Rose Grandanette
Rose Marie Grandanette
33 YOA
Sunrise Blvd. and 73rd St.
Windsor Heights
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
September 14, 1958
Mrs. Rose Marie Grandanette, a 33-year-old mother of three children, was shot in the head with a .38-caliber pistol on September 14, 1959, after answering the door of her Windsor Heights Des Moines home.
Rose’s 36-year-old husband, Bernard “Bernie” Grandanette, told police the shot was fired by one of three gunmen who accosted him as he returned home from work.
Bernard Grandanette — who co-owned the Town and Country Market in Des Moines with his brother, Ross — told police he’d worked late that night and that after pulling into his home’s driveway, he saw three men outside his car. The men allegedly got into the vehicle from the passenger side and demanded Grandanette give them his money. When Grandanette told them he had no money on him, he said the men ordered him inside the home.
Grandanette said he rang the doorbell to alert his wife, and that once she opened the door and saw the men with guns, she tried to run back into the house. This account conflicts with reports that Mrs. Grandanette fell forward through the doorway after being shot and landed on the porch.
Grandanette said the men then panicked and fled to a vehicle where a fourth man waited. Grandanette could not provide physical descriptions of any of the men because he said they held handkerchiefs to their faces.
Once they’d gone, Grandanette said he went inside the home and called Windsor Heights Police and then his brother, Ross. The two responding officers — Windsor Heights Police Chief Vern Akey and town fire marshall C.D. Millsap — found Rose Grandanette still alive on the front porch.
Neighbors looked after the Grandanette’s children — Roslynne, Joseph, and Victoria — while Millsap drove Mrs. Grandanette to Methodist Hospital. She died the following night.
According to Polk County coroner R. Corwin Johnson, the bullet that killed Rose Grandanette was shot at close range approximately one and one-half inches away from the top of her head; the killer would have been standing over the top of her when he pulled the trigger.
Courtesy photo AP/Cedar Rapids GazetteA coroner’s inquest began September 24, and in early October law enforcement officials asked both Bernie and Ross Grandanette to voluntarily submit to lie detector tests. An attorney representing the brothers told authorities the men had been fully cooperative throughout the investigation and that no polygraph tests were necessary.
Local and state authorities interviewed more than 500 individuals throughout the murder investigation, but no charges were ever filed.
Memorial services for Rose Grandanette were held Thursday, September 19 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church. She was buried in the Grandanette family plot at Glendale Cemetery.
Bernard Grandanette died February 14, 2006.
If you have any information about Rose Grandanette’s unsolved murder please contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864 or Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form or the Anonymous Tip Form.
I remember this murder because my father was friends with the Grandanette’s. My father had a pretty “sketchy” reputation in Des Moines at that time and was known as Big Opie. He hung around with Babe Bisignano, Johnny Compiano, Sarge Fontanini, Lew Ferrell & Floren DiPaglia, among others. He owned a restaurant on the east side. I do recall, even though I was only about 12, my father and his friends, talking and laughing about how Ross and Bernie got away with this murder. My brother was at least 19 at the time and I will ask him what he recalls about this.
I’m sure this isn’t anything helpful because the police probably already suspected this, but my father, along with some of these other men, were puported to have “Mafia” ties in Las Vegas, where I know they went a lot. I just listened to someone speak in Ames on the Chavis murder, which brought up a lot of memories from the past.
I know my father was also an aquaintance of Ramona Cox. I know I have nothing of any substance to offer about either of these murders, but thought I would share these details just because murders fascinate me.
I will also remember to ask my brother, who is a Dr. in North Carolina, what he might remember of the talk surrounding my father and friends regarding these people and their murders.
Thanks
Regarding my recent post. You can contact me via email with any comments. I forgot to click on the box.
I grew up with Jo Jo he stayed at my house that night and the next. Rose and my birthday were the same,
Mike. You knew JoJo?
we played together was my friend from 57 to when they moved, we stayed in touch, he was a couple years younger than me, went to Dowling together, also St Theresa’s.I remember playing baseball, he could really zing the ball but no control.
i
Hi!
Did your dad have the place on E Grand, just down from Tasty Tacos and his sign on the top front of the building said “Opie Ain’t Mad at Nobody”??? This just came up today on the Lost Des Moines site on FB and my grandmom (who raised me) used to take me there. Either that or I’m just getting old and imagined it. There was a sewing machine store across the street.
Thanks a million,
Roni Price