In Which Mary Grimes Wallace Makes Life Difficult For Everyone

"Dayton Daily News," October 6, 1966, via Newspapers.comInvestigating a violent death can be difficult enough if it is uncertain whether it is a case of suicide, or murder. When even trying to establish the identity of the victim leads everyone down various rabbit holes, and the unfortunate corpse gets permanently misplaced…well, have some pity for the police detectives involved.32-year-old Mary Grimes Wallace of Xenia, Ohio, did not have an easy life. After her husband deserted her, she found that her job as a cook at a supper club left her unable to adequately provide for their two young sons, forcing her to put them into state-run orphanages. She eventually moved in with a man named William Byrd, but he soon proved to be yet another source of misery. Byrd was an abusive bully who, during his frequent fits of rage, would threaten to kill Mary. She told friends that she wanted to break things off with William, but feared what he might do if she left him.At 7:38 a.m. on the morning of…