In the late summer of 1985, the discovery of a woman's body in a Philadelphia train yard marked the beginning of a years-long reign of terror attributed to a figure the media would dub the 'Frankford Slasher.' The victim was 52-year-old Helen Patent. Her body was found partially nude, having been brutally stabbed multiple times. One account states she was stabbed 47 times, while another reports 19 gashes, one so deep it exposed her internal organs. Those who knew her believed she must have known her attacker, as they did not think she would have willingly gone to a secluded location with a stranger. Her ex-husband, with whom she still shared a home, identified her body. He noted that it was not unusual for her to leave for a week at a time without saying where she was going. It is believed she may have met her killer at one of the local bars she frequented.
The murder of Helen Patent was the first in a series of nine slayings that terrorized the Frankford neighborhood between 1985 and 1990. The victims were all women who were sexually assaulted and viciously stabbed to death. The investigation into these brutal crimes was complex and lengthy. Several of the victims were reportedly seen with a middle-aged white man shortly before their deaths.
A significant development in the case came after the murder of Carol Dowd in April 1990. Police arrested Leonard Christopher, who worked at a fish market near where Dowd's body was found. Despite the fact that he did not match the description of the man seen with some of the victims, and with only circumstantial evidence linking him to Dowd's murder, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. A crucial point of contention in his conviction was that another murder attributed to the Slasher, that of Michelle Dehner, occurred in September 1990 while Christopher was already incarcerated. While he was convicted for one of the nine murders, the other cases, including that of Helen Patent, officially remain unsolved.
