Anne M. McGrevey
44 YOA
6505 Forest Court
Windsor Heights
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
January 30, 1948
At 1:40 a.m. on Friday, January 30, 1948, firefighters broke into a blazing home at 6505 Forest Court in the upscale Windsor Heights area of Des Moines.
Inside the fashionable home, they found the nude body of 44-year-old resident Anne Marie McGrevey on the living room floor near the front window.
Courtesy photo Google Street ViewThe fire was discovered at 1:40 a.m. by McGrevey’s two maids and a houseboy — Florence Carter, 22, Norvaline Stewart, 18, and Amos Holt, 19.
The three domestics were returning to the house in a taxi after escorting McGrevey’s guests home follwing a contract bridge party at the residence.
The blaze was quickly determined to be arson. A large hole was burned in the living room floor, the kitchen was gutted, and two bedrooms were consumed — all from separately-set fires.
The Windsor Heights Mayor asked Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation Director R.W. “Doc” Nebergall to assist the investigation.
Courtesy photo Iowa DPSAuthorities immediately suspected 25-year-old Harold Maupin, described by one newspaper as “an Omaha Negro musician.” Maupin had lived for three weeks in the McGrevey home, working as a house boy and a bartender for McGrevey’s contract bridge parties and lessons.
During the week after the fire, Robert Miller, McGrevey’s son by her second marriage, filed charges against Maupin for assault with intent to commit great bodily harm, claiming Maupin attacked him with a knife three weeks before his mother’s death in an argument at the home. Although Maupin was held for the assault, he was never indicted for it.
Maupin admitted being at the McGrevey home until “after midnight” the night of the murder, but insisted he was not involved in the death of his employer. After spending three weeks in jail, he was cleared by a lie detector test.
Florence Carter, Norvaline Stewart, and Amos Holt — the McGrevey employees who discovered the fire — also passed lie detector tests.
Acting Polk County Coroner Dr. J. E. Kessell performed the original autopsy on Anne McGreevey’s body.
County Attorney Carroll O. Switzer believed Kessell’s post mortim was inadequate because it was conducted after the body was embalmed and he believed it “was incomplete in many respects.”
Courtesy photo iowacourtsonlineAnne McGrevey’s body was exhumed on March 1 and examined by Dr. Snyder, who concluded she died from the fire.
Because of missing jewelry, it was first believed the death was related to a robbery. Polk County Sheriff Howard C. Reppert learned, however, that McGrevey recently pawned her wedding ring, a diamond ring, and a wristwatch.
She may have been getting rid of these items because she was divorcing her third husband, James E. McGrevey, whom she married only months before.
Anne McGrevey filed for divorce four days before her death and had a court order restraining James McGrevey from the home while the suit was pending.
There was a stir when McGrevey’s will, drawn up on January 7 — 23 days before her death — was filed.
The Windsor Heights home where Anne McGrevey died and all its furnishings were willed to her second husband Emmett L. Miller, Secretary-Treasurer of the York Products Company in Des Moines. She divorced him in July 1947 and quickly married James McGrevey.
James McGrevey was not mentioned in the will. However, Polk County Attorney Carroll O. Switzer ruled that because the divorce action was not final at the time of Anne’s death, McGrevey was entitled to a “dower right” of one third of her estate.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1948 murder of Anne McGrevey should be directed to the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864 or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
I don’t think that the photo above is the same house where Ms. McGrevey died. If you look at the Polk county assessor’s website it says that the house was built in 1953. If the murder occured in 1948, that was before the house pictured above was even built.
I agree that this may not be the house. I’ve always thought it seemed too contemporary for 1948, even though 1953 is not that long afterwards.
It’s possible the house was razed after the murder and the fires. Or the purchasers didn’t want to live in a residence “with a history.”
Google Street View is not as accurate as we’d like to think, alas.
We welcome information such as yours. Perhaps someone will submit a photo of the original house or — better yet — a photo of Anne McGrevey.
Thanks.
The caption under the pictures says that the house pictured was “built on the site of the house where the murder took place”. The house pictured was built in 1953.
Hello, Mary. The caption under the photo of the house says — direct quote– “This house was built in 1953 on the site of Anne McGrevey’s murder.” It has said that for almost a year. I’m fairly certain that the home was either completely destroyed or made uninhabitable by the fires that were set. Nancy
Mary, The caption does not say the murders took place in this house. That wouldn’t be possible because the house wasn’t built till 1953. I am making no claim that the murders took place in the house in the photo. The murder was in 1948. The house was built in 1953.