IL IL - Barbara, 15, & Patricia Grimes, 13, Chicago, 27 Dec 1956

[Sherlock Jr]

I was living in Chicago back then and this case was a real shocker. The girls lived with their mother and other siblings in a mostly blue collar Irish Catholic neighborhood not far from where the mayor himself (Richard J. Daley) lived.

Their parents split when the girls were very young, and I believe that another sister had died a few years earlier in some accident, but I'm not sure of the details. As is too often the case when girls are raised with no father in the home, they aggressively sought attention from boys and men. I know their mother probably did her best, but the girls were likely a little too wild.

Out alone until midnight? Teenage girls were NEVER safe on the streets of Chicago at night -- not even during the 1950s. Read "A Walk on the Wild Side" by Nelson Ahlgren.

 

[Cubby]

I am chiming in late to this case. It's a case that has crossed my mind for years but I've been reluctant to bump without credible news.... (sleuthing credible versus non credible media in cold cases in IL is difficult at best.)

German Rd was not in Chicago city limits. It was actually closer to Rt 83 and I-55,. or off I-55. my step mother grew up not far from where the grimes sisters were found.

Of the little I have found and what my step mom shared, the sisters appear to have died from the elements.She said they were found up the block, doors down, (which in my childhood days meant right next door two doors down) I don't know a whole lot about the location of the theatre the girls were supposed to have visited that evening, but the location of where they were found is a long haul from the lake front and currently not considered the city. Even from Midway Airport, with no traffic driving at 60 it is still a good 20 minutes northwest by car.


Hmmm..

 

[Jenni979]

I want to ask you all what you think about something:

When I was in Grad school, and living in Chicago, I had a best friend that was having all sorts of issues and needed a place to stay, so I took her in. She was really close with her mother & by proxy, I became close with her mother...

One day my friend was telling her mother about how I was really into "true crime" and all that "stuff"... Her Mom said that she had a story that I just had to hear:

Mom said that when she was 5 (almost 6) years old she lived in the same apartments as Suzanne Degnan. She told me all about the murder & told me all about how she & Suzanne used to play together & they looked so much alike that people used to think that htey were twins.

I thought that was interesting and we talked a bit about William Heirens but she said her father was always obsessed with the case and would tell everyone who would listed how he was sure that Heirins was innocent.

About a year later the friend and I went on one of those "Haunted Chicago" tours and even though the actual Grimes Sister's home or crime scene were not on our tour, we passed Western and the guide told us a bit about it. The friend told me that her mom lived 2 doors down from the sisters and we should ask her about it.

So, we took the mom to brunch the next morning to pick her brain about the Grimes sisters... She said that she DID live 2 doors down from them and that she hung around with both of the sisters, but mostly Patricia because they were the same age. She said that she thought she may have some old pictures of her with Patricia & she would look for them.

About 2-3 weeks later the mom was driving the friend and I out to CostCo. When we were done she said that she had found the pics and when we got back to her house she would show us. They looked SO much alike it was odd! Now, I am not sure if it was just because they were both blonde, with the same hairstyle & same kind of clothing, but they did look very alike to me.

Now, I know I am probably reaching but how crazy is it that this lady lived 10 feet from Suzanne Degnan (was the same age and could have been her twin) when she was murdered & the same lady lived 20 feet from the Grimes Sisters when they were murdered (and was the same age as Patricia & looked very similar)???

Both cases were late December/early January...

I would LOVE to ask the mom more questions but our relationship kinda fell apart when her daughter went all "Single White Female" on me & I had to evict her, call the cops & then move accross the country.

 

[Walker]

I would LOVE to ask the mom more questions but our relationship kinda fell apart when her daughter went all "Single White Female" on me & I had to evict her, call the cops & then move accross the country.

What does "single White female" mean in this context? Do you mean that she was soliciting "dates" with strangers on some board?

 

[Jenni979]

What does "single White female" mean in this context? Do you mean that she was soliciting "dates" with strangers on some board?

No, like the movie... She started getting possessive & she took a pair of scisors to her own hair & cut it off to the root when I went off for the weekend. She said that she got "bored" without me...

 

[scriptgirl]

I really hope someone can get to the bottom of this. Such scant info on the web

 

[kline]

No, like the movie... She started getting possessive & she took a pair of scisors to her own hair & cut it off to the root when I went off for the weekend. She said that she got "bored" without me...

Wow.Cue the 'Twilight Zone' soundtrack music...it sounds like moving was a good idea!
That is interesting about her Mom though.Very strange.
This is a very interesting case.

 

[scriptgirl]

yes and one that really needs a good looking into by cold case detectives

 

[marycarney]

What an interesting case. I bet that, if this case happened today, DNA and surveillance cameras would have locked someone up-airtight- in about a week.

So sad for their family, my (almost) entire lifetime of not knowing.........

 

[scriptgirl]

Do they have any living relatives?

 

[Hbgchick]

Chiming in late, but this IS an interesting case. To the gal with the nutty roommate, do you think the mom was really telling the truth? Sounds like your roomie was a few beers short of a six pack and nuttiness does run in families. Maybe the mother was nuts too and just made all that stuff up about living next to the victims? It does sound pretty implausible.

 

[Hbgchick]

Edited to add - sorry, I didn't see the part about the picture. It STILL sounds implausable though.

 

[amber1]

http://www.prairieghosts.com/grimes.html
I stumbled across this case recently, I can't believe I haven't until now. Elvis Presley even asked for these girls to come home, which they did, but not the way anyone wanted.

 

[amber1]

Do they have any living relatives?

any answer to this yet?

 

[amber1]

I agree, such scant info on the internet for such a big crime that seemed to be well known when it happened (Elvis Presley even nationally pleaded for the girls' safe return). I know it was the '50s, and we had the internet decades later....but what about other early crimes with much popularity, like the Black Dahlia or the Zodiac Killer?

 

[scriptgirl]

The Zodiac commanded nationwide, worldwide attention as did the Black Dahlia. Those cases can't be compared to this one.

 

[STANDREID]

This was a very big case at the time at least here in the Midwest. It might have been as big as BD or Zodiac if only a supposed killer had written some letters with enclosed articles.

 

[amber1]

Yes Standreid, I agree. Perhaps that's what separates these. I still don't understand why this case isn't that big, but Zodiac and BD were in CA, the land of Hollywood, whereas this was just midwest.
@ scriptgirl: Yes, my point was that BD and Z did get national attention, it's just sad the Grimes' sisters did not, although I believe the glamour of CA might have had more influence vs a midwest town. The sister's deaths can measure up to the others in brutality, or maybe even surpass it.

 

[Snick1946]

On meaningless but interesting bit of trivia is that Sheriff Lohmann was politically damaged goods after this case. He went out on a limb and was continuing to insist the girls were runaways right up to the moment the bodies were found. I believe the girl's mom confronted him in an emotionally charged press conference afterward. He had planned to use the Sheriff's office as a steppingstone to run for governor- he did so anyway in 1960 and lost badly in the primary.

 

[Soulmagent]

No, like the movie... She started getting possessive & she took a pair of scisors to her own hair & cut it off to the root when I went off for the weekend. She said that she got "bored" without me...

Interesting.

Is the mother father still alive?

Might be worth looking to where they lived and when as there might be more victims who are just to close for comfort.

It would be interesting if the mother of your friend turned out to be close friends with the girl was was contacted by the grimes. As it was the younger girls classmate but not close friend. Plus would establish a common connection to a possible suspect and the victim.