The case of

Eddie Jr and Alice Marie

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Victim

Eddie Jr and Alice Marie

Victim Race

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Victim Date of Birth

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Victim Age
Date Reported

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Date of Death

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Case Status

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Incident Location

Queens, New York

Body Location

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Date of Conviction

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Body Discovered Date

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Murderer

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Who is Alice Crimmins?

Born under the name Alice Burke on March 9, 1939, and raised by devout Irish Catholic parents, her only way out of their grasp was to marry. She had always been a proper Catholic girl attending catholic school and spending her afternoons at St. Raymond’s Convent. It would be a sin and break her parent’s hearts if she were to leave their home as a single woman. She knew to attain her freedom, Alice had to get married.

Alice married her high school sweetheart Edmund “Eddie” Crimmins in 1959. Shortly after they married, the newlyweds had their son Edmund Jr. The following year Alice Crimmins gave birth to their daughter Alice Marie “Missy.” Despite being young and fertile after Missy, Alice decided she didn’t want to have any more children. Because her religious upbringing forbade birth control, Alice had to hide her birth control devices from Eddie Crimmins.

When Eddie came across Alice’s birth control in her purse, he was betrayed, hurt and angry. He and Alice had never discussed using birth control, and her deception shocked him. The Crimmins family moved from the Bronx to the Kew Gardens area of Queens.

Alice Crimmins and Eddie Divorce and a Custody Fight Begins

Adorned with heavy eyeliner, dark red lipstick, short dresses, and heels, Alice Crimmins began dating available bachelors. Due to the couple’s tumultuous behavior, they filed for divorce in 1965. Eddie moved into an apartment around the corner from where Alice Crimmins lived with the children.

That wasn’t close enough for Eddie; he needed to keep a closer eye on his soon-to-be ex-wife. He surveilled Alice’s phone call by tapping a line. Unaware to Alice, her former husband had also installed a microphone in her bedroom, recording her and her dates.

In July 1985, Eddie Sr filed for full custody of Eddie Jr and Missy. According to Eddie, Alice had a revolving door of men coming in and out of the house. His children were then subject to meet these strangers in the morning. Alice fired back, though, telling the court Eddie had admitted to her he exposed himself to little girls. A bitter custody battle ensued.

Eddie Crimmins admitted to telling Alice that but said he only did it because he wanted to make her feel better since she thought it was her fault the marriage failed. He lied about revealing himself to the children to comfort her to prove she didn’t hold all the blame for their failed marriage.

Eddie Jr and 4-Year-Old Alice Marie Disappear

On the night of July 13, 1965, after putting her children to bed in their home in Kew Gardens, a witness overheard Alice Crimmins helping the children say their goodnight prayers around 8:30 PM; Alice sat on the couch. She was upset because her boyfriend Tony Grace hadn’t called her that evening.

Alice’s other lover Joe Rorech called her late that night to see if she wanted to go out on a date with him. Not feeling up to it, Alice quickly got Joe off the phone, telling him it was too late to get a babysitter for Eddie Jr and Missy. At midnight Eddie Jr woke to use the bathroom.

After he finished and went back to sleep, Alice locked the children’s bedroom door from the outside with a hook and eye lock. Alice later claimed she installed the lock outside the children’s bedroom to prevent Eddie Jr from raiding the fridge. Eddie Jr, who Alice described as chubby, would wake up in the middle of the night and eat.

Brandy, Alice’s dog, had to urinate multiple times that evening. Later, after the children disappeared, Brandy gave birth to a puppy. Alice was unaware of Brandy’s pregnancy. After returning with the dog, Eddie called Alice. Eddie wanted to discuss their upcoming custody hearing but hung up, taking Brandy for one more walk. At 3:30 AM, after she returned from her final walk with Brandy, Alice took a quick bath. She finally fell asleep around 4:00 AM.

Eddie Jr and Missy’s Go Missing

Alice Crimmins woke up a few hours later, on July 14, 1965, to the sound of silence. It was unusual for Missy and Eddie Jr to be quiet at 9:00 AM, but Alice shrugged it off. She walked toward their bedroom door, unlocked it, and found two empty beds instead of her children. Her first thoughts went to Eddie, and Alice quickly called him. After telling Alice he didn’t have the children, he rushed to her apartment, and they called the police.

Detective Gerard Piering arrived to investigate the disappearance of Missy and Eddie Jr. From the moment Detective Jerry Piering put his eyes on Alice, he knew he didn’t like her. For a missing mother, he couldn’t understand why she had makeup on and dressed nicely. She should be distraught and in tears not. This wasn’t how an anxious mother acted.

To add to his suspicion, the detective found many empty alcohol bottles in Alice’s trash and the lock on the children’s door. Unbeknownst to the detective, Alice had emptied the liquor bottles the day before because she was due for a visit with social services concerning the custody suit. When it came to questioning Eddie and Alice, Detective Jerry Piering said to his partner, “You take him, I’ll take the bitch.”

Because Detective Gerald Piering found a layer of dust on the child’s windowsill, he concluded there was no way Eddie Jr and Missy exited out of the window. If they had, the children would have left footprints. Also uncovered during the detective’s search of Alice’s apartment was a box of pasta in the garbage and left-over macaroni in the fridge. Despite investigators finding a fingerprint that matched neither Eddie Sr. nor Alice, the sole suspect in the disappearance of Eddie Jr and Missy was their mother.

Discover of Eddie Jr and Missy’s Bodies

Two hours later, someone found Missy’s decomposed body in a vacant parking lot. Detective Piering wanted to see how Alice reacted to the news of her daughter’s death and brought her to the crime scene to identify the body. In front of dozens of news cameras, Alice saw her daughter’s dead body and broke down in tears. But, the detective later testified once the cameras shut off, so did Alice’s waterworks.

Missy was wearing her pajamas and had been strangled to death. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy said there were no indications that anyone had sexually assaulted Missy. Investigators determined Missy died somewhere between 10:00 PM and 4:00 AM. Five days later, Eddie Jr’s body was discovered at a different crime scene. Because it was the middle of July and New York was having a hot summer, Eddie Jr’s body was in too advanced a state of decomposition to determine a cause of death.

The child-murder case seemed to stall immediately, but Detective Piering still suspected Alice of murdering her children. He took her applying makeup every day as being egotistic. Alice suffered from severe acne as a teenager, leaving her with scars cratered on her face. Applying makeup helped Alice feel confident due to the insecurity from the acne.

Investigation into and the Trial of Alice Crimmins

Detective Piering would not give up on his theory of Alice’s guilt and continued questioning her and her boyfriends. Alice and Eddie moved back in together after the children’s bodies were found to comfort each other. Despite living with Eddie, Alice still dated other men. To try and get a confession from Alice, investigators bugged her phone and her apartment with Eddie, hoping to overhear her admit she killed their children. She never did.

While recording Alice, detectives taped Eddie saying some bizarre things. Eddie developed an interest in what the medical examiner had to say about Missy and Eddie Jr’s bodies. He wanted to know the tiniest details related to the investigation. Although Eddie did pass a polygraph, a witness revealed that they saw him at the library the day before the test. At the library, Eddie was studying books about polygraphs.

After years of surveilling Alice, Detective Jerry Piering still had nothing to show. Until a witness, Sophie Earomirski wrote a letter to investigators working on the Crimmin’s children’s murder in 1966. In the letter Sophie Earomirski wrote on the night of July 14, 1965, she looked out her window to see a man, a woman, and two bundled children drive away in a car.

Sophie Earomirski was a neighbor of Alice when the children died, and like most other women in the neighborhood, Sophie wasn’t fond of Alice. The other women admitted that Sophie did enjoy the attention and occasionally exaggerated the truth. Apparently the jury believed Sophie and Alice murder trial began.

Investigators got Sophie to testify at Alice’s third grand jury trial. Despite her testimony differing from her letter, Sophie’s statement helped secure an indictment for Alice on charges of first-degree manslaughter in the death of Missy. Because Eddie Jr’s cause of death was unknown, Detective Piering could not charge her with his murder.

Joe, Alice’s boyfriend who asked her out the night of July 13, testified for the prosecution, saying Alice had asked him for forgiveness for Missy’s murder. The prosecution pressured Joe to testify against Alice after they found out witnesses spotted him in drag bars, and there were rumors he was bisexual. While Joe sat on the witness stand testifying against Alice, she jumped from her chair and accused him of lying. She banged the desk in frustration before her lawyer forced her to sit down.

Alice Crimmins testified in her own defense, but the prosecution was able to flip the tables on her. They brought up that eyewitnesses say they saw Alice nude swimming in Joe’s swimming pool days after discovering her children’s bodies. When asked about Missy and Eddie Jr, Alice trembled, and the judge had to call a recess. During recess, Alice fainted.

The jury found Alice Crimmins guilty of manslaughter, and after her appeals, the court granted Alice a new trial. At this trial, the prosecution tried Alice for the murder of Missy and Eddie Jr. Alice’s lawyers found a man named Marvin Weinstein, who they believe is the person Sophie saw the night the children went missing. Marvin said he walked to his car that night with his wife and children and carried one of his children under his arm like a bundled sack.

Again the jury found Alice Crimmins guilty of murder and sentenced her to a stay at the Bedford Hills Prison in upstate New york. Alice spent years in and out of the criminal appeals court. In 1975 the court overturned her conviction for the murder of Eddie Jr, citing not enough evidence to deem that someone murdered Eddie, let alone that the killer was Alice.

But, the court upheld the murder conviction Alice recieved for Missy. They reinstated her manslaughter verdict of her daughter. Finally, in 1977 Alice was released from jail on parole and never returned. The same year she married her long-time lover Anthony Grace.

Tony had visited Alice once a week during her incarceration for the murder of Eddie Jr and Missy. After Alice Crimmins’ release, the newlyweds moved to Key Largo, Florida. In 1998 Tony died. Alice now lives a quiet and secluded life in Florida under a new name.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Alice Crimmins now?

After Alice Crimmins was released on parole for her manslaughter conviction she moved to Key Largo, Florida with her husband Tony Grace. Tony died in 1998.

What happened to Alice Crimmins’s children?

Eddie Crimmins Jr. and Mists Crimmins who were murdered after they disappered from their bedroom in Kew Gardens Hills in July 1965.

Who did Alice Crimmins marry?

After divorcing Edmund Crimmins, Alice married Tony Grace in 1977.

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