The building where the Groovy Murders took place

This is the building where Linda Fitzpatrick and James "Groovy" Hutchinson were murdered.

It is located at 169 Avenue B in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

Fitzpatrick (18) and Hutchinson (21) were found beaten to death in the boiler room during the early hours of Sunday, October 8th, 1967.

The media referred to the double homicide as "The Groovy Murders" due to Hutchinson's nickname.

Hutchinson was a drifter, hippy, and occasional drug dealer who hung around Tompkins Square Park. Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, was a "posh" girl who grew up in a 30-room mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut.

East Village was a haven for hippies, artists, and beatniks during the late 1960s, as gentrification had priced many of them out of the surrounding areas.

It was also an alluring destination for runaways and those seeking to escape their mundane suburban lifestyles.

Fitzpatrick began making regular trips to East Village during the "Summer of Love" in 1967. At the time, thousands of young adults and teenagers were streaming into the neighborhood to hang around Tompkins Square Park.

There, they would play music, visit head shops, hold concerts, drink beer, and experiment with various drugs.

Fitzpatrick struggled to fit in with the hippies, as she was a naive teenager who had lived a sheltered life. To her, the dingy tenements of the Lower East Side were a world away from the sprawling family estates of Greenwich.

Despite this, she was determined to adapt to her new surroundings and pursue a career as a painter of psychedelic art. In an attempt to make friends, she would often purchase LSD for the people that she met.

In September 1967, she convinced her family to allow her to move to East Village. Fitzpatrick's parents believed that she was staying in an upscale hotel and studying painting. They had no idea that she was moving to a flophouse so that she could live with hippies and take drugs.

At some point, the teenager became involved with "Groovy" Hutchinson, a long-haired Rhode Island native who was well known in the area.

On the night of October 7th, 1967, Hutchinson and Fitzpatrick were trying to purchase drugs in Tompkins Square Park when they came across a man named Thomas Dennis.

Dennis led them to a cellar at this address on Avenue B, which had a reputation for drug dealing. There, they met Donald Ramsey, who was a resident of the building, as well as some of Ramsey's other customers.

Everyone at the "party" in the cellar that night was high on speed, LSD, and possibly meth. They had also been drinking alcohol.

It is believed that some of the men attempted to rape Fitzpatrick and that "Groovy" was beaten to death with a brick when he tried to intervene. Afterwards, one of the men murdered Fitzpatrick to cover up the sexual assault.

The couple's bodies were discovered the following morning, lying next to a brick that had been wrapped in a pair of men's trousers.

The murders received national media attention, as people were perplexed as to how a wealthy girl from Greenwich could end up dead in a garbage-filled drug den in Manhattan.

Ramsey and Dennis were later convicted of the killings.

Dennis was allowed to plead guilty to "Groovy" Hutchinson's manslaughter after he agreed to testify against his accomplice. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Ramsey pleaded guilty to Fitzpatrick's murder in 1969 and was sentenced to 15 years to life.

Neither man saw freedom again, as they both died behind bars roughly 20 years apart.

Photos

Photos of the building and other related images.

The Groovy murders

Image source: Google Maps

This Google Street View image of 169 Avenue B was taken in July 2022—more than 50 years after the Groovy murders took place.

Linda Fitzpatrick and James "Groovy" Hutchinson were found lying face-down in the trash-filled cellar. Both had suffered fatal head injuries.

There were blood stains on the concrete floor and walls. The couple's clothes were neatly folded by the door.

A brick was also found inside a pair of men's trousers on the ground.

An autopsy later confirmed that Fitzpatrick and Hutchinson had received multiple blows to the head from a blunt object that was "consistent with the brick."

Linda Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick's murder caught the nation's attention due to her background.

Her father, Irving Fitzpatrick, was a wealthy spice and tea importer who owned a large mansion on a four-acre estate in Greenwich, Connecticut.

James "Groovy" Hutchinson

James "Groovy" Hutchinson was a 21-year-old drifter from Rhode Island. Friends described him as a kind individual who helped introduce newcomers to the hippie scene in East Village.

Hutchinson was well-known in the area.

The photograph on the right was taken on the day of his death.

The Cave

Fitzpatrick and Hutchinson were seen standing outside "The Cave" at roughly 10 p.m. on the night of their murders. One friend said that the couple were high on speed at the time.

The Cave was a five-story tenement that was located at 120 St. Marks Place in East Village. The building was a popular spot for squatters and people who needed a place to crash for the night.

Coordinates: 40.726914, -73.983949

Google Maps

Donald Ramsey and Thomas Dennis

Donald Ramsey and Thomas Dennis were arrested after the police questioned some of the other people who had been present at the "party" in the cellar.

Ramsey pleaded guilty to Fitzpatrick's murder, while Dennis pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Hutchinson.

Both men later died in prison—Dennis in 1984 and Ramsey in 2003.