It was December 28, 1956, and Barbara and Patricia Grimes were on their way to the movies in their small town. They wanted to go and see their favorite movie actor Elvis Presley. The girls were inseparable. Barbara was 15 and Patricia 12: they both were extremely good students. That night, they had left their residence at 7:30 PM and they had promised their mom that they would be home by midnight. The girls had $2.50 on them for the movie, popcorn, and drinks.
Loretta Grimes, the girl’s mother, wasn’t sure whether they had walked to the movies or had ridden the bus. Their friend had seen them at the movies and in line for popcorn. Once the movie was over, the girls were supposed to return home. Midnight came and went, and the girls never came home.
Loretta had sent her other daughter and son to wait by the bus stop. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Barbara or Patricia. Loretta ended up filing a missing person’s report with the Chicago police department at 2:15 AM on December 29th.
The investigation got to be very interesting because it was one of the largest missing persons reports in Chicago, Illinois. There were a ton of cops that were assigned full-time and there was a city-wide search for the two missing girls. There was a task force formed and a ground search on December 29. Volunteers had gone all around the canals and rivers with no signs of anything. Fifteen thousand flyers were distributed and a ton of people were questioned.