove it. He told us that he had been staying at a local hotel the whole day on the 2nd of January 2017 when this murder happened. He stated that he was by himself and he made two stops that day

at the grocery store next door to the hotel and a convenience store as well. He wasn't able to provide any alibi witnesses because he had spent the day alone. So we had no other person to corroborate his statement. Between Milton's lack of an alibi and Helen's eyewitness account, detectives make a decision. We arrested Milton based on our only witness statement, which was Helen Frazier's, and the detailed account that she gave,

and the fact that she specifically pinpointed somebody immediately. They caught the guy. I'm all relieved that they caught the guy. Coming up, this investigation is far from over. She stated that this person has a big family. They're going to come after me, it's dangerous for me. Most everything was becoming a red flag for me because

what I was seeing on the victim was not meshing. Hey, I'm Mike Corey, the host of Wonder's podcast Against the Odds. In each episode, we share thrilling true stories of survival, putting you in the shoes of the people who live to tell the tale. In our next season, it's July 6th, 1988, and workers are settling into the night shift aboard Piper Alpha, the world's largest offshore oil rig. Home to 226 men, the rig is stationed in the stormy North Sea off the coast of Scotland. At around 10 p.m., workers accidentally trigger a gas leak that leads to an explosion and a fire.

As they wait to be rescued, the workers soon realize that Piper Alpha has transformed into a death trap. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on Amazon Music or the Wondery app. Welcome to the Offensive Line. You guys on this podcast, we're going to make some picks, talk some s*** and hopefully make you some money in the process. I'm your host, Annie Hagar. So here's how this show is going to work, okay? We're going to run through the weekly slate of NFL and college football matchups, breaking them down into very serious categories like…

No offense. No offense Travis Kelce, but you gotta step up your game if Pat Mahomes is saying the Chiefs need to have more fun this year. We're also handing out a series of awards and making picks for the top storylines surrounding the world of football. Awards like the He May Have a Point Award for the wide receiver that's most justifiably bitter. Is it Brandon Iyuk, T Higgins, or Devontae Adams? Plus, on Thursdays we're doing an exclusive bonus episode on Wondery+, where I share my fantasy football picks ahead of Thursday Night Football

and the weekend's matchups. Your fantasy league is as good as locked in. Follow the offensive line on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can access bonus episodes and listen ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. In the days after Andre Brown's stabbing death, police have just arrested the man, Andre's girlfriend, Helen Frazier,

identified as responsible for the murder. 69-year-old Milton Leake. At first glance, it was a straightforward homicide case. There was a stabbing in a home. There was a witness who saw it happen. She identified the person who did it. Even with Milton behind bars, detectives know their work isn't over.

After Milton was arrested, a lot of people think that my job's done at that point. Okay, you're arrested, you're done. Well, that's actually when all the work really begins, because, okay, I have a statement from Helen and I have Milton's statement, so I need to corroborate those statements. Law enforcement had gone to businesses in the area of the murder scene, securing security footage from those locations to see if they could find Milton going to or coming from the scene at the time of the stabbing. He didn't have a car, so I needed to find ways to spot him in the area to connect him to being there that day.

When detectives dig through the neighborhood surveillance, it's not what that footage reveals, but what it doesn't that surprises them. That footage didn't show Milton at all, which was a little unusual. Detectives continue to dig. I check local businesses. I check with the hotel he was staying at.

We searched his storage area. He actually had a storage locker and a locker at the local YMCA. We got a search warrant for both areas to see if we could find the knife possibly, our bloody clothing, or anything that would connect him to this crime. We could not place Milton at the scene. We couldn't find anything else to connect him to this murder. For detectives, that doesn't necessarily mean that Milton is innocent. It just means they have to keep working.

It was very clear I needed to talk to Helen again because nothing was coming up, nothing was corroborating her statement. On January 20th, Helen Frazier returns to the Des Moines police station for a second interview. When confronted with the lack of evidence placing Milton at the scene, Helen abruptly changes her story. She says, no, it wasn't Milton Leake. She admitted that Milton Leake didn't do it. She admitted that Milton Lake didn't do it.

She admitted that she had made that up. And she, at that point, said that it was somebody else, this Kenny Oakley. According to Helen, it was Kenny, not Milton, who came to the house that afternoon. This time, the conflict was not about a debt owed. This time, Andre came back to the house with a man named Kenny Oakley.

The two of them went up to the second story of the house. And that's when she overheard Kenneth Oakley accusing Andre of stealing, and she could hear some arguing. As Helen's on the main floor, both Kenneth Oakley and Andre Brown come downstairs. Andre goes into the kitchen, grabs a knife, but Kenneth is able to grab the knife from him,

and stabs Andre. Kenny goes into the kitchen, throws the kitchen knife into the sink, and then leaves through the door. She then calls the police. She said the knife that was used in the stabbing was the one that was ultimately found in the sink. Detectives are floored. Why did Helen try to pin the murder on Milton?

She claimed she was afraid of the Oakleys and the Oakley's family. She stated that this person has a big family, they're gonna come after me, it's dangerous for me. For the second time, come after me, it's dangerous for me. For the second time, detectives embark on a manhunt for Andre's killer. There were two Kenneth Oakleys identified just through our general database. One lived very close, just a few blocks away actually

from the residence where this murder occurred. So I felt that was more likely the proper suspect that she was trying to identify or maybe had a relationship with her. So I was able was more likely the proper suspect that she was trying to identify or maybe had a relationship with her. So I was able to track him down. When the police asked me to go to the police station, I really didn't want to go because I've seen too many cop shows

where people get down there and the police turn stuff around. Kenny tells police that he has never even met Andre or Helen. Helen, I've seen her around the neighborhood, but I've never spoken with her. Just seen her around. Her face was familiar. As far as the murder goes, Kenny is adamant

that he is innocent. Didn't know nothing about it. I've been driving on the road and driving to semi-cross-country working. Kenny backs up his claim by telling detectives to look at his trucking log. He had a solid alibi, which I was able to confirm because he was a trucker and he had a trucking log. So we could confirm he was not even at the house.

There could be no way that he was of the house because of that evidence. After clearing Kenny Oakley, it becomes apparent to detectives that Helen has lied again. When they made the realization that she was lying about Kenny Oakley, it's immediately met with suspicion. Before they move forward, detectives have one important piece of business

to take care of. It made them sick that they had charged the wrong person for the crime. Immediately, Milton was released. And so, like I said, I feel terrible about what happened to him, but I'm glad that the detectives were able to do that follow-up investigation. He was falsely accused, so we sent out a press release notifying everybody that that was what was going on. And we were moving forward with the investigation. Back at Square One, detectives turn once again to Helen Frazier.

So they brought Helen in for a third interview, and again, she completely changed her story. And again, she completely changed her story. She says it wasn't Kenny Oakley, it was Mark Keegan. This guy from Chicago who's a drug dealer that she's scared of. And that's the reason she lied two times, because she's scared of him. Police didn't really find that that allegation was credible. It was coming from a woman who had, by her own admission, falsely accused somebody of the stabbing. I kept asking her for more detail. who had, by her own admission, falsely accused somebody of the stabbing.

I kept asking her for more detail. She said, well, he's a big-time drug dealer. He lives in Chicago. He's connected. He's a gang member. She was really afraid, and that's why she was reluctant to tell me the truth. At this point, I believe that Helen was hiding something. The inconsistencies in Helen's story were truly astounding. From her first interview with law enforcement, where she accused Milton, Leake.

The second interview, where she accused the Kenny Oakleys. To the third interview, where she claimed it was Mark Keegan. The only person that knows what happened is her. So that's why it matters how truthful she's being. It's because she's the one that knows. Coming up, police have growing doubts about Helen's story. In our business, it's unique to come across that special kind of liar that is so convincing.

And could a new witness finally help investigators separate truth from fiction? They know that she made this 911 call, but they find out that she also made this call right before calling 911. It was shocking. It was like mind-blowing shocking. Since the investigation into Andre Brown's murder began, his girlfriend Helen Frazier

has been the only witness. At first glance, it doesn't appear like there's anything particularly unusual about this case. There's a witness in the house that observes it happen and a man is arrested. But in the two months following the crime, Helen's credibility with police has been slowly slipping away. She led them on a wild goose chase. You accuse one guy and then she accused another. The detective, she just wanted answers.

At that point, it's just exasperation. How many more stories are you going to tell us before you finally tell us the truth? In her third interview, Helen tells police that a dangerous gangster from Chicago is actually the one responsible for killing Andre. She named a new suspect, gave law enforcement the name Mark Keegan. gave law enforcement the name Mark Keegan. Though investigators are weary of Helen's third version of events, with nothing connecting Helen to a crime, detectives are forced to release her as they go on the hunt for Mark Keegan. Investigators have to follow what's being told to them,

and this led them to a lot of different places in this investigation. I had to still continue to investigate and find other evidence to prove that she was lying. They follow up on Mark Keegan, and they just can't find a Mark Keegan who lives in Chicago. And they correspond with the Chicago Police Department. They're going through their databases. They look for Mark Keegan. They look for the address that she claims Mark Keegan lives at.

They just don't think this guy really exists. At this point in the investigation, I definitely knew that she was lying and I knew that she was our suspect. As word spreads through the Des Moines Police Department that Helen has shifted from victim to suspect, responding officer Dusty Chaplin speaks up. Some of the things weren't really matching up and they weren't making sense to me, and I wanted to get that off of my chest. According to Officer Chaplin, the day of the murder wasn't her first trip to Andres' home. A month prior to this particular call in December, I believe it was December 10th,

I was actually dispatched out to the same address for Andre and Helen over some type of dispute. She was tearing up the house, just throwing things around, is what he was saying. Police had been called to the address by Andre. He was telling both dispatchers and then the police officer that arrived on scene that he wanted Helen out of the house, that he didn't want her living there anymore. However, a visibly intoxicated Helen refused to leave. We just had to explain to him that until he got her evicted, we couldn't do anything about the fact that she wasn't going to leave the residence because it was her residence as well, which he was not very

happy with. Law enforcement will instruct people a lot of times, you need to deal with this as a civil issue. You let this person live here, we're not going to referee this dispute right now. When detectives look into Officer Chaplin's claims, they find that wasn't Helen's only run-in with police. I did see that she had been arrested several times for different levels of assault.

She did have a fairly violent history of her own, actually a startlingly violent history for a female with five or six prior assault convictions. On top of that, there was a handful of calls at that address from the time that Helen had started living there in the fall of 2016. Since that time, every single time that there was a call there about a problem, Andre was the caller, not Helen. Intrigued by what they've uncovered, detectives circle back to Helen and Andre's former housemate and former suspect in the murder, Milton Leake, for more insight on life in their home. First of all, we wanted to apologize to him, and he was very understanding and very much a gentleman about it. Next, Milton tells detectives that he'd witnessed Andre and Helen's rocky relationship firsthand.

When we met with Milton, he brought up this prior incident that we hadn't heard about before. It was while he was living in the home with Helen and Andre. He had witnessed an argument between the two of them in which Helen actually pulled out a knife on Andre. They would fight and argue when he was there, and that's why he didn't want to spend much time there, even though he would have shelter over his head.

After speaking with Milton, detectives head to the convenience store Andre had visited right before his death. When I pulled footage from the convenience store, Andre indeed was there. And he had some short conversations with some other people that were at the store, I could tell from the video. I wanted to know what Andre was talking about. When detectives track the men down, they clearly remember the topic of discussion that day.

They had some small talk. During the small talk, he mentioned that he was having this friction with this woman that lived in his house and that he was planning to kick her out later that day. That was obviously very significant, because to me that seemed like a motivation for Helen to kill Andre, because he was providing shelter for her at that time.

And she was in a vulnerable position. When detectives reach out to Andre's sister, Debra, in Chicago, she confirms his friend's story. It was clear when law enforcement interviewed Andre's sister, she was very aware of the fact that Andre had said repeatedly he wanted Helen out of the house. To pull a case together, detectives focus on the available evidence. We started to look at the cell phone history, the call history

on the phones that were in the house that day. They know that she made this 911 call. What they find out is that she also made this call to her mother right before calling 911. So at that point I needed to speak to Helen's mother definitely to hear it firsthand from her what happened. Now Helen's mother became the pivotal witness in the investigation. So law enforcement interviewed her. At the end of that interview, she eventually acknowledged that Helen had in fact told her over the phone that she had stabbed Andre.

When detectives reach out to more of Helen's relatives, they confirm her mother's story. They talked to several members of Helen's family. Members of the family received a text message from Helen's mother shortly after the stabbing happened, saying, pray for Helen, she stabbed Andra. Then she sends another text message later that same day, saying, never mind, it wasn't Helen, it was somebody else. On March 6th, detectives decide to bring Helen in for her fourth

and what they hope will be her final interview. She says that, yes, I called my mother after Andre was stabbed because I was panicking and I didn't know what to do. I believe, yes, she was scared. I don't, I really don't understand why she didn't call 911, but I also understand why she called her mother.

But when detectives confront Helen about the details of that call, she shuts down. She stated that she had nothing for her to say, that she had blacked out. She could offer me no other information. Frankly, I think she was just out of ideas. She was arrested for first-degree murder and two counts of malicious prosecution,

one for falsely implicating Milton Leake and one for falsely implicating Kenny Oakley. You sent us on this goose chase, and then you were actually the killer. You want to tell us, oh, you loved him? Like, lady really? Coming up, just when the case seems closed, everything comes crashing down. Her mother has recanted and we started to get a little more concerned. And Helen's story changes once again.

She said that he comes at her. She feels that he's coming at her aggressively. After working their way through three purported suspects in the murder of Andre Brown, detectives have finally arrested the woman who orchestrated it all. They threw three purported suspects in the murder of Andre Brown. Detectives have finally arrested the woman who orchestrated it all, Andre's girlfriend, 52-year-old Helen Frazier. She had been present in the investigation since the moment this was called into us. So to have it circled back to her was definitely kind of a surprise to everybody.

It was shocking. I mean, it was like mind blowing shocking. I would have took it better, like just run, you know, let them figure it out. Is that a, you got us feeling ill feelings against this man, you know? And it was just disgusting to me that she even made up all those stories.

to me that she even made up all those stories. On January 22, 2019, Helen's trial begins. She waived her right to a jury and asked that it be decided by a judge. That's called a bench trial. For Helen and her defense team, it's a calculated risk. Unfortunately, prosecutors will have to make their case to the judge without a critical witness. calculated risk. Unfortunately, prosecutors will have to make their case to the judge without a critical witness.

Law enforcement interviewed Helen Frazier's mother in Chicago, and her mother, much like Helen, recanted the claim that Helen had confessed to her. You know, we, at that point, had lost. It was a significant piece of evidence for us, and we started to get a little more concerned. Then, Helen Frazier takes the stand and makes a shocking confession. At that stage, Helen had told yet a fourth story wherein she was actually the person

that stabbed Andre. Helen's confession comes with a caveat. She was responsible for the stabbing. She's just claiming she was defending herself. Ultimately, when she was at trial, she shifts gears into self-defense and to argue that it was justified. According to Helen, it all began on January 2nd, 2017, when Andre returned from the convenience store in a rage.

They were getting along very well earlier in the day. They watched a Western. They were getting along fine. They both had been drinking some amount of alcohol. And then at some point, he became upset and told her that she needed to leave the house, that she needed to get out. Helen says at that point, Andre physically attacked her.

He comes at her, and she feels that he's coming at her aggressively. So she grabs the knife off the counter that she had been using to cook these vegetables. And she tries to push him away. And in the process, she inadvertently stabs him in the chest. According to Helen, a lifetime of abuse had left her with a powerful instinct to protect herself. She acknowledged going to get the knife to confront Andre, but blamed it on this history of sexual and physical abuse that made her unusually nervous when he got allowed.

Helen testifies that pattern of abuse continued into her relationship with Andre, a claim prosecutors are quick to shoot down. There was no evidence to back up her claim that Andre was an abuser, other than her testimony. Instead, prosecutors believe Helen acted out of rage and survival. He was planning to kick her out of the house. This is the reason that she was set off, the reason that she picked up that knife and stabbed him.

She's got a place to live, she's got good company, and all of a sudden that's being taken away from her. That could cause somebody to snap. To further prove Helen acted out of her own self-interest, prosecutors point to her actions in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing. After Andre Brown is stabbed, Helen immediately calls her mom.

So her first call is not to 911, but to her mother. They talk for 11 minutes, and then she proceeds to call 911. So you have to put yourself at the scene. This is a point in time where if she's talking to her mother for 11 minutes and 14 seconds, Andre is lying on the ground with a stab wound through his lung, two holes in his aorta, with his chest cavity filling with blood at the time, while she's having a relatively lengthy conversation

with her mother. That has a huge impact on whether Andrea Brown would have lived or died. Sitting there for minutes and minutes before CPR is performed or before he's brought to a hospital is huge. On February 15th, the judge hands down his verdict. The judge ultimately found Helen guilty of murder in the second degree and two counts of malicious prosecution for falsely implicating Milton

League and Kenny Oakley. In Iowa that carries a mandatory prison term of up to 50 years in prison and she's not eligible for parole until she's served 35 of those years. I'm happy she got 52 years because that's basically a life sentence. You took a life, so suffer that life that you took. That was my brother. She took away from me and my family a person that we loved.

To care so little about another human being, to put such a heavy crime on another person, it's just unfathomable to me. I've never met anyone like Helen. I mean, I think Helen knows when to put on a certain face. But obviously, there's a different side to her, and that's the side that came out the day that she killed Andre. I don't understand what took her from the happy-go-lucky person

that I talked to on the phone to this person that stabbed my uncle. It makes me angry to think that maybe he could have been saved. Maybe we wouldn't be here today. She showed no respect, no love, no anything. Helen is currently serving her time at Iowa Correctional Institution for Women. Helen will be eligible for parole in 2052, when she is 87 years old. Scammers are best known for living the high life until they're forced to trade it all

in for handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit once they're finally caught. I'm Saatchi Cole. And I'm Sarah Haggye. And we're the host of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of some of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims and what's left once a facade falls away. We've covered stories like a Shark Tank certified entrepreneur who left the show with an investment, but soon faced mounting bills, an active lawsuit filed by Larry King, and no real product to

push. He then began to prey on vulnerable women instead, selling the idea of a future together while stealing from them behind their backs. To the infamous scams of Real Housewives stars like Teresa Giudice, what should have proven to be a major downfall only seemed to solidify her place in the Real Housewives Hall of Fame. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.