Groves married in 1929, when she was just fourteen years old.
She and her husband had seven children and lived in Colorado. In 1950, Groves’s husband accidentally shot and killed their only son. Afterwards, the couple separated and Frances moved to another house in Pueblo, Colorado.
Groves met James Franklin Fye while she was working at the Pueblo Ordnance Depot, and they began dating. They moved to Missouri, and then to Palm Springs, California. In Palm Springs, Phye and Groves both got jobs working in the household of a wealthy family named Brooks.
He was divorced and had three children. Groves claimed they were married, but her family was later unable to find a marriage certificate. There was a history of domestic violence in their relationship.
Sometime in 1955, Phye and Groves went out for a picnic and he returned without her. She has never been heard from again. She left a six-figure sum in cash behind in a safe deposit box.
Phye committed suicide in 1996. He left a note, but its contents haven’t been released. It’s unclear whether he was involved in Groves’s disappearance; her case remains unsolved. Little information is available about her disappearance.
Information courtesy of The Charley Project.
