WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Triple Russellville Murder 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.000 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:29.161 --> 0:01:33.441 On the night of December second, nineteen seventy six, three girls, 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.000 thirteen year old Teresa Williams, fourteen year old Crystal Danita Parton, 0:01:38.441 --> 0:01:42.000 and thirteen year old Cynthia Maybray, we're hanging out together 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.080 at the Fairview of State's apartment. 0:01:44.001 --> 0:01:45.241 In Russellville, Arkansas. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:51.521 At some point that day all three girls disappeared. No 0:01:51.601 --> 0:01:55.281 one was quite sure what happened that day. All three 0:01:55.321 --> 0:01:58.281 girls lived in the same neighborhood and all of them 0:01:58.321 --> 0:02:02.480 disappeared at around the same time. Cynthia was last seen 0:02:02.641 --> 0:02:06.401 at her home in Fairview Estates on December second, at 0:02:06.441 --> 0:02:11.680 approximately five thirty pm. Teresa and Crystal were also reported 0:02:11.721 --> 0:02:15.921 missing that day by their families. I have read about 0:02:15.921 --> 0:02:18.800 this story over the years, but it turns out there's 0:02:18.841 --> 0:02:21.161 a lot of this story that never made it into 0:02:21.201 --> 0:02:25.601 any media reports. Most media reports that I've read indicate 0:02:25.721 --> 0:02:28.400 that three girls were hanging around when a strange man 0:02:28.441 --> 0:02:30.881 approached them and asked them if they wanted to get 0:02:30.921 --> 0:02:35.121 into his car and drink some alcohol, and they reluctantly accepted. 0:02:36.121 --> 0:02:36.881 The things that. 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.401 I've read online make it seem like this could have 0:02:40.481 --> 0:02:43.601 been a case of stranger abduction. But as we're going 0:02:43.641 --> 0:02:47.081 to see, there is much more to this story that 0:02:47.161 --> 0:02:51.041 we uncovered. It turns out that the girls had made 0:02:51.041 --> 0:02:54.840 a plan to run away. Cynthia's mother, Doris Parton, told 0:02:54.921 --> 0:02:57.400 police she was aware that the girls had a plan. 0:02:58.041 --> 0:03:00.281 She believed that her daughter may have run away from 0:03:00.281 --> 0:03:02.921 home and that she and her two friends were believed 0:03:02.961 --> 0:03:06.561 to be headed for Fort Hood, Texas. The last time 0:03:06.641 --> 0:03:09.681 her mother saw Cynthia, she was wearing blue jeans, a 0:03:09.721 --> 0:03:12.401 white top, and a blue coat with a fur collar. 0:03:14.321 --> 0:03:18.001 Part of the story was true, those three girls did 0:03:18.081 --> 0:03:20.641 get into a car with a man, a man they 0:03:20.721 --> 0:03:25.921 knew and trusted. Then no one ever saw any trace 0:03:26.001 --> 0:03:30.881 of the girls again until ten years later Thanksgiving Day 0:03:30.921 --> 0:03:34.161 of nineteen eighty six, when a couple, Boy Duncan and 0:03:34.201 --> 0:03:37.841 his wife Bernice, were deer hunting south of Rock Cemetery 0:03:38.681 --> 0:03:41.761 when they found a human skull laying near a tree. 0:03:42.721 --> 0:03:46.321 This was just the beginning of an investigation into an 0:03:46.321 --> 0:03:51.881 Ozark serial killer. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past seven 0:03:51.961 --> 0:03:54.841 years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've 0:03:54.921 --> 0:03:57.521 learned that there's no such thing as a small town 0:03:57.601 --> 0:04:01.881 where murder never happens. I've received hundreds of messages from 0:04:01.921 --> 0:04:04.801 people all around the country asking for help with an 0:04:04.881 --> 0:04:09.001 unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. 0:04:09.921 --> 0:04:11.841 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:04:11.881 --> 0:04:14.281 team to look into, you can reach out to us 0:04:14.321 --> 0:04:16.801 at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight 0:04:16.961 --> 0:04:20.761 seven four four six one four five. That's six seven 0:04:20.801 --> 0:04:25.001 eight seven four four six one four five, or you 0:04:25.041 --> 0:04:28.721 can send us a message on Instagram at Helen gonepod. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:05:17.841 This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Before we get into 0:05:17.841 --> 0:05:20.801 the forensics, we have to go back to nineteen seventy 0:05:20.841 --> 0:05:25.121 six and try to understand how and why a serial 0:05:25.201 --> 0:05:29.801 killer kept slipping through the police's fingers and escaping justice. 0:05:30.161 --> 0:05:33.361 One person whose name came up early in the investigation 0:05:34.041 --> 0:05:39.681 was James B. Grinder, sometimes known as JB. Teresa Williams's 0:05:39.681 --> 0:05:42.880 cousin had told police back in nineteen seventy six that 0:05:43.041 --> 0:05:46.960 he saw James with Theresa that day, but when police 0:05:46.961 --> 0:05:50.001 talked to James, he told them yes, he had seen 0:05:50.041 --> 0:05:53.041 the three girls. He claimed that he dropped them off 0:05:53.081 --> 0:05:57.281 at the interstate exit for Pottsville. James told police that 0:05:57.321 --> 0:05:59.961 the girls had told him they were running away to Oklahoma, 0:06:00.721 --> 0:06:03.401 and James said he had an alibi he had been 0:06:03.441 --> 0:06:04.960 at his girlfriend, Donna's house. 0:06:05.881 --> 0:06:07.961 Since the victim's remains. 0:06:07.481 --> 0:06:10.801 Had not been found and James Grinder had an alibi, 0:06:11.561 --> 0:06:16.881 police assumed the girls were runaways. The investigative notes indicate 0:06:16.961 --> 0:06:19.760 that at the time police interviewed James, he refused to 0:06:19.761 --> 0:06:22.841 take a polygraph test, so in their investigative notes, they 0:06:22.881 --> 0:06:25.681 said they believed he was not being truthful about what 0:06:25.721 --> 0:06:28.441 had actually happened to the girls. But at the end 0:06:28.441 --> 0:06:31.841 of the day, the original investigators did not believe that 0:06:31.881 --> 0:06:34.641 he was capable of killing them, they let him go. 0:06:35.721 --> 0:06:40.400 That was in nineteen seventy six, but by nineteen eighty six, 0:06:41.001 --> 0:06:45.041 James was a suspect in another murder, this time in Missouri. 0:06:46.321 --> 0:06:49.161 On the early morning of January eighth, nineteen eighty four, 0:06:49.601 --> 0:06:53.801 twenty five year old Julianne Helton's parents were worried. Julianne 0:06:53.801 --> 0:06:55.681 had gone out to a party in New Cambria the 0:06:55.761 --> 0:06:59.881 night before on January seventh, but then she never came home, 0:07:00.641 --> 0:07:03.641 so they filed a missing persons report, and the Missouri 0:07:03.681 --> 0:07:07.200 State Highway Patrol ran across her abandoned car at the 0:07:07.241 --> 0:07:11.561 Marsoline junction in Macon County, Missouri. There were signs that 0:07:11.641 --> 0:07:15.601 her car had been sabotaged. Julianne's purse was also missing, 0:07:16.601 --> 0:07:20.361 so now police immediately suspected foul play in Julianne's death. 0:07:21.201 --> 0:07:24.561 After searching for her for several days, on January eleventh, 0:07:24.681 --> 0:07:29.481 nineteen eighty four, two volunteer searchers and railroad workers found 0:07:29.601 --> 0:07:33.361 Julianne's body in a field near the Santa Fe railroad tracks, 0:07:33.761 --> 0:07:36.601 about eight miles away from where her car had been found. 0:07:37.361 --> 0:07:41.361 Julianne was fully clothed, but police later determined she had 0:07:41.401 --> 0:07:45.801 been raped, beaten, and stabbed. Her hands had been tied 0:07:45.801 --> 0:07:49.321 together with bailing twine, they were bound together in front 0:07:49.361 --> 0:07:53.041 of her, and there were defensive wounds on her right hand. 0:07:53.961 --> 0:07:54.921 Now, according to. 0:07:54.921 --> 0:08:00.241 Media reports, police did find fingerprints on Julianne's car. Some 0:08:00.281 --> 0:08:03.401 of the reports stated they were a match to James Grinder. 0:08:04.841 --> 0:08:08.761 I'm not sure what happened to those fingerprints, if they 0:08:08.801 --> 0:08:11.601 were lost, if they were ever tested, or even if 0:08:11.641 --> 0:08:13.801 it's true that they were a match to James Grinder. 0:08:14.321 --> 0:08:17.121 But at the end of the day, with insufficient evidence, 0:08:17.201 --> 0:08:20.041 police apparently decided they couldn't make a case against him, 0:08:20.681 --> 0:08:25.841 so James Grinder was released. Still, after Julie's murder, there 0:08:26.041 --> 0:08:29.561 was a renewed interest in James Grinder, and investigators in 0:08:29.681 --> 0:08:32.680 Arkansas went back to question everyone they had spoken to 0:08:32.881 --> 0:08:35.761 ten years earlier. They were trying to do a deep 0:08:35.841 --> 0:08:39.001 dive into a man they believed might be a serial killer. 0:08:42.560 --> 0:08:45.081 James B. Grinder was born in nineteen forty five. 0:08:45.560 --> 0:08:48.601 There's not a ton known about his childhood, but he 0:08:48.641 --> 0:08:51.401 lived in Arkansas for a long time, and he had 0:08:51.441 --> 0:08:53.920 what can best be described as kind of a messy 0:08:54.001 --> 0:08:57.081 love life. At the time of the girl's disappearances, he 0:08:57.241 --> 0:09:01.201 was dating different women. In nineteen seventy six, James was 0:09:01.241 --> 0:09:04.920 involved with at least two women, Donna Hanson and Joanne Hinton. 0:09:05.441 --> 0:09:08.681 He stayed on and off with both of them. Joanne 0:09:08.761 --> 0:09:12.361 Hinton lived in the Fairview Estates Complex, the same complex 0:09:12.401 --> 0:09:15.641 as the three girls who went missing. Jo Anne had 0:09:15.680 --> 0:09:19.321 a daughter from a previous relationship named Sandra. Sandra was 0:09:19.321 --> 0:09:23.521 born in nineteen sixty three. She gave birth to James's son, 0:09:23.801 --> 0:09:28.681 James Junior, in nineteen seventy. After the three girls disappeared, 0:09:29.241 --> 0:09:32.521 James moved and settled in Macon County, Missouri, where he 0:09:32.601 --> 0:09:35.841 reportedly married and had a daughter in nineteen eighty, though 0:09:35.881 --> 0:09:39.281 he and the girl's mother did eventually separate. At the 0:09:39.321 --> 0:09:42.241 time of his arrest, he was working as a woodcutter. 0:09:43.721 --> 0:09:47.401 Sames Grinder had a criminal history in Arkansas. He had 0:09:47.481 --> 0:09:52.361 a lifetime pattern of stealing things, especially cars. In August 0:09:52.361 --> 0:09:55.121 of nineteen seventy six, according to the case file, he 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.441 stole a septic tank truck, and then he and an 0:09:58.441 --> 0:10:02.401 accomplice also stole cars, including a nineteen sixty seven Ford Galaxy, 0:10:02.841 --> 0:10:06.881 a nineteen sixty six Plymouth Belvedere, a gold Ford Mustang, 0:10:07.041 --> 0:10:10.361 and some tools and supplies. They stole a lot of 0:10:10.361 --> 0:10:14.040 different items. In addition to cars, they also stole from 0:10:14.041 --> 0:10:18.521 a school. They would grab calculators and typewriters. They vandalized 0:10:18.561 --> 0:10:20.601 a trailer in the back of the school where they 0:10:20.601 --> 0:10:24.401 got eight track tapes, cameras, and a knife set. So 0:10:24.921 --> 0:10:28.241 coming back to the three missing girls, it turns out 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:32.680 that the three girls, Cynthia, Crystal, and Teresa were planning 0:10:32.721 --> 0:10:35.560 on running way from home for a reason. They had 0:10:35.601 --> 0:10:39.081 been stealing welfare checks from apartments in the Fairview complex 0:10:39.561 --> 0:10:42.160 and they had also, according to what a witness told police, 0:10:42.721 --> 0:10:47.201 been stealing items from stores for James Grinder. They would 0:10:47.201 --> 0:10:50.961 steal things like jewelry and electronics. James would then fence 0:10:51.001 --> 0:10:53.161 the items for them and of course take a cut 0:10:53.161 --> 0:10:56.361 of the profits. One of the victims of this scam 0:10:56.521 --> 0:10:59.321 was a woman named Helen Freeman. She also lived in 0:10:59.361 --> 0:11:03.201 the Fairview apartment complex. She told police the last time 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:06.401 she saw the girls was on December first. She claimed 0:11:06.401 --> 0:11:08.761 that on that day she didn't get her welfare check 0:11:08.801 --> 0:11:12.721 as usual, so the next day, on December second, she 0:11:12.881 --> 0:11:15.961 asked the mailman about it. The mailman said he was 0:11:16.041 --> 0:11:18.521 sure that he had put that check in her box 0:11:18.561 --> 0:11:22.001 the day before. She told police one of the three 0:11:22.081 --> 0:11:25.721 girls had stolen the check, and several witnesses told police 0:11:25.761 --> 0:11:28.081 they had seen the girls at a nearby grocery store 0:11:28.081 --> 0:11:31.841 trying to cash that welfare check. Apparently the store refused 0:11:31.841 --> 0:11:35.881 to cash it. Then, according to witnesses, the three girls 0:11:36.001 --> 0:11:38.281 were really freaked out by this. They thought they were 0:11:38.321 --> 0:11:41.280 going to get into big trouble. So after the store 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.160 refused to cash the checks, they went back to joe 0:11:44.201 --> 0:11:47.601 Aanne Hinton's house and tried to burn the checks. Joe 0:11:47.601 --> 0:11:50.161 Anne Hinton was living on and off with James Grinder. 0:11:50.521 --> 0:11:54.201 He was also there that day. Helen told police she 0:11:54.401 --> 0:11:56.921 talked to joe Ane Hinton about all this. She said 0:11:57.001 --> 0:11:58.881 joe Anne had made a comment to her about the 0:11:58.881 --> 0:12:02.481 girls leaving town by the way. Helen also later told 0:12:02.521 --> 0:12:05.361 police she saw joe Anne at a later date wearing 0:12:05.401 --> 0:12:07.961 what she describes as a jacket she said was very 0:12:08.001 --> 0:12:09.881 similar to the jacket that one of the girls was 0:12:09.881 --> 0:12:12.761 wearing on the day they disappeared, a jacket with a 0:12:12.761 --> 0:12:17.721 fur Caller Police talked to Sandra, joe Anne's daughter, who 0:12:17.801 --> 0:12:21.121 had been around the girl's age when they disappeared. By 0:12:21.161 --> 0:12:23.921 the time of the interview in nineteen eighty four, Sandra 0:12:24.121 --> 0:12:27.441 was twenty one years old. She told them bluntly that 0:12:27.561 --> 0:12:30.921 James was crazy, weird, dirty, a thief, and that he 0:12:31.041 --> 0:12:34.441 had threatened to kill her mother on several occasions. She 0:12:34.601 --> 0:12:37.361 told law enforcement James had an interest in young girls, 0:12:37.681 --> 0:12:40.280 that he had tried to sexually assault his niece when 0:12:40.321 --> 0:12:43.681 she was aged twelve or thirteen. Sandra said she was 0:12:43.721 --> 0:12:47.041 the best friends with Crystal, Teresa, and Cynthia. She said 0:12:47.041 --> 0:12:50.961 they all hung around together at Fairview Estates. Sandra said 0:12:51.001 --> 0:12:54.121 that James made vulgar comments about them sometimes and would 0:12:54.121 --> 0:12:56.561 try to hang around with them when they were with Sandra. 0:12:57.481 --> 0:12:59.481 She said at one point he made a comment to 0:12:59.521 --> 0:13:02.001 her about wanting to have the girls over because he 0:13:02.081 --> 0:13:07.321 wanted some young stuff. Sandra talked about how James got 0:13:07.321 --> 0:13:10.121 the three girls involved in his check cashing scam and 0:13:10.201 --> 0:13:13.081 in his theft. He would drive them around the places 0:13:13.121 --> 0:13:15.881 they wanted to go. He got them to steal things 0:13:15.881 --> 0:13:20.160 from stores and give it to him to sell. Police 0:13:20.201 --> 0:13:22.961 asked Sandra what she remembered about that day in nineteen 0:13:23.001 --> 0:13:27.641 seventy six, the day when the girls disappeared. She said 0:13:27.801 --> 0:13:31.681 that she remembered James driving Cynthia, Crystal, and Teresa to 0:13:31.721 --> 0:13:34.681 a local store to try to cash those welfare checks. 0:13:35.321 --> 0:13:37.721 In fact, she said she went with them to the 0:13:37.761 --> 0:13:42.561 store to cash the checks, she distinctly remembered getting refused. 0:13:43.401 --> 0:13:47.680 Said that the five of them, her James, Cynthia, Crystal, 0:13:47.721 --> 0:13:51.121 and Teresa stopped at Walmart after that to buy cigarettes 0:13:51.121 --> 0:13:54.401 because someone wanted them. Then, she said they drove back 0:13:54.401 --> 0:13:57.001 to Fairview, where James and the girls let her out 0:13:57.041 --> 0:14:01.201 of the car. Sandra said she remembered that Crystal, Cynthia, 0:14:01.241 --> 0:14:04.081 and Teresa were worried about getting busted for that check scamp. 0:14:04.841 --> 0:14:08.441 They asked James to drive them to the interstate. Sandra 0:14:08.561 --> 0:14:12.081 said originally she was supposed to run away with the girls, 0:14:12.601 --> 0:14:15.761 but she decided against it, so in the end they 0:14:15.841 --> 0:14:19.761 dropped her back at home. Sandra told police she tried 0:14:19.801 --> 0:14:22.201 to talk her friends out of running away, but. 0:14:22.241 --> 0:14:23.681 In the end she couldn't. 0:14:24.201 --> 0:14:27.081 She remembers the last time she saw her three friends 0:14:27.561 --> 0:14:30.161 was around sundown. She said they were leaving in the 0:14:30.241 --> 0:14:33.321 car with James in his blue and white Chevy. She 0:14:33.641 --> 0:14:38.801 never saw Teresa, Cynthia, or crystal again. Sandra said that 0:14:38.801 --> 0:14:41.841 that night, James stayed out all night. This was confirmed 0:14:41.881 --> 0:14:44.161 by her mother, Joanne, who told him best gators the 0:14:44.201 --> 0:14:44.601 same thing. 0:14:45.881 --> 0:14:46.401 They said. 0:14:46.521 --> 0:14:49.481 James didn't come back until around nine am the next morning, 0:14:50.001 --> 0:14:52.721 and when he did, Sandra asked him what happened to 0:14:52.761 --> 0:14:55.481 the girls. He said he drove the girls to the 0:14:55.481 --> 0:14:59.321 Interstate Highway in Pottsville, gave them twenty dollars, and that 0:14:59.441 --> 0:14:59.761 was it. 0:15:00.881 --> 0:15:02.161 Joanne told police. 0:15:02.241 --> 0:15:05.001 When James came back to the house, he was wearing 0:15:05.161 --> 0:15:07.961 different clothes than he had on when he left. He 0:15:08.081 --> 0:15:11.121 told her he'd had car trouble. He was covered in 0:15:11.201 --> 0:15:14.921 grease and oil and wearing a long sleeved shirt. When 0:15:15.041 --> 0:15:17.561 Joanne asked him about it, James said he got the 0:15:17.601 --> 0:15:20.841 t shirt at Donna's house. He said he would contact 0:15:20.841 --> 0:15:22.841 the girl's parents and let them know that he'd dropped 0:15:22.841 --> 0:15:25.801 them off of the Pottsville exit, and apparently that was 0:15:25.801 --> 0:15:29.641 the end of the topic. But Joanne said James would 0:15:29.801 --> 0:15:33.601 sometimes wake up screaming in the dark after that, telling 0:15:33.681 --> 0:15:37.921 her I see three shallow graves. She told police that 0:15:38.001 --> 0:15:39.761 when he did that, she would tell him the only 0:15:39.801 --> 0:15:41.481 way he could be seeing that is if he killed 0:15:41.481 --> 0:15:44.561 those girls. She said she asked him point blank if 0:15:44.561 --> 0:15:48.841 he killed them, and that he denied it. Joanne told 0:15:48.921 --> 0:15:53.521 police James wasn't really violent with her, but others definitely 0:15:53.521 --> 0:15:56.881 saw his dark side. Sandra told police she knew he 0:15:56.921 --> 0:16:00.041 had an interest in young girls. She said on one occasion, 0:16:00.441 --> 0:16:03.281 James tried to rape her. She said he was giving 0:16:03.281 --> 0:16:05.001 her a ride somewhere, and then he pulled over to 0:16:05.041 --> 0:16:07.001 the side of the road and pulled a gun out 0:16:07.041 --> 0:16:07.561 of his boot. 0:16:08.441 --> 0:16:09.721 But Sandra said she. 0:16:09.801 --> 0:16:12.681 Was somehow able to wrestle that gun away from him 0:16:12.721 --> 0:16:14.601 and actually turn the gun on him. 0:16:15.281 --> 0:16:16.321 She said after that she. 0:16:16.401 --> 0:16:21.521 Forced James to drive her home at gunpoint. Needless to say, 0:16:21.841 --> 0:16:25.241 my heart completely goes out to in addition to the 0:16:25.281 --> 0:16:28.601 three victims, to Sandra what she was experiencing at home 0:16:29.321 --> 0:16:31.921 and how brave she was to pull a gun on 0:16:32.001 --> 0:16:36.681 her own stepfather. It turned out that a lot of 0:16:36.721 --> 0:16:40.041 people in and around Fairview Estates knew about the girl's 0:16:40.041 --> 0:16:42.881 plans to run away and saw them with James on 0:16:42.881 --> 0:16:46.041 the night of December second. An. Investigators stated in their 0:16:46.041 --> 0:16:50.241 report there was also an attempt to mislead them. Apparently 0:16:50.281 --> 0:16:53.881 a friend of James's, a trucker contacted the Russellville Police 0:16:53.881 --> 0:16:57.161 Department and told them he had picked up three runaways 0:16:57.201 --> 0:17:00.841 and they were at an address in Oklahoma. Investigators later 0:17:00.881 --> 0:17:04.281 concluded that address was false and that the driver quote 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.921 had probably made the calls at the request of James Grinder, 0:17:08.241 --> 0:17:11.321 and that the information was totally false end quote. 0:17:11.961 --> 0:17:13.401 So it's hard for me. 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:18.041 To imagine why James Grinder wasn't immediately arrested, or at 0:17:18.120 --> 0:17:22.201 least why he wasn't a major early suspect. It's possible 0:17:22.241 --> 0:17:25.001 that at the time they disappeared, maybe some of the 0:17:25.041 --> 0:17:27.761 young women who knew about the check cashing scams didn't 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.840 tell police what they knew because maybe they were worried 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.720 about getting in trouble themselves. But after Julianne's murder in 0:17:34.801 --> 0:17:40.041 nineteen eighty four, people started talking. Police had a ton 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:45.281 of circumstantial evidence, but still no bodies. Then came the 0:17:45.281 --> 0:17:51.281 gruesome discovery of Teresa, Cynthia and Crystal's bodies on Thanksgiving 0:17:51.361 --> 0:18:04.721 Day in nineteen eighty six. After the deer hunting couple 0:18:04.801 --> 0:18:07.721 found the skull, they went back the next day. They 0:18:07.801 --> 0:18:10.321 picked the skull up and actually ended up taking it 0:18:10.361 --> 0:18:14.241 to a local grocery store, where an employee contacted Pope 0:18:14.241 --> 0:18:17.921 County authorities. Investigators went to the area where the skull 0:18:18.001 --> 0:18:22.641 was found and kept searching. They found more remains. They 0:18:22.681 --> 0:18:26.241 included a pelvic bone, a piece of a lower tailbone, 0:18:26.241 --> 0:18:30.041 and some cloth. They also found a huge mass that 0:18:30.121 --> 0:18:33.360 had more bones, clothing, and roots all tangled up in it. 0:18:34.201 --> 0:18:38.241 They found one almost complete human skeleton wearing a decomposing 0:18:38.321 --> 0:18:42.201 coat and underwear over a two hundred foot area. Once 0:18:42.241 --> 0:18:45.600 they spread out, they found more and more bones. The 0:18:45.641 --> 0:18:48.400 remains that they found included a lower jaw with thirty 0:18:48.401 --> 0:18:52.360 five teeth, a partial skeleton in clothing including a piece 0:18:52.361 --> 0:18:55.681 of black cloth, a black and green overcoat, a great 0:18:55.801 --> 0:19:00.761 flavored chapstick, a pair of pants with white bleached spots, gloves, 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.761 a pink comb, a blue sack, a wool scarf, backpacks, 0:19:04.761 --> 0:19:08.081 an empty roll of tape, some bags of potato chips, 0:19:08.401 --> 0:19:12.521 and two pairs of underwear and a handkerchief. I'm listing 0:19:12.601 --> 0:19:16.600 all of these items because someone out there might recognize 0:19:16.681 --> 0:19:19.561 some of them, and honestly, he got away with this 0:19:19.921 --> 0:19:22.321 for many years, and I think it's very possible that 0:19:22.321 --> 0:19:26.360 there could be more victims out there. Police believe those 0:19:26.441 --> 0:19:29.441 bodies were buried in a shallow grave, but then over 0:19:29.481 --> 0:19:32.961 the years removed, either due to animals dragging them or 0:19:33.201 --> 0:19:35.481 a massive flood that had hit that area in nineteen 0:19:35.521 --> 0:19:39.600 eighty two. Investigators also found a weapon. They found an 0:19:39.641 --> 0:19:42.641 old number ten shotgun shell casing with nine buck shot 0:19:42.721 --> 0:19:46.200 near the bodies, but police later stated they don't believe 0:19:46.281 --> 0:19:48.241 that gun had any part in the murders. 0:19:48.681 --> 0:19:50.721 The girls had been stabbed, not shot. 0:19:52.121 --> 0:19:55.120 There were a lot of bones to go through. A 0:19:55.161 --> 0:19:59.361 state medical examiner initially concluded the remains belonged to three 0:19:59.401 --> 0:20:02.841 females in between the ages of twelve and fourteen. This 0:20:02.961 --> 0:20:06.641 made police believe they had found the three bodies of Teresa, 0:20:06.961 --> 0:20:11.281 Crystal and Cynthia, but later investigators announced there had been 0:20:11.281 --> 0:20:11.761 a mistake. 0:20:12.241 --> 0:20:15.721 There were only two bodies found, not three. 0:20:15.881 --> 0:20:19.281 Police stated they had confirmed through dental records the two 0:20:19.361 --> 0:20:22.961 sets of remains belonged to Teresa Williams and Crystal Parton, 0:20:23.481 --> 0:20:27.321 and police confirmed the girls were not shot. Both of 0:20:27.321 --> 0:20:31.041 them had been fatally stabbed in the neck, so they 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:34.801 had found Teresa Williams and Crystal Parton, but there was 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:39.080 still no sign of Cynthia. Maybrey now police knew for 0:20:39.161 --> 0:20:43.681 sure these three girls had not run away. Police suspect 0:20:43.801 --> 0:20:47.281 did James Grinder A lot of people, though believed that 0:20:47.401 --> 0:20:50.321 James Grinder did not act alone, that one or more 0:20:50.361 --> 0:20:54.081 other people may have been involved. Another name that came 0:20:54.161 --> 0:20:57.521 up in investigative reports was an acquaintance of James named 0:20:57.561 --> 0:21:00.721 Tony Wilson. Tony was living in the woods behind the 0:21:00.721 --> 0:21:05.401 Fairview Complex at the time of the girl's disappearances. Meanwhile, 0:21:05.441 --> 0:21:08.481 the links between James Grinder and the three missing girls 0:21:08.801 --> 0:21:12.521 were becoming more and more obvious. Police spoke to another 0:21:12.561 --> 0:21:16.121 young woman, Carla Titterington. She was also around the same 0:21:16.161 --> 0:21:19.321 age as the three victims. She told police she was 0:21:19.361 --> 0:21:21.641 with the three girls at Joe Anne's house that night 0:21:22.121 --> 0:21:25.640 and that another man, Tony Wilson, was also there, but 0:21:26.001 --> 0:21:29.080 she said she wasn't sure if Tony left with James 0:21:29.121 --> 0:21:31.921 and the girls. She just remembers him being there hanging 0:21:31.921 --> 0:21:36.201 out at Joeanne's house. Police interviewed Tony Wilson in nineteen 0:21:36.241 --> 0:21:39.281 eighty six as well. Tony said that at the time 0:21:39.321 --> 0:21:42.840 of the disappearances, he had recently graduated from high school. 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.120 He said he was homeless and living in a sleeping 0:21:45.161 --> 0:21:48.761 bag behind the Fairview Estates. He said that he believed 0:21:48.761 --> 0:21:51.681 that in December of nineteen seventy six, he drove to 0:21:51.761 --> 0:21:54.360 Montana before the holidays. He said he was with a 0:21:54.401 --> 0:21:57.481 guy he knew who had family in Montana, but he 0:21:57.521 --> 0:22:00.681 said he couldn't be sure of the dates. Tony said 0:22:00.761 --> 0:22:04.080 he barely knew James Grinder, that he only knew of him. 0:22:04.441 --> 0:22:06.401 He said he had never ridden in his car, but 0:22:06.921 --> 0:22:09.401 he saw one of the three missing girls get into 0:22:09.441 --> 0:22:12.360 the car with him. The name of that victim is 0:22:12.441 --> 0:22:17.041 redacted in the case file report. Tony also said he 0:22:17.201 --> 0:22:20.201 was not at James's house on the night the girls vanished. 0:22:20.961 --> 0:22:23.840 This conflicted with other accounts by Carla and some others 0:22:23.921 --> 0:22:26.681 who say Tony was around when the girls went missing. 0:22:27.801 --> 0:22:31.201 In the end, though Tony Wilson was given a polygraph 0:22:31.521 --> 0:22:33.201 where he was asked if he was in the car 0:22:33.241 --> 0:22:35.321 and the night the girls disappeared, if he was there 0:22:35.321 --> 0:22:37.361 when the girls were killed, and if he knew who 0:22:37.441 --> 0:22:40.521 killed the girls. The results were that he was deceptive, 0:22:41.401 --> 0:22:44.521 but in the end there was zero indication that Tony 0:22:44.641 --> 0:22:46.281 was riding in the car with the girls on the 0:22:46.321 --> 0:22:49.840 day they disappeared, or that he was involved in any way. 0:22:50.481 --> 0:22:54.201 So in the end, the police had zero concrete evidence 0:22:54.241 --> 0:22:58.521 against Tony Wilson and so that lead was dropped. Joe 0:22:58.601 --> 0:23:02.401 Anne and James's son, Jimmy Grinder Junior, was also interviewed 0:23:02.401 --> 0:23:06.681 by police on December seventeenth, nineteen eighty six. Jimmy was 0:23:06.721 --> 0:23:10.160 only six years old when the girls disappeared, so he 0:23:10.321 --> 0:23:14.440 was also in the home. Not surprisingly, he told police 0:23:14.481 --> 0:23:17.681 he didn't remember anything from that night, but he did 0:23:17.721 --> 0:23:20.401 say that over the years he talked to his mother, Joanne, 0:23:20.441 --> 0:23:23.441 about the fact that all the girls went to Pottsville supposedly, 0:23:23.721 --> 0:23:27.160 and the girls didn't come back. He said that he 0:23:27.241 --> 0:23:30.001 and his mother both believed that James had killed the girls, 0:23:30.401 --> 0:23:34.281 and he said he continued to believe that. Jimmy told 0:23:34.361 --> 0:23:37.761 police quote, I'm afraid of him. You can't tell about him. 0:23:37.921 --> 0:23:42.360 He's crazy end quote. Jimmy said that he believed his 0:23:42.521 --> 0:23:46.521 dad would hurt him to silence him. Jimmy also told 0:23:46.601 --> 0:23:50.761 another wild story about his grandmother. Apparently, Jimmy said James 0:23:50.801 --> 0:23:53.041 was running the check scam and giving the proceeds of 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:56.881 that scam to his mother, Jimmy's grandmother. On December second, 0:23:57.321 --> 0:24:00.600 he said James's mother was also spooked by the possibility 0:24:00.641 --> 0:24:05.001 of getting caught. Jimmy said she told James they needed 0:24:05.041 --> 0:24:08.881 to stop the scam. Jimmy said he actually saw James 0:24:08.921 --> 0:24:11.801 grab his own mother and try to throw her inside 0:24:11.840 --> 0:24:16.001 the trunk of his car. Police interviewed James's ex girlfriend, 0:24:16.041 --> 0:24:19.001 Donna Harris, who he lived with off and on in 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:24.161 nineteen seventy six and who was his original alibi. According 0:24:24.201 --> 0:24:27.041 to an interview in the case file, she told police 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:30.041 that in nineteen seventy six, when the three girls were killed, 0:24:30.361 --> 0:24:33.321 she was on and off with James, but that James 0:24:33.401 --> 0:24:37.161 was also dating Joanne Hinton. It turned out that in 0:24:37.241 --> 0:24:41.880 nineteen seventy nine, Donna had talked to investigators again. This time, 0:24:42.041 --> 0:24:44.521 she admitted that she had lied about James being home 0:24:44.561 --> 0:24:48.241 all night, but apparently either police didn't think this was 0:24:48.281 --> 0:24:52.361 important or declined to further investigate this tip for other reasons. 0:24:53.681 --> 0:24:57.600 Donna confirmed this information in nineteen eighty six. She said 0:24:57.601 --> 0:25:01.121 that on December second or third, James came home very 0:25:01.201 --> 0:25:04.880