The Disappearance of April Grisanti (Connecticut)

Before she vanished, April Grisanti was a young woman trying to find her footing. Then, over the course of one winter night in 1985, she disappeared in plain sight. Witnesses saw her struggle. Police heard her voice asking for help. And yet, April was never seen again.

What followed has never felt like justice. No murder charge. No body. No answers. This is a story about incomplete justice, and about a family left carrying questions the investigation has never fully resolved. Over four decades later, the question still hangs in the air. Where is she?

Last Seen

It was just before noon on February 1st, 1985, when the phone rang inside a modest apartment at the Colonial Village complex in Norwalk, Connecticut. Mary Lou Grisanti answered it expecting nothing out of the ordinary. Instead, she heard the voice of her daughter’s co-worker calling from Binki’s Cafe on Van Zant Street in East Norwalk. 20-year-old April Grisanti was scheduled to work that day and she hadn’t shown up.

According to reporting by Barbara A. Heins for the Daily Advocate, the last time Mary Lou had seen her daughter was the day before, January 31st. April was asleep when Mary Lou left for work. It wasn’t like April to not come home. By 12:30 p.m. with no word from April and no explanation for her absence, Mary Lou reported her missing.

As frightening as it was that April hadn’t come home and hadn’t gone to work, what Mary Lou would soon learn about the previous night made the situation feel urgent in a way no parent ever wants to experience. According to witnesses, around 9:30 p.m. on January 31st, April was at Binki’s when she was confronted by a man she knew: 33-year-old James Aaron Jr., known by the nickname “Purple.”

Sara Seigle reports for the Norwalk Hour that April was trying to leave the bar with a friend when James grabbed her and forced her into his car.

Sometime later, James reportedly drove April to Anthony’s Bar at 174 Main Street in Norwalk. Inside the bar, people noticed immediately that something was wrong. An employee later said April had a silver dollar–sized mark on her neck. She was crying. She appeared frightened.

Around 11:30 p.m., April used the phone at Anthony’s to call the police. Her voice was strained and emotional as she left a message for a specific officer.

“I want to leave a message for Brian Liddy. Tell him I’m at Anthony’s please…This is April. I need a restraining order to get someone away from me. He knows the problem…I had my car stolen and I think my ex-boyfriend did it…He tried to choke me and tried to force me into sex…I want Brian. I need a restraining order.” 

Three officers responded to the scene and spoke with April. They noticed that one of her fingers was bleeding. April told them she had been abducted and assaulted earlier that night, but she did not want James to be arrested. Eventually, the officers left.

According to witnesses, things escalated after police departed. April’s sister, Gina Grisanti, told me that April was in the bathroom with friends, trying to figure out what to do next, when James came inside and caused a scene. April, trying to diffuse the situation, went outside with him.

April was able to reach a public payphone near the Dairy King across the street from the bar. Sources say she made a call or tried to make a call, possibly trying to get a ride home or for help in some way. But James attacked her again. A witness later testified that he saw April struggling with James. He heard April yell for help. Then James grabbed her, pushed her head down, and forced her into his car.

As the car pulled away, April was kicking and screaming. That witness who saw James abduct April from the payphone later said he believed he was seeing a couple fighting – something domestic, something not his place to interrupt – and so he just went back inside the bar.

Mark Marselli reports for the Connecticut Post that sometime after midnight, a woman who witnessed the earlier attack on April called police to report a kidnapping and assault. Four minutes later, she called again. Police did not respond to either call.

April was last seen outside Anthony’s Bar at approximately 12:15 a.m. on February 1st, 1985, being forced into James Aaron Jr.’s car. Witnesses saw the light blue 1975 Cadillac El Dorado drive north on Main Street before turning left onto New Canaan Avenue. April was wearing blue jeans, a black fur coat, white sneakers, a gray purse, and silver rings. She stood five-foot-four, weighed about 120 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown, curly hair.

April has not been seen since. Her sister believes she knows exactly where April is today – if only she could finally bring her home.

About April

April’s mother, Mary Lou, described her as a classy girl and a responsible kid – the kind of young woman who tried to do the right thing and didn’t look for trouble.

April’s sister Gina remembers her as deeply trusting, almost painfully so. She says April was naïve in a way that came from believing people were generally good. She didn’t like to assume the worst. She refused to see the bad in people, even when it was right in front of her.

That trust wasn’t accidental. Gina says April had been bullied as a child and as a teenager, and those experiences took a toll on her self-esteem. April wanted to be accepted. She wanted to be liked. And she often gave people the benefit of the doubt, even when they hadn’t earned it.

When April got older, Mary Lou hoped she could help her daughter find her footing. She helped April get a job at Binki’s, which was owned at the time by a family friend. Mary Lou believed the job might help April build confidence and give her independence, structure, and a sense of belonging.

Gina sees that decision very differently now. Looking back, she says getting April that job turned out to be a very bad idea. Because it was at Binki’s that April’s life would become entangled with someone who she believes recognized her sister’s trust not as a strength, but as something to exploit.

History of April & James

According to Gina, James Aaron Jr. was a regular at Binki’s Bar. She also learned that despite being in his thirties, he often surrounded himself with teenagers.

By the time April disappeared, she had known James for roughly three years. In most reporting on the case, James is described as April’s boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, and some sources indicate they had lived together for about a year prior to her disappearance. But Gina says that leaves out critical context and misrepresents what was really happening. She alleges that James preyed on April when she was still a teenager and groomed her, shaping a relationship built on an uneven power dynamic out of April’s control. She also wants to clear up that April never lived with James.

April’s relationship with her family suffered while she was involved with James. Looking back now, Gina feels it’s likely that James isolated her from those who loved her most. Still, there were signs she was trying to find her way back. At one point, she sent her mother a rose at work with a handwritten note attached. It read, “Mom, I love you.”

Friends later said that April had been trying to distance herself from James in the weeks before she disappeared. But breaking away completely wasn’t simple nor was it safe for her. About a week or two before April vanished, her car – a bright red 1975 Chevy Malibu Classic – was stolen. April had reason to believe James was responsible; possible retaliation for her trying to get away from him. The car was still missing when she disappeared.

James had a criminal record as of 1985. According to reporting by Ed Silverstein and Mary McGee for the Norwalk Hour, in 1978, James was arrested in Norwalk after a fight involving roughly twenty people inside the Playpen Restaurant. He was charged with disorderly conduct, pleaded guilty in Stamford Superior Court, and was sentenced to a $25 fine.

In March of 1981, a woman said she met James at a bar but tried to leave because she feared he was going to become violent. She reported that James followed her to the back of the restaurant, pushed her into a corner, and began hitting her. She sustained a swollen eye and was kicked in the legs and back. The woman told police that James threatened to kill her if she reported the assault.

James later turned himself in and claimed he had been provoked, alleging that the woman had been harassing him at work with repeated phone calls and racial slurs over the course of a month. He was arrested on charges of third-degree assault, breach of peace, and threatening. That incident occurred at Anthony’s – the same bar where April would be last seen years later.

James ultimately pleaded guilty to third-degree assault. The remaining charges were not prosecuted. He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to stay away from the victim.

But for April’s mother, it wasn’t just James’s record that caused concern. Mary Lou had long been uneasy about her daughter’s association with him for another reason, one she couldn’t shake. Just a few years earlier, James’s former wife had disappeared and was later found dead.

April Grisanti’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.