Original subtitles

(Gentle electronic m

♪

♪♪♪

Narrator: Helen Lafayette.

A ruthless killer, and criminal mastermind,

or a victim of unfair circumstance

who couldn't outrun her past?

From a disturbing childhood in the backwoods of Florida,

to a larger than life secret identity.

Hannah: I had no idea how close to death I really was.

Narrator: And beneath it all,

the intense obsession that would lead

to a massive manhunt across provincial lines.

(Sirens wail)

Sharon: She would've gone to any lengths.

She was obsessed with her.

- Well, if Hannah Cafwell hadn't gone digging,

Helen Lafayette would've gotten away with murder.

Narrator: This is...

"Helen Lafayette: A Killer Among Us."

♪♪♪

(Gavel bangs)

♪♪♪

(Gavel bangs)

(Keys clack)

♪♪♪

Narrator: To many, she was known as Grace Lee.

She and best friend, Katherine Wryfield

were the leaders of an experimental

women's community turned cult.

(Screaming)

Sharon: Grace was always the warmer of the two.

More easy going.

If anyone was gonna snap and kill someone,

it was Katherine, to be honest with you.

- I am sick and tired of bending over backwards

for you pathetic freaks!

Grace: I know Katherine can be intense,

but she is our leader.

- Grace, you should take over.

Dana: Her ability to go unnoticed, even in the midst

of a nationally televised criminal trial,

is what was so remarkable,

and disturbing about her case.

She consistently showed her ability

to completely transform herself.

- Stupid, silly Grace.

Dana: Inside and out.

Narrator: In 1981,

authorities raided the New Eden property,

and found the body of Agnes Wryfield,

Katherine's aunt.

Months later, authorities would find

the dismembered remains of a Jane Doe,

misidentified at the time as former New Eden member,

Tabitha McNurtt.

Agnes Wryfield's death was ruled to be an accident,

and when Tabitha McNurtt proved to be alive...

- Holy God!

- Hi, what's this?

Narrator: The case of the mysterious second body

went cold.

Gary: The body of the victim was missing her head.

So there was no way to determine dental records.

And at the time there was no DNA technology.

So even when it became clear

that this was not Tabitha McNurtt's body,

there was still no way to tell whose body it was.

- At the time, my department was under investigation

for evidence tampering.

My superior, Hank Neston,

he-he-he tried to make the body look

like Tabitha McNurtt to get the murder conviction.

But when Ms. McNurtt showed up alive a few months later,

our orders were to close the book on the Jane Doe case,

and distance ourselves from our mistakes.

And then nobody cared whose body that was.

Narrator: The authorities buried the unidentified body

in a pauper's grave,

and the investigation ended there.

Until almost 10 years later,

when a now infamous documentary

would leave some with more questions than answers.

- I never got the opportunity to tell my version

of the New Eden story.

I mean, my career had all but been destroyed by the trial.

Narrator: Hannah Cafwell, the undercover journalist

posing as a member of the cult,

would recede from public life,

following Grace and Katherine's trial.

Hannah: But after the trial,

I started to think that we had all missed something.

We knew more than enough about Katherine Wryfield.

But what about Grace?

I couldn't recall a single detail from her past.

So I began to dig.

And it took a lot of phone calls,

and a trip to Florida,

but eventually I found out who Grace really was.

Narrator: It was this very discovery

that would expose Grace Lee's past,

and put Hannah in mortal danger.

- I wanted to confront Grace directly

about what I discovered,

and why she had lied.

So I wrote her in prison.

I wanted to give her the chance to tell her side of the story,

but I never got a response.

Until a few weeks after she had been released from prison.

I got a knock on my door.

And there she was,

standing right in front of me.

As soon as I saw her, I knew I had hit on something

bigger than just a changed name.

She was like a different person.

I had no idea what she would do, but...

I let her in.

I managed to secretly turn on my Dictaphone.

Grace, who is Helen Lafayette?

- You've always thought you were so clever.

But you don't know shit!

You have no idea who I really am.

- Why? What have you done? - I've done what I've had to.

I was protecting her, I was protecting all of you!

- Protecting who? From what?

- Oh Hannah, you think you're smarter than me?

You think I can't see what you're trying to do?

Hannah: I didn't recognize her.

The person standing in front of me was like...

a stranger.

Or a ghost.

Hannah: (on tape) I'm just trying to understand, Grace.

Grace: (on tape) (Seething) Don't you mean Helen?

- Is that your real name?

- You're the one who lied about who she is!

- Sorry I lied back then,

but I still care about you, Grace.

- (Laughs) Bull(bleep)!

You don't care, I see through you.

I can see through everyone.

And yet none of you could see through me.

You know, it's funny.

No one worries about stupid, silly Grace.

Even when the truth was buried right under your feet.

Even when I orchestrated everything!

Made up all that (bleep) for you to believe in.

For you to believe in her!

- Is this about Katherine?

- Don't you (bleep) talk to me about Katherine!

- It was like the mere mention of Katherine's name

had unlocked something.

Her eyes went black. She became very agitated.

But it meant I was getting closer to the truth.

Hannah: Does Katherine know that you used to be Helen?

Grace: (Bleep) you!

- Does she know what you were running from?

She didn't appreciate you. - Stop it!

- She didn't ac-hey! - You stop it!

- Hey! Stop that! (Screams shrilly)

(Glass shatters)

- Suddenly she was just on me.

I mean, we went through the glass table.

In that instant, I knew how willing she was to kill me,

to kill in general.

She didn't hesitate.

I was bleeding pretty badly from my face.

I couldn't breathe. The room was going dark.

But I knew I had to survive this.

Narrator: Fighting for her life,

Hannah Cafwell would manage to fend off Grace's attack.

Hannah: She went down, and I just ran.

And by the time the police got to my house,

she was gone.

Sam: Hannah Cafwell was the first person to survive

an encounter like that with Grace Lee.

And uh, because she did, because of what she uncovered,

we were able to link Grace

to a 10-year-old cold case.

And uh, and discover the identity

of our headless Jane Doe.

Narrator: When we return, Helen's childhood,

and the path to murder.

♪♪♪

Narrator: Helen Lafayette was born in Wewahitchka, Florida

on November 14th, 1955,

to a single mother, Mary-Lynn Lafayette.

Greta: Mary-Lynn was a very emotional woman,

always having some kind of outburst.

We'd offer to watch Helen sometimes.

we had a little hardware store in town,

and she would spend her day there.

We would give her little chores to do.

She was a very bright little girl.

Garth: Mhmm. Gretta: Exceptional, even.

But Mary-Lynn could be very controlling,

and possessive.

Not quite right up there, I don't think.

- Mhmm.

Narrator: But when Helen turned 14,

her insular life with Mary-Lynn

would change forever.

In 1969, Mary-Lynn began a relationship

with a travelling salesman, named William Keefer.

- Mary-Lynn was head over heels.

And suddenly she started acting like Helen

was getting in the way of her happiness.

I remember coming home once,

and seeing Helen sitting on the porch,

waiting to be invited back into the house,

like... like a beaten-down dog.

And... it broke my heart, didn't it?

- Mhmm.

Narrator: Shortly after his relationship

with Mary-Lynn began,

William Keefer would move into the Lafayette home.

William Keefer had a history of preying on lonely women,

taking their money,

and often becoming abusive towards them.

Gretta: I remember that night.

We heard all kinds of screaming and hollering

coming from next door,

and the sound of breaking glass.

And Garth called the police.

You remember that, Garth?

- (Deep inhale)

Mhmm.

Narrator: One night, Keef,

and Helen witnessed him screaming at Mary-Lynn.

Sensing her mother was in danger,

a 14-year-old Helen would attack William Keefer

with a liquor bottle.

(Glass shatters)

William Keefer threatened to press charges

if Helen stayed in the home.

So Mary-Lynn had Helen placed into foster care.

- The foster system in Florida in the late 60s

was not ideal.

As you can imagine.

and Holy Trinity had a reputation.

It was a harsh environment,

ran more like a juvenile detention centre.

Narrator: Lonely and abandoned,

Helen would cling to the first friend

she met at Holy Trinity.

A troublemaker named Lisa Grover.

Hannah: She took Helen under her wing,

and Helen, used to being the giver

in a co-dependent relationship,

would do anything that Lisa asked.

Narrator: In early 1971,

Lisa would convince Helen that they should run away

from Holy Trinity, and head for California.

♪♪♪

Jonny: We're touring Indiana in the early 70s on our own dime.

Well, we had a band, and a sound,

and we just letting the road take us where it took us.

Narrator: Helen and Lisa met the members

of "Bucket of Love" while hitchhiking,

and at Lisa's insistence, began traveling with the band.

Jonny: At some point, you know, we had these two chicks

traveling with us.

And Lisa... well...

Lisa was a wild one for sure.

And her and Micky, well, they got hot and heavy early on,

and I remember Helen didn't like that much.

I think she wanted Lisa all to herself.

You know, women get a little... clingy.

Sam: Micky Stanton had had dust-ups with the law before.

Um, drugs, petty theft.

So when he wound up dead in an alley

with multiple stab wounds,

um... local authorities at the time

didn't think much of it.

This was just another drug deal gone bad.

Narrator: Except what authorities didn't know

was that Lisa and Micky had had a fight that night,

one witnessed by Helen Lafayette.

And when Micky moved on Lisa,

Helen struck a fatal blow.

Hannah: It was her mother and William Keefer

all over again, except this time...

Helen went too far.

Helen killed Micky Stanton,

and Lisa Grover would've witnessed it.

Narrator: Distressed by Helen's actions,

and fearful of being implicated,

Lisa told Helen they should go their separate ways.

(Strums guitar)

- They both took off after that.

We just figured Lisa was all busted up

over Micky getting stabbed,

and just assumed that Helen went with her.

That's life on the road.

(Strums guitar)

- And that was the last time that anyone recalls seeing,

or meeting Helen Lafayette.

Narrator: Eight months later, Grace Lee would turn up

at an experimental farm called Valhalla Ranch.

And it was there she would instantly form

an intense bond with Katherine Wryfield.

A bond that would prove to be... fatal.

When we return, Lisa Grover reappears,

and Grace Lee's past catches up with her.

♪♪♪

- You get the hell outta here!

Sam: As it turned out, Lisa Grover,

had been living in a halfway house in Seattle.

You know, she was troubled, an addict.

Um, her life had gone you know,

pretty much how you'd expect.

Narrator: In 1981, Lisa Grover saw a news story

about a woman named Grace Lee,

who had thwarted a bank robbery

in Penticton, British Columbia.

Hannah: Lisa was probably the only person

who could recognize Grace as Helen.

And here Lisa was, broke,

desperate,

and there was her old friend,

holding a big cheque.

Lisa thought she could blackmail Grace

by threatening to expose her as Helen,

and Micky Stanton's killer.

- You get the hell outta here!

Hannah: I never asked Grace who that woman was.

I mean, things that New Eden were already so tense,

I thought it was just some local trying to gain access.

But it never sat right with me.

- At the time, Grace was controlling who came in

and out of the property,

and she was exhibiting some very strange behavior.

But we just assumed that was because of the way

the Katherine was treating her, you know,

not because she had cut someone up,

and buried her around our property.

I mean, that's just not the sort of thing

you assume about a person.

- We believe that Lisa took a bus across the border,

and found a way to New Eden.

When she threatened to expose Grace's identity

to Katherine and the other women,

Grace then lured her into the woods,

and out of earshot.

And she then likely strangled Lisa to death,

and hid the body in the woods until she could return

to dismember it, and bury the evidence.

Now, will we believe that she would've had access

to all kinds of farm equipment to achieve this task.

Gary: When we re-examined Lisa Grover's remains,

we could see, through certain false starts in the cuts,

The incisions had a W-shaped pattern,

which usually indicated teeth of a handsaw.

To dismember a body with that kind of tool...

would be very, um, very labor intensive.

You would have to be very determined.

Narrator: In late 1991,

based on the recorded conversation

between Hannah Cafwell and Helen Lafayette,

authorities would exhume the remains

of the dismembered Jane Doe

that had been found nearly a decade earlier

on the edges of the New Eden property.

They also would return to the New Eden property

with one objective:

Locate the missing skull of Helen Lafayette's victim.

- Based on Hannah's recorded conversation with Grace...

Grace: (on tape) None of you could see through me.

Sam: We believed that the victim's missing head

was still somewhere on the New Eden property.

And we had to find it in or.

Grace: (on tape) Even when the truth was buried

right under your feet.

Sharon: They found Lisa Grover's head

buried in the old apiary.

Right there, right in the middle of everything!

I mean...

that poor woman's head, under all of those bees.

It really makes you wonder if that's why

all those little things died.

Narrator: Helen Lafayette ki,

and became Grace Lee to hide from her crime.

A decade later, she killed Lisa Grover

to keep that secret safe.

But it would be another 10 years before Grace

would try to kill again,

and this time, she wouldn't be as successful.

But Helen Lafayette's story wasn't over yet.

First, they'd have to catch her.

- As Grace Lee, Helen had proven time and again

that she was incredibly skilled at blending in

when she wanted to, and making people like her.

And she had acquired many practical skills

to help her with that.

Hannah: By the time of their trial,

she had an entire nation fooled.

Think about how smart you'd have to be

in order to convince everyone you're that stupid.

- I guess she figured the stupider we looked,

the less capable of murder we'd seem.

Narrator: With the help of inspector, Sam Aarons,

the serious crimes division would begin a covert search

to find Grace Lee.

Sam: We thought that if we didn't go public

with our search, she might be more likely to slip up,

and more likely to expose herself.

But she just kept slipping through our fingers.

And that's when we brought in Dana Bashuk to help us

track her next move.

- Katherine Wryfield was the obvious answer.

Helen slash Grace had a pattern

of forming incredibly strong bonds with women.

First with her mother,

and then... with Lisa Grover.

Violence would only ensue when something happened

to break that bond.

I advised them to contact Katherine,

who had returned to her family home in Toronto.

- I assumed Grace would kill Katherine.

After all she had put her through, my God.

I was glued to the news station, you know,

just waiting for the inevitable.

To be clear, Katherine being killed.

- It would all lead back to Katherine.

It always had.

Narrator: A visit from the past turns fatal.

When we come back.

♪♪♪

(Birds chirp)

(Kettle whistles)

(Water pours)

(Clangs)

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Katherine: I never knew Helen Lafayette.

But I did know Grace Lee.

Grace Lee.

I knew her very well.

We spent nearly every day together for 15 years.

And in a way, we were like sisters.

I don't have a sister,

but I think I know what it feels like.

Intense, you know.

Kind of suffocating.

But sweet, sometimes, and in a way...

you know, Grace...

Grace always supported me.

She really, really wanted me to be happy.

And I guess...

well, I was there to teach Grace about the world.

(Laughs)

I was her Henry Higgins,

and she my Eliza Doolittle.

At least that's the way I felt.

Before I learned... the truth.

- Each of Grace's bonds were eventually broken

when she felt rejected by her mother,

by Lisa.

And in those cases, the cause of the fracturing

was the figure of a male intruder.

But when it came to Katherine, that bond would last decades,

and withstand quite a bit of strain.

And I think part of that was because there were no men

present for Grace to perceive as a threat,

and especially no men vying for Katherine's attention.

- I mean, of course, there were no men around.

It was an all-female cult-- uh, uh, commune.

It was an all-female commune.

So, there you go.

It didn't mean that there wasn't the occasional

delivery man, but...

I would usually shoo them away

before Grace could see them eyeing me up.

So in a way, I'm pretty lucky.

- Well, we didn't know how Katherine would react

to the truth about Grace's identity,

but-huh!

At the time, uh,

she was our only hope of bringing her in.

And we were really hoping that she would cooperate.

Narrator: The special unit would approach

Katherine Wryfield, and brief her on Grace's past.

- When they told me what had happened,

I felt betrayed.

I mean, of course I did.

But was I frightened? I mean, no.

Not at first.

- When we talked to Katherine,

we-we found out that Grace had been calling her regularly,

almost daily, just to talk.

It was a massive, massive leap for us.

Narrator: Working with Dana,

Sam's unit convinced Katherine to submit to a wiretap

so they could track Helen's whereabouts.

Katherine: I mean, there were just,

there were so many emotions, you know, just...

just bubbling up inside of me.

It was-it was extremely complicated.

And I don't think that anyone can blame me for that.

Narrator: But the special unit's gambit

to use Katherine to get to Grace

wouldn't go according to plan.

- I guess the instructions weren't clear.

♪♪♪

Narrator: A hot-blooded mistake, an ice-cold trail,

and a deadly showdown. When we come back.

♪♪♪

- There were all these men in my house,

barking orders at me.

You know, you gotta keep her on the phone for this long.

Don't get emotional. Just keep her talking.

Sit down. Stop crying.

And uh, it was very intense.

And this was Grace we were talking about.

They didn't know her.

They didn't know me.

I think that I responded as any human person would have.

(Phone rings)

Narrator: On February 7th, 1992,

Katherine Wryfield received a call from Grace Lee

at 4:45 p.m.

(Phone rings)

She was instructed to keep Grace on the phone

for at least two minutes.

Katherine: Hello?

Grace: Hi Katherine, how are ya?

- Uh, I'm-I'm good. - Good.

Listen, I just wanted to tell you that um--

- Don't you dare (bleep) come near me!

- What? - I know where you are, Helen!

- I know what you did!

They're coming for you, you psycho!

And I never want to see you again!

(Bleep) you! (Bleep) you for what you did to me!

(Phone clicks off, Katherine gasps)

Sam: That was... our only lead.

Okay? And uh, after that,

we knew that Grace would vanish...

you know, for good this time.

- They said they couldn't trace the call.

They-you know, they didn't have enough time.

And I do blame myself.

I do.

I-I mean, I couldn't contain a,

you-you know, and...

I just don't think anyone understands what that level

of betrayal really feels like.

I had to get that off my chest,

or it would've driven me insane.

I'm glad I did it.

No regrets.

- Katherine had effectively broken her bond with Grace

by rejecting Helen,

which now meant that Katherine was also in immediate danger.

- The next thing I know,

I'm being told that I have to be placed

into witness protection,

that my life is in danger,

and that this Helen Lafayette,

that Grace was coming for me.

Narrator: Katherine Wryfield was placed into

the protected witness program.

She would be relocated to La Dore,

a remote town in Quebec.

- Oh! No.

I hated it there.

Yeah, the French Canadian accent, it's very grating.

You know, it's a lot of hunh hunh hunh!

Hunh hunh hunh.

Hoh hoh hoh.

Rude, disgusting men.

No, I-I-I don't even speak the language,

so there was a lot of... this goin' on.

And they weren't really trying hard,

so overall, I'd say I do not recommend rural Quebec,

even when you are hiding from a murderer.

(Chuckles)

Sam: We put Katherine into protective custody,

but as soon as she went underground, so did Grace.

Um, at that point, we released her photo as a wanted person

across the country.

We set up an ongoing citizen's hotline,

but no one turned her in.

Narrator: Authorities would fail to capture Grace Lee

for nearly two years.

Sam: Helen Lafayette, Grace Lee.

Whoever she was,

when she disappeared,

she was gone, and...

we started to wonder if she was even still alive.

- Grace wasn't going to reappear unless she wanted to.

She had been a step ahead of everyone

for most of her life.

The only way she was going to come out from the shadows,

make herself vulnerable,

was if she could track down Katherine.

For Katherine she would come out.

Narrator: On March 22nd, 1994,

Katherine Wryfield would awake from a nap

to find Grace Lee sitting in her living room.

(Glass shatters)

To this day, no one knows how Grace was able to locate

Miss Wryfield in protective custody.

- Katherine was under round-the-clock surveillance.

you know, we still don't know how it happened.

Maybe a shift change, just some bad luck.

We-we don't know.

Um, but suddenly we're getting a call from officers

saying that they've spotted Grace Lee inside the house

with Miss Wryfield, and she's armed.

Narrator: Airborne and ground units were called

to Katherine Wryfield's La Dore residence,

but instructed not to go inside.

- We were dealing with a hostage situation.

We informed both women that we had the house surrounded,

but there was silence.

No shots were fired,

and we could tell from the heat signature

that both women were alive, and inside the house.

But that's all that we had to go on.

And uh, and we just had to wait like that

for what felt like hours.

- Despite everything that Grace did,

despite what she did to me,

I couldn't help but feel bad for her.

I mean, she was so damaged by these relationships

from her past, including, at times,

her relationship with Katherine.

- Like I said, it always came back to Katherine.

Katherine never had a way with people,

except Grace.

And I believe Grace would've done anything for her.

Narrator: Armed officers would wait outside

of Katherine's home for nearly two hours.

To this day, Katherine Wryfield is the only person

who can tell us what transpired between the two women.

- I saw that there was a gun on the table.

But she was just sitting there.

With her head in her hands.

And then she looked up, and she smiled.

And after two years alone in that hick town...

it was the most familiar smile in the world.

I made us some tea, and we just talked,

you know.

Just talked about...

stupid, silly little things.

Things she had seen on her travels.

The past.

Little jokes we had shared, you know.

How I didn't care for the French.

It just really felt like...

(Sighs)

nothing had ever really happened, you know?

None of those bad things.

I don't know how long we sat and talked like that.

But I looked up,

and I could see that the police cars were pulling up.

We could hear the helicopter overhead,

and that they were uh, trying to communicate...

with us.

I told her, you know,

you can turn yourself in.

This can all be over.

(Sighs)

And that's...

that's when she started to cry.

(Sobs)

She said that she was just so sick...

of that voice.

In her head that-that made her do all those things.

So I took her in my arms.

And I just remember that she felt so small,

like a child.

I just let her cry on me.

(Shaky exhale)

And she looked up.

And she said, you know, let's get outta here.

Let's run away.

We can start a new life together.

But I think she knew.

She knew that I was gonna say no.

So she...

nodded and kinda got up,

took the gun.

And then she smiled at me.

She said, I love you.

I love you so much.

I said-I said, please,

you know, turn yourself in.

Just-just for me.

(Sobs)

She just walked to the door.

And there was something...

something different in her eyes.

Something final.

(Helicopter rotor beat)

Officer 1: Hold position. Officer 2: Standby, Chief...

Officer 3: Standby on 114,

we're waiting for confirmation on that.

Officer 4: Do you have her in your sights?

Helicopter pilot: Confirming that, above the house now.

Uh copy that, door's opening.

Officer 1: Alright, just be calm,

everything's gonna be alright.

Okay, I need you to take a couple more steps forward.

Alright now I'm gonna need you to put the gun down, okay?

Okay, everything's gonna be alright.

Everything's gonna be good. Now...

just right there, alright?

That's good, just stop.

Okay. I'm gonna need you to put the gun on the ground,

okay? Slowly.

Now look at me.

Can you hear me? I need you to put the gun down.

Do you hear me? Look at me.

Put the gun down.

Put down the gun!

Put the gun down! (Gunshots pop, screams)

(Officers shout, screaming)

(Gunshots pop repeatedly)

(Helicopter rotors beat)

Officer 2: We got a 111, K.O.

Dispatcher: 10-4, 688 De Sante Avenue.

(Police radio chatter)

- Grace! - Hold your fire.

- Grace!

Officer: Hold your fire. Second subject out of the house.

- Get back! Keep them back! (Reporters shout)

- Give her some room! (Cameras click)

Officer 2: Get back! What are you doing?!

- Give her some room!

(Crowd shouts)

Officer 1: Katherine, it's safe now, you're gonna be alright.

Reporters: Katherine! Katherine!

Katherine, please! Please!

Katherine! Katherine! Katherine!

How does this feel? Are you alright?

Katherine! Katherine!

How does this-are you alright? Katherine! Katherine!

(All shouting questions)

Can you tell us exactly what happened?

Katherine, what did you talk to her about?

Katherine, we're over here! How are you feeling?

Katherine! Katherine! Kathe?

Katherine! Katherine!

(All shouting at once)

(Cameras click)

(Reporters shout)

♪♪♪

♪ I like the way you smile at me ♪

♪ I feel the heat that enveloped me ♪

♪ And what I saw I like to see ♪

♪ I never knew how evil grew ♪

♪ I'd like to steer away from you ♪

♪ My friends told me to keep clear of you ♪

♪ But something drew me near to you ♪

♪ I never knew how evil grew ♪

♪ Evil grows in the dark ♪

♪ Where the sun, it never shines ♪

♪ Evil grows in cracks and holes and lives... ♪