In the late summer of 1979, a young woman named Norma Jean Halford, a 21-year-old white female, vanished from the small mountain town of Georgetown, Colorado. Her disappearance on August 24, 1979, would unravel a chilling connection to a suspected serial killer, yet her own case would remain shrouded in mystery for decades. Two days prior to her being reported missing, her car was discovered abandoned on Guanella Pass Road, a scenic route winding through the mountains near Georgetown,
immediately signaling that something was amiss.
At the time she went missing, Norma was living with a man named Vincent Darrell Groves. This detail, which may have seemed insignificant at first, would later become the central and most sinister element of the investigation into her disappearance. Foul play was suspected from the outset, and as investigators delved into Groves' background, a terrifying picture began to emerge. Groves was no ordinary man; he was a serial killer, and authorities came to believe he was responsible for a string of murders.
Despite the strong suspicion and circumstantial evidence linking Groves to Norma's disappearance, he was never formally charged in her case. His connection to other violent crimes was more concrete. Groves was eventually convicted for the murders of other women and died in prison in 1996. Law enforcement authorities believe he could be responsible for as many as twenty-four murders committed between 1978 and 1989.
Tragically, Norma Halford's body has never been found. Her case is the only one tied to Vincent Groves where a victim's remains were never recovered, leaving her family without the closure of a proper burial and the justice system without the key piece of evidence needed to definitively close her case. Her disappearance is a lingering cold case, a haunting reminder of a life cut short and the dark shadow Vincent Groves cast over the Denver area.
