Her Children Vanished. Police Studied Her Makeup: The Alice Crimmins Case

Her Children Vanished. Police Studied Her Makeup: The Alice Crimmins Case On July 14, 1965, Alice Crimmins opened her children's bedroom door in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, and found two empty beds. Her daughter Missy, 4, was found strangled in a vacant lot that same afternoon; her son Eddie Jr., 5, was found five days later, so decomposed that no cause of death was ever determined. Why did the lead detective judge the mother's clothes and makeup before any evidence existed? Why did police drop the father as a suspect over a refused polygraph? And how did three years of wiretaps, tails, and bugged motel rooms produce two convictions without a single piece of physical evidence? In this episode, we follow the Alice Crimmins case from a first-floor apartment on 72nd Drive through one of the longest surveillance operations ever aimed at a private citizen in New York, the recruited informant boyfriend, the anonymous 2 a.m. window witness, two trials, and the appeals ladder that dismantled almost everything the juries decided. This is the story of a prosecution built on a woman's private life instead of proof, and of two children the case forgot. Person: Alice Marie "Missy" Crimmins, 4, and Edmund "Eddie" Crimmins Jr., 5; their mother Alice Crimmins, 26 Date: July 14, 1965 Location: Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York Case: Double child death; strangulation confirmed only for Missy Legal status: Only one conviction survived, first-degree manslaughter for Missy, reinstated in 1975; the murder conviction for Eddie Jr. was dismissed in 1973 for insufficient evidence; Alice was paroled in 1977 and later vanished into private life - The custody fight, the Family Court inspection scheduled for the day the children vanished - Detective Piering's instant judgment and the polygraph that narrowed the case - Sophie Earomirski, Joseph Rorech, and two witnesses with documented credibility problems - The prosecutor's comment on her silence that overturned a conviction - The hitchhiker affidavit that was never disproven or credited Sixty years later, the killings of Missy and Eddie Crimmins remain essentially unsolved. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].