You Can't Play Outside . . .

Patricia was still sleeping peacefully as Willie Grady was conducting his business with his brother. She had a dental appointment later, but it was still early. Her stepmother, Dorothy, would not pick her up until mid-morning.

Willie Grady left the prison at about nine a.m. with his paperwork for the truck. Patricia was out of bed by that time and preparing for her dental appointment.

Dorothy Cook arrived mid-morning to take Patricia to her appointment. Willie Grady was driving aimlessly around Rome, making several stops.

When Patricia arrived home from the dentist around noon, the sun was blazing. It would be a a good day to work on her tan. She called her mother at work to let her know that she was home and that she was going to “lay out in the sun” for awhile.

She was in the yard when she heard the truck slow, then stop in front of her house. She got up to look toward the front of the house and saw the man walking to her front door. She picked up her robe and walked through the house toward the front.

At the sound of the first knock, she opened the door and innocently looked up into the last face she would ever see.

Bud Waters arrived at his home at 618 East Nineteenth Street a little after five o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, June 20th, 1955.

When he got out of his car, there was a man and his two sons waiting for him. The man was interested in buying his boat and Waters did not go directly into his house but walked, with the man and boys, into the garage. They looked at the boat Waters had for sale, discussed it, and negotiated a price. Ruby had spoken with him during the day and had told him that Patricia would start supper that evening.

When the man left, Waters went into the kitchen. He did not see Patricia or any sign that supper had been started. He walked through the house and into the back yard, calling her name. When he could find no sign of her, he called his wife at work.

“Ruby, didn’t you say Patsy was home and would start supper?” he asked.

“Yes, I talked to her around one thirty or two. John’s wife brought her home from the dentist. She said she was going to sunbathe and then start supper. Why? What’s wrong?”

Bud calmly replied, “Nothing probably, but she’s not home and it doesn’t look like she began cooking, either.”

Ruby Waters did not know what to think. It was so unlike Patricia to do something like that. Patricia always called her at work to let her know if she was going somewhere. She’d also leave notes on the coffee table saying where she was and how to get in touch with her.

Ruby told her husband. “I’ll call her girlfriends and see if she’s there or if they know where she might be and call you back. Look on the coffee table, too. You know she leaves notes there.