Barbara and Patricia Grimes | |
|---|---|
 Barbara (left) and Patricia Grimes (right) c. 1956 | |
| Born | Barbara Jeanne Grimes May 5, 1941 Patricia Kathleen Grimes December 31, 1943 |
| Disappeared | December 28, 1956 Brighton Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 28 or 29, 1956 |
| Cause of death | Secondary shock. Murder[n 1] |
| Body discovered | January 22, 1957 Willow Springs, Illinois, U.S. |
| Resting place | Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois, U.S. 41°41′13″N 87°45′41″W / 41.686806°N 87.761269°W |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Occupation | Students |
| Known for | Murder victims |
The murder of the Grimes sisters is an unsolved double murder that occurred in Chicago, Illinois, on December 28, 1956, in which two sisters named Barbara and Patricia Grimes—aged 15 and 12[n 2] respectively—disappeared while traveling from a Brighton Park movie theater to their home in McKinley Park. Their disappearance initiated one of the largest missing persons investigations in the history of Chicago.[2] The girls' nude bodies were discovered alongside a deserted road in Willow Springs on January 22, 1957.[3]
Although the sisters' autopsy reports concluded they had been murdered within five hours of their last confirmed sighting, and that both girls had died of secondary shock, numerous individuals attested to having seen the girls alive in the weeks between the night of December 28 and the subsequent discovery of their bodies.[4]
The murder of the Grimes sisters has been described by authors as a crime that "shattered the innocence" of Chicago.[5] This case is also acknowledged as one of the most labor-intensive missing person and murder investigations in Cook County,[6] and remains one of Chicago's most infamous cold cases.[7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=n> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=n}} template (see the help page).
- ^ The Two Lost Girls: The Mystery of the Grimes Sisters ISBN 978-1-892-52398-3 p. 11
- ^ "Sixty Years Later, the Case of the Elvis Presley-loving Grimes Sisters' Murders Remains Cold". New York Daily News. December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
- ^ Shaffer, Tamara (March 20, 1997). "Death and the Maidens". Chicago Reader. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
- ^ "3634 South Damen Avenue to 4223 South Archer Avenue, Chicago, Illinois". MapQuest.
- ^ The Two Lost Girls: The Mystery of the Grimes Sisters ISBN 978-1-892-52398-3 p. 7
- ^ "Chicago Grimes Sisters' Murders Hit 59 Years Without Answers". NBC News. January 7, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ^ Johnson, Ray (December 27, 2012). "New Information on Disappearance of Grimes Sisters: Chicago's Most Infamous Cold Case" – via chicagonow.com.