Murder puzzle

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 9

Murder puzzle

NZPA-Reuter . New York

After a 10-day hiatus, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, will reopen today for 12 days of performances by the. Peking Opera amid tightened security and. continuing apprehension . over fhe. unsolved murder of a 31-year-old ' violinist " ■ last month during a performance of the .Berlin Ballet. The police reported no, important developments yesterday in the efforts to find the killer of violinist. Helen Hagnes, who . disappeared backstage < on the night of July 23 and was hurled to her death nude, bound, and gagged— in an airshaft from, the sixth-floor, roof -of the Opera House. The Berlin Ballet, which closed its . run at the Met. three days after the murder, completes its American tour in : Washington .' this week and is scheduled to return to Germany. All 116 members of the troupe have been questioned twice,’ and investigators . said that none would be asked to remain in the United States. ■The largest force of detectives assembled for a. murder in recent- years continues to work oh 1 the case. Three Weeks after the murder, investigators have found numerous clues and several ■ ’ key witnesses. Analysis' of some evidence by police laboratories and

the Medical Examiner’s office has added important information, and the 50 detectives working on the case have - begun to learn* many of the victim’s. movements on the night of the.murder. After playing in two of the evening’s,, four . ballets,. Miss Hagnes left, the orchestra pit during an intermission at 9.30 p.m. and went to, a basement lounge, where she told a colleague she, going to see Valery Panov, a .star .of the-. show, about stage-set work for,;her. husband,“ Janis ,Mintiks Fi a sculptor. She'left, the lounge/.about 9:40 p.m., but was not seen near Pahovts ? dressing ’ room. The r police; have ruled .out Panov Tand’ Mintiks ’ as'., suspects. Miss .Hagnes. was., seen shortly afterwards however, boarding a backstage, lift on the stage level with an unidentified plainly dressed, dark-haired white man, 25-to 35 years, old', 1 . \ : The two. were alone' as the lift descended . from . the stage. ; Moments later, a woman employee of the Met. heard “a commotion” through the elevator’s closed doors on - a different level. Miss Hagnes. who. died of skull fractures and other' injuries suffered in her fall from the roof, was not raped, according, to the Medical Examiner, but the police believe the killer’s motive was sexual.