Miriam Helmick

Case record: Miriam Helmick (Alan Helmick)

Background

Miriam Helmick, 52, was the second wife of Alan Helmick. She was involved in events surrounding his death in Whitewater, Colorado.

Alan Helmick was a 62-year-old widower who was taking ballroom dance classes after the death of his wife of 36 years. He owned a number of real estate and development-related businesses. The couple lived in a 3,200-square-foot home south of Grand Junction, where they raised horses.

Miriam Helmick opened her own dance studio after the couple married. The couple had been married for two years before the killing.

Alan Helmick’s first wife died of cancer.

Miriam Helmick previously lived in Jacksonville, Florida, with her first husband. She had been arrested twice in 2004 in Florida on embezzlement and larceny charges, and she pleaded guilty in 2004 to charges there related to a counterfeit check cashing scheme and spent three days in jail.

Miriam Helmick’s first husband, Jack Calloway Giles, 46, died of a gunshot wound to the head while lying in bed with his wife on April 15, 2002. The case was ruled suicide a month later. Giles’ finger was in the trigger of a handgun, according to police reports. Giles’ death was investigated as a suicide, and Jacksonville homicide detectives reviewed the 2002 death after learning she was a possible suspect in the Colorado slaying, finding no reason to reopen the Giles shooting.

Miriam Helmick and Alan Helmick were alleged to have had multiple trips and plans in the period leading up to Alan’s death.

Alan Helmick’s eldest daughter was Portia Vigil, and his youngest daughter was Kristy Helmick-Burd.

The offence

A jury found that Miriam Helmick shot her husband, Alan Helmick, in the back of the head in the kitchen of the couple’s Whitewater home on June 10, 2008.

Miriam Helmick was also found guilty by a jury of 14 counts, and the sentencing imposed life plus 108 years in prison.

Investigation

Investigators described Miriam Helmick as looking for a man with money and possibly looking to change her identity during the trial.

A former neighbor from Florida testified about conversations between her and Miriam. The neighbor said Miriam told her about her online dating and what she wanted from it, including that:

• "She said she was horny and she needed some sexual... and she needed to be taken care of, she needed to have fun, let her hair down,"

The Florida conversations and evidence included testimony that Miriam admitted to using her husband’s first wife’s drivers license while she was in Florida.

Mesa County Sheriff’s investigators also showed pictures found on a computer used by Miriam while in Florida. Investigator Michael Piechota testified that Internet files on a computer used by Miriam suggested she browsed through more than 200 profiles of men on dating sites and contacted several of them. Piechota also testified that there were pictures of drivers licenses found on the computer as well as a social security card and other things. Piechota said:

• "There's 39 of the licenses, one of the social security card and then there is one, like a clip art, for a marriage certificate."

A coroner’s report said no poison was found in Alan Helmick’s body.

An arrest affidavit described “49 pages of suspicious activities” surrounding Alan Helmick’s death. The affidavit said Miriam Helmick plundered his bank accounts while he had mysterious symptoms that kept him mostly bedridden for months, and that he had improved in the weeks before his death.

The affidavit said Miriam Helmick forged $16,000 in checks on one of her husband’s bank accounts. It also said she sold some of his property after his death, depriving his children of the proceeds.

The affidavit said Miriam Helmick told friends and neighbors that suspicious things were happening around their house and she thought someone was targeting her after her husband was killed. It also said she was filmed on a store surveillance camera buying a greeting card that she wrote a threat on and tried to use as evidence that there was a stalker.

The affidavit described research before Alan Helmick’s death, including that two months before Alan Helmick was killed, Miriam Helmick was doing online searches for “Ambien overdose,” “buy purple foxglove” and “Viagra overdose.”

In the period before Alan Helmick’s death, the couple went to Delta, where Alan Helmick waited in his car while she went inside a business. His car caught fire while he was sitting in it, and a wick was found shoved into the full gas tank. The affidavit said the wick was used to ignite fuel or gasoline and that Miriam Helmick had asked her husband to remotely open the trunk and gone around to the back of the vehicle while he was waiting in it. Workers said the bathroom smelled like lighter fluid after Miriam Helmick used it. Miriam Helmick was named a prime suspect in that incident by Delta investigators.

Arrest

Miriam Helmick was arrested in Florida during a traffic stop in Jacksonville, Florida. Authorities found several pieces of identification belonging to Sharon Helmick, Alan’s first wife, in her purse.

An arrest warrant was filed Monday morning for 51-year-old Miriam Helmick charging her with first-degree murder after deliberation in the June shooting death of her husband. Bond was set at $2 million, and the warrant was filed under seal. District Judge Brian Flynn signed the warrant on Dec. 2, and it was filed at the Mesa County Justice Center on Monday morning.

District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said Helmick was arrested Monday morning in Florida.

The arrest took place during extradition proceedings, and she was being held on $2 million bail at the Duval County jail.

Helmick was arrested outside a relative’s Arlington home after a murder warrant was issued Monday morning, and Colorado deputies were joined in the arrest by agents with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Authorities charged Miriam Helmick with murder, attempted murder and 11 counts of forgery.

Trial

Miriam Helmick appeared in court shackled at her hands and feet for the first time since the start of her trial on Nov. 9.

During the trial, the prosecution continued to paint Miriam Helmick as a woman looking for a man with money and possibly looking to change her identity.

A jury found that Miriam Helmick shot her husband in the back of the head in the kitchen of the couple’s Whitewater home on June 10, 2008.

A jury found her guilty on Tuesday by a jury on 14 counts.

Sentencing

On December 8, 2009, District Judge Valerie Robison imposed the maximum term for each of the 14 counts that Helmick was found guilty of Tuesday by a jury.

The sentencing was described as a “partly symbolic sentence” in which the judge imposed life plus 108 years in prison.

The sentencing included the following components:

• Helmick, 52, faced a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of Alan Helmick.
• The judge imposed maximum terms on each of the other counts at the request of Chief Deputy District Attorney Tammy Eret, including that the sentence should reflect that Helmick committed specific crimes on different days involving different victims.
• Robison said of the unusual sentence, "Whether it’s symbolic or not, I think it’s necessary,"
• Robison ordered Helmick to pay $521 in court costs.
• Restitution was left open for 45 days.

During the sentencing hearing Wednesday:

• Portia Vigil told the judge: "defiled and infiltrated"
• Portia Vigil also told the judge during Helmick’s sentencing hearing Wednesday: "We’re happy she can’t hurt anybody else,"
• Portia Vigil also said: "This is the end."
• Kristy Helmick-Burd told the judge her father, and grandfather to five young girls, trusted and embraced his second wife, and Kristy Helmick-Burd said: “We did the same,”

Helmick appeared in court shackled at her hands and feet for the first time since the start of her trial on Nov. 9 and said nothing Wednesday when she was given the chance to speak, staring forward with no expression.

Appeals

No appeal information was provided in the case material.

Outcome

A jury found Miriam Helmick guilty of 14 counts, including first-degree murder of Alan Helmick by shooting him in the back of the head in the kitchen of their Whitewater home on June 10, 2008.

Aftermath

Miriam Helmick was sentenced nearly one year to the day after Mesa County Sheriff’s investigators arrested her in Jacksonville, Fla.

Timeline

• April 15, 2002 — Jack Calloway Giles died of a gunshot wound to the head while lying in bed with Miriam Giles; the case was ruled suicide a month later.
• August 2001 — Alan Helmick was distraught over the August 2001 accidental death of their daughter, Amy, 23, according to Miriam Helmick’s statement to investigators.
• Early 2005 — Miriam Helmick moved to Grand Junction after a friend told her about a possible job as a dance instructor.
• June 2006 — Alan and Miriam Helmick married.
• Late April (year not specified) — Alan Helmick was in Delta closing on a deal to sell his ownership share of a local title company when his Buick caught fire while he was sitting in it; a wick was found shoved into the full gas tank.
• June 10, 2008 — A jury found Miriam Helmick shot Alan Helmick in the back of the head in the kitchen of the couple’s Whitewater home; she called 911 and reported a possible robbery.
• June 11, 2008 — Deputies responding to a 911 robbery call near Whitewater found an adult’s dead body.
• December 8, 2008 — Miriam Helmick was arrested in Florida under a warrant charging first-degree murder after deliberation, with bond set at $2 million.
• December 9, 2008 — Jacksonville homicide detectives reviewed the 2002 death of Jack Giles after learning she was a possible suspect in the Colorado slaying.
• December 23, 2008 — An arrest affidavit describing suspicious activities surrounding Alan Helmick’s death was unsealed.
• December 18, 2008 — Charging documents alleged forgery and attempted murder connected to the April 30 car fire.
• Wednesday (no date specified in the record beyond the sentencing date context) — Portia Vigil and Kristy Helmick-Burd spoke to Judge Valerie Robison at sentencing.
• December 8, 2009 — Judge Valerie Robison sentenced Miriam Helmick to life in prison without parole plus 198 years in prison (as stated in the status field) / life plus 108 years in prison (as stated in the case summary).