By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BURLINGTON - The original detective assigned to find Helen Marlene Major's killer took the stand Wednesday to describe how he approached the investigation.

Florence police detective Bruce Graham, who is being sued in civil court by the victim's children, said the case was originally considered a missing person investigation.

Graham said his suspicions were raised that foul play was involved in the disappearance after he was given Mrs. Major's diary.

"What was in the diary was indications that Mr. Major was molesting his son," Graham said.

William Alexander Major, 59, of Fairhaven, Mass., could be sentenced to life in prison if he is found guilty of murder and tampering with physical evidence. Prosecutors say Major killed his wife 23 years ago in Verona after she found out he was molesting their young son.

Helen Major's skull was recovered in 1981, more than a year after her disappearance, on a farm on which Major had done some handiwork. It took the advent of modern DNA analysis to positively identify the skull because the teeth had been removed.

Major's two children filed a civil suit in April 2002 against Graham and the city of Florence. The children allege the city and Graham failed to notify officials in two states that they were in the custody of a child molester. In the suit, the children allege the lack of notification exposed them to years of repeated sexual abuse by their father.

Major has convictions in Campbell County and Rhode Island on child sex abuse charges. Prosecutors in the murder trial say Major abused both of his children, who are now 27 and 31.

Major, who suffered a stroke in April 1995, sat through the third day of the trial in Boone Circuit Court with a white bath towel draped over his shoulders.

Defense attorney Edward Drennen, who is representing Major, has said his client could not have killed his wife. Drennen has implied Major couldn't remember incidents in his life before the stroke and questions why he would make alleged confessions to the killing only after his stroke - more than 15 years after his wife disappeared.

Many of the 10 woman and four men making up the jury have taken notes as they have heard testimony from former friends of Major, Mrs. Major's sister and a DNA expert.

Two former friends of the couple testified that Major used to say he would never let his wife leave. Jeff Webster said Major told him he had two dogs that could help him get rid of the evidence.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com