MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO: A pair who lost their lives during a fight with cops involving guns have been called drug addicts by their family and it has also been claimed that they preferred to die instead of going to jail. Rodney Helman, 54, and his 51-year-old wife Elaine, reportedly died on Wednesday, August 2, after being involved in a long chase that also saw them hijacking a semi-truck in Ohio and kidnapping its driver.
Now, the younger brother of Rodney and his cousin have shared more about them, including their criminal history. On Thursday, August 3 Richard Helman told DailyMail.com that days before their deaths, Rodney had spoken to his cousin. “He told our cousin that he'll never go back to jail, that he'd die before he goes back to jail," the brother mentioned.
Did Ohio carjackers plan their death?
The 51-year-old man continued, “So I believe they had it planned that if they got cornered again, they were going to go out by suicide by cops.” The brothers’ cousin, Regina Crosley, also shared, “They had made the comment 'suicide by cop' before, to be honest with you. They knew they had warrants in Ohio.”
“They assumed that one day they would get pulled over and go to jail. They made up their mind that they were not going to be separated and they were not going to go back to jail. And it looks like that's the way it went down,” Crosley reportedly disclosed, who also went on to say that Rodney and Elaine were bothered about not being able to use drugs inside the prison cell.
The 56-year-old said, “I encouraged them to stop using the drugs. I truly believe the fear of not having their medicine and being sick was part of their not wanting to go back to jail. I'm the one member of the family they were closest to. We've been together since we were born, like brother and sister. I know it looks bad and is really bad,” before adding, “I'm sure the trucker was scared to death. But I know in my heart they did everything they could to protect him.”
‘He wasn't doing any good for anybody’
Sharing one of the incidents about his now-deceased brother and sister-in-law, Richard told the publication, “When he stayed with my mom when they lived in Kentucky, my mom said that at like 3 in the morning, Rodney would be cleaning walls and cleaning floors and Elaine would be outside killing bugs. I mean, you just don't do that unless you're on some type of major drug.”
He also stated, “Obviously, he wasn't doing any good for anybody. All they were doing is harming people, stealing from people. They were both strung out on drugs real bad,” before revealing that a number of arrest warrants were out for the late couple. But they used to use different people’s identities to escape cops.
“The last time Rodney did it was in Franklin, Ohio and he gave police my name and part of my social security number. Then a couple of weeks later, I'm coming off the exit in Troy, Ohio, and a cop pulled me over and then all of a sudden three other cruisers surrounded me thinking I was him. It took me about two hours to clear up and I was let go,” Richard said as he noted, “Last night is the third or fourth time that he fled from the police and gave a false name.”
The brother also expressed his feelings after the Wednesday incident as he added, “I don't know how to feel, I'm just kind of glad to see this all came to an end. Obviously, they were desperate. It had to come to an end one way or the other. It's sad this is the way it was. I'm glad that none of the police officers and the truck driver were seriously injured or killed because obviously, he wasn't going out without a fight.”
