Alice Crimmins
Alice Crimmins | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 9, 1939 |
| Spouse(s) | Edmund Crimmins Tony Grace (July 15, 1977–1998, his death) |
| Children | Alice Marie Crimmins Eddie Crimmins Jr. |
Alice Crimmins (born March 9, 1939 in the Bronx, New York City) is an American woman who was charged with killing her two children, 5-year-old Eddie and 4-year-old Alice Marie, known as Missy, who went missing on July 14, 1965.[1][2][3] Alice Marie's body was found that day, and Eddie Jr.'s was found five days later.[1] After numerous criminal trials and appeals, Crimmins was convicted of the manslaughter of Missy.[1]
The killing of her children
Her children, Eddie Jr., age 5, and Missy, age 4, disappeared from their garden apartment in Kew Gardens Hills on July 14, 1965. She reported to the police that her children were missing. Later that day, Missy was found strangled. Five days after that, Eddie was also found dead, but identifying the cause of his death was impossible.[4]
No evidence could be found tying anyone to the deaths. Crimmins was followed and covertly recorded by the New York Police Department for three years, before finally being charged and going to trial in 1968.[1] She was found guilty of the manslaughter of Missy and sentenced to five to twenty years' imprisonment.[1] This conviction was overturned on appeal, and in 1971 a second trial resulted in Crimmins being convicted of the first-degree murder of Eddie Jr. and the manslaughter of Missy.[1] In 1973 both convictions were overturned, before Crimmins was re-convicted of the manslaughter of Missy in 1973.[1] She was paroled in 1977.[5]
Although it is still widely believed that Crimmins didn't get a fair trial, since there was no official evidence, but rather circumstantial. Her life was so unconventional during that period in the 1960s, due to her pending divorce, her job as a cocktail waitress, and her tendency for non-monagamous relationships, which was seen as generally inappropriate in the eyes of her catholic community. For these reasons, it is also believed that law enforcement at the time saw her as the only person who could've murdered her children, therefore, they blamed her without deeply considering other possiblities. There are still debates on whether or not the case should be reopened. Updates on the case have yet to be announced.
The Casey Anthony trial has been compared by some in the media to the Crimmins trial.[6][7]
In popular culture
- The Alice Crimmins Case by Kenneth Gross
- Ordeal By Trial by George Carpozi Jr.
- The Investigation by Dorothy Uhnak
- The Price of Justice (TV-movie version of Dorothy Uhnak's The Investigation)
- Where Are The Children? (book and subsequent 1986 movie) by Mary Higgins Clark
- A Question of Guilt, aired on television 1978
- Landscape of the Body play by John Guare, opened in 1977
- Two Small Bodies play by Neal Bell, opened in 1977
- Two Small Bodies film by Beth B, from 1993[8]
- Investigation Discovery series A Crime to Remember episode, "Go Ask Alice", aired in 2013[9]
- Little Deaths by Emma Flint, 2017 novel, Picador
- The Crime Junkie podcast covered Alice Crimmins on 7/9/2019
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Bovsun, Mara (June 26, 2011). "'Sexpot' trial tale: Crimmins custody fight in 1960s ends in death". Daily News.
- ^ Amper, Susan (June 15, 2012). "Did She or Didn't She?: The Case of Alice Crimmins 47 years later". Criminal Element.
- ^ Noe, Denise (2012). "The Alice Crimmins Case". Tru TV. Archived from the original on 2019-06-29. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
- ^ http://murderpedia.org/female.C/c/crimmins-alice.htm
- ^ Queens Tribune, The Crimmins Affair, Forgotten Queens History. accessed 31 May 2012 Archived 2 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ O'Shaughnessy, Patrice (June 30, 2011). "From Casey Anthony to Alice Crimmins moms on trial mesmerize". Daily News.
- ^ LaRosa, Paul (July 14, 2011). "Before Casey Anthony, There Was Alice Crimmins..." The Huffington Post.
- ^ "Crime Library, The Alice Crimmins Case, accessed 31 May 2012". Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- ^ "A Crime to Remember: Go Ask Alice" Discovery Communications Archived 2013-11-14 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 3, 2013
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