Elsie Paroubek

Case background and investigation

Elsie Paroubek was the young daughter of Czech immigrants Frank and Karolina Paroubek and lived with her family on South Albany Avenue in Chicago. She was born in 1906, and accounts describe her as four or five years old in the spring of 1911; contemporary coverage generally gave her age as five.

On April 8, 1911, Elsie left home to visit her aunt, who lived a short distance away. According to accounts summarised by The Lineup and Grunge, she met her nine-year-old cousin and other neighbourhood children who were listening to an organ grinder. When the musician moved on, the other children followed him and Elsie stayed behind. She did not arrive at her aunt's house. Wikipedia's account, which draws on period newspapers, says her father reported her missing that evening.

The search lasted about a month and drew wide attention in Chicago and beyond. According to The Lineup, police first directed their efforts at Romani travellers after a witness reported seeing a child in a wagon, and later at Italian-American communities because of the organ grinder; none of these lines of inquiry produced evidence, and they reflected prejudices of the period. Wikipedia reports that rewards were offered by her father, a local judge and the governor of Illinois.

Elsie's body was found in the drainage canal near the power plant at Lockport, roughly 35 miles from Chicago, by plant employees. Wikipedia dates the discovery to May 8, 1911, while The Lineup and Grunge give May 9. Early reports suggested drowning, but the inquest heard that there was no water in her lungs, and concluded she had probably been suffocated by whoever took her. The official cause of death was nonetheless recorded as unknown.

Her funeral was held on May 12, 1911, on the lawn of the family home, with a crowd estimated at between 2,000 and 5,000 people, and she was buried at Bohemian National Cemetery. Several men were investigated, including one who died by suicide during the inquiry and whom police afterwards cleared, according to Wikipedia. No one was ever charged, and the case remains unsolved.

The case has a later connection to the Chicago outsider artist Henry Darger. According to Wikipedia's article on his manuscript In the Realms of the Unreal, Darger kept a newspaper photograph of Elsie published in May 1911 and was distressed when he lost it. Researchers have linked that loss to the character Annie Aronburg in his work.