The sisters went to the movies and disappeared into the water: under mysterious circumstances, their bodies were found only a month later.

A movie at the Brighton Cinema

On December 28, 1956, 15-year-old Barbara Grimes and her 13-year-old sister, Patricia, went to a nearby Brighton Cinema to see a movie with E. Presley’s “Love Me Tender.” Several witnesses confirmed that the sisters had indeed made it to the movies. Throughout the film, Patricia’s school friend Dorothy Weinert sat behind them. Later he also saw the sisters break into the movie at around 9 pm 30 minutes. queued to buy sandwiches. D. Weinert herself went home after the first part of the film.

Both sisters probably stayed to watch the second part of the movie and then disappeared.

When they didn’t show up at home until midnight, her mother, Loretta Grimes, was alarmed. He sent the other two of his sons to the nearest bus stop to wait for the sisters. Several buses arrived, but the girls did not get out of them. December 29, at approximately 2 pm night, his mother turned to the police. During the week, law enforcement agencies concluded that the girls were unlikely to have voluntarily fled the house.

Police investigation

In the following days, the police extended the investigation to the Chicago districts. They found a lot of people who saw both girls. It was even difficult for the police to analyze all the testimonies where and when the girls were seen.

Several people claimed to have seen sibling-looking girls board a bus heading east toward downtown Chicago. But no one saw the girls get off at any stop on this route.

A train controller said he saw a sister on a train near Chicago’s Glenview suburb.

A security guard who worked at night indicated that the night the sisters disappeared, two girls listened to his knee.

One of Patricia’s classmates reported seeing her in the company of two other girls passing a restaurant on the night of December 29. Barbara was not with her.

A restaurant employee reported seeing a similar image on the morning of December 30. He said the sisters were with a man and one of the girls appeared ill or intoxicated and needed help walking.

A hotel employee reported that the girls had stayed at his hotel for a short time. Another hotel employee said that he did not agree to rent them a room because they were very young.
A few days later, store clerks reported seeing sisters listening to recordings of Elvis Presley in their store.

The most mysterious incident occurred about two weeks after the girls disappeared. A classmate of Patricia received two strange phone calls before midnight. When the phone rang for the first time, the voice on the other end of the line was silent. During the second call, a voice very similar to Patricia’s exclaimed: “Sandra, is it you? Are you Sandra? The caller then hung up.

Remains found

The sisters’ fate became clear almost a month after their disappearance. On January 22, 1957, day laborer Leonard Prescott saw the frozen bodies of Barbara and Patricia in a deserted gutter in Willow Springs. Looks like they were brought here by car and taken out.

The search for the killer was complicated by disagreement between the three experienced pathologists who performed the autopsy and the chief investigator of the district court medical service about the time of death. Pathologists, examining the contents of the girls’ stomachs (who found traces of the last known food they ate), found that they may have died five hours after being seen at the Brighton Cinema. But Harry Glos, chief investigator for the Cook County Coroner’s Office, was convinced the girls could be alive until at least January 7 – he was confident of the weather conditions and the ice found on the sisters’ bodies, that could only be formed from body heat.

The cause of death itself was unclear due to the confusing and unclear wounds on the bodies. Experts concluded that the girls died of shock and cold, and many of the injuries seen on the bodies were caused by rodents. Mr. Glos told the media that there were many signs of violence on the sisters’ faces indicating that they had been beaten before their death. During the autopsy, they were also found to have sex, either voluntarily or against their will, before death (there were no signs of sexual abuse). Toxicological studies on the sisters’ bodies revealed no traces of alcohol, drugs or poisons.

Suspects in the murder of the Grimes sisters

The police carried out a thorough investigation and considered three possible main suspects.

Edward Bedwell, nicknamed Bennie, is a homeless man from Tennessee. He had confessed to the murder of his sisters, but later withdrew his words, claiming that the police forced him to confess.

Max Flame is a young man under 20 years of age. He pleaded guilty to double murder when he was examined by a polygraph. However, Illinois law prohibited polygraph tests for minors, so the police had to release him. Fleig later killed a woman and ended up in prison.

Walter Kranz is a man over 50 who has considered himself a clairvoyant. When the sisters’ bodies had not yet been found, he called the police and indicated that he had dreamed of their whereabouts. Later it was learned that the place he had told her corresponded very closely to the one where the girls’ remains had been found. The police questioned W. Kranz, but did not gather solid evidence against him.

Despite an extensive investigation into the case, the crime remained unsolved. The police questioned about 300,000. people, but did not identify the serious suspect.

Ray’s Johnson Study

Ray Johnson, a former retired Western Chicago police officer, became interested in the case in 2010 and launched his own informal investigation. He is convinced that it is still possible to clarify the frozen case. According to R. Johnson, a similar crime was committed in 1958: Charles Leroy Melquist killed 15-year-old Bonnie Leigh Scott. R. Johnson pointed out the similarities between these murders, but the police never questioned Ch. L. Melquisto about the murders of Barbara and Patricia Grimes. Johnson believes that with the help of the public, the case could still be resolved.