Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 06/14/1955
- Missing From:
- Missing From West Palm Beach, Florida
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Male
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 10/24/1896 (128)
- Age:
- Age 56 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight Unknown
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description Possibly pajamas and slippers.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Judge Curtis Chillingworth and his wife, Marjorie, vanished in June 1955. They were last seen at dinner in West Palm Beach. The next morning, a carpenter found their house empty, the door open, and signs of trouble: a broken porch light, blood on the walkway, and used tape. Their car was there, but they were gone. A massive search found nothing.
It turned out Judge Chillingworth had a powerful enemy: Joseph Peel, a corrupt lower-court judge who Chillingworth had reprimanded several times. Peel, angered by Chillingworth’s warnings, hired two men, “Lucky” Holzapfel and “Bobby” Lincoln, to kill the Chillingworths.
Holzapfel confessed in 1960, revealing they’d taken the Chillingworths out to sea, bound and weighted them down, and shot Curtis when he tried to swim away. Lincoln testified in exchange for immunity. Peel was convicted of being involved in the murders, serving 18 years before dying shortly after his release from prison in 1981. Holzapfel received a life sentence, and Lincoln served his unrelated sentence. The Chillingworths’ bodies were never found, but the circumstances strongly suggest they were murdered.
- Agency:
- Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office 561-688-3000
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 06/14/1955