Mr. Ballin

Joseph collected himself enough to speak and said to the nurse, go get the police.

Later that night, detectives Chauncey Manning and Adolph Ash of the Indianapolis Police Department arrived at Union State Hospital.

Both men wore dark, well-tailored suits and hats.

They were experienced investigators and had worked as partners on a range of cases.

The detectives quickly met with the medical staff, who gave them a rundown of Carrie's known movements.

The detectives also found Carrie's brother, Joseph, standing in a common room by the porch.

He had refused to go home and was insisting that he wanted to be part of the search.

Because no one had actually seen Carrie leave, the detectives decided the first priority was to search the hospital itself, even though staff had already looked.

So, with Joseph and several other hospital employees following them, detectives Manning and Ash checked every patient's room one by one, including the closets.

Then, after they did not find Carrie, they walked through the common areas and offices, bending down to search behind every piece of furniture.

And when that didn't work, lastly they searched the stairways and took oil lamps up to the attic.

But again, there was no sign of Carrie.

Finally, Detective Manning told Joseph that they couldn't do much more tonight, but he promised that they would resume and expand their search for his sister first thing in the morning.

What they didn't tell Joseph was that if Carrie had truly wandered off the hospital grounds and out into the city, then she was in very serious danger.

Like other major cities, Indianapolis had its share of crime.

Pickpockets and thieves were common, and violence against women was a growing problem.

Carrie would be an easy target.

But beyond that, at this particular moment, the city was also dealing with a truly bizarre rash of crimes.

a gang of grave robbers were digging up bodies and then selling them on the black market to hospitals and universities that use the bodies for medical research.

And in some cases, if a fresh body was required, these gangs would take things into their own hands and actually commit murder in order to provide that body.