1978 Cold Murder Case Heats Up In Chicago Ridge

CHICAGO RIDGE, IL — Before she was found bludgeoned to death on May 31, 1978, in the basement of her Chicago Ridge home, Noel Grippo, 34, was a pretty, young nurse, married with a little boy and a nice home. After more than 40 years of a trail gone cold, Chicago Ridge police think they may be close to making an arrest.

Grippo worked for a doctor in Oak Lawn and had Wednesdays off. When she didn’t show up to meet her husband at work, Michael Grippo Sr., a driver for the UPS facility in Bedford Park, told police he sent his mother to check on his wife. An unattributed news account from the time stated that his mother went to their home at 10636 S. Mason Ave. where Noel was found beaten and strangled with her face slashed on the floor of the basement den.

A search of the house turned up no signs of a struggle. Chicago Ridge police officers working the case in 1978 surmised that Grippo was killed sometime between 8 and 11 a.m., after her 11-year-old son Michael Jr. left for school. The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the case a homicide and determined that Grippo had been killed by several blows to the head with a heavy instrument and strangled.

“She took a brutal beating,” said Det. Jim Jarolimek of the Chicago Ridge Police Department.

Chicago Ridge police and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office worked the case full time. Forensic lab results returned a month after Grippo’s murder confirmed police speculation that rape was not a motive. A polygraph was “administered to at least one individual,” according to the Chicago South End Reporter.

Det. Bob Vanucci led the 1978 investigation in the young nurse’s murder. He told the paper that new information continued to be developed but “cannot be released until all the details are checked out.” Grippo’s case, which went unsolved, would haunt Vanucci for the rest of his days. The detective continued working the case even after his retirement from the Chicago Ridge Police Department in the early 1990s. Vanucci passed away at age 57 in 1996.

Jarolimek remembers the murder well as a boy growing up five blocks from the Grippo home in 1978. His mom was a room mother at Ridge Central Elementary School, where Michael Jr. was a student.

“It was mass hysteria,” Jarolimek recalled. “My sister was in class with [Michael Jr.] when he was called to the office on the day his mother was found. No one left their backyard that summer because they feared a killer was on the loose.”

Numerous leads were developed and investigated, but none panned out. A family member was identified as a person of interest, but that person passed away in 1991. Police also ruled out all the known burglars who had been recently arrested or living in the area at the time of the murder. There was no indication that anything had been stolen from the home, or that Grippo had walked in on a burglary. The trail grew cold.

“They all had alibis,” Jarolimek said. “This was an isolated incident. We believe Noel was targeted in a homicide.”

As new detectives joined the department they would review the case files, bringing fresh eyes to the unsolved homicide. Even without the benefits of today's surveillance cameras, DNA testing, cellular towers or computers, Jarolimek said his 1978 counterparts’ police work was sound.

“The investigators did a great job,” he said. “We still have the phone records and the original reports.

In 2016, some of Grippo’s family members approached Chicago Ridge police with new information, culled from Helen Grippo, Michael Sr.’s mother and the finder of Noel’s body, before she had passed away the year before.

This new information has provided the Chicago Ridge detectives and the Cook County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit with fresh leads and new potential witnesses. The case has also led to detectives traveling out of state to conduct several interviews. Jarolimek said his department also has been in close contact with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The homicide investigation remains very much open and is currently active. Police believe that an arrest is imminent.

"The detectives and myself have interviewed neighbors and people involved in the case,” Jarolimek added. “It’s unbelievable how much detail they remember. We contacted at least ten officers who worked the case who are still alive, including Chief Rio, the police chief who assisted Vanucci at the time. He remembered it like it was yesterday.”

On the 41st anniversary of Noel Grippo’s death, Chicago Ridge police want to help her family find closure, especially Grippo’s son, Michael. Detectives are asking the public to contact the Chicago Ridge Police Department with any information they may have regarding the incident. Detectives can be reached at 708-425-7831.

“A murder and homicide case is never closed but it does get cold,” Jarolimek said. “We’re just looking for that last little tidbit that’s going to get an arrest. We’re so close.”