In 1978, Mary Beth “Pixie” Grismore was ready for a fresh start.
A newlywed. A mother of two. A former Miss Iowa pageant runner-up with a gentle smile and a quiet sense of determination. She was set to leave her Indiana farmhouse and return to Iowa to reunite with her husband.
She never made it out of Parke County.
That February night, Pixie vanished without a trace. Her purse and cash were still at home. Her two small children were found unharmed. There was no forced entry, no witnesses, and no immediate leads.
Seventy-one days later, her body was discovered in the trunk of her car — 180 miles away, in a motel parking lot in Whitehall, Ohio. She’d been strangled. Wrapped in a towel and blanket. Left to rot.
There were no fingerprints. No suspects. No arrests.
A Case That Faded Too Fast
Pixie’s story, like too many stories of violence against women, fell through the cracks. The investigation was fragmented, the evidence sparse. Silent phone calls she received in the weeks before her death were dismissed as pranks. Her valuables were missing, yet no clear robbery motive emerged.
The parallels between Pixie’s murder and another woman — Linda Sue Ferry, found strangled in her trunk just months prior — were eerie, but never investigated thoroughly enough to connect.
It’s a pattern we’ve seen too often: when a woman disappears, the spotlight dims too quickly.
Why This Still Matters
Pixie’s murder predates the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by 16 years. At the time, crimes like stalking, strangulation, and intimate partner violence weren’t just under-investigated — they weren’t even named as federal offenses.
Since then, VAWA has changed laws, funded victim services, and saved lives. But cold cases like Pixie’s remind us that justice delayed is still justice denied.
Her story is not just a crime story — it’s a mirror. A reflection of how easy it is to lose a woman in a system not built to protect her.
🎧 Listen Now: A Heavy Weight – “The Disappearance of Pixie”
This week, A Heavy Weight takes you inside one of Indiana’s most haunting unsolved murders.
🔗 Listen to the episode now
📰 Read the source articles here
📞 Know something? Contact the FBI Cold Case Division.
