The Thing About Helen & Olga - Ep. 4: Girl Talk

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0:44If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering, and 24-7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. It's accepted wisdom among tellers of tales, both fictional and true, that even hardened criminals are guided by some code of conduct. It's an enduring notion, the idea that somewhere, even in the most corrupted soul, there beats a heart true to its own values. Even if the only unbreakable rule is don't rat out your friend. But future screenwriters hoping to apply even a low-bar patina of honor to the story of Helen Golay and Olga Rutter-Schmidt will have their work cut out for them.

1:43There's no doubt in my mind that they were going to continue this as long as the large sums of money were flown from the insurance companies. They lied. They cheated. And if the LAPD was to be believed, they had killed for money. Tough customers, these two old ladies. But Helen Gauley? Well, crusty cops considered her the worst. If she was a young man, she would be referred to as just one of the scariest killers this country's ever seen. In this episode, you'll hear recordings investigators uncovered that reveal crimes as they are being committed. And you are a 48-year-old male, date of birth 11-12 of 1954.

2:36Right. Approximately 5 '11", weight 185 pounds. And you applied for a$100 ,000 life plan. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. You'll eavesdrop on conversations that prove there was no honor between these thieves. We're going to go to jail. They're going to lock you up. And you'll have a ringside seat to a dramatic confrontation between these two partners in crime. Something we at Dateline had never seen before. Why did you make all these extra insurances? Too many you had. There's a limit. You can't do that many. I'm Keith Morrison, and this is the fourth episode of Dateline's newest podcast, The Thing About Helen and Olga.

3:35The Takedown of Helen and Olga in May 2006 was a well-orchestrated affair. We had LAPD out in force, detectives, Metro Squad, we had FBI, Postal, we had Department of Insurance. That's Special Agent Sam Mayrose, a.k.a. FBI Sam. I mean, if you look like an able-bodied person standing anywhere in the area, I think you almost got recruited at that point. Overkill? Hardly. LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said Helen's place was a virtual Fort Knox. They are little old gals, but you don't know if somebody lives with them that is a little more of a threat to you. So we have to be careful. I just won't go.

4:25I don't know what's going on. My daughter's going to be wondering what's happening. Who else is in the house? Nobody. What's happening? I've never had a plan. I'm just going in my life. I don't have my purse. I don't have anything. I don't know what's going on. What have I done?

4:44Though federal agents ultimately made the arrests on mail fraud charges, the feds did not take Helen and Olga to the Federal Processing Center downtown. No, by prior agreement, the ladies were briefly taken to Parker Center, the old LAPD headquarters down the street from the federal courts and the U.S. Attorney's offices. It was here that the women were placed alone in an interrogation room that was wired for video and sound. All right, ladies, the people that are going to transport you over to the federal processing system will be here in a few minutes, all right? We're going to be in and out.

5:22Our attorney, please. Hang on, hang on. The plain white room was awash in a harsh fluorescent light. The only decoration, the lucky horseshoe nailed over a door behind Olga. Lucky? Well, yes, it was. For the cops. because seconds after Detective Kilcoyne left the room, Olga, now dressed in a white striped pullover, unloaded on Helen. Helen, that's your fault. You cannot make that many insurances. It's on your name only. Three different extra insurances. Though Helen, in a sleek black pantsuit, sat with her back to the camera, one can imagine the wintry scowl she trained on her partner. I want to ask for a different location if you're going to talk.

6:12I don't want to talk. Don't talk to me. But it's three insurances on your head. I don't want to talk to you. Just the conversation Detective Kilcoyne was hoping for, planning for, in fact, as he told me later. Olga, because of her talkative personality. You kind of expected she would. We figured that she was going to run her mouth a little bit in there. Yes, the cops knew their suspects well. Supply enough rope and wait for them to hang themselves. Metaphorically, that is. You did all these assurances extra. That's what raised the suspicion. Stupidity. You should have a good relationship with me.

6:52That would not happen. So really what she's saying is, Ellen, you're too greedy. Exactly. Your greed has gotten us into this. It's your fault that we're here. So much bile. So much resentment. How had such a lengthy and profitable partnership come to this? Greed, of course. Investigators knew from insurance company records that Helen and Olga had been jockeying to undercut each other ever since the day Kenneth McDavid came under their control. McDavid was a cash cow, and they intended to feed like hyenas on a carcass. Telephone interview department, this is Brandy. How may I help you? Oh, my goodness, this is a long way.

7:37You must be busy. In this call, recorded by one of the insurance companies, we get a glimpse of Helen Golay in action. The date is September 29, 2003, nearly a year and a half before Kenneth McDavid would be crushed to death in a dark alley. Okay, let me give you the information. This is the secretary, and then I'll put him on the line for you. This is application number GB5399481, and it's for Kenneth E. McDavid. You said McDavid? Uh-huh. Hold one moment, let me pull that application. Thank you. The lies roll off her tongue. Fictions so familiar, they're almost like a second skin. Okay, thank you for holding.

8:26And you said Mr. McDavid is going to be on the line? Yeah, you have everything ready for me? Yes. because he was on another call. Now came the tricky part. Somehow, Helen would have to produce Kenneth. Ken?

8:41Hello, this is Mr. McDavid. Can I help you? Mr. McDavid, this is Brandy from United Investors. Yes. Your secretary called us so that you could do your telephone interview. Are you prepared to do the interview at this time? Yes. Okay. This call will be taped and monitored for purposes of quality control, okay? Mm-hmm. Your address is listed as 424 Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica, California. Right. Helen Gauley. Your fiancé is listed as your beneficiary. Right. What's your occupation? Investor. None of that is true, of course. Kenneth McDavid, a homeless man who hasn't held a job in years, has no secretary.

9:21He has no fiancé. He doesn't live in Santa Monica, and according to his sister Sandra, That isn't his voice? Okay. And what's your state of birth? New York. I think I'll just find the application. Right, we're verifying the application. What did you think when you heard that voice? It's obviously a woman's voice. And obviously not your brother? Obviously not my brother. Ken's voice is a deep voice. He has a good, deep radio voice. No, that wasn't Kenneth. It was Helen. No doubt you'll have noticed that Helen made no mention of her partner, Olga, in that call. Even though on most of their life insurance applications, Olga was a blood relation of Kenneth, his cousin from the Hungarian side of the family.

10:14No, Helen Dole was going rogue on this call, cutting her partner out of the action. Any payout from this policy would be hers. and hers alone. So it's definitely not a friendly situation all the time. It wasn't the first time, said the FBI's Sam Mayrose. Helen did the same thing with the policies on Paul Vadas. And it was kind of interesting because together on Paul, they both owned four policies for just about$740 ,000. And then Helen, without Olga's knowledge, bought three more policies valued about$90 ,000. Oh, the treachery of it all. And it gets worse. As Kenneth McDavid's life neared its expiration date in June of 2005, each partner tried to undercut the other.

11:11I want to change the beneficiary. I'm sorry, I'm going to go around the other. I'm going to go around the other. In the future, is there anyone who can put any kind of a code on the internet? that others, anyone else that called in would not be able to have taxed? The date of this call is June 6, 2005, two weeks before Kenneth McDavid would be crushed to death. Yet, even at this late date, Helen is surreptitiously trying to have Olga's name removed from a policy so that she, Helen, will be the only beneficiary once Kenneth McDavid is dead. I have you as an owner and also Olga, and we're going to make some changes on that.

11:59So the phone should come to me, not to her. Helen, you will need her signature. The only other way we could possibly do this, and I don't know, I guess it would be a brand new policy. The reason I ask my question about anyone calling in, is we've had a little bit of reorganization in our business. A reorganization? There aren't many ways to reorganize a two-women tag team. Still, in this call, Helen is working every angle and is apparently concerned that if she doesn't shiv Olga first, Olga will surely shiv her. Olga, for example, has all the other owners. She has all the information on me, my social security number, my everything I've had, so she wouldn't be able to call in.

12:49or if she gave that to someone else, they'd be able to call in, posing as we had, get all the information. So that's when I wondered what security methods you might have. Helen's fear that Olga might try to cheat her was not unfounded. Olga had, on occasion, ratted out Helen, contacted insurance companies, and reported her own partner for insurance fraud. Olga, I think, started cluing in and was getting pretty angry, and that's when she started getting her own policies separate from Helen. It was an ongoing game, said FBI agent Sam Mayrose. Cheat versus cheat. Found a letter that Olga wrote that pretty much said that Helen was claiming to be, I think it was married to somebody and she wasn't.

13:33She was trying to get policies and Olga thought something needed to be done about it. Like, boy, I just, thanks, Olga. So much tension and distrust smoldering beneath the surface. Little wonder, then, that on the day law enforcement dropped the hammer on Helen and Olga, all that anger and mistrust suddenly burst into an open flame. I know, but you found that our relationship ended up like this because what you did. Of course I got angry. Oh, yes, quite the cozy confab going on in that interrogation room. It had investigators hanging on every word. All they're after is mail fraud. All the insurance companies are claiming that jointly mail fraud.

14:22Yes. They have nothing else. And they will confiscate the money what they paid you and me. Be quiet. Who cares? Who cares? We have nothing left.

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17:17The End

17:33things and it will be everything all right. Do you realize what you're saying? That's greediness. And you had better be quiet. As Detective Kilkoin sat watching the video feed of Helen and Olga in the interrogation room, he knew this was good. So good, in fact, he was concerned a judge might consider the circumstances as a form of entrapment and therefore not allow the tape to be played at trial. So, from time to time, the detective re-entered the room as a reminder to the women that they were under arrest and not just shooting the breeze at home. You all right? Mm-hmm. Feel better without the handcuffs on?

18:14Yeah, because they really do. We don't want any misperception that they, oh, they forgot they were in a police station because of their age or whatever. So I come in every couple minutes to let them see my face. The cautionary cameos had no effect. As soon as Detective Kilcoyne left the room, the conversation resumed. I just want to tell you one thing. You better be quiet. You better be quiet. But you better be quiet. I tell you something. One insurance company, Mutual of New York, or Money, seemed to be very much on the women's minds that day. Remember, it was Mutual of New York that had sent Ed Webster to investigate those two Kenneth McDavid policies.

18:59And it was Ed Webster who had personally delivered the news to them that money was not going to pay off on their million-dollar claim. But who started the mail for money? All of them. Money did this. I told you that will happen. Money is going to pay a big price. Now be careful what you're saying in here. Money is going to be sued to the gills. My shares have to be sued too because we are partners. You're not in your half. You're taking care of your half. So what's your attorney's name? Miller. Miller? Yeah, it's no secret. Ask him to represent both of us. I already told him, no, only me. Fine, okay.

19:43But I cannot... Even as Detective Kilcoyne watched the video feed of the women bickering and blaming, he knew something was missing. A lot of talk about insurance, but not one word about murder. The detective had two murders on his plate, Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid. With zero physical evidence connecting Helen and Olga to those deaths, what he needed was some incriminating comment. So once again, the detective and an associate entered the interrogation room. Helen, I couldn't believe this morning they broke. Okay, like I said, very shortly now... This time, the goal was to give their conversation a nudge.

20:34So, as the detectives spoke to each other, they let the ladies know there was more than mail fraud on the menu. Do you want to say, Gnuchus, please? No, no, that's for something else. No, no, no, that's part of the murder investigation, not part of this investigation, so... Murder investigations? That should have gotten their attention. But Helen and Olga didn't react to the prompt. As soon as the detective left the room, they picked up right where they'd left off. Now one thing, listen to me. Regardless, whatever you feel, angry or not angry, we have to cooperate. We have to attack money together.

21:15The truce didn't last long. Soon Olga was back on the attack, berating Helen over the additional insurance policies she'd accrued. Why did you make all these goddamn extra insurances? Too many you had. There's a limit. You can't do that many. You were greedy. That's the problem. That's why I got angry. We had no problem with the relationship. You pay me and be nice and don't make extra things. I was doing everything for you. Listen, you are talking. You're fault. I know, but you're fault that our relationship ended up like this, and you ended up like this. Yes, I know. But admit it was your fault.

21:58Because what you did, of course I got angry. I think it would have occurred with money no matter what. Money would have done this no matter what. Not if you didn't have the AA and the Garden State. You had another one. Three extra you had. Yes, of course I did. How nice of you, huh? I paid for that. You don't listen to me, Helene. The big mistake. You're not. That's almost better than a confession. Oh, they're putting the noose around her neck right now. Listen, you are wasting your time and energy with this. We're going to go to jail, honey. They're going to lock you up. There are things out.

22:37This is male crime, and it's not a$2 million bill. Can you pay? I'm going to jail.

22:45It was then, about 12 minutes into this little heart-to-heart, that Helen decided to reframe the whole narrative. This wasn't their fault, Helen declared. No, not at all. Their current troubles were actually Kenneth McDavid's fault. After all, the insurance policies were his idea, right? She needed Olga's buy-in, but Olga wasn't having it. If Kenneth wanted these policies, he signed for these policies, and we have them to be punished because of what he wanted. That's not right. Now remember the bottom line. I was the cousin, you're the fiancé, Baloney. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Though Detective Kilcoyne had promised the women they would only be in that room a few minutes, it had now been more than 20 minutes, and neither was losing steam.

23:42This was not a conversation. It was a grievance download. I should have taken the plane last month and get the f*** out of the room, go back to Europe. See the greediness that you get into this? In addition to wishing she'd gone to Europe, Olga told Helen she'd given some thought to striking out for Canada to set up a new business there, a new franchise, as it were. Same, similar setup, you understand? I wanted a new business. I understand. I wanted a new business for$2 million, but since we're not in talking term, and the other investors not as suitable as you, that's what I had in my mind. She's all f***ed up now.

24:27Helen, on the other hand, seemed less intent on woulda, shoulda, coulda and more focused on getting their narratives in line for the coming trial. She seemed to understand that she and Olga would likely never again be able to strategize together. You have to remember the bottom line is this, whatever Ken have wanted, he did. Kenneth wanted all of this. He wanted. You've got to remember. Yeah, he wanted, I know, of course. And he wanted it. Why? I don't know. And what his philosophy was. If he planned to keep these enforced. We supported, honey. We supported him. I don't know where all of Kenneth's money came from and neither did you.

25:06We supported him. We gave him money, yes. Our money was intermixed. Yeah. it was combined all of our monies were combined when he needed money I gave him money you gave him money whatever but you have to remember I don't know where Kenneth got his money from as far as I know he always seemed to have money in his pockets no he was a writer you know what I wanted I think he was paid under the table this is just conversation between you and me Kenneth always had plenty of money in his pocket and he liked for me to pay the bills and he reimbursed me when he could But in appreciation, why did he make the life insurance?

25:44Why? Because he loved us and he wanted to be a part of our family. And I support that he was financially very heavily. And he wanted us to do business together. And he loved both of us. Finally, an agreement on something which sparked one more question. Helen to Olga. Kind of important. What would the police find when they searched Olga's apartment? Do you know that they're in there ransacking through your house, your apartment, anything? I know, in my computer, yes. Everything. Horrible, horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. But all kinds of documents? All kinds of documents. Are they going to find anything bad on your computer?

26:31Well, not too many, no, no. But I have other things. Yes. Other things? Oh, yes, there were plenty of other things. And the homicide detectives would have to inspect all of them with a fine-tooth comb. Why? Because as incriminating as Helen and Olga's encounter on insurance fraud charges was, it wasn't the murder confession Detective Kilcoyne had been hoping for. No, building murder cases against Helen and Olga would have to be done the new old-fashioned way, by studying the security cameras that were aimed at one of the crime scenes.

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