End to Innocence: The Abduction and Murder of the Grimes Sisters

·1 hr 17 min·5 clips

A construction worker finds two 'mannequins' under a bridge, only to realize they're the frozen bodies of missing teenage sisters.

This episode of True Crime Brewery examines the 1957 unsolved murders of Barbara and Patricia Grimes, two teenage sisters from Chicago. Hosts Dick and Jill, a married couple who discuss true crime over craft beer, narrate the case that shocked the local community. The episode details the girls' disappearance after seeing an Elvis Presley movie and the chaotic investigation that followed. Barbara, 15, and Patricia, 13, vanished on the night of December 28, 1956, after attending a showing of *Love Me Tender* at the Brighton Theater. Their bodies were discovered under a bridge in Willow Springs, Illinois, nearly a month later by a construction worker named Leonard Prescott. The initial police search involved a special task force, door-to-door inquiries, and the distribution of over 15,000 flyers by their parish school. Numerous reported sightings placed the girls in locations ranging from a Chicago diner to a hotel in Nashville, with one call to a classmate's home allegedly from Patricia. A letter to advice columnist Ann Landers claimed a man forced the sisters into a car after the movie. The hosts note the case shared superficial similarities with the unsolved 1955 murders of three Chicago boys, Robert Peterson and the Schuessler brothers. The medical examiners could not agree on a precise cause or time of the Grimes sisters' death, ultimately concluding they died of shock and exposure. A key suspect was a drifter named Benny Bedwell, who was seen with two girls at a diner and initially identified them as the Grimes sisters before recanting. The crime scene was badly compromised by police and bystanders, destroying potential evidence like footprints. One surprising claim is that an eyewitness, truck driver Earl Kirkpatrick, reported seeing one of the girls in only a blouse and panties near the dump site hours after they disappeared but did not stop. The hosts express skepticism about the many contradictory public sightings, suggesting some may have been attention-seeking or mistaken identity. They highlight the tragic detail that the girls' Christmas gifts, portable radios, were left at home, which their mother cited as proof they did not run away. The tone is conversational and educational, with the hosts providing historical context and occasionally sharing personal reactions to the investigation's flaws. Dick and Jill maintain a respectful, somber demeanor when discussing the victims and their family's ordeal. Listeners who enjoy detailed historical cold cases and analyses of mid-century police investigations would appreciate this episode. Those seeking a resolved narrative or graphic forensic detail might find the unresolved nature and older investigative techniques less engaging.

As heard by us

A careful reconstruction of a devastating case, told without flash and with real historical gravity.

True Crime Brewery returns to the Grimes sisters case on a cold January morning in Willow Springs, Illinois, where a construction worker first mistakes two figures under a bridge railing for mannequins.

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If you want a careful unraveling of the 1957 Grimes sisters case, start here.

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