In a chilling real-life echo of the Phantom of the Opera, an unsettling case unfolded at the iconic Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
The mystery began when violinist Helen Mintiks abruptly disappeared during an intermission of a performance. This perplexing case is re-explored in Oxygen’s documentary series, The Killer Among Us.
The following day, Helen’s body was found in a shocking state: naked, restrained, and discarded down a ventilation shaft of the building. The discovery left authorities certain that the murderer was among those present at the opera house.
“The Metropolitan Opera House had always felt secure to us,” recounted dancer Laura Cutler, reflecting on the grim turn of events, “until that tragic incident occurred.”
Who Was Helen Mintiks?
Before her journey to New York City, Helen’s roots traced back to a poultry farm in British Columbia. She eventually moved to NYC to hone her craft at the esteemed Juilliard School, embracing a promising career in music.
“She was a beautiful woman and a very fine violinist and a very kind and friendly person,” cellist Clay Ruede said. “Much beloved in our company of musicians.”
Pianist and friend Judith Olson added that she was also “really, really good at her job.”
“She could play whatever they put in front of her,” Judith said, “but she also brought people cookies and cheesecakes and was just a dream to work with.”
Helen Mintiks Disappears During Intermission
On July 23, 1980, the Berlin Ballet was the visiting company performing at the iconic opera house, accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra.
The ballet’s final number before intermission relied on recorded music, giving the orchestra members a lengthy 45-minute break before they were needed back in the pit.
Helen left her pricey violin sitting in her chair as she exited with the other orchestra members—but the 31-year-old never returned.
“It was a very tense moment when Helen didn’t show up because she was a very reliable person,” Clay remembered. “My wife, who was also a violinist, moved up into that chair so there would not be an open seat in the violin section. The show must go on.”
Yet, after the performance concluded, there was still no sign of Helen.
“The only reason that Helen would not come back to pick up her violin,” Judith explained, “is if she was incapacitated.”
Calls to her home also went unanswered as Helen’s husband Janis Mintiks was waiting for her outside the theater. After she didn’t appear, he returned to their apartment and was there when one of the orchestra members came to the door to return her violin.
“By that time he was in a total panic,” Judith said, “and he called the police.”
Helen Mintiks Found Dead in Metropolitan Roof Shaft
Investigators immediately noticed that Helen’s street clothes were still hanging in her locker, suggesting the musician had never left the building.
Concerned, police began scouring the 10-story building—but it wasn’t an easy task. The backstage area was filled with stairwells, elevators and hallways.
As Judith said, “You can make a wrong turn and be lost for weeks.”
Police got their first break after maintenance workers discovered a chilling clue: Helen’s shoes were on the roof.
“Those shoes changed the game,” former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. “She’s on that roof.”
Yet, finding out where would be another daunting task.
“The roof of the Met is massive,” Boyce explained. “It’s rambling. It’s different layers, alleyways, shafts.”
On July 24, while combing the roof for more clues, one detective looked down one of the shafts and discovered Helen lying dead on a steel girder approximately 40 feet below.
“She’s tied, in the nude, hands tied behind her back,” retired NYPD homicide Detective John Bruno recalled. “That could not have happened on her own volition.”
Helen’s ankles had also been bound. Detectives concluded that Helen had been thrown naked from the rooftop. She died of blunt force trauma after her head hit the steel girder.
“To have her life taken away in such a way,” Bruno said, “is a terrible, horrible thing.”
Dancer Recalls Fateful Elevator Ride With Helen Mintiks
One of the first people detectives considered was Helen’s husband Janis. But those who knew the pair—who met years earlier at a summer music program—said they were devoted to each other.
What’s more Janis, a sculptor, had been at his lower Manhattan artist’s loft that night with a friend, who backed up his account.
With Helen’s husband ruled out, detectives began taking a closer look at those working at the theater that night.
“Everybody was extremely upset,” Clay said. “I think one of the hardest things after Helen’s murder was that there’s a certainty that whoever did this horrible thing, it couldn’t have been an outsider. It had to be somebody among us.”
One of the first clues police discovered was a palm print on a railing on the roof.
Then, Laura, one of the ballerinas working that night with the Berlin Ballet, offered another telling clue. She told detectives that around the time of the intermission, she recalled getting into an freight elevator with a woman she didn’t know, later thought to be Helen, and a stage hand.
Helen told her she was planning to go talk with Valery Panov—one of the stars of the ballet—about possibly getting work for her artist husband building sets.
“Helen was really on a mission to get to Valery Panov,” Judith shared, “And I think there was just nothing that was going to stop her from that.”
Yet, Valery told investigators that he’d never seen Helen that night, leading detectives to turn their attention to the other person who had been in the elevator.
Stage Hand Craig Crimmins Raises Detectives’ Suspicions
Laura helped authorities create a sketch of the young man and police interviewed approximately 150 stage hands who had been working that night.
They noticed 21-year-old Craig Crimmins appeared nervous.
Though he claimed to have made all his cues to help with the performance the night of the murder, detectives learned he had missed several.
When confronted about the lie, Craig told them he’d gone out with a friend earlier in the day and had some beers and had actually been sleeping on a couch backstage. The friend initially told police that he’d seen Craig sleeping that night, but later admitted that wasn’t true, telling detectives that Craig had asked him to lie.
Several weeks into the investigation, detectives learned that Craig’s palm print also matched the one left on the roof.
During a police interrogation, Craig admitted to being on the roof that night and being in the elevator with Helen, but insisted he didn’t kill her.
Who Killed Helen Mintiks?
After the media got wind that Craig was a suspect, detectives brought Craig in for one final round of questioning before the news broke. This time, he confessed.
“He encountered Helen Mintiks in the elevator, Laura got off the elevator, now he turns to Ms. Mintiks and says to her ‘How would you like to get laid?’” Bruno revealed. “She turned around and slaps him in the face.”
Craig drew his hammer and threatened her, then led her throughout the theater. After she tried to break away, he attempted to rape her, but was unable to do so. Furious, he took her to the roof and tied her up.
“She was talking to me trying to be nice,” Craig later said in a statement. “I decided to gag her, and laid her lat on her stomach.”
As he was walking away, he realized she’d be able to identify him and went back and kicked her off the roof.
“It was someone who had been working with us and that was really scary,” Laura said of learning how close she’d come to the killer. “I think it really freaked people out.”
Craig was convicted of murder and attempted rape in 1982 and was sentenced to 20 years to life. He was released on parole in 2021.
Those who knew Helen, chose to remember her for her sweet demeanor and music she brought to the world.