The Perplexing Case of the Nimer Murders

by Nomad

Back in 2009, I stumbled across this strange story about an investigation of a horrific pair of murders that took a bizarre twist.

A two-page article in the September 22 1958 issue of LIFE magazine relates the chilling and bewildering story of the Nimer murder case. The double homicide of Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Nimer of Staten Island, New York, was a sensation at the time. The reason?
The chief suspect in the crime was their eight-year-old son, Melvin Dean Nimer.

The Murders and the Suspicions

Sometime before two in the morning of September 2, 1958, Melvin Nimer and his wife, Lou Jean Nimer were apparently attacked by an armed assailant in their home.

According to their son's initial account, he was awakened in the night to find a masked man attempting to choke him. His parents rushed to his aid and, in the struggle, were stabbed in the struggle. Based on the boy's description, police issued a manhunt for a white male, wearing blue dungarees and a blue print-striped shirt.
But the police officers felt something was not quite right. Given the fact that he had just witnessed the violent deaths of both his parents, his calm behavior seemed suspicious.