July 23, 2026

The Murder of Helen Fuller_mixdown

The Murder of Helen Fuller_mixdown
The Murder of Helen Fuller_mixdown
Among Monsters Podcast | Chilling True Crime
The Murder of Helen Fuller_mixdown
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In this chilling episode of Among Monsters, Myia tells the heartbreaking true story of Helen Fuller, a Wisconsin woman who desperately tried to get help before she was murdered by her husband in 1996. What began as a plea for protection ended in a horrific act of domestic violence that shocked the community and inspired a lasting legacy of hope for survivors. This powerful episode explores the warning signs of abuse, the failures that can leave victims vulnerable, and the importance of listening when someone says they're afraid.
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January in Wisconsin has a way of swallowing sound. The

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snow softens the world, Streets become quieter, neighborhoods settle into

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an unnecessary silence as smoke curls from chimneys and porch

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lights glow against the darkness. It is the kind of

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silence that makes you believe everyone is safe inside. But

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sometimes the most terrifying monsters aren't hiding in abandoned buildings,

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They aren't lurking deep inside forgotten forests, and they aren't

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waiting beneath the surface of dark water. Sometimes they share

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your last name. Sometimes they sit across the dinner table.

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Sometimes the person promising to love and protect you becomes

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the one you should fear the most. Tonight's story isn't

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just about murder. It's about years of fear, a desperate

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attempt to get help, a system that couldn't intervene in time,

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and one woman's fine act of trying to save herself.

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This is the story of Helen Fuller. Welcome back to

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among Monsters. I'm your host, Maya. Every week we step

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into the darkest corners of real life, not to glorify evil,

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but to remember the victims, to understand how these tragedies happen,

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and hopefully recognize the warning signs before another family experiences

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the same nightmare. Tonight, we travel to Janesville, Wisconsin, a

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community where neighbors knew one another, children rode their bikes

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through quiet streets, families build lives together. On the surface,

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Arthur and Helen Fuller look like another ordinary married couple,

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but behind closed doors, something was unraveling, and in January

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nineteen ninety six, that unraveling exploded into unimaginable violence. This

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episode contains discussions of domestic violence, murder, and the dismemberment

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of a victim. Listener discretion is advised. Before Helen became

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a headline, before detective searched for answers, before newspaper stories

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documented one of southern Wisconsin's most disturbing domestic homicide cases.

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She was simply Helen, a mother, a wife, a woman

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trying to build a life for her family. Friends described

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her as caring and devoted to her daughter. Like so

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many victims of domestic violence, Helen carried burdens that many

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people around her never fully saw. The outsiders. Life may

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have appeared ordinary inside the home, it was becoming increasingly dangerous.

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Arthur Fuller had been exhibiting troubling behavior, and Helen became

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deeply concerned about his mental state. According to later reporting,

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shortly before her death, she tried to have him committed

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for psychiatric evaluation, believing he posed a serious danger. Doctors, however,

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did not determined that he met the legal standard for

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immediate involuntary hospitalization. Imagine the weight of that moment, knowing, feeling,

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believing that something terrible could happen, yet leaving the hospital

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without the protection you desperately hoped for. No one could

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know that only a short time later, Helen's fears would

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become reality. January in Wisconsin is unforgiving. Snow covers the ground,

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Cold winds sweep through Janesville. Families bundled themselves inside warm homes.

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Life slows, School continues, parents go to work, children laugh

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in classrooms. Everything appears normal until it is one argument,

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one irruption of violence, one decision that would forever change

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countless lives. In the basement of the Fuller home, Arthur

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Fuller pulled a firearm. Moments later, five gunshots echoed through

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the house. Helen Fuller collapse. The woman who had tried

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to protect herself. The woman who had tried to get

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help was gone, and the whore was only beginning. Five gunshots,

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five violent explosions that brought Helen Fuller's life to an end,

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and then silence. Whatever rage had filled the basement was over,

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but Arthur Fuller's actions were not. In the moments and

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hours following Helen's death, Arthur faced a choice. He could

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call the police, could surrender, He could tell the truth

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about what he had done. Instead, he chose concealment. Arthur

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began trying to erase Helen from the home they had shared,

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not just to hide the evidence of the shooting, but

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to make it appear as though Helen had simply vanished.

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It is difficult to describe what happened next without allowing

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the brutality of the crime to overshadow the woman at

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the center of it. Helen was more than what was

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done to her. She was not simply evidence. It is

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not a collection of remains discovered by investigators. She was

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a human being whose life had meaning long before her

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name appeared in a criminal case. But understanding Arthur Fuller's

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efforts to hide the murder is necessary to understand the

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calculation that followed the violence. After killing Helen, Arthur dismembered

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her body. It was an act requiring time, a required effort,

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and it demonstrated that the violence did not end when

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the gunfire stopped. The shooting may have been an eruption

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of rage. The concealment was something else. It was a

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series of decisions, decision after decision, each one designed to

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prevent Helen from being found, each one designed to protect

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Arthur from the consequences of what he had done. The

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man who had taken her life now attempted to remove

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every visible sign that she had ever been inside that basement.

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But a person cannot simply disappear without leaving an absence behind.

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There are routines that suddenly stop, calls that are not returned,

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appointments that are missed, People who begin asking questions, where

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is Helen? Why hasn't anyone heard from her? Why is

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Arthur answering for her? Why does something feel wrong? For

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those who knew Helen, her absence would not remain unnoticed forever.

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Arthur needed somewhere to leave her remains, Somewhere away from Janesville,

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somewhere removed from the Fuller House, somewhere he apparently believed

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would separate him from the crime. He chose the area

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around Lake Coganza State Park. Lake Caganza lies northwest of Janesville,

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surrounded by woodland, roads and the cold Wisconsin landscape. During winter,

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the park would have been quieter than it was during

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the warmer summer months, snowcovered trails, bare branches, frozen ground,

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a lake resting beneath the gray winter sky. To most people,

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well it was a place of natural beauty, a place

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for camping, hiking, fishing, and family outings. Arthur Fuller turned

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it into a disposal site. He transported Helen's remains away

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from their home and left them concealed in the park.

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Then he returned to his life, or at least he

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attempted to. He may have believed distance would protect him,

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that leaving Helen's remains miles away would confuse investigators, that

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without a body inside the home, no one could prove

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a murder had occurred there. But concealment does not undo

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a crime, It only creates more evidence. There is the

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original scene, There is the method of transportation. There is

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the location where the victim is left. There are statements

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that must remain consistent there are questions that become more

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difficult to answer, and there is the behavior of the

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person who knows far more than he is willing to say.

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Arthur could remove Helen's body from the house, he could

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not remove Helen from the lives of the people who

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loved her, and soon her absence would demand an explanation.

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When someone disappears, the first hours are often filled with uncertainty.

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There may be ordinary explanations, a delayed trip, a misunderstanding,

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a broken down vehicle, a visit that lasted longer than expected.

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People call friends, they check familiar locations, They wait for

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the telephone to ring. But as time passes, concern begins

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to replace confusion. Helen's loved ones knew that something was wrong.

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This was not simply a woman taking an unannounced break

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from her life. Helen had responsibilities, She had relationships, She

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had a daughter. She had connected to people who would

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notice when she suddenly stopped appearing, and there was another

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reason to be afraid. Helen had already expressed concerns about Arthur.

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She had tried to convince medical professionals that he needed

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immediate psycheaatric intervention. That effort mattered. Now it meant Helen

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had recognized the danger before she disappeared. It meant there

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had been a warning, not a vague sense that her

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marriage was unhappy, but a belief serious enough that she

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had sought outside help. When Helen could no longer be located,

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that warning became impossible to ignore. Attention turned toward the

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Fuller home and toward Arthur. In many missing person investigations,

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detectives begin with the people closest to the missing individual.

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That does not automatically mean those people are guilty. It

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means investigators need to reconstruct the missing person's final Noah movements.

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Who saw her last, who spoke with her? What was

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her emotional state? Did she have travel plans? Did she

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take money, clothing, her personal belongings. Was her vehicle missing?

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Had there been conflict inside the home? In Helen's case,

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the questions led back toward her husband, the person who

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shared her home, the person who knew her routines, the

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person she had recently feared. Arthur now had to explain

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why Helen was gone. He had to describe when he

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had supposedly last seen her. He had to behave like

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a concerned husband while knowing exactly where she was. Every

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word carried risk. Every answer could be checked. A lie

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that sounds convincing in isolation can collapse when compared with

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physical evidence. A timeline can be tested, a location can

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be searched. A vehicle can reveal where it has traveled.

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A home can hold traces of violence, even after someone

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attempts to clean it. Arthur had removed Helen's remains, he

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had not removed the questions, and as investigators began examining

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the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, those questions grew sharper. There

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is a particular cruelty in the way murders sometimes attempt

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to rewrite their victims find stories. The victim is killed,

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then blamed for being gone. She supposedly left, She supposedly

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abandoned her family, She supposedly needed space. She supposedly chose

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not to contact anyone. The person responsible for her disappearance

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presents himself as confused, rejected, or worried. Meanwhile, the victim

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is unable to contradict him. Helen could no longer explain

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what had happened in the basement. She could not describe

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the argument. She could not identify the person who had

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shot her. She could not tell investigators where Arthur had

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taken her, but the evidence could speak for her. The

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house could speak, Arthur's behavior could speak, the inconsistencies could speak,

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and eventually the place where he had left Helen would

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reveal the truth. Winter landscapes can conceal almost anything for

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a time. Snow covers tracks, cold, slow decomposition trees and

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brush obscure what lies beyond the road. But winter does

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not last forever, and hidden things have a way of

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being found. Helen Fuller's remains were discovered in Lake Ganza

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State Park area. What had begun as concern over a

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missing woman was now unmistakably a homicide investigation. There was

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no longer any possibility that Helen had willingly walked away

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from her life. She had been killed, her body had

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been dismembered, and someone had transported her remains from the

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place where she died to the park where they were found.

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For investigators, the discovery created two connected crime scenes, the

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disposal site and the Fuller home. One location could help

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explain where Arthur attempted to hide the crime, the other

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could reveal where the crime had begun. Detectives worked to

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establish Helen's identity and determine how she had died. The

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gunshot wounds told part of the story. The condition of

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her remains told another. This was not a random encounter

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with a stranger. It was not a robbery that unexpectedly

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turned violent. The circumstances pointed towards someone with access to Helen,

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someone with the time to commit the killing, someone capable

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of moving her body, and someone with a powerful reason

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to prevent her from ever being found again. The investigation

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returned to Arthur Fuller. The basement was no longer simply

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part of a family residence. It was a suspected murder scene,

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a place where investigators would look for blood, ballistic evidence,

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and signs that someone had attempted to clean or alter

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the area. Even when a visible stain is removed, microscopic

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evidence may remain. Blood can enter cracks, It can travel

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beneath objects. Gunfire can leave damage in walls, floors, or

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surrounding materials. Cartridges, bullets, and fragments can connect a weapon

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to a scene. Cleaning may change the appearance of a room,

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but it rarely restores it to the moment before violence occurred.

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Arthur's concealment had also created a trail between Janesville and

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Lake Caganza. Helen had not moved herself. Someone had transported her,

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someone had selected the park, someone had handled the remains.

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Someone had returned home afterward and tried to continue living

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as though nothing had happened. The more investigators reconstructed Helen's

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final days, the narrower Arthur's path became. He could not

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explain away the fear Helen had expressed before her death.

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He could not explain away evidence connected to the home.

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He could not explain away the effort required to move

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and conceal her remains. And he could not explain why

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a woman who had recently tried to get him hospitalized

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had suddenly been murdered. The warning Helen had tried to

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give became part of the story investigators were now uncovering.

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She had known she was in danger. She had tried

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to make someone understand. She had tried to place a

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barrier between herself and Arthur, but the legal threshold for

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involuntary hospitalization was not met. The fact does not necessarily

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mean the doctors involved were careless. Mental health professionals must

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make decisions according to legal standards and the information available

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to them at that moment. People cannot ordinarily be hospitalized

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against their will based solely on another person's fear. Specific

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requirements must be satisfied. Immediate danger must often be demonstrated,

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and sometimes a person can appear controlled during an evaluation

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while behaving very differently behind closed doors. That is part

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of what makes these situations so dangerous. The person seeking

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help may understand the threat through years of experience. She

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recognizes changes in his voice. She knows what a certain

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look means. She knows which subjects trigger rage. She has

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seen the escalation. She may be terrified long before an

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outsider sees enough evidence to act. Helen understood Arthur in

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a way that professionals evaluating him could not. She lived

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with him. She knew what happened after the doors closed.

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She sensed that the situation had crossed into something potentially deadly,

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and tragically, she was right. Murder investigations are rarely solved

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by a single dramatic discovery. More often, they are built

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piece by piece. One fact supports another, one witness confirms

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part of a timeline. Physical evidence contradicts a statement. A

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suspect's explanation changes the story he gives Investigators begins to

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fracture under its own weight. Prosecutors would need to demonstrate

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more than the fact that she had been murdered. They

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had to prove that Arthur was responsible. They had to

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connect him to the shooting, to the dismemberment, to the

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transportation of Helen's remains, and to the attempt to conceal

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what had happened. The location of the killing was crucial.

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If Helen had been shot in the basement of the

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Fuller home, that placed the violence inside a space Arthur

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controlled and occupied. The number of shots mattered as well.

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Helen was shot five times, five separate wounds, five polls

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of a trigger. Whatever argument occurred beforehand, the repeated gunfire

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demonstrated the overwhelming force used against her. Arthur's actions afterward

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also revealed consciousness of guilt. An innocent person does not

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dismember a murder victim. An innocent person does not move

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her remains to a state park. An innocent person does

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not attempt to transform a killing in to a disappearance.

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The concealment did not make Arthur less responsible. It showed

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that he understood exactly what he had done. He knew

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Helen was dead, He knew the shooting would lead investigators

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back to him, and he knew he needed to prevent

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her body from being found. This distinction is important. Mental

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illness and criminal responsibility are not automatically the same question.

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A person may experience psychiatric symptoms and still understand that

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an action is wrong. Attempts to hide evidence can become

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relevant because they may demonstrate planning, awareness and an understanding

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of consequences. That does not mean every act of concealment

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answers every legal question about mental responsibility, but it can

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provide investigators and jurors with insight into what a defendant

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understood after the crime. Arthur did not remain beside Helen

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in wait for help. He did not appear confused about

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the seriousness of the shooting. He took deliberate steps to

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protect himself. The murder had happened in private, The investigation

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would bring it into public view. Family members would learn

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details no family should ever have to hear. Friends would

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confront the knowledge that Helen's fears had not been imagined.

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A daughter would lose her mother, not to illness or

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an accident, but to violence committed by the man who

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should have helped keep their homes safe. Domestic homicide creates

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circles of trauma. At the center is the victim whose

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life has been taken. Around her are children, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, coworkers,

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and neighbors. Then there are investigators who must enter the scene,

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medical examiners who must document the injuries, prosecutors who must

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present the evidence, jurors who must hear what happened. A

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single person chooses violence, and countless are forced to live

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with the consequences. Arthur's actions had not only ended Helen's life,

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they had changed the lives of everyone who loved her. Eventually,

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Arthur Fuller faced the legal consequences of Helen's murder. The

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private terror inside the Fuller home entered a courtroom. There,

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the story would no longer be controlled by Arthur. Evidence

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would be presented, his actions would be examined. The effort

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to hide Helen would become part of the case against him.

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A courtroom cannot restore a victim. No verdict can return

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a mother to her daughter. No sentence can erase the

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final moments in a basement. The justice system can determine guilt,

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it can impose punishment, It can establish an official record

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of what occurred, but it cannot give a family back

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the life at lost. Arthur Fuller was ultimately convicted and

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sentenced to life in prison. The sentence ensured that the

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man responsible for him Hellan's murder would spend his future

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under the control of the state. He would no longer

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control Helen, he would no longer control the story of

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her disappearance, and he would not be free to return

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to the life he had attempted to preserve by hiding

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00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.880
what he had done. Yet, even a life sentence can

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00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:24.039
feel painfully incomplete. Arthur remained alive. He could wake each morning,

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he could eat, he could speak, he could receive mail,

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he could grow older. Helen was denied all of those

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ordinary experiences. She would not see another Wisconsin winter. She

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would not watch another spring arrive. She would not celebrate

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00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.359
another birthday. She would not winness the future milestones of

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the people she loved. That is the permanent imbalance at

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the center of murder. The offender receives a sentence measured

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in years. The victim loses every year she would have

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had for Helen's family. The conviction may have brought legal certainty,

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but grief does not end when a judge announces a sentence.

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In some ways, that is when a new stage begins.

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The investigation is over, the hearings end, the newspaper coverage fades,

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the community turns towards the next story, and the family

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is left with the empty chair, the silent telephone, the

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holidays that feel different, the moments when grief appears without warning,

318
00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:29.680
a song, a photograph, a familiar recipe, a sentence someone

319
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:32.640
says in exactly the way Helen used to say it.

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The public may remember the crime, the family remembers the person.

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And that is why Helen's name must never be reduced

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to Arthur Fuller's conviction. He is responsible for how she died.

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He does not deserve to define how she lived. There

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is one fact in Helen Fuller's story that remains especially

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difficult to confront. She tried to get help before the murder.

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Helen attempted to have Arthur committed for psychiatric evaluation because

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she believed he was dangerous. She recognized that the situation

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had escalated. She did not ignore her instincts. She did

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not simply wait and hope everything would improve. She reached

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outside the home. She attempted to involve professionals. She tried

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to create safety. But the intervention she sawt did not happen.

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Then a short time later, she was killed. It is

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tempting to look back at a tragedy and search for

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00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:32.039
a moment when everything could have been prevented. One doctor

335
00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:35.799
who could have acted, one relative who could have insisted

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she leave, one officer who could have seen more, one

337
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friend who could have asked a different question. But hindsight

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00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:46.039
gives us knowledge the people in those moments did not have.

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What we can say is that Helen's fear deserved to

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00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.119
be taken seriously. When someone says she believes her partner

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00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:56.400
may kill her, that statement should never be dismissed as

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ordinary marital conflict. When a person's behavior becomes erratic, threatening,

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or increasingly violent, the danger can change quickly. When firearms

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are present inside an unstable or abusive home, the potential

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consequences become even more severe, and when a victim begins

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attempting to leave, seek legal protection, or involve authorities, the

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risk may increase rather than decrease. An abusive person may

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view the loss of control as a threat. The survivor's

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attempt to become safe can trigger retaliation. That does not

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mean she should remain. It means leaving may require careful planning,

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support and protection. Domestic violence is often misunderstood as uncontrolled anger,

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but abuse is frequently about power and control. The abuser

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may intimidate, monitor telephone calls, control money, limit access to transportation,

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isolate the victim from friends and relatives, threaten children or pets,

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destroy property, use what to create, fear, apologize after violence,

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promised that it will never happen again, then repeat the

357
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same behavior. Over time, the victim may begin adjusting every

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part of her life around the abuser's moods. She learns

359
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:17.640
to watch his face, She changes how she speaks, She

360
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avoids certain subjects. She tries to keep the children quiet.

361
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She hides money, She prepares explanations for bruises or damaged belongings.

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She may appear indecisive to outsiders, but what looks like

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indecision may actually be survival. She is calculating danger. Will

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leaving make him more violent? Where can she go? Does

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00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.880
she have access to money? Will he find her? Will

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anyone believe her? Can she take the children? What happens

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if she calls the police and he is released. What

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happens when he discovers she's asked for help. The question

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should never be why didn't she just leave? The better

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00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.759
question is what made leaving so dangerous? Helen did sek intervention.

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She understood the threat, but understanding danger does not always

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00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.039
provide a clear path out of it. Sometimes the systems

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00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:12.720
available to a victim operate separately. A hospital sees one moment,

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00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:16.720
police see another, friends see a different version of the relationship.

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Family members may know only pieces. No one sees the

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00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:23.480
entire pattern except for the person living inside it. That

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is why listening matters, not interrogating, not demanding immediate decisions,

378
00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:34.000
not blaming, listening, believing, helping the person develop option, and

379
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:39.039
recognizing that fear itself can be information. Helen's fear was information.

380
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It was a warning, and after her murder, the people

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00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:46.039
who remember that warning understood just how much she had

382
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been trying to tell them. The story could have ended

383
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with a conviction. Arthur Fuller imprisoned Helen, buried, the case

384
00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:57.160
placed in an archive, but Helen's name continued. Her murder

385
00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:01.000
affected people far beyond her immediate family. For some, the

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00:27:01.079 --> 00:27:04.519
case exposed the reality of domestic violence in a way

387
00:27:04.599 --> 00:27:08.759
statistics never could. This had happened in Janesville, inside a

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00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:11.279
home to a woman who had tried to get help.

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00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:15.079
The crime forced people to confront a terrible truth. Domestic

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00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:18.759
violence was not happening only somewhere else. It was happening

391
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:22.240
in their own community, in houses they drove past, to

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00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:26.240
women they may have known, behind doors that appeared ordinary

393
00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:30.319
from the street. Helen's story later inspired the creation of

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00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:35.759
Helen's Hope, an organization intended to support victims of domestic violence.

395
00:27:36.039 --> 00:27:39.839
The name transformed Helen's memory into a promise. Hope for

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00:27:39.960 --> 00:27:42.920
the person who feels trapped, Hope for the child who

397
00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:46.039
hears violence through a bedroom wall, Hope for the friend

398
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:48.599
who does not know what to say, Hope that a

399
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:52.039
warning will be heard, Hope that help will arrive before

400
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:56.000
the final act of violence. An organization cannot change what

401
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.680
happened to Helen, but it can refuse to let what

402
00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.759
happened become meaningless. It can take the lessons of her

403
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:05.079
case and place them into the hands of someone still

404
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:10.079
fighting to survive. It can provide information, support resources, a

405
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:14.960
connection to people who understand that leaving abuse is a process,

406
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.000
not a single decision. The creation of Helen's Hope also

407
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.039
returned something important to Helen her name. For a time,

408
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:27.279
news coverage paired her name with Arthur's, the victim and

409
00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:31.079
the killer, the murdered wife and the convicted husband. But

410
00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:39.640
Helen's hope connected her name with something Arthur could not control. Compassion, safety, survival, community,

411
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:43.799
a future for other women. Helen could not be rescued

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00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:47.720
from the basement in January nineteen ninety six, but her

413
00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:51.319
story could become part of rescuing someone else. That does

414
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:55.119
not make the tragedy acceptable. It does not suggest that

415
00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:58.519
something good had to come from her death. Helen deserved

416
00:28:58.519 --> 00:29:02.079
to live without becoming a symbols. She deserved help while

417
00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:05.839
she was alive. She deserved to grow older. She deserved

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00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:09.960
ordinary mornings and quiet evenings. She deserved a home where

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00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:12.720
she did not need to fear the person beside her.

420
00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:16.119
The purpose of remembering Helen is not to search for

421
00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:19.599
beauty in what Arthur did. There was no beauty in it.

422
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:23.680
The purpose is to carry her warning forward, to recognize

423
00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:28.519
the signs, to listen differently, to respond sooner, and to

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00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:31.559
understand that the person asking for help may know the

425
00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:36.359
danger better than anyone else. The word monster can create distance.

426
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:41.920
It makes us imagine someone visibly evil, someone easily recognized

427
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:46.319
someone standing outside normal life. But most people who commit

428
00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:50.160
domestic homicides do not look like monsters every moment of

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00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:54.720
every day. They may work, shop for groceries, speak politely

430
00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:01.000
to neighbors at ten family gatherings, laugh, make promises, apologize.

431
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.359
They may appear calm in public and terrifying in private.

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00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:08.880
That contrast can make victims feel even more isolated. When

433
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.160
the abuser is charming to everyone else, the victim may

434
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:16.359
begin questioning whether anyone will believe her. People may say,

435
00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:19.680
he has always been nice to me, I've never seen

436
00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:22.720
him act that way. Are you sure it was that serious?

437
00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:27.119
Maybe he was just stressed. Maybe you both need counseling.

438
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:30.680
But abuse does not require a public audience to be real.

439
00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:35.720
A person can be respected outside the home and violent inside.

440
00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:39.079
He can be kind to coworkers and cruel to his spouse.

441
00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:43.160
He can present himself as a victim while controlling everyone

442
00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:46.400
around him. The mass does not erase the abuse, it

443
00:30:46.519 --> 00:30:49.680
helps hide it. Arthur and Helen Fuller may have appeared

444
00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:52.839
ordinary to people who did not know what was happening

445
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:57.480
behind their doors, but ordinary appearance is not evidence of safety.

446
00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:01.599
Helen knew that Arthur's behavior had become dangerous. She tried

447
00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:05.920
to act, she tried to warn others, and ultimately the

448
00:31:06.039 --> 00:31:09.279
danger she feared took her life. Arthur Fuller was not

449
00:31:09.400 --> 00:31:12.880
a supernatural creature. He was a human being who made

450
00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:17.160
horrifying choices. He chose to use a firearm against his wife.

451
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:21.160
He chose to shoot her repeatedly. He chose to dismember her.

452
00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:25.640
He chose to transport her remains. He chose concealment instead

453
00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:29.160
of accountability. Calling him a monster should not allow us

454
00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.079
to pretend his actions were impossible to recognize or prevent.

455
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:37.279
The more important question is not whether Arthur was different

456
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:40.640
from every other person. It is whether the warning signs

457
00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:47.279
around him were visible threatening behavior, escalation, instability, fear expressed

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00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:51.319
by his wife, a desperate request for intervention. Those signs

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00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:54.759
matter because similar patterns are unfolding in homes right now.

460
00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:59.000
Not every threat leads to murder. Not every person experiencing

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00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.839
a mental health crimes becomes violent. Most people living with

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00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:06.480
mental illness are not violent, and many are more likely

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00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:11.400
to become victims than offenders. Arthur's responsibility belongs to Arthur.

464
00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:16.680
But when mental health concerns domestic abuse, threats, and access

465
00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:21.000
to weapons overlap. The potential danger must be taken seriously.

466
00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:24.920
Helen's case asks us to hold two truths at the

467
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.720
same time. Legal and medical system needs standards before taking

468
00:32:29.720 --> 00:32:34.880
away someone's freedom, and people reporting credible threats need meaningful protection.

469
00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:39.119
Finding the balance is difficult, but the difficulty cannot become

470
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:42.599
an excuse to stop trying, because when the system gets

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00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:45.759
it wrong, the person living beside the danger may pay

472
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.000
with her life. There is a tendency and true crime

473
00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:52.839
to spend more time examining the offender than remembering the victim.

474
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:58.519
We study the killer's behavior, his excuses, his trial, his sentence.

475
00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:02.680
We ask what made him capable of the crime. But tonight,

476
00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:07.480
let us return to Helen. Before the basement, before Lake Caganza,

477
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:11.240
before the courtroom, there was a woman living in life.

478
00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:16.599
She had preferences, memories, private jokes, people she loved. There

479
00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:20.079
were things that made her laugh, things that frustrated her,

480
00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:24.880
plans she expected to complete, conversations she did not know

481
00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:28.599
would be her last. She woke on ordinary mornings without

482
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:33.079
knowing how little time remained. She likely performed countless small

483
00:33:33.160 --> 00:33:36.559
acts of care that were never recorded in a newspaper,

484
00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:41.440
a meal prepared, a telephone call made, a birthday remembered,

485
00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:45.559
a word of encouragement. These are the pieces that form

486
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:50.240
a human life. Murder reporting cannot always recover them. Official

487
00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:57.880
records focus on evidence, dates, locations, injuries, charges, verdicts, but

488
00:33:57.960 --> 00:34:02.119
a person is larger than an official record. Helen's daughter

489
00:34:02.200 --> 00:34:05.119
did not lose a case file. She lost her mother.

490
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:09.239
Her friends did not lose a headline. They lost Helen.

491
00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:12.840
When we say her name, we should not visualize only

492
00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:17.000
the final violence. We should imagine everything. Arthur failed to

493
00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:22.039
erase the love she gave, the relationships she built, the

494
00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:25.440
courage it took to seek help, the instinct that told

495
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:29.079
her something was wrong, and the tragedy that continued through

496
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:33.000
people determined to help others in her name. Arthur attempted

497
00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:36.440
to hide Helen in a winter landscape, but she was found.

498
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:41.199
He attempted to silence her warnings, but people continued telling

499
00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:45.159
her story. He attempted to reduce her to something he

500
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:49.760
could transport and abandon, but Helen remained a mother, a friend,

501
00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:53.559
a woman whose life mattered. The monster in the story

502
00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:57.079
took her future. He did not take her value. He

503
00:34:57.119 --> 00:34:59.800
did not take the truth, and he did not take

504
00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:04.440
her name. Helen Fuller remember her not only because of

505
00:35:04.440 --> 00:35:08.320
how she died, not only because how she died, but

506
00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:12.280
because she tried to live. She tried to protect herself,

507
00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:15.840
she tried to get help, and she deserves to be heard.

508
00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:19.679
January in Wisconsin still has a way of swallowing sound.

509
00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:24.559
Snow still settles over Janesville. The trees around Lake Kaganza

510
00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:28.639
still become bary each winter. Families still close their doors

511
00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:32.760
against the cold. From the street, the houses appear peaceful,

512
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:36.320
but we know peace cannot be measured from the outside.

513
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:39.480
Somewhere tonight, a person is watching the mood of someone

514
00:35:39.559 --> 00:35:42.880
she loves and wondering whether it is safe to speak.

515
00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:47.360
Someone is hiding a packed bag. Someone is deleting a

516
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:51.400
search history. Someone is trying to decide whether a threat

517
00:35:51.480 --> 00:35:54.639
was serious. Someone has told a friend she is afraid

518
00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:57.960
and is waiting to learn whether that friend believes her.

519
00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:01.840
Helen Fuller's story asks us not to look away when

520
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:05.039
someone tells you she is afraid of her partner. Listen.

521
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:09.000
When someone says the violence is getting worse, believe her.

522
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:12.719
When someone begins making a plan to leave, do not

523
00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:16.239
judge the pace of that plan, Ask what she needs,

524
00:36:16.599 --> 00:36:19.679
help her connect with trained advocates, and if there is

525
00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:25.239
immediate danger, call emergency services. Safety planning should be handled

526
00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:29.000
carefully because leaving an abusive relationship can be one of

527
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:32.840
the most dangerous periods for a survivor. Do not confront

528
00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:37.320
the suspected abuser without considering how that confrontation could place

529
00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:40.800
the victim at greater risk. Do not share her location.

530
00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:44.679
Do not reveal her plans. Do not assume that because

531
00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:48.519
the violence has stopped for a day, the danger has disappeared.

532
00:36:48.920 --> 00:36:53.239
And never confused love with ownership. Love does not require fear.

533
00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:57.639
Love does not isolate, Love does not control every dollar.

534
00:36:58.119 --> 00:37:01.599
Love does not threaten children. Love does not place a

535
00:37:01.639 --> 00:37:06.039
firearm against someone's body. Love does not demand that another

536
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:10.639
person surrender her freedom in exchange for temporary peace. Arthur

537
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:14.960
Fuller promised at some point to be Helen's partner. Instead,

538
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:18.639
he became the danger she could not escape. He killed

539
00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:21.119
her in a place where she should have been safest.

540
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:24.159
He attempted to hide her in a place surrounded by

541
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:29.480
winter silence. But Helen was not forgotten. Her story survived,

542
00:37:29.880 --> 00:37:34.320
her warnings survived, and through the work inspired by her memory,

543
00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:39.519
her hope survived. This has been among monsters. I'm your host, Maya.

544
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:43.159
Tonight's episode was written to remember Helen Fuller and to

545
00:37:43.239 --> 00:37:48.079
raise awareness about domestic violence. To Helen's family, we remember

546
00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:51.559
that behind every case is a real person, a person

547
00:37:51.639 --> 00:37:55.000
who was loved, a person who mattered, a person who

548
00:37:55.079 --> 00:37:58.599
should still be here. And to anyone listening who recognizes

549
00:37:58.679 --> 00:38:01.320
part of their own life and head Helen's story, you

550
00:38:01.400 --> 00:38:05.800
are not weak. You are not responsible for another person's violence.

551
00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:09.440
You are not alone, and you deserve to be safe

552
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:14.320
until next time. Protect one another, listen when someone asks

553
00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:18.280
for help, and remember the most dangerous monsters are not

554
00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:22.360
always hiding in the darkness. Sometimes they are standing right

555
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:24.840
in the light, waiting for the door to close.