The Grimes sisters
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois · December 28, 1956
Two Elvis-loving sisters slipped into a Chicago winter night to see Love Me Tender and never came home, sparking one of the largest missing-persons hunts in the city's history.
Overview
On December 28, 1956, sisters Barbara Grimes, 15, and Patricia Grimes, 12, left their McKinley Park home around 7:30 p.m. to see the Elvis Presley film Love Me Tender at the Brighton Theater in Chicago and never returned. Their disappearance triggered one of the largest missing-persons investigations in Chicago history. Their frozen, nude bodies were found on January 22, 1957, off German Church Road near Willow Springs, Illinois, in Cook County. A drifter named Edward Lee 'Bennie' Bedwell confessed to the killings but later recanted, and the charges against him were dropped after his account conflicted with the physical evidence. The case officially remains unsolved.
Where it stands
The murders officially remain unsolved and the matter is still an open case. Several people drew police scrutiny over the years, but no one has ever been charged and convicted. Edward Lee 'Bennie' Bedwell, charged in January 1957 after signing a confession he later recanted, had all charges dropped on March 4, 1957, after autopsy findings and a workplace timecard contradicted his account; per Wikipedia he died in November 1972. According to A&E, on the 18th anniversary of the disappearance the lone detective assigned from the start again told the media police had no credible suspects.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Edward Lee 'Bennie' Bedwell, a drifter who confessed then recantedCleared
Bedwell signed a 14-page confession in January 1957 but recanted, testifying he confessed under threats and coercion; per Wikipedia all charges were dropped on March 4, 1957 after autopsy findings and a workplace timecard contradicted his account. He died in November 1972.[1]
Sources
- Murder of the Grimes sisters
“All charges filed against Bedwell would be officially dropped on March 4 due to the numerous inconsistencies in his confession in relation to the physical and circumstantial evidence obtained and determined.”
- The Unsolved Murders of Sisters Barbara and Patricia Grimes
“When the pair failed to return by midnight, Lorretta Grimes called the police.”
- The Joy Ride that May Still Hold Clues to 1956 Grimes Murders
“On January 22, 1957, at around noon, their frozen, nude bodies were discovered on the far side of a guard rail about 250 feet east of County Line Road on the north side of German Church Road.”