The Susan Helm Murder

Susan Heiple was born November 4, 1965, to Rae and Sharon Heiple. She attended Peoria Bergan High School and, when she was twenty, moved to Davenport, Iowa, where she worked for Planned Parenthood. She married Brian Dill young, having a son at eighteen, but that marriage ended in the mid-80s.

In 1989, she married William Helm in Iowa in what was to become a short, tumultuous marriage marred by abuse.  Susan kept a journal documenting her accounts of the marriage, and only a few months after they were married, William was arrested and pleaded guilty to domestic assault.

The couple had a son born in the summer of 1989, and the stressful marriage continued until July 1990, when William moved out for divorce proceedings to begin.

Susan was very fearful during this time, even with William out of the house.  She would call her divorce lawyer almost daily, saying so.  She had also started seeing her first husband, Brian Dill, again.

On the morning of September 2, 1990, William called authorities to say that he and his brother had found Susan dead in her bedroom.  From the start, he was a suspect to authorities; the question was finding proof.

They found it in a rare technique of lifting a hand print off Susan's body, which is difficult.  Investigators tried the new method and, on their second try, found a palm print on Susan that matched William.  They also found a murder weapon for the strangulation, a garotte, which is a military weapon consisting of a wire with two handles.  William was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

During the trial, defense attorney John Wellman subpoenaed Susan's first husband, Brian Dill, who lived in Morton, to testify at the trial in Des Moines.  Polk County allotted $115 in expenses for Dill for his one hour of testimony to cover his travel expenses.  Dill and his accompanying friend ended up racking up a bill of $744 during their two-night stay at a Des Moines hotel to be charged to Polk County, including $250 for alcohol, $208 for meals, and $108 in Pay-TV movies. 

Rae and Sharon Heiple claimed Sharon's remains, and she is peacefully buried in Glendale Cemetery in Washington.