On a cold, sunny morning in January 1957, Leonard Prescott, a 39-year old construction worker, was driving into the town of Willow Springs, Illinois, when he noticed two strange-looking objects underneath a bridge railing. He stopped to get a better look and told himself they must be department store mannequins. He drove off, but his mind kept returning to the flesh-colored figures. Were they naked, dead girls? He wasn’t entirely convinced, so he drove home and got his wife Marie. They returned to the bridge and got out of the car. The two bodies had a blue hue against the whiteness of the snow. One of the girls was on her side with her legs drawn up in a fetal position. The other girl was on her back, apparently tossed on top of her.
Marie screamed and began to sob uncontrollably. Shaken himself, Leonard helped his wife into the car and drove to the Willow Springs Police Station. A policeman accompanied Leonard back to the site. The girls looked like they were only in their early teens.
Joseph Grimes’ daughters Barbara,15, and Patricia, 13, had been missing for nearly a month. They were big Elvis Presley Fans and had gone together to see his film “Love Me Tender” on the night they disappeared, 3 days after Christmas.
Joseph was called to the station and escorted to the scene where he had the heartbreaking task of identifying his murdered daughters.
The heartbreaking disappearance and unexplained deaths of Barbara and Patricia Grimes shattered the innocence of the Chicago area forever. Things like this just hadn’t happened before. The case launched one of the biggest investigations in history. Over the years, there have been numerous leads but the case remains unsolved.
Today, we’re talking about an End to Innocence: The Abduction and Murders of the Grimes Sisters