The Last Take

Did A Hollywood Actress' Secret Love Diary Lead To Her Murder?

(CBS)  The detectives had no trouble getting their swab of DNA and an interview, but they were stunned by what Patti had to say: "No, I do not know Christa Helm, they showed me pictures and no one looks familiar in those photographs at all. I do not know any thing," Patti said.

Not only that, Patti claimed she was never in Southern California. "She was in Southern California we know that but for some reason she’s denying ever being there in her life," Harris says.

"I have a feeling we’ll be back to talk to her again. I really do," Brandenburg added.

But not until they get the results of the DNA test and confirm her identity. Meanwhile they’ll go after other leads

The cold case squad’s best lead might turn out to be the oldest lead of all, and it comes from the man who first worked the Christa Helm case, 83-year-old Larry Gandsey. "Sal Mineo's killer is the same killer that killed Christa Helm. In my own mind, I'm so sure of that, I bet the deed to my house that he is A-1, number one suspect," Gandsey says.

Remember, Sal Mineo was murdered a year before Christa on the same day, Feb. 12, and in the same way, a stabbing, and in the same neighborhood. "The method of operation, the area of operation was so similar to Sal Mineo's killing. It's almost identical," Gandsey said.

The man ultimately convicted of Mineo's killing was 21-year-old Lionel Williams, and he was thought to be in jail at the time of Christa's murder. But the cold case squad recently learned that Williams wasn't arrested until after Christa's death. Even more surprising, he wasn't even asked about Christa’s death. "I don't even know what he looked like," Gandsey says. "I never got the chance to talk to him."

Shortly afterwards, Gandsey and his partner were reassigned, and then Gandsey left the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department for good. That's when the Christa Helm case went cold. "I think this case has affected me personally more than any I've worked. And you're not supposed to get involved. You're supposed to put everything behind you and you're neutral. You're just doing a job. But with me anyway, I couldn't put this one to bed," Gandsey says.

Meanwhile, Lionel Williams served 12 years for the murder of Sal Mineo. In 1990, he was released from prison. "He has been in and out of jail since this occurred. He's been arrested for other crimes. We believe we have an idea where he is living. We believe that he's not that far away. And, you know, we're going to go talk to him," Harris says.

So after sifting through all the drama of Christa Helm's life, the myriad of lovers, the diary and the sex tapes, the tales of jealousy and betrayal, could it really be that detectives will discover that Christa was simply the victim of a random, late-night street robbery at the hands of a career criminal?

Christa's daughter Nicole, now 40, hopes that discovering the truth about the murder will finally bring solace.

All Nicole has to remember her mother by are a scrapbook, a couple of B movies, and the stuff nightmares are made of. "The end of one of her films, "The Legacy of Satan," she's stabbed to death at the end of the film. And that was a little eerie as well, 'cause that was quite a few years beforehand," Nicole says. "All I know is that she had told several people that she was terrified of knives. And she believed that was the way she was going to die."

But Nicole still has a child's hope that justice will somehow be served, even after all this time. "I believe that the person is still out there. And I believe that we're gonna find closure one day for my mom. And we're going to find justice. And I believe that this person is…they know that they did it. Someone knows that they did it. And we're ready."

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In the past year, Harris and Brandenburg have solved five other cold case murders in Los Angeles County.

If you have information on this case, please contact the homicide cold case unit at the Los Angeles County Sheriff'sDepartment at 323-890-5500.