This week The 1980s: The Deadliest Decade examines the murder of Helen Mintiks by the so-called Phantom Killer of the Opera, who turned out to be a young stage hand. It was July 23, 1980, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York when 31-year-old violinist Helen Hagnes Mintiks left the orchestra pit for a break around 9.30, it was the last time anyone would see her alive. Her body was found lying across a beam in a ventilation shaft behind the building and police quickly mounted a high profile investigation. Around a month later they arrested 22-year-old stage hand Craig...read more