Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 01/18/1999
- Missing From:
- Missing From Nacogdoches, Texas
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Male
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 05/30/1968 (56)
- Age:
- Age 30 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 6’0, 200 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A white shirt, blue jeans and boots.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Grimes has reconstructive plates and screws implanted in the right side of his face. He has tattoos on his upper left arm, the top of his right shoulder, both forearms, his chest and his abdomen. Grimes has scars on his face and right wrist. His nicknames are Mike and Hammer.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Grimes disappeared in Nacogdoches, Texas, on January 18, 1999. He was last seen at Ken’s Wrecking Yard. He was a drug informant, and police initially thought his disappearance might be related to his work, but they later dropped that idea.
Rodney Cearley, whose parents owned the wrecking yard, was charged with Grimes’s murder in 2006. Cearley was the last person seen with Grimes. At his trial in 2007, Cearley confessed to killing Grimes, claiming it was self-defense. He said he stabbed Grimes and buried the body. Grimes’s ex-wife supported Cearley’s self-defense claim, saying Grimes could be violent. However, three other people testified that Cearley confessed to the murder.
Cearley was found guilty, even though Grimes’s body was never found. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, despite the possibility of a much longer sentence or even probation. After the trial, Grimes’s family begged Cearley to reveal where he buried the body. Because of all the circumstances, police believe Grimes was murdered.
- Agency:
- Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office 936-560-7794
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 01/18/1999