According to Getting Away with Murder, food in the girls stomachs indicated that they'd eaten 3-6 hours before their deaths but it doesn't say what the food was; does anyone know? Supposedly they ate popcorn at the theater or were at least seen in line at the concession stand.
The girls reportedly sat, just with each other, through two screenings of the Presley movie. That doesn't sound like a pair of "wild" girls to me.
The best book I have found for the details of the case is Tamara Shaffer's "Murder Gone Cold". Shaffer spent years researching the information and interviewed the family numerous times for her work. It is available on Amazon.
Shaffer indicated that the dinner the girls ate consisted of mixed white and sweet potatoes and canned tuna, which was Barbara's favorite. This was followed with chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Patricia did not eat nearly as much as Barbara. On the way to the theater, they were accosted by the Red/Black car as I alluded to in an earlier post. However, they apparently got on the Archer Avenue bus without further incident and arrived at the Brighton theater in time for the movie.
Contrary to most accounts, there was a double feature playing at the Brighton. Love Me Tender, which was the early movie and The Opposite Sex, which was the later.
If we use the time they were seen in the popcorn line for reference, we can determine other times associated with the girls. They were seen in the line at 9:30. Love Me Tender which had just ended ran for 89 minutes. If we allow for a bathroom break and taking their time arriving in the popcorn line, that puts us at about 7:45 start time for the Elvis movie, which is consistent with their leaving home at around 7:20 and taking the bus the short distance to the show..
If I recall, movie intermissions lasted around twenty minutes or so, followed by previews of upcoming movies and a couple of cartoons before the next movie started.
Here is where the story gets murky.
There was a third girl sitting with them through the Elvis movie. She has come forward and is still alive. I will not name her for reasons to follow.
According to the third girl.....when the Elvis movie ended, the Grimes girls went to the lobby and she stayed behind. She indicated that the theater was virtually empty during this time. An older man sat next to her, which scared her because she didn't understand why he sat there with the entire theater being empty. Soon thereafter, he reached over and took her hand and put it in his lap. His penis was exposed and he began rubbing her hand on it with his. She was too terrified to react. After a short time he let her go, offered to buy her candy and left. She never moved and never saw him again.
When the Grimes girls returned, she said nothing of the event and she doesn't recall if they brought popcorn back with them. The three stayed for the cartoons then left before the next feature started. The three girls left together at (by my estimation) no later than 10:00. They proceeded eastbound on Archer Avenue and after walking a few blocks a black car pulled up in front of them on a cross street.
A man was alone in the car and offered the three girls a ride home. They accepted, and all three got into the back seat. According to the third girl (who sat behind the driver) there was little conversation other than he asked if the girls went to Kelly High School as they passed it. As they approached the intersection of Archer and Pershing, the driver made an abrupt right turn then another abrupt left into an alley. Coincidentally, that particular alley was behind the home of the third girl. The alley was full of potholes so the car went slowly. The third girl saw a neighbor of hers emptying garbage in the alley and she panicked because she feared that he would tell her father that she was in a car with a strange man, so she quickly exited the car.
She doesn't remember any particular fear of the driver and the Grimes girls were acting normal in the seat next to her. After she exited the vehicle, she quickly went into her home. She heard of the disappearance the next day and became terrified that the police and her father would find out she was in the car. The police came to her home the next day as the neighbor had apparently seen her exiting the car. She denied that she was with the girls to the cops and it was left at that. She described the driver as in his twenties, dark hair and taller. She didn't see his face clearly since she sat right behind him.
As for the girls being wild...
A Facebook group was formed dedicated to the case. Many people had come forward who knew the family and the girls in particular. They recall the sisters as being wild and keeping their own hours. I have alluded to this earlier in the thread.
Here is a series of images associated with the case.
First is the Grimes home at the time of the diasppearance.
Mother Loretta Grimes is sitting out front. The family lived upstairs.
Next, is the same home as it looks today. A construction company remodelled their home for free after the murders.
Here is the Brighton Theater as it looked in the fifties.
Here is the intersection of Archer Avenue and Pershing Rd. where the car containing the three girls made an abrupt right turn.
Here is the alley where the car made the turn behind the third girl's home. (She lived in the apartment building on the left.)
