The Last Take

(CBS News)  This story was first broadcast on April 26, 2008. It was updated on Oct. 3, 2008.

Christa Helm, an aspiring Hollywood actress, was murdered on Feb. 12, 1977, when she was stabbed and bludgeoned outside her agent's home in West Hollywood.

Christa enjoyed the Hollywood life and parties, and according to her daughter hung out with lots of famous people, like Joe Namath, Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty and even the Shah of Iran.

But as correspondent Maureen Maher reports, Christa also kept a "love diary," as well as tape recordings of her encounters with the rich and famous.

Did the diary and recordings play a role in her murder? Or was she just a victim of a random crime? Investigators are still trying to solve the mystery.

After more than 30 years, Christa's daughter hopes a fresh look by police will finally crack this case and bring the killer to justice.

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"She had a charisma that was just overwhelming. She had warmth that made people drawn to her on a regular basis. She was powerful and strong and took no bull…she was a very complicated, beautiful human being," remembers Christa's daughter Nicole, who doesn't want 48 Hours to mention her last name or reveal where she lives because her mother's killer has never been caught.

And, says Nicole, her mother was born to be a star. "From the time she was a little girl, she would dance and sing and tell everyone she was gonna be a movie star when she grew up, and of course in little Milwaukee Wis., no one believed her."

Smart, sexy and stunningly beautiful, Christa was the classic small town girl with a big Hollywood dream. She was determined to become a star and she had the energy and unyielding ambition to make it happen.

"We had a saying between the two of us, 'All's fair in love and war' and she lived by those words. Nothing would really stop her from getting what she wanted," remembers Christa's longtime friend Darlene Thoresen.

Not even a shot-gun wedding would stop her, when Christa was just 17 years old. "She was a teenager. He owned a karate studio, they were married in Chicago, and the morning after their wedding she woke up in their honeymoon suite and my father was gone," Nicole says.

That was in 1967. Nicole was born a few months later, but within a couple of years, her young and ambitious mother grew restless and took off to follow her dream. The first stop was New York, where she found work as a model.

Taking the city by storm would be impossible with a toddler in tow, so Nicole was left behind in the care of a good friend. But Christa promised she and Nicole would one day be together. "I was supposed to be with her when I turned 10," Nicole says. Until then, Nicole was a visitor in her mother's life.

Her model good looks and splashy personality made Christa a natural for New York's party scene in the early 1970's. "If she walked into a room, if everyone in the room hadn't stopped to notice her walk in, then she would come back in again and get it right," remembers Christa's sister Marisa Rahm, who was also a some-time actress, and was often at Christa's side.

One of the first people Christa met in New York was a wealthy patron of the arts named Stuart Duncan. He took an interest in Christa's career, opening doors for her. "She was throwing parties for big names, the Rolling Stones. She actually got 'Bachelorette of the Month' with Cosmopolitan. There were definitely big figures in her life," Marisa says. "The Shah of Iran she dated and he sent her jewels."

Christa also picked up a fancy new "best friend for life," a flamboyant New York clothing designer named Lennie Barin.

And then in 1973, Christa got the break she'd been waiting for: Stuart Duncan gave her a starring role in a movie called "Let's Go For Broke."

The movie opened in Cincinnati in 1974 and promptly closed in just four days. Undeterred, a few months later, Christa headed straight for Hollywood, where she landed bit roles in "Wonder Woman" and "Starsky & Hutch."

Nicole remembers visiting her mother at a Beverly Hills mansion belonging to famous financier Bernie Cornfeld. "This was a spectacular mansion. It was absolutely enormous. I'd never seen anything like it, it was the first place I'd ever seen that had maid's quarters," Nicole remembers.

Christa was not only ambitious and adventurous, she also liked to keep score. Her friends say she kept a secret sex diary, complete with a rating system.

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[Mac_Mc]

Beautiful, sexy, powerful, talented, intelligent,and charismatic? Sorry, but all I saw was in this ID report was a rather cheap looking "party girl" with the morals of an ally cat. Hardly anyone deserves to be brutally stabbed to death, but let's face it,because of her trashy lifestyle, Christa isn't likely to get much sympathy.

[proudmom6]

It really scares me that the media can destroy someone''s character in a 45 minute expose as they have to Patty Collins''s. Where is Patty? She could be a mother and wife with a family and be completely innocent of these allogations from these ''less than trusted'' individuals. Who are these people? Who are they to try and convict someone without evidence!!! The police should be ashamed. They are only interested in publicity, it seems to me. Why would Patty come forward after such a damaging program?

I hope she has a good attorney who sues them for everything they have!

Our country is in real trouble when we give credence to such shabby reporting as 48 Hours has hosted!

[vruth]

WHY ARE POLICE NOT LOOKING INTO CRISTA''S SISTER? THEY SAY THAT IT WAS SOMEONE THAT WAS VERY UPSET WITH HER. A CRIME OF PASSION. WELL, JUST FROM WATCHING THE SISTER''S INTERVIEW YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH SHE RESENTED CRISTA FOR THROWING HER OUT. TAKING AWAY HER CHANCE AT THE "GLAMOROUS" LIFESTYLE. I DON''T BELIEVE THAT CRISTA WAS MAD BECAUSE THESE GUYS WERE CALLING HER SISTER BEHIND HER BACK. SHE SAYS SHE GOT ALL THE ATTENTION, YET CRISTA WAS THE ONE IN MOVIES, ON T.V., AND IN THE PUBLIC EYE. MY OPINION IS THAT THEY NEED TO SPEND SOME TIME ON THAT.

[roma52]

Just think today, if Christa were alive, she would have had her own reality show exploiting her lifestyle of decadence. She was thirty years ahead of her time.

I can understand why her daughter wants closure on this murder, after all, Christa is her mother. She seems to have turned out pretty well.

It sounds like Christa wasn''t a particularly nice person and even her sister didn''t seem that sad that she passed.

There has to be more to this story than your program alluded to.

There are stars out here who have probably done what Christa did to get to the top, but they were slick enough to not provoke someone that dangerous.

A sad story and it just goes to show, that you reap what you sow.

[Mac_Mc]

Good points roma, but I believe the daughter's main interest in this case isn't closure, it's about the money she'll get from selling the story, and the book she'll write about it.

[suzieh2308]

Thats pretty sad that some of these comments are basically saying that she deserved to be murdered because she was promiscuous. So what she was exploring her sexuality at a time that was less open to this kind of behavior? Or did she deserve to be murdered because she left her daughter with a loving trustworthy person? It would have been far worse for her to either bring her daughter with her on these escpades, give her up for adoption, or let her dream of being famous die - which really sounds like the most reasonable descion?

[azshadowwalker]

I don't think she deserved to die because she was promiscuous. However, I will admit to not feeling as much emotional outrage over her death. Again, that's not because she was promiscuous. It's because she was the type of person who would abandon her daughter so she could go party. I can feel for a prostitute who gets caught up in addiction and abuse, then gets murdered. I had much less sympathy for Christa because of how she treated people.

If you're more interested in partying and you've had a child with a useless piece of trash who abandoned you and the child, why not give the child up for adoption? Why dump her with a friend, and float in and out of her life? Give her some stability, and go live however you want to live. I think the daughter's view of her mom was delusional.

I don't think Christa "deserved" to die. I do think she was a poor excuse for a human being, though. She seemed prone to dumping people, from her daughter to her sister. She seemed petty and selfish. I just have a hard time getting as emotionally broken up about her as I would for someone whom I didn't consider such moral garbage.

[roscoezzz]

They still have no match on the DNA found under Christa''s fingernail. It belongs to a woman. Her former lover Patty Collins is alive, but missing. I think she murdered Christa in a jealous rage and then left town.
What is a Mystery "is" what that actor from "The Sopranos" knows or doesn''t. Was he hired to go to Christa''s residence in Los Angeles to retrieve specific items including those "*** Cassette Tapes"?
Remember, her "Diary" was taken from Christa''s dead body.
Sad. The Hollywood "party girl" got in too deep with too many low-life''s. She was a lover of men, women and used them to get "ahead." She even threw her sister out on the street because Movie Stars liked her more. It''s a Mystery.

[naithom]

Was she perfect, no. But then, who among us is.

Some of the folks that have commented want to condemn her for working in Hollywood and leaving Nicole in a loving home environment and sending support, but if you condemn her for that then you are willing to condemn every parent that doesn''t live with their kids or every parent who''s children live with grandparents or at a boarding school.

She knew that Hollywood wasn''t the place to raise a baby girl. You would have preferred that she drag her along? People like Joe would have criticized that as well.

She made some good choices and some bad choices. She didn''t deserve to be murdered and her murderer deserves to be held responsible.

[fibonacci_]

Yes, I was negative two years old.

[sharncedar]

Isn''t 1977 an awful long time ago.

[aka_jenn76]

Wow! I''m not sure I would want that story told if that was my mother. What a selfish woman to treat her daughter, sister, friends, & lovers so disrespectfully. She still didn''t deserve to be killed of course. Very sad life and death.