FARGO — The Forum has obtained search warrant documents that state Brenda Kartes, whose skeletal remains were found in August near the Red River, told an acquaintance that she was afraid a man she knew would kill her if she ever said anything about him.

The information is contained in documents that were filed in Cass County District Court.

Brenda Kartes was 31 when she went missing in July 2018 after signing out of Centre Inc., a drug treatment facility where she was living at the time.

The search warrant documents filed in early September quote a Centre Inc. official as stating that when Kartes signed herself out of the facility on July 12, 2018, she said she was going to the Red Carpet car wash near 34th Street and 13th Avenue South in Fargo, which according to the documents was a business people sometimes went to to make phone calls if they didn't have a phone of their own.

According to the same search warrant information, in August 2018 an acquaintance of Kartes told a Cass County social worker that Kartes had confided to her that Kartes knew a man named Steve Helm and that Kartes feared Helm would kill her if he ever found out Kartes had said something about him.

listen live watch live

The search warrant documents state police obtained a record of phone calls to and from the Red Carpet car wash between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. on the day Kartes signed out of Centre Inc.

Contacted Monday, Helm declined to comment for this story.

A story The Forum ran in early September contained information obtained by reporter Kim Hyatt, who interviewed Helm about his connections to Kartes.

Helm is described in the story as having been at one time Kartes' boyfriend and employer.

Helm, 41, told The Forum he met Kartes about a year before her disappearance and he maintained he had nothing to do with her disappearance or death.

Helm, owner of an adult entertainment and exotic dancer business called Sinful Desires, said someone referred Kartes to him for work and he told The Forum Kartes first reached out to him over Facebook, where he recruits women for escort services, private events and parties.

Kartes was last seen July 12, 2018, leaving Centre Inc. on foot by herself around 1:30 p.m.

On Aug. 29, 2019, police announced that skeletal remains found the previous week near the Red River in south Fargo belonged to Kartes.

Police have said evidence found where the remains were discovered lead them to believe Kartes' death is suspicious, but that a medical examiner was not able to determine her manner of death. Police have said investigators have "persons of interest," but they have not publicly named them.

On Monday, Sept. 30, Cass County served The Forum with a subpoena and supporting documents that asked the newspaper to provide the Cass County State's Attorney's Office with copies of all recorded interviews with Helm, including all notes from such interviews.

The application for the subpoena said it was in connection with an inquiry to gather information concerning an investigation of promoting prostitution occurring between Jan. 1, 2018 and July 12, 2018.

Forum Editor Matthew Von Pinnon said late Monday afternoon that the newspaper was still considering how it would respond to the subpoena.

Nude photo shoot along the river

In The Forum story that ran in early September, a Fargo police investigator was quoted as stating police knew Kartes worked for Helm and that police were aware of Sinful Desires. The investigator declined to say, however, whether police considered Helm to be a person of interest or suspect in the case.

In his interview with The Forum, Helm said that on the day Kartes went missing he was painting his SUV. The next day, he said he drove south of Fargo to take outdoor nude photos along the river, likely the Wild Rice River and somewhere secluded. He said he could not recall whether he was alone or with someone else.

Helm said in his interview with The Forum that he submitted to a polygraph test and he claimed to have voluntarily given police his cellphone, which he said contains personal information about his clientele.

In January, police obtained a warrant to search Helm's phone while he was in jail on an unrelated offense, according to one of several search warrants connected to Kartes' case that have been filed in Cass County District Court.

An agent with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and a Fargo police officer interviewed Helm at that time.

"During our meeting with Helm, he refused to provide any information he had regarding Brenda, stating the police were getting paid to investigate this case and he was doing it for free," the officers stated, according to court records.