Morbid - Episode 314: The Mysterious Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold Part 1

Episode Date: April 23, 2022

Dorothy Arnold was a 25 year-old New York socialite from a prominent family back in 1910. One day, in broad daylight on fifth avenue, she seemingly vanished into thin air. No evidence, no packed bags and nothing to say what happened to her. Her family took some weird steps in the days and months after her disappearance all in the name of keeping their social standing. This is really just a case that makes you go, “hmmm…” And it's just the beginning. Check out: The Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold Here is the Social Register website in all its glory As always, thank you to our sponsors: Skylight Frame Now, as a special holiday offer, you can get $10 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame when you go SkylightFrame.com and enter code MATCP . That’s right. To get $10 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame just go to SkylightFrame.com and enter code MATCP. Shopify Go to shopify.com/morbid, ALL LOWERCASE, for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features. MeUndies To get 25% off your first Membership item or 15% off your first order and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, go to: MeUndies.com/MORBID FirstLeaf If you love finding and tasting new wine, Firstleaf is a no-brainer! Join today and you’ll get 6 bottles of wine for $29.95 and free shipping! Just go to TryFirstleaf.com/MORBID. BetterHelp Morbid listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/morbid See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Hey, Weirdo's Anash. And I'm Alena. And this is morbid. It's an unexpected two-parter. And you know what that means? It's a lane, is that so? Because she's always got the unexpected two-parters. I can't help it with the unexpected two-parters. This one was like the most unexpected because I picked this case. I was trying to, I had a few cases on the docket and I just like couldn't get myself like

super into the research for all of them. I think I was doing it at the wrong times. I'm not great at researching at night. So I think that was mainly the problem. But all of a sudden I was like, you know what? I think I wanna cover a disappearance. Looking for kind of an older one. I started at newer ones that I was kind of going older

and older and older. Yeah. And I ended up in the early 1900s. Ooh. And I hit this one and I was like, you know what? I think, okay, cool. This will be an episode. I can dive into it.

It'll be great. So I started diving into it. This will be one episode. One episode. It'll be so great. I dove in and I was like, oh. At first, because truly at first, I was like,. At first I, it's because truly at first I was like I don't even know if this hasn't, maybe this won't even have enough information for the whole episode.

To be like a really whole episode. So I was kind of worried at first but man. It's so funny. I do feel like that happens a lot to me too with like an unexpected two-parter. I'll start the research and be like oh I don't know if this is gonna make it to one part. Like, and then it ends up being like, I can't. Yeah, one part. It's so funny, but I literally can't. That happened to me with Wonderland. Yeah.

And it just, this one has the theories that come out after this one, the information that comes out after, it's just too much to just cram at the end of the episode. I feel like that would be insane. Yeah. So I think we gotta do part two as like theories and shit that came out.

I always like to do that too, because then you do kinda like get the full case and have fun and then like the theories. And then it's all the craziness. Yeah. So this is the disappearance of Dorothy Arnold's. Okay. Oh, that sounds familiar. It might be. It was, honestly, it was not familiar. No. Yeah. When I read it, I did not know the name. The name for me sounds familiar. Yeah, I could see that. Well, Dorothy Arnold's

left her home on December 12th, 1910. She was a 25-year-old socialite from a wealthy family in New York City. Before leaving, she told her mother Mary that she was heading out to Fifth Avenue to buy, to, you know, find an evening gown. What? I was just looking at this case. Oh my God, you see, literally almost did this case. Shut up. That's that never happens.

That literally, that's the first time that's ever happened. That literally never happens. As soon as you said that name, and I'm not usually like a 19, 10 kind of guy, as we all know, that is so funny. That's so funny. Because I read like that little snippet, just that like first part, and I wrote it down

and was like, and like I know like a couple details, just for kind of like, I read like a little bit, but I'm actually so excited now. I love it. I love it. Well, she was heading out to Fifth Avenue to buy an evening dress. She was going to be going to an upcoming event. That event in question was her sister Marjorie's Debbie Tompall, which was happening on the 17th. This is how fancy and rich this family was. I love it. It was the Gilmour's. Yes. Debbie Tompalls and everything. Hell yeah.

Now, her mother had said she would join her. She was like, oh, I'll come with you. But reports were that Mary, the mother was often sick. She was like ailing a lot. And she didn't leave the home very often. So Dorothy answered her mother. According to Mary's leader report, no mother don't bother. You don't feel just right. And it's no use to go into the trouble. Yeah. And then she told her, if I find a dress, I'll give you a call. Cool. So make sense. Like basically, nah, don't worry about it. You feel like shit again. I'll give you a call. Yeah. So she left, she left around noon. First, she stopped at Park and Tillford on Fifth Avenue. And it's apparently Fifth Avenue in 59th Street. I'm not great at like New York directions

because remember New York makes sense. But Boston is just like somebody going onto the street. Like that's how the street numbers are and like how it all goes. There's like one little section of Boston where the street is alphabetical and that's the only semblance of organization. Oh yeah, and that is even. Because it's just the way that New York is set up.

It's like the rose. Right. And so it makes sense like the marble. We have nothing like that. No. It's just chaos. We just thrive and we thrive and being like, who I wonder where that street could be. It's just you go three blocks down and it's like you're going to the left to the right

of down over. I fucking love Boston. I do too. But you know what, Park and Tilford is on Fifth Avenue in 59th Street, somewhere about there. Cool. Witnesses said she purchased a half pound box of chocolates there.

Get it girl. Which I'm for. Can I have some? From there, she headed to Brantano's bookstore, somewhere between 1.30 and 2.00 pm. While she From there she headed to Brentano's bookstore somewhere between 1.30 and 2.00 pm. While she was there she bought a book. That book was Engaged Girl Sketches by Emily Calvin Blake. Apparently it's like a little comedy book. Okay. So you know she's she's feeling it. She's feeling the giggles. She's also just like having herself

a day. Well she often had herself a day because we'll get into it but like she was a lady who launched. So she was having herself a day. Motherf she often had herself a day because we'll get into it, but like, she was a lady who lunched. So she was having herself a day. Motherfucking goals. Yeah, it's everybody's goal, you know? Now, when she left the bookstore, she bumped into her friend Gladys King outside of it. They stood outside and they chatted for like a good while

outside of the store. And when Dorothy was leaving, she was said, I'm gonna walk through Central Park on my way up. She was never seen again. Now later Gladys reported that absolutely nothing seemed out of the ordinary about Dorothy and that she was happy, normal, totally herself that day. All the clerks were later talked to at all the different places she went. They all said nothing seemed out of place or miss or anything like that. She did apparently have some kind of like lunch date with some of her friends and they all said she was totally normal. Nothing was

weird. So she just disappears in the middle of the day. Weird. Now dinner time comes around. And Dorothy had not returned home. Her family panicked, I guess you could say, but not in the way I think I would panic in a similar situation, but then again, I am not a well-to-do family from the 1910. This is true. Eras, so they were perplexed because she never missed a meal. And she never missed a meal with them.

Sure, meals were a big event then. Yeah. It wasn't like you just came home or like, I'll just grab a burr Right, but she also hadn't contacted them to say she would be late and that was weird for her because they were like She also said I'll call you if I find a dress right that never happened But they just sat down and had dinner anyways All right, apparently they were confused, but they were hungry, so they ate

Now All right. So apparently they were confused, but they were hungry, so they ate. Now, when she had still hadn't shown up, they started calling her friends, which makes sense, asking if they had seen her after they were done with that dinner. But then none of her friends had seen her. None of the ones that they talked to was really only gladdest. And I think the ones that she had had lunch with, they just didn't get in touch with, or they got in touch with and they were like, we saw her at lunch, but that's it. Like, we got in touch.

They haven't heard anything else since then. But her parents, Mary and Francis, every time they talk to these friends and every time they heard either I saw her early in the day or I haven't seen her at all today, they would implore them to stay quiet and to not tell anyone. Oh, like what?

So they would literally call and be like, hello, Miriam, did you see, I made that one. Well, timing me, and that's great. That's great. Good job. Hello, Miriam, have you seen Dorothy's, you know, today, oh, I saw her at lunch. Have you seen her since then?

No, I haven't heard anything about her. Okay, can you not tell anybody that? The only thing that I can say that like, like it's weird, no matter which way you cut it, like that's a weird thing to do. But I feel like because they were like a socialite family, they probably just didn't want any talks to about that.

Oh no, that's 100% what this is. But it's strange as fuck. Yeah, it is weird. I don't give a shit what standing your family is in. Your kid is missing. Right. People should know about it. Right. How are you about it. Right.

How are you gonna find her if people don't know that she's missing? So when did they took contact with the police? No, it's looking the police. So, oh, don't worry, that comes way later. Oh, okay. No, I'm really here. No way, I was like, we're nowhere near the police.

Her friends at this point are worried, they're feeling helpless, because now they know this, but they're not allowed to even talk about it. Of course, they're talking to each other about it. Yeah, they're not gonna listen to this crazy notion that they should just keep this to themselves, that their friend is missing. Right. So around midnight, one of her friends, Elsie Henry calls back. And she says, Hey, have you heard anything about Dorothy? Like, we're freaking out here. And Mary answered the phone, the mother. And she answers and she says,

and she said it, she felt great relief. She says, yes, she's returned home. And Elsie was like, oh my God, that's fucking great. Can I call that? She was really quick like I just want to tell her, like I'm so happy she's home. And Mary says, no, I'm sorry, she's sleeping. She came home with a headache.

Uh huh. She Dorothy had not returned home. Yeah. This was a lie, and it was never explained. What? Do you think that this was just them not, like, even further, not wanting people to talk about this? So they were like, no, no, she came home, like, shut up.

Even so, like, I know that's like the reality. Right. That's psychotic behavior. Oh, yeah, 100%. Like, not safe. Like, not 100%. Like not saying it's not. Like a family pretending their missing child has returned to avoid scandal. What the actual fuck?

Like that is a what? Like you literally just told her friend, she's home. Yeah. And not only that, you just made up a fucking story about her having a headache and sleeping It's very busy. Meanwhile, you know That's the other thing. I'm like you don't know if she's in a fucking ditch somewhere You don't know if she's being held captive and they're gonna demand ransom you don't know any of this

You don't know if she's tripped and fallen into the river and drowned you know nothing and you're sitting here making shit up to Save your fucking family name. Right. From what? It's so weird. But it's going to be scandalized that your kid is missing. How is that, that's bizarre to me. Yeah, because that's like not scandalous.

Like, you don't know where she is. She's missing. She could have been abducted. Right. Why are we not telling the police and getting every, any, to me, this makes no sense. Well, in the whole thing, you have the whole fucking city looking for her. Well, that's actually it. Like why would you not just gather her friends

and to look for her? Well, that's the other thing. It's like they're not using any kind of, and let me tell you, this entire thing, it's weirder and weirder and weirder. Really? Because there's a lot of things that the family does that you're like, what exactly was your motivation behind that?

I'll keep going. Because it's like, the other thing is, this is a well-known family. Like, we're talking about they want to avoid scandal and all that shit. But people know Dorothy. These are the social pages and all that. If they said she's missing the entire fucking city

would be looking for, and you could have millions of eyes on her. And it's like, why wouldn't she want that to happen immediately? I don't know. Like that just to me, I know shit was different then, but I'm like, as a parent, I don't understand how your first instinct isn't to find your kid. Right.

Like 25 years old or not, she's still living in your house. Like that's your kid. And do you think that it was like, it wasn't their instinct to find her? I don't know. I think that what is told mostly is it seems like it was to avoid scandal or something, but it's like, I don't know, man.

That's why I'm just like for me. But again, Dorothy had not returned home. They were lying about that and they never explained why. I love planning ahead, but Mother's Day stresses me the bleep out. I never know what to get the mamas in my life and I have like 48 moms, so I have a lot of people to buy for. And you know what I decided this year? You get a skylight frame, you get a skylight frame and you get a skylight frame because really it's like the best gift for everybody. Get a skylight frame, you got a skylight frame and you get a skylight frame because really,

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to one another and anyone in the family can send photos to the frame. It is such a great way to stay in touch. It also sets up super easily in under 60 seconds and even the least tech savvy person can use it. I hate to say this, but my grandma is not very tech savvy and she operates her is just fine, so if you know, everybody could do it. It also just looks like a real photo frame and it really adds a beautiful touch to your home. It's quite elegant if I do say so myself.

It has a gorgeous 10 inch touch screen that you can use to swipe through your photos with your finger and you can also even tap on it to thank the person who sent you a photo or if you're like a Lena's mother and law, you can thank me in person for sending great photos because she always thanks me and it makes me feel loved. Also, it has a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

If you do not love your skylight, they will offer you a full refund. You can preload it with your favorite photos for a special Mother's Day gift and surprise your mama or mama figure with photos that they didn't even know you had and you can tap the heart button and it will let the sender know how much you love the photo so it's like super cute and interactive as well.

I absolutely love the Skyrlight frame. I think it is such a good gift to give people because it's like one of those gifts that you can give everybody but it becomes a different gift for each person based on the photos that they get. I absolutely love it. Now as a special holiday offer, you can get $10 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame. When you go to SkylightFrame.com and enter code M-A-T-C-P. That's sky-L-I-G-H-T-F-R-A-M-E.com and use code M-A-T-C-P. Love you. So from there, why don't we go to the beginning? Now that we've set it up, we know where we are now. Okay, she's missing that her parents lie about it.

So let's start from the beginning. Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold was born on July 1st, 1886 in New York City. Her parents Mary and Frances Arnold were incredibly wealthy as we discussed. Frances Arnold owned F.R. Arnold in company, which was an importer of really fine cologne and perfume. Ooh, fancy. So very fancy. They were socialites and super well-known. Frances had descendants that came over on the Mayflower.

Oh, and that's like, that's apparently top tier in that social circle. Exactly, because you know what? I'm gonna bring it right back to Gilmore Girls again and I'm pretty sure when Logan's family like shits all over Rory and him being together She's like my family came over on the Mayf昭 literally as like a defense. Yeah like like you fucking kid Like anybody gives an actual shit Rory. Yeah, but apparently people do that's also they have a lot of shit That's like a like not a great claim. I know it's like, ooh.

My family stole this one. Oh yeah. They're the first. Eat. Like, ooh, rough. Well, they had them. And the family itself was listed on the New York Social Register.

Now I had to look at this because I've heard that term, the Social Register before. So a logistar before? What is it? I've never looked deeply into it until now. What the fuck? Because it's a thing still. Do you bring it to a place of Gilmore girls here

I go bringing it to a place of Bravo? Do you remember Jill Zarin and Ramona fighting? And Ramona telling Jill Zarin that she was taking something to the social register? Like according to the social register, it was like taboo or something. Because you can get kicked off of the social register for just marrying the wrong person.

Or getting engaged to the wrong person. Yeah, this had to do with like charitable work. Oh yeah, that can fuck you up too. It can, because Jill's Aaron was like, you don't even know where the social register is. And Romano was like, yes, I do. And Jill's like, where is it? And Romano was like, I don't need to tell you Jill,

so she clearly didn't know where it was. Or to tell you where it is. And Jill knew. Well, I'm gonna tell you about the social registrar. Here because, man, I'm glad I looked into it. Now there is an official social register association, and this website says that the origin of this register basically started back in the 19th century with visitor lists, and these lists were names and contact information for all the rich and super fancy families,

so they could all just contact each other and like hang out and just be rich. And just be rich together. Now in 1886, a guy named Lewis Keller was like, wait a second, I should make this even more secretive and more choosy and more strange, and I should take the most important and most fancy of these people

and make even smaller lists to make it even more exclusive. Let me just be a real big dick here. Yeah, just make sure you know. Now there was one for a handful of cities, like one for each city, and then they made a big central one that had like real high rollers on it.

And it was like rock-a-fellars, like all that. Of course, yeah. Now these families were the families that would have kicked you off a lifeboat on the Titanic, like the Kal Hawklies of the world, like the Hawkely family. You're talking love Kal Hawkly. You're talking love Kal Hawk. Honestly, I do. You do. Unfortunately, but like, that's a story for another day.

No. That's something to look into with a therapist, I think. It truly is. But the website is one of the greatest things I've ever seen. In fact, I'm going to bring it up on the computer screen really quick. So I would like Ash to see the homepage of this. So hold on one side. Because it's active. It's active. OK, she pulled it up.

Just wait for this. This is too good. Wait for this little slideshow. They continue. We got a color blocking right there. Just wait for this. This is too good. Wait for this little slideshow. They continue. We got a color blocking right there. We got debut haunts. We have some horseback riding.

We have some model pin. There was some yachts. We have headshots. There's some cattillians happening. All right. Oh, there it is. There's the golf. There's the golf.

And the tennis, of course. And the tennis. Yeah.. And the tennis, yeah. That girl is like, absolutely God. We have two people on a safari where giraffes are just running in front of them. Cool. Yeah. So this is so douchey.

I'm just gonna say it. It's a wild, we do. It's so douchey. It's a wild, we do. Do she looking website? Can you put it down now? It's a rate. I was gonna say it closer.

That's the doucheyest thing I've ever seen in my life. The website writes, and I quote, say closer. That's the doucheyest thing I've ever seen in my life. The website writes, and I quote, Oh God. Understated civility, conviviality, prominence and stability is who we are. Okay, ready, hold on. I think it's five words, get the fuck over yourself. There you go.

It's basically a book of old money, social lights. These are all descendants. Normally from wealth facts, through generations, everything in the social registers about club affiliation, society, memberships, alma mater's, and other like, you know, basically status notations. Like who plays the best tennis game? exactly. It used to be only the only way to be invited to these You know balls and foremoles and gatherings and any social event was to be on the social register Right now all events were born off of that list of families And if you weren't on it then you were left out and you might as well just go get a job you fucking loser Who are you like your money isn't good here.

Your zillions aren't good here. So how do you get on this list? Do you, I bet you're wondering. I am, true. Yeah. Who wants to get on this list? I don't want to get on it, but I want to know what the meaning is.

You have to apply, but you have to be like invited by a member of the advisory committee. OK. You have to then provide a shit ton of letters from families that are already on the advisory committee. Okay. You have to then provide a shit ton of letters from families that are already on the social register. And they all have to say that you are in fact rich as fuck and that your granddaddy was also rich as fuck. This advisory committee, which sounds like

Lumen company on Severance, and all my Severance heads out there, also will look deeply into your history, which includes previous marriages, which you will be judged for. Like, if you're divorced, no. Oh, yeah, if you're divorced. Any kind of marriages that they're like,

that guy was kind of a heathen, they're like, you can't come on anymore. You're like, he was only a millionaire, he was supposed to be a billionaire. Exactly. Oh, and if you make it on there, by the way, you must report any engagement or marriage to them. What?

I also looked at the list of clubs and societies listed in the social register, and it is a fucking trip. Now, I had no idea this many insane clubs existed, but it's a very fun ride to them. We all, I found a legitimate Emily Gilmore-style society in Massachusetts. Stop it. There are also the same kinds of this particular one in Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

And I also had no idea that the daughters of the American Revolution was actually a real thing. That's a real thing. I thought that was an Emily Gilmore thing. You're shitting my dick. Oh, yeah. I wish I was. It's a real thing. Here I am learning all kinds of bougie new shit. Now, so this one I was particularly interested in though, are you ready for the

name of this? No, I'm not ready for any of this. I'm sorry. It's so funny because like I love this shit, but I find it so intense. So like, well, it's just funny. It's just fun. Yeah. This is called the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dames? The Colonial Dames of America. What does that even mean? No, they're a bunch of ladies.

They're a bunch of Dames. Colonial ones, in fact. Like, you're not colonial anymore though. But they basically do what the Emily Gilmore's of the world do. They lunch and talk shit. Like the daughters of the American Revolution and Go More Girls, I realize I'm making a lot of references to Go More Girls, but you know me.

I mean, it's old money. So it literally is the same thing. Yes. I think that was based on this. Now, they own and operate. So basically, they're all about like making everybody feel proud of their heritage and being rich and all that.

Like, you know, like our forefathers and all that shit. Now they own and operate three historic homes in Massachusetts, the Prescott House in Boston, the Quincy Homestead and Quincy, and the Martin House Farm in Swansea. Are these like charitable things? I guess they just like own and operate them. You can come busy. You can see all the old shit in there. They also maintain, they like display this very prominently. So I feel like it's worth mentioning. They maintain a super old costume collection. That sounds pretty fucking rad. And they also do a lot of good work with veterans and veterans associations.

All right. So I gotta give it to them there. Yeah. They also help to build that big structure that's over I gotta give it to them there. Yeah. They also helped build that big structure that's over Plymouth Rock to protect it. Oh yeah. So they do shit, but it's a wild name for a society by two. Well, and it's also just so exclusive that it's like, why can't I just help you? Like, it's all very Gilmore, it's all very great Gatsby.

I just don't like the exclusivity of it all. It's funny. I'matsby. I just don't like the exclusivity of it all. It's funny. I implore you again to look at the official social register website. I implore you. It's a real situation. Like, we're all just star dust guys. We are. None of this matters.

It does not matter. None of this matters. So anyways, that's all just to say the Dorothy Arnold family was very well off. Sorry, they were on this list. They were on the social media. They're very old money, they're very well known, very respected in New York society at the time. They were among the elite and could hang out with and keep up with the likes of like the

Rockefellers. Cool. Now her uncle Rufus W. Peckham was actually Rufus. Rufus. Totally Rufus W. Peckham was actually Rufus. She was totally Rufus. She hit her own like wildfire. Rufus is not a gum. Rufus never been kissed great.

But Rufus W. Peckham was actually a previous US Supreme Court justice. Oh, sure. Pretty, pretty big named after Rufus. Pretty Rufus, John. Pretty Rufus. She had, that sounds like we're like pretty Rufusicious Johnny Rufus. She had, that sounds like we're like pretty rufus. She had three siblings and she was the second oldest of the brood.

Later an author, Alan Churchill, wrote about Dorothy that she was quote, a quiet looking, sturdy girl with a healthy complexion. She had brown hair done up in a high pompadour instead in steely blue gray eyes. Cool, Sounds red. How are you quiet looking? I don't really love that.

Do I look loud? You do. Yeah. You do. You look quiet. Yes, so maybe there's that. All right. That could be it.

Yeah, and there's a lot of, um, there's like a lot of artists renderings of Dorothy, there's photos of her, and she was like beautiful time to go. And she looked fancy as both. She's like, she literally had no choice but to look fancy as fuck. She loved a huge hat. She loved one.

I think like the bigger the hat, the richer you are. There you go. Now Dorothy was not the Paris Hilton kind of socialite, in case you were wondering. Damn it. She was very interested in maintaining kind of a low-key studious way about her. She actually attended Brin Mar College,

which I didn't know a ton about, but it is one of the seven sisters. What is that, you ask? I do. Yeah. Well, the seven sisters were seven historic, are seven historically women colleges that were seen as sister colleges

to the Ivy League schools. Oh, that's cool. So they are equally prestigious and highly selective, but they're just all women's schools. Now the other six on this list are Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, and Bernard College. I've heard of a lot of those. So she went to a good-ass school. Yeah. She ended up, she had money, but she ended up with a degree in literature in 1905 and her love of writing and reading took flight. I love that. That's beautiful. Right? Oh my god, I wish like every single time I shopped anywhere, I could just hand my card

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Shopify.com slash morbid. Well, away at Bryn Marn, Pennsylvania, Dorothy also met a man. Ooh, even though it's an all-girl college, she met him outside of the house. Yeah. His name was George C. Griscom, Jr. And he was not a student. He was a 42-year-old engineer, hot. He lived with his family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He asked people to call him junior. This relationship was one of those, I'm just gonna move past that. This relationship was one of those forbidden love situations. Yeah, because he had a job where he worked with his hands. Yeah, and he also was 42, and she was 25. Oh, yeah, there's that.

She kept this from her family. Because he did come from like a pretty wealthy family. Like he wasn't like, you know, but they were not into the 42 year old thing. They didn't like that, what his job was. They didn't like any of it. So they would not approve of his age difference him living with his parents.

As far as they knew, she had no romantic attachments. Okay. Much to their dismay. Because after all, that was the one thing she was supposed to do at this time. She was supposed to find a wealthy, well-connected husband to maintain this family's fucking societal value. In bloodline.

Yeah, she was supposed to go to school and get her MRS. That's what she was supposed to do. I was like, MR. And then I was like, oh, Mrs. Of course, this was not her chosen path. She had received a degree in literature and language and she intended to use it to become a writer.

Oh yeah. After college, she was still living with her parents. And at the time, Mum's and daddy were not too thrilled about their baby girl wanting to be a filthy dirty writer. They very much discouraged that kind of heatheness activity, like, what are you thinking? What? Putting pen to paper, you filthy animal? What the f-

So she began to do things in secret? Because if Mum and Dad asked me, now, just do it anyways. Mother and dad. A rebel girl. She wrote and she wrote and she wrote and she continued to see and speak to George in secret. This is like little women vibes. It is. For no.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. Exactly. You're like no. Yes. I was like, did I get that name right? No, you totally did. I did. Sometime in the spring of 1910, she finally felt ready to submit a story that she had written to McCluor's magazine for publication. Now, McCluor's is actually the magazine that is credited a lot of times with

the beginning of muck-raking journalism, which is to say that I had a lot of thorough, very heavily researched investigative looks into hard-hitting journalistic ideas, like corruption, corporate abuse, and government, and otherwise, it was really respected. But in 1906, the magazine ended up switching directions to be a little more literary focused, when, and this was because a big group of investigative journalists that were working there, were were actually basically they were running the whole thing, but they

ended up believing to start their own publications. So they hired Willa Kather as the editor and she took it in that like literary direction. So there was like poems and short stories. To all these switching gears. Very much so, but this would be the type of publication it was when Dorothy submitted her story to it, which makes sense because she was focused on literature at the time and non-investigation journalism. Now, unfortunately, her story was quickly rejected. Oh.

Which hit Dorothy hard. Yeah, because she had built up the courage and worked on it for a while. It takes a lot to put your writing on the world when it's rejected. It's rough. Yeah. Now, even worse, her family found out, and instead of comforting her or inspiring her to keep working for our dreams, they literally taunted her about it. They straight up bullied her for failing.

Fuck them. Like, constantly. But she was like, fuck you guys, and instead of folding, she set up a fucking PO box and used that address to submit more stuff and to communicate with editors and publishers like a boss. Hell yeah. Now again, unfortunately, she submitted a second story to McClure shortly after and they rejected this one as well.

Oh man. This was hard as it would be for anyone who is falling short and something they care about. Now, in September of two, nope, not 2000. I was like, whoa. Oh, way ahead. In September of 1910, her father found out that she had ponded quite a bit of jewelry. Mm-hmm.

I guess the family was on a little vacation together in Maine. And at one point, he had found out that it had happened during that vacation when she had left on her own for a little while. And he was confused about this because he was like, you have like the family's account that you could just use like she would buy things with just their account. Yeah. So he confronted her about it and was like, what's this about? So she finally admitted that the preview when she was on that little vacation with them in Maine, she had actually told them that she or she had asked them really, do you guys mind if I spend a few days in Cambridge with some friends from Brin Mar?

And her parents were like, absolutely. She was not taking all the friends from Brin Mar. She was actually in Pennsylvania in a hotel for almost a week with George Grisky. With Junia! They family lost their shit and told her she was forbidden from ever seeing him again. Oh, so this is how they found out about him Yeah, so this is when they were like, oh no, do you know how they found out They found out because I think she ended up spending something where she was and it tipped them off to And eventually the pond broker actually talks to and kind of like lets out her shit, which is like not cool So in October the next month she told her parents, you know what, I'm 25. I really want to strike out on my own. I want to move to Greenwich Village to try to find

a more suitable environment to hone my writing skills. I think it's like a creative place. I want to be by myself. I need some time to do this. And her father said absolutely not. And he said, quote, a good writer can write anywhere. Basically, you're like, you're not a good writer if you can't write here. That's annoying. I'd be like, well, you guys are like harching my vibe a little bit.

Yeah, you're harching my mellow, man. And people do need like a good experience. You need an environment. And you know what, a good writer can't write anywhere. Yeah, it's hard. Like, that shit is hard. Coming from that, you know what, that's somebody who has never written a fucking word in their life being like, I got writer can't write anywhere. It's hard. That shit is hard. Coming from that, you know what, that's somebody who has never written a fucking word in their life being like, I got writer can

write anywhere. Yeah, exactly. Get fucked, dude. Try sitting down in the middle of chaos and write them like something, anything. Like worth reading. She deserved to have a place to write. So as she secretly continued her romance with George Jr. there and continued writing, she was outwardly projecting that socialite life. She was a lady who lunched and shopped and attended Catillians and did things to find a husband." Do you just like in your research of her? Do you think that she enjoyed this? Here's the thing. I think she probably liked part of it. I didn't... To me, nothing in the research said that she was not enjoying Cattellians,

she wasn't enjoying shopping and planning parties and all that, like she seemed to have liked all that. She just also wanted her own thing, like she wanted to write and she loved to read. And I think she just wanted to have that like little bit of independence away from the socialite label. She wanted to be multifaceted. Yeah, exactly. She wanted to have that little bit of independence away from the social light label. She wanted to be multifaceted.

Yeah, exactly. She wanted to be like a diamond and be multifaceted. She didn't want to just be a social light. Yeah. She liked it. She just didn't want it to be all she was. There was more to her. Exactly.

So this brings us to December 12th, 1910, the day she vanished into thin air. We already mentioned how she was out on Fifth Avenue, searching for an evening gown for sisters upcoming Debbie Tompall. She rejected her mother's offer to join her, because again, her mother was often ill. She also had with her 25 to $30, which I know we're like, okay, get it, girl. But at the time, that's the equivalent now in spending power now to about $900. Bitch, yeah. Okay.

So she had a lot of fucking money with her. Going to Nordstrom Rack over there, baby. But again, she was a fanciest. Did I say that weird? No, I'm laughing at myself because I was like, going to Nordstrom Rack, baby. Meanwhile, that's like the cheap version of Nordstrom. That's like the Alistrum. And you're like, fuck yeah. I'm like, hell yeah, that's where. Meanwhile, that's like the cheap relationship. And you're like, fuck yeah. Hell yeah, that's where I like let's go go. That's where I go on a break. Oh, we're crazy today.

Look at me. Even the real Nordstrom. I love that. Well, she was a fancy socialite and she was buying an evening gown, which was not going to be off the rack. That's funny. I literally wrote that in my notes. Whoa. And she was going to lunch and running some errands like she did. So it's not crazy that, you know, they had to be on her at the time,

but it could also be a motive for someone to snatch her. Yeah. Because that was in Kashi. Yeah, that's in cash, it's, you know? So after getting, you know, going gown shopping, she stopped to get the chocolates, bought the book, and then spoke with Gladys King outside that bookstore. King again said she was totally normal, everything was fine. She goes

off in a central park, or she says she's going to go to a central park, never seen again. Now she was last seen wearing, according to the disappearance of Dorothy Arnold, a well-tailored suit with a blue surge coat and a tight hobble skirt and a matching color. She carried both a huge silver fox muff and a satin handbag, and by far the most conspicuous feature of her attire was her hat. It was made of black velvet with two blue roses for decoration. A type then called a baker, which resembles nothing so much as an overturned dishpin. The lining of this oversized hat was Alice Blue. The maker's name was Genevieve.

And along its edge, rimming Dorothy's pleasant open face ran a fetching bit of scalloped lace. Fucking? Or scalloped, I should've said, I said scalloped. Where are you? Where are you? She looked fancy as fuck. As she was.

And I'll try to post the photo when we post the photos for this. There's an artist rendering of her in what she wore that day. And it is exactly how you're picturing. It's the most fancy thing I've ever seen. I'm excited. I'm like feeling like Stevie Nix vibes from the hat, though. No. Oh, okay.

It was like, you said like black velvet, though. Yeah, but it's like a fancy like Victorian kind of thing. So she was definitely not a background player that day, but a main character on Fifth Avenue. And remember, she went missing a New York City and broad daylight off Fifth Avenue. Yeah, just putting that out there again. Wild. Now, we talked earlier about how her family was weirded out that she didn't return or call for dinner, but they just ate anyways and then started calling friends of hers, asking around, but saying don't tell anyone. So they wanted her disappearance at this moment to be a secret. And then there's that whole weird ass like the mom saying she's home.

Right. And she had a headache and she can't talk right now like what the fuck was that about? You were going to have to answer to that at some point. Well that's the. Right. And she had a headache and she can't talk right now. Like, what the fuck was that about? You were going to have to answer to that at some point. Well, that's the weird thing. Is this the picture that you're talking about? No, there's another picture actually. So now the night goes on with no sign of Dorothy, but with some of her friends now thinking she's home. Remember? Yeah, because they're talking to each other. So they're all like, cool, she's home. Now the next morning, you would think the police would be called when Dorothy still hadn't shown up at home, right? You would think that they would have been called

when she didn't get home that night. Well, no. So the family instead called a family friend who was a lawyer. They called a lawyer? Yep, his name was John S. Keith and he was a junior partner in a law firm. He asked, and so he was asked to come that morning to the house. So John Keith started an investigation.

Question mark? Question mark? He searched a room, he searched through her things, he searched all over the city. He went to morgues and hospitals and all kinds of places. He talked to a bunch of people. He did a full blown investigation. I don't know.

He did find out through speaking to her friends that George, her boyfriend, was away in Italy and he was still her boyfriend even though the family had forbidden her from shoes. She was still seeing them. She was like, if I'll get fucked. Okay. Love it. But he was in Italy. Okay. I mean, he had been since November. All right. So there goes that. So he was not a great suspect. So unless he had someone do it, it's what they were thinking. Okay. Now either way, the family soon figured they could use maybe some actual detective help, but, and you know, at this point, you like,

you called the police, right? Yeah, at this point, I'm like, they definitely didn't. Now, they called the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and that's when they had a private investigator start investigating this case, because the Arnold's, again, were worried that this whole their child being missing thing was gonna make them look bad I don't really know. Yeah, I don't really get it. They were gonna like anger the social register or something

I'm not really sure. I feel like the social register would have just been like okay Let's figure this out together. Yeah, well, I feel like the social register would be like Why why you what your kids missing that literally has nothing to do with your social standing. Like what, how is that relevant to us? Now, the Pinkerton detectives went through her belongings as well. And they found a ton of letters between her and George that she had kept secret. They also found some burned up pamphlets

for European cruises in Dorothy's room. So they ended up checking all ship registers and having an alert go to certain secretive people overseas with her description, but nothing was ever found. They even spoke to Georgian Italy and he was like, I know absolutely nothing about this. He was like devastated. So six weeks went by and the Pinkerton's got no closer to finding Dorothy and it still had not been publicly announced. Wow. And not reported to the police.

Um, is the social registry like, hey, where did your kid go? Apparently not. Okay. So January 16th, 1911, Dorothy's mother and her brother Jack went to Italy secretly together to confront George. Okay. Because by now they were convinced he somehow knew where she was.

Mary was literally described later as quote, a heavily veiled woman because she was going that far to conceal her identity over there. Wow. Yeah. So he was honestly so upset. He denied knowing where she was.

And during this whole confrontation, Jack ended up punching him in the face. Oh, wow. Yeah. Later, they said that he seemed genuinely upset about her disappearance and kept telling them that he loved her and that they were in love and he would never hurt her.

It's like at what point did you decide to punch with the face? He also shared during this conversation that he was actually worried because she was so broken up over the literary rejections. He produced a letter from her which had her saying, quote, well, it has come back. McClures has turned me down. All I can see ahead is a long road with no turning. Mother will always think an accident has happened.

Oh. And he was concerned over that last part. Yeah. Because he felt it indicated she was potentially feeling depressed and contemplating hurting herself. So now it was finally time to go to the NYPD. Like, maybe past time. We're ready to get some detectives involved. So they immediately began an investigation. And there's reports to that during this entire thing, this is just like so weird, this entire thing. So there's reports that during this whole six week period, when the Pinkerton detectives were looking, there was like what they called circulars going around, like the flyers with her face on it and all the

information. So it was like getting around, right? But like weird in an underground way. And also that like those circulars would have come across the face of an NYPD officer at some point. Yeah, they would have seen one, but that they wouldn't get involved unless they were asked. Oh, and I'm like, what's like this is the most bizarre shit I've ever heard. A weird time.

So they immediately finally the NYPD immediately began an investigation, and now it's really public because they were asked. So now, even though she went missing in early December, on January 25th was when everyone discovered this public. Almost a month and a half later. A press conference was held at Francis's office where he said his family was offering $1,000 for any information leading to Dorothy's return. Do we have a... I actually didn't do one for that. I meant to. I'll do it. Thank you. $1,000 for any information leading to Dorothy's return. Do we have a...

I actually didn't do one for that. I meant to you that. I'll do it. Thank you. Of course. He also expressed publicly that he actually believed his daughter was abducted or murdered. Whoa. He said he figured the whole thing had occurred when she was walking through Central Park. Yeah. And his initial belief was that she was somehow attacked and that her body was thrown

in the reservoir. Okay. And he said that he thought that whole thing that she had taken the lonely walk along the reservoir, and then he said there, because of the laxity of police supervision over the park, I believe it quite possible that she might have been murdered by garitors or garotters, and her body thrown into the lake or the reservoir. Such atrocious things do happen, though there seems to be no justification for them. Okay, true. And it's like, okay, that could have happened for sure.

Yeah, that's really sad, though. Central Park is a wild place. I'm sure it always was. Yep. Now, they began asking him whether she was sheltered and kept, like, they were like, you know, she seems very naive the way you're talking about her

and like, was she very sheltered? Did you kind of keep her under lock and key? Like some reports are saying you didn't want her dating certain people. And he said, quote, I would have been glad to see her associate more with young men than she did. Especially some young men of brains in position.

One whose profession or business would keep him occupied. I don't approve of young men who have nothing to do. Okay. I'm like, I get it, bro. Yeah. That's like, I don't approve of young men that have nothing to do to be honest. That's a dad being a dad. Yeah. He's just being a dad. So the media and the city went nuts about this case. They're like, hey, guess what? Someone's been missing for a long, six times. So her photo and artist renderings were everywhere, descriptions of her what she was wearing that day. Sightings came in by the dozens,

but none of them panned out, none of them were credible. Everyone was hooked on this tale of a beautiful young ares who disappeared in broad fucking daylight. Yeah. Fifth Avenue. Very strange. Imagine this, scented candles, soothing spa music, a warm but not hot cup of green tea, and a fresh pair of comfy undies. These are like all important aspects of practicing self-care. Maybe your mind doesn't automatically leap into thinking of underwear as self-care, but it really should.

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That is six bottles of wine for $29.95 and free shipping at tryfirstleaf.com slash morbid. The way the Washington Post said it on the day that it was announced was Dorothy H.C. Arnold, a graduate of Bryn Mar College in the class of 1905, and a daughter of Francis R. Arnold, an importer of perfumes. Left her home on the four-noon of December 13th last to buy an evening gown. She has not been heard from since, although Deputy Police Commissioner Flynn's best men and private detectives have been following up every possible clue. Every precaution has been taken to keep Miss Arnold's disappearance secret up to tonight. Although Mr. Arnold was

advised some time ago that if it were made public to the newspapers, there was a possibility that avenues would be reached which have not yet been covered. Mr. Arnold at last consented to give the facts to the newspapers tonight. Miss Arnold is a niece of the late Justice Pecum of the United States Supreme Court. Her father, being a brother of Mrs. Pecum, Miss Arnold's aunt Mia Pecum, widow of the Justice, is dying at her home in Washington, partly it is believed as the result of worry over the strange disappearance of her niece. She is one of the four children, one of four children, and is next to oldest. Her siblings are John W. Arnold. He is 26 and she is 25 years old.

Another brother, Dee Hinkley, is 20 and her only sister Marjorie is 18. She's lived at home since she graduated from Bryn Mar and has devoted most of her time to reading. Hmm, which sounds like Marie Kepler. It does. Now, immediately the NYPD thought they immediately were like, well, she left voluntarily. Like, this is just her leaving. They started to wonder about too though, because her parents are like stifling her a little bit.

They are a little bit. But then there's things that don't make sense with it. Okay. Like we'll see. So first, they cited the fact that she bought a box of chocolates and a book as reason because they said she obviously bought those for some long journey. And she can read her book and she can eat her chocolates. I don't know if that's the long journey. She's getting on a ship. She might just be vibing. But the family and friends struck back saying it made no sense. And they were kind of right here because that's really the only

thing we have to say she left voluntarily because everything in her room was left there. She didn't take anything with her that she should have taken on some long thing that she was never planning to come back from. But could she take it because her family was always home? Technically she should have been able to take some of the things or at least I'll get into one thing, because there's certain things that she definitely would have wanted to hide, like those letters or take with her in the storage pamphlets. Why would she leave and let everybody find that shit? Those letters were burned, they were just out. Yeah.

So, it's like, she wouldn't have just left those for people to find. Right. Now, family and friends said no way, and they said one of the things, one, she was happy. Like even though she was frustrated about the writing, she was very happy person. Yeah. And then she had actually very intensely planned a party for December 17th, the day of her sister's Debbie Tonkball. During the day on that day, she was going to have 60 women from Brin, Brin Mar.

And they were going to be attending a tea party that she was hosting. She had meticulously planned this party. So why would she do that if she planned a dip before it happened? She also had her little sister's Debbie Tomp all that night and that was a big deal and she, everyone was like, she is not the type of sister that would cast a shadow over that on her face. She doesn't sound like it. Now another article in the Washington Post said, quote,

she was on jolly terms with so many of her college friends that nobody in the family could imagine her leaving without whispering the secret to at least one or two of them. But she did not communicate with any one of them, and many of the girls have been helping the family in the search. Her room disclosed no evidence of premeditated flight. And here's what she left behind. She left behind most of her jewelry, all the pieces on which she could have attained

much money. Of the first set, she was fondest of wearing a muff and stole of black's fox. She took only the muff and left the stolen her wardrobe. And with seemed most important of the family, she neither removed nor attempted to destroy a considerable mass of private correspondence, letters and notes and telegrams. Because if she was ready to just dip, she would have just destroyed all those. Or at least taken them with her, she had a peel box, she could have stuck them in there and sent them through the mail.

That's true. But do you think at that point she maybe just didn't give a shit because she was going to be disappearing anyway? But no matter what, she was brought up to give a shit. Mm. Whether she didn't give a shit about everything else or not, there is something in that DNA that would have gotten rid of that.

Okay. She wouldn't have done that because she doesn't hate her family. No. There was no indication that she hated her family or hated any of this. She wouldn't have done that to them. I don't think she would have done that to them. I don't think she would have done

that to them. Because she was playing the part for them. She was. She was doing all the shit on the low, but she was playing that part for them. And she was doing it willingly. So I think she did care about her family. She cared about her sister. She cared about her parents, even though like they didn't always get along. Yeah. And I know she was literally raised from birth to care about the social standing of that family. And I think she would at the very least have either taken those correspondences with her or gotten rid of them. Okay.

I just don't think she would have left them to scandalize the family. Yeah. Because that's what did scandalize the family. It's all the shit coming out. Right. I just don't see her doing that. She doesn't seem like that kind of person to me. But maybe I didn't know her. But you don't, I know that's crazy.

But so all of this, and by the end of January, the police were like, yeah, she left on her own and she'll come back when she comes back. And they're just like, we got nothing. And they were basically like case closed. Wolf. Now, then shake up messy. Oh, yes, I love it.

So the media was still going nuts and things are starting to leak out now. So now that Palm broker that she sold the jewelry to to privately go secretly go see George on that vacation, he spoke to the press and he revealed everything, the whole lie. Now everyone was scandalized that she was having this secret love affair and lying about it and that she'd pawned jewelry and now the visit by Mary and John to Italy. The brother and the mom to Italy to visit George came out and it became so fucking convoluted because they started lying about it. The brother and the mother. Yeah. They lied several times to the press. And here's what happened.

So the Washington Post said, on his return from Europe, John W. Arnold's, the brother, was surrounded by newspaper men. And this was on the ship home. Newspaper men suddenly like swarmed him. My gosh. This is crazy. Like the pipes were surrounding him literally.

And when they did this, he said that he was actually in Italy for business. And he said that he didn't really know. I mean it is it's a lot it's a lot. He's taking care of this one. And he said that he did not know that his mother had left home. That's a lot. He also said, I don't know anything about my sister being missing. What? And then the newspaper, then the newspaper guys were like, yeah, you do.

Well, we've been printing about it for days now. Yeah. And then he was like, oh, okay. Turns out he hadn't talked to his lawyers yet, so we made that decision himself to just lie about it. And then you just not say anything. And then he ended up talking to his lawyers after this. And he said that he changed his story this time, and he says,

oh, you know what, my father told me that my sister is missing on January 20th. What? And then he switched that because he heard that his dad had made, like, announcement, a different statement in a different statement that they knew. And he switched and said, Oh, actually, I heard that you was missing on January 3rd. Honey, shut your mouth. And then he got it down. So then the lawyer, John Keith there, he said, so this is what it said in the actual article.

It says, lawyer Keith saw that the family had been placed in the position of giving out amazingly contradictory statements of the trip to Europe, of John Arnold, that the lawyer decided yesterday to straighten the tangle out. Mr. Keith told the American that John Arnold had given misleading statements because he did not know what had been revealed by lawyers. I lied? I lied because I didn't know what my lawyer said yet. I lied because I didn't know what my lawyers lied about.

What, guys? So everybody shut up. So he then went on to tell of Arnold having left the city on January 3rd, which flatly contradicted the assertion of Arnold that he had received word from his father in Europe that day of the disappearance of Miss Dorothy. Right. So in case that was confusing, because I know it is.

It is a little, he claimed, remember, the last thing he claimed was that he heard that she went missing on January 3rd. Yes. But now there's proof that he was on his way, he was already in Europe, and he was already talking to George about He obviously knew And it's so it says I developed from what mr. Keith said that Arnold John Arnold had actually departed from the city with full

Knowledge of the disappearance of his sister, which of course he did Yeah, why I'm so about it on on December 13th. Well, like, why is he going to Italy? Of course. So, Mr. Keith laid stress upon the point that John Arnold in leaving for Europe did not have as his purpose the hunting down of Mr. George Griskem Jr. The Pittsburgh man who had been courting Mr. Dorothy Arnold. So, now the lawyer is like, oh no, he definitely knew about it.

But he didn't go to Italy just to talk to him. Mm-hmm. But he did. Yeah, Italy just to talk to him. But he did. Yeah, like why? Yeah. Yeah. So then the lawyer told the reporter, quote, it ought to be made plain that Miss Arnold was

not the sort of girl who have what might be called a romance. She was a sensible girl. She had possibly a dozen men who called upon her, but she did not lose her heart to any of them. So now they're actively trying to push this George Griskem thing away. And it's like, yeah, you guys can lie about it all you want now. We have letters. But there's literally letters about it. Like it's out. The cat is out of the bag. And now you guys continuously lying about it is weird as fuck. It is. Like how far were you willing to go to make this not a thing? That's what I want to know.

Well, you trying to make it not a thing is literally only making it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. So her family is trying to push the narrative that she didn't have this love and she was not even just concerned with lunching with friends and shopping. They're trying to paint her as like, oh, she, no, she's just the least just socialite. She was not worldly in that way and she was certainly not doing anything to scandalize herself for the family.

That's like irritating that they were just like, eh, she just like eats, she just eats and buys shit. So that's not fair. But the evidence is piling up here. And now there's reports that are coming out from that pong guy, like the whole liquid George, and the media is now reporting about the secret of PO box because they found that and the family had no idea

that existed. So now that's being like thrust upon their laps. Like, hey, by the way, you guys know so much about her. Did you know that she had a fucking secret PO box and that she didn't communicating on the regular with publishers and like editors and all that. And they were like, nah. We totally knew that.

Like we were very much aware. Lier. Now in February, George came back to New York and put out ads, like spent tons of money putting out ads in all the papers trying to coax Dorothy out if she was alive. Oh. He heard absolutely nothing back from that. Oh my boy.

Then two different ransom notes came through to the family. But at this point, it's like everybody knows your fucking rich. Exactly. Each asking for $5,000 for Dorothy's return, but they were found to be fake. Yeah, of course. Because even back then, people were still shit as we saw in the Albert Fish episode.

So also in February, the family received a postcard that was postmarked from New York City. And it said in handwriting, I'm safe. It was signed Dorothy. The family did say the father said like the handwriting did look similar to Dorothy's, but they said there was handwriting samples out because people had published some of the letters and stuff

so you could see her handwriting. And he thought somebody had just tried to basically copy it to be a dick. So they believe this was a joke as well. And the police now changed their thoughts from her leaving on their own volition and being very satisfied with just saying she left and she'll come home when she does. Yeah. To just her being missing. And they were like something is weird here. So the New York City Deputy Police Commissioner William Flynn

said, quote, that now seems the only reasonable way of looking at the case. The girl has now been missing for 75 days. And in all that time, not a single clue has been found that was worth the name. We have no evidence that a crime has been committed. And the case is now one of a missing person and nothing more. And that is the end of part one. Wow, I did not think you were going to do me that dirty because shit gets

even weirder. So we're doing more than just theories in part two. There's more weird shit happening. There's more convoluted stuff. There's definitely theories. Like people come forward and say all kinds of weird shit. There's a surgeon that comes forward and says some weird shit. It gets wild. Like, is there any theory in part two that you think is a strong theory? I honestly do lean toward agreeing or like being close to agreeing with anyone? Right now, no.

No. But maybe I think maybe I'll be able to get there because I can see myself maybe getting attached to one. I'm probably digging a little more. Yeah, I'm gonna dig a little more. Do you have any kind of personal theory that you didn't find in your research? Honestly, my original theory was that she... It made sense that she had a ton of money on her at the time and looked super rich

and was walking around like that and seemed like what a found a body. That's the problem. Yeah. I don't know if somebody abducted her but I don't know where they would have taken her to be quite honest. And then I was wondering if she had like,

just taken off to Europe, but at the same time she had nothing with her. And she'd spent a lot of the money that she had on her. So it's not like, and she was not using the family's account after this. So it would be the equivalent of now being like, she hasn't used her credit cards or her debit cards. And it's like, where is she getting money?

Well, because so she had that $900 on her that day. And did she not use the family's account for the chocolates, the book or the dress? Yeah, so she used the family's account. I believe for maybe the book and the chocolates, but not the dress, because she had spent the money on the dress. So then I think she used the family's account

on the chocolates and the book. But then I think she used the family's account on the chocolates in the book. But then it's also like the PO box was checked and the mail, like she was very adamant about using that. They were able to tell that even when she went, I guess she went to like Washington for a little while to visit friends at one point. And they were able to discover that she had had the mail forwarded

to a place in Washington while she was there, which means something was coming through there that she couldn't even wait like a week to get right. Like she had to have it forwarded there so she could get it right away. And then when they checked the PO box, when she was during the time she was missing, everything was like building up, but nothing was being forwarded. And also, it's like, what was that thing? That was so important that she couldn't wait the week to get it. They were never able to discover what that was. I wonder if she had submitted a story somewhere.

But it's like, why couldn't you wait a couple days to find that out? That seems like a lot of trouble to go through, like, forwarding or mail. For the week. It does. That means you can't miss whatever is coming through there. So what the fuck is that? A ticket. That's what I'm saying. It's like, I don't know what any of this is. My idea is like, it makes the most sense that she disappeared on her own volition, but it also doesn't at all. Yeah. I think for me so far, I would say that it makes, for me, I feel like she went on her own volition from based on what I know.

But like, with what? She left all her money, she could have pawned at home. But how much did she spend on the dress? Like, how much did she have left over? I think she didn't have anything left over after the dress. And that's why she, or if she did, she didn't have a ton. And it's like what, and then again, like none of the trains in the area had her.

They all looked and said they didn't see anybody like her. They didn't see that description of clothing she was wearing or anything. Do you think she could have changed at some point and like really dressed down? That's what I was thinking initially, but when? Like she ran into a friend and she was wearing that outfit. Yeah, I don't know.

And then it's like, I've got a behind a tree in Central Park and just like, I don't think in 1910 you could just scoop behind a tree as a New York socialite and- I don't think Boop, I don't think you can do that now. Yeah. That was more of a joke.

You know, you're like, I swear. That was more of like a wall. And I'm like, I don't think she could. I was like, I'm pretty sure she could. I don't know. I don't know, but I'm not fully convinced that she was like abducted. I'm not either. I'm not convinced either way to be quite honest. This is like a stupid argument because people go missing all the time in the middle of the day,

but it's just so fucking unbelievable. I know. For some reason that I'm just like, no one saw anything. Yeah, especially with like what she looked like and how she was dressed. No one saw anything. I don't know. It's so weird. And it was like the middle of the day. And as we'll see, there's like different things where people say they saw her. She claimed like they get correspondant. It's very, it gets very weird. Well, the other thing is like, I wouldn't as account suck anyways, unfortunately. That's the other thing. And as fancy as she looked, she was wearing the style of other social

lights and aeroses in the area and on Fifth Avenue, it's not like that. Yeah. So it's not like she would have looked great. Yeah. And like I said, she's like main character on Fifth Avenue there, like looking fancy. Right. But she's also like of the time and of the social class

at the time, like it makes sense what she was wearing. It's not like it was like, what the fuck is that lady wearing? Yeah. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. People don't always realize that physical symptoms, like headaches, teeth grinding, even digestive issues, can be indicators of stress. And let's not forget about doom scrolling, sleeping too little, sleeping too much, under eating and overeating. Personally, I know that I am an overeater

in times of stress. When I'm like super stressed out about like family or life stuff, I'm just sitting in front of my kitchen, snack, snack, snackin' and then I'm like, whoa, I gained a pound or two, man. And then that just makes me more stressed. Stress shows up in all kinds of different ways. And in a world that's telling you to do more,

sleep less, grind all the time, here's your reminder to take care of yourself. Do less and maybe even try some therapy. I started therapy I think going on three years ago. I would say, yeah, yep, just calculated that in my brain three years ago. And I feel like the past three years have just been some of the best years that I've honestly had because I've learned different coping mechanisms to get through the hard crap in my life. Having somebody to talk to, like I've said it before, doesn't have a horse in the race, like, and can just sit there and give you advice, it really helps, it truly does. And better help does just that.

Better help is customized online therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat sessions with your therapist, so you don't have to see anybody on camera if you don't want to. It is much more affordable than in-person therapy. Give it a try and see if online therapy can help lower your stress. More with listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash morbid. That's bett-t-e-r-h-e-l-p dot com slash morbid. It's just there's a lot of weird and then again, to not I mean people do this. So I guess it's it could happen. She didn't tell anyone. Like not one person knew and it's like who she wins. People she buy herself. Some people are really good at secrets.

Secret secrets are no fun. Secret secrets, your whole social standing. Yeah. But it's like, and George, it seemed to me like she loved George. Well, that is one thing for me that I'm like, yeah. But do you think that George? And he did that to New York. Do you think he was possibly lying for her?

But why would he, he loved her too. Lying for her to leave him and go away. I feel like he'd be devastated. Well, I meant like, like, were they together secretly somehow, so? But he came back to New York. Oh, do you think that was all of the sudden? And he was like around. Well, no, he was around.

Where the fuck did she go for a long time? Yeah, like he was, he was like, you know, doing his thing there. Like he couldn't hide her away. It's like, I don't know. And again, she was into like planning party, she was into the cattillians and all that. Like she just ceased.

Maybe doing that. You said she was a meticulous planner. Yeah, gone girl. She planned every last detail. I don't know. Even gone girl got found though. Well actually she gave herself up, but I don't know. Even gone girl got found though. Well actually, she gave herself up, but I don't know. I mean, I'm gonna dive even deeper in for season two.

Season two. Season two. Season two of this one came. It was like, wow. No, I'm not gonna go that far. Well, I'm gonna go like as far as humanly possible for this one and see if I can attach myself to any of these theories. Really hard, because I want to,

but it is truly, I mean, it's known as one of the biggest missing person histories in New York City, missing person history. I mean, it's like one of those things that no one can figure it out. Crazy. There's no one like, who's like, this is what happened to her. Yeah.

Everyone is like, I have no idea. Because she just vanished without a trace. Well, literally without a trace, because they also searched Central Park and they found no sign of her, like no sign that, not that, I don't know what you would find that she'd been there, but they were like, no sign that she'd been there.

I'm like, well, she was like dropping shit along the way. She's like, normally just drop shit as she went. She's like, what? She's like, the chocolate wrappers. I guess no one had seen her that was in the park that day or whatever. Well then the other thing though is like you figure if somebody like abducts her, do they not want ransom?

Yeah. But what's the motive there? Just to take the money on her? Or the money on her or sometimes just murder her? Just to hurt somebody and you know that. For sure. Man, I'm fucking stumped. Right?

It does. None of it makes sense. Every avenue you can go down with this, you're like, yeah, that could absolutely be it. And then you're like, no. No, but what about this one thing? Right. But who knows?

I guess we're gonna try to, we'll try to solve this. Let's try. Let's try to solve this shit. Let's try this like, you know, century olds Like abduction slash missing person's case. Yeah, we'll solve it. We'll do it. We'll do it. You're best Part two will conclude with me solving this part to do Yeah, solve it to man. Yeah, love it. Let's go

Let's go and I love you and I hope that you keep Loving it. I was talking to them. Wow. I make this weird Wow Wow, you know, I love you too really great. So anyways, we have to keep listening and we hope you keep it That's a way that you tell your sister you love her. Gross. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morbid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.

What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times, or fell in love with a vampire, or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed. What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer.

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