The crime that changed Chicago: The tragic death of Barbara and Patricia Grimes

On December 28, 1956, sisters Barbara and Patricia Grimes, two of Joseph Cornelius and Lorretta Marcela’s seven children, decided to watch Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender at a Brighton Park theater. Barbara, 15, and Patricia, 12, were not only close sisters but also diligent students at Thomas Kelly High School and St. Maurice’s Catholic School, respectively. They were enthusiastic fans of Presley and had recently joined his fan club. It was their eleventh time seeing this particular film. Leaving home around 7:30 p.m., they assured their mother they would return before midnight.

The Brighton Theater was situated roughly one-and-a-half miles from the Grimes sisters’ McKinley Park residence. Barbara and Patricia likely had around $2.50 currency. Barbara was told to keep fifty cents in the zipper of her wallet in case they decided to watch the second screening of the film. Although it is uncertain how the sisters got to the Brighton Theater that day, they typically either walked or took a bus .
During the film, Dorothy Weinert, a school friend of Patricia, was seated behind the Grimes sisters along with her younger sister. They left the theater at the intermission of the double feature around 9:30 p.m. Dorothy noticed Barbara and Patricia queuing to buy popcorn as they departed. The sisters appeared to be in good spirits, and neither Dorothy nor her sister observed anything unusual in their behavior.

After watching the second screening of Love Me Tender, both sisters were expected to be back home around 11:45 p.m. However, when they hadn’t returned by midnight, their mother, Lorretta, sent their older sister, Theresa (17), and brother Joey (14), to wait at the nearest bus stop for their arrival. Despite three buses passing by without the girls getting off, Theresa and Joey eventually returned home. Lorretta had already contacted the girls’ friends without success. Seeing Theresa and Joey back home without the sisters, Lorretta Grimes reported them missing to the Chicago Police Department at 2:15 a.m. on December 29.

Grimes House Then

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Grimes House Now

On January 22, 1957, as the recent snowfall rapidly melted, construction worker Leonard Prescott noticed what he described as “flesh-colored things” behind a guardrail as he drove along a rural country road called German Church Road, about 200 feet east of County Line Road in unincorporated Willow Springs. Initially uncertain about what he had seen and thinking they might be mannequins, Prescott returned to the location with his wife Marie, who fainted upon seeing the figures up close. To their horror, they discovered that the forms were actually the frozen, nude bodies of the Grimes sisters. The Prescotts immediately notified the Willow Springs Police Department of their find.

The girls’ bodies lay upon a flat, horizontal section of snow-covered ground directly behind the guard rail, which extended for just 10 feet (3.0 m) before the incline of the embankment of Devil’s Creek.^[33]Barbara lay on her left side, with her legs drawn slightly up toward her torso. Patricia lay on her back, with her body covering her sister’s head, and her own head turned sharply to the right.^[5] It is believed the sisters had most likely been driven to this location in a car, with their bodies then being dragged or lifted out of the vehicle, then placed or thrown behind the guard rail.^[15] Three wounds resembling those typically inflicted by ice picks were discovered upon Barbara’s chest and injuries resembling blunt force trauma were visible upon her face and head,^[34] while numerous injuries resembling bruises were discovered upon Patricia’s face and body.^[35] The girls’ father, Joseph Grimes, was driven to the crime scene to formally identify both bodies

After Joseph positively identified the bodies, more than 160 police officers from various suburban Chicago police departments, along with numerous local volunteers, conducted a search of the crime scene. The Forest Preserves also assisted in the search. However, little to no tangible evidence related to the crime was found. The potential connection of any item discovered at the crime scene to the murders has never been established. The organization of the search was later criticized for allowing untrained individuals to potentially destroy any evidence that may have been present at the location.

Grave of Barbara and Patricia (Then)