On December 20, 1945, Frances Brown, a divorced woman, was discovered stabbed to death in her apartment at 3941 Pine Grove after a cleaning woman heard a radio playing loudly and noted Brown’s door partly open. Brown had been savagely stabbed, and authorities thought that a burglar had been discovered or interrupted. No valuables were taken but someone had written a message in lipstick on the wall of Brown’s apartment:

William Heirens message to the police