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Former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson rarely sits for interviews. We got him for a candid, hour-plus conversation — and it's the most open he's been since leaving CPD. Mike Hammond worked under Eddie back when he was a Sergeant in Area 4 Homicide, and that history shows: this is two coppers talking straight, not a press-conference Q&A.

Topics include:

— How Rahm Emanuel personally recruited him for the job (Eddie never applied)

— Growing up in Cabrini Green

— Why he became a Chicago police officer

— Community policing and the three constituencies a Superintendent serves

— His views on the SAFE-T Act and recent line-of-duty murders of police officers

— The work behind 31 years on the job

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Recorded at The Content Club, Chicago, Illinois
Content and Creator: Mike Hammond

Support the show

The Engine that Makes Detective Story Run:
Featuring co-host Chris Kafcas.

Patreon Link for Insider Conversations and Direct contact with us:
https://patreon.com/DetectiveStorywithMikeHammond

Big thank you to our Patrons who keep us rolling:
Jenn and Drew Hammond
Colonel Samuel E. Manto
Core Natural Gas Services, Midland/Odessa, Texas

Strategic Partners:
Gun Barrel Coffee
Blue Knight Security Solutions

Co-Host: Chris Kafcas

Video and Audio Editing:
Micah Mabey

Original Musical Score: Jared May

Original Studio Artwork: Drew DeMaria

Season 3 Score: "Dead and Gone Blues" by Peter Crosby (Epidemic Sound)

Original Show Artwork and Logos: Eric Rovegno
https://www.thenorthcreative.com/
Los Angeles, California
(Do yourself a favor and check out his work on his website)

Security and Investigative assistance provided by:
Blue Knight Security Solutions
blueknightsecuritysolutions.com
773-706-4920

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok: @detectivestorymikehammond

Email Detective Hammond at: mikehammond640@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

In 1956, Barbara and Patricia Grimes vanished after seeing an Elvis Presley film in Chicago. Their disappearance generated so much national attention that Elvis Presley himself recorded a personal radio message urging the girls to come home. Their bodies were found weeks later in unincorporated Cook County. Nearly 70 years later the case remains unsolved — but may not be unsolvable.

In this episode of Detective Story, retired CPD Homicide Detective Mike Hammond and co-host Chris Kafcas sit down with documentarian and researcher Michael Weber, who has spent years investigating the Grimes Sisters case. Weber has identified a living individual — now in his 80s — who she believes had direct contact with the sisters and has never been formally interviewed by investigators.

Mike Hammond brings his own firsthand knowledge to this conversation, having worked the Grimes Sisters case as part of CPD's Cold Case Homicide Unit with his then partner Jim Hennigan.

Together, Hammond, Kafcas, and Weber lay out the evidence, the witnesses, unanswered questions in the investigation, and the question that the Grimes family — including a surviving sister — still deserves an answer to after nearly seven decades.

Justice has no expiration date.

Support the show

The Engine that Makes Detective Story Run:
Featuring co-host Chris Kafcas.

Patreon Link for Insider Conversations and Direct contact with us:
https://patreon.com/DetectiveStorywithMikeHammond

Big thank you to our Patrons who keep us rolling:
Jenn and Drew Hammond
Colonel Samuel E. Manto
Core Natural Gas Services, Midland/Odessa, Texas

Strategic Partners:
Gun Barrel Coffee
Blue Knight Security Solutions

Co-Host: Chris Kafcas

Video and Audio Editing:
Micah Mabey

Original Musical Score: Jared May

Original Studio Artwork: Drew DeMaria

Season 3 Score: "Dead and Gone Blues" by Peter Crosby (Epidemic Sound)

Original Show Artwork and Logos: Eric Rovegno
https://www.thenorthcreative.com/
Los Angeles, California
(Do yourself a favor and check out his work on his website)

Security and Investigative assistance provided by:
Blue Knight Security Solutions
blueknightsecuritysolutions.com
773-706-4920

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok: @detectivestorymikehammond

Email Detective Hammond at: mikehammond640@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

In this special audio edition, I reflect on the recent losses of two dedicated officers: Deputy Rick Coyle of the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department (retired CPD) and Officer John Bartholomew of the Chicago Police Department.

I served with Rick on the Chicago Police Department years ago. After he retired Rick moved to Kentucky and eventually joined the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department to serve that community. On Friday May 8, 2026, I traveled to Kentucky to attend his memorial. At the same time back in Chicago services were being held for Officer John Bartholomew who had also been killed in the line of duty.

This episode discusses the powerful impact both men had on their communities and my thoughts on the differences and similarities of the big-city and small-town loss, and the "instinctual awareness" that defines the best in this profession.

This is a tribute to the reality of the sacrifice, the pride of the uniform, and the weight carried long after the stars are put away.

Rest easy, Rick and John.

Support the show

The Engine that Makes Detective Story Run:
Featuring co-host Chris Kafcas.

Patreon Link for Insider Conversations and Direct contact with us:
https://patreon.com/DetectiveStorywithMikeHammond

Big thank you to our Patrons who keep us rolling:
Jenn and Drew Hammond
Colonel Samuel E. Manto
Core Natural Gas Services, Midland/Odessa, Texas

Strategic Partners:
Gun Barrel Coffee
Blue Knight Security Solutions

Co-Host: Chris Kafcas

Video and Audio Editing:
Micah Mabey

Original Musical Score: Jared May

Original Studio Artwork: Drew DeMaria

Season 3 Score: "Dead and Gone Blues" by Peter Crosby (Epidemic Sound)

Original Show Artwork and Logos: Eric Rovegno
https://www.thenorthcreative.com/
Los Angeles, California
(Do yourself a favor and check out his work on his website)

Security and Investigative assistance provided by:
Blue Knight Security Solutions
blueknightsecuritysolutions.com
773-706-4920

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok: @detectivestorymikehammond

Email Detective Hammond at: mikehammond640@gmail.com