James B. Grinder
American serial killer (1945–2010)

James B. Grinder (1945–2010) was an American serial killer and rapist who murdered three teenage girls in Arkansas and a woman in Missouri between 1976 and 1984. Grinder was not apprehended until his confession in March 1998. However, authorities still had little evidence tying Grinder to the murders, so they used a technique known as brain fingerprinting to help prove his guilt. In 1999, Grinder was convicted of the four murders and sentenced to life imprisonment. He remained imprisoned until his death in 2010.
Biography
James B. Grinder was born in 1945. In 1980, Grinder had a daughter, but he and his child's mother split up soon afterward. He later moved to Macon County, Missouri.
Murders
Triple murder
On December 2, 1976, Grinder picked up Teresa Williams, 13, Crystal Donita Parton, 14, and Cynthia Mabry, 13, outside Russellville, Arkansas. According to Grinder, the three girls voluntarily got into his car after he offered to buy them alcohol.
“James B. Grinder” enters the record as american serial killer (1945–2010). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what James, Grinder and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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