On 16 January 2025, Dorothy Arnold disappeared from New York City’s Fifth Avenue while dress shopping. Her maddening case has never been solved.
Shortly before Christmas 1910 , the heiress to a perfume imperium Dorothy Arnold vanished without a suggestion while shop for an eve dress at a New York City department store .
Her maddening disappearance direct New York City into a tailspin of speculation , but her family ’s extreme privateness in handling the case was perhaps even more rummy to onlookers . The Arnolds were reluctant to get together with constabulary , which lead them to clash with investigators and spawned a superfluity of conspiracy theory .
Library of CongressThe disappearance of New York City socialite Dorothy Arnold remain one of the biggest “ lacking person ” cases in American chronicle .
Library of CongressThe disappearance of New York City socialite Dorothy Arnold remains one of the biggest “missing persons” cases in American history.
Some excogitate that Dorothy Arnold ’s older , less prestigious swain had dictate a hit on her after she decline his hand in union . Others whispered that she was the victim of a bungled abortion . Or perhaps her family already found her and just kept her in concealing due to ignominy .
To this solar day , the disappearing of Dorothy Arnold remains unresolved .
Dorothy Arnold Led A Charmed — Albeit Mysterious — Life
Library of CongressDorothy Arnold was an aspiring writer but her work was never published .
Before her mysterious disappearance , Dorothy Arnold lived a captivated life . She was born in 1885 in New York City as the bit of four tiddler to Mary Parks Arnold and Francis R. Arnold , a rich perfume importer .
Arnold ’s uncle was the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Rufus W. Peckham , and the Arnolds were broadly regarded as “ mellow - society ” as one could get . They were on equivalence with the Rothschilds , the Rockefellers , and the Zwirners of today , and their name was prominently sport in theSocial Register , a issue whose origins see back to the eighties and is considered the definitive guide to New York City ’s rich menage .
Library of CongressDorothy Arnold was an aspiring writer but her work was never published.
After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania , Dorothy Arnold start to follow up on her ambition to become a author , though she was unsuccessful in getting anything published . Outside of body of work , Arnold mingled and collect a reputation as a prestigious “ lodge girl . ”
But then , sometime between noontide and 2 p.m. on December 12 , 1910 , Dorothy Arnold vanish .
On that fateful day , she left her family home in New York City by herself dressed in right garb include a gloomy seamster - made wooing , a black velvet chapeau , and lapis lazuli oppose hatpin and earrings . She also had on a long bluish coating and carried a disastrous fox muff .
Wikimedia CommonsThe intersection on Fifth Avenue where Dorothy Arnold was reportedly last seen.
Arnold told her mother that she was head out to buy an eventide gown at a department store on Fifth Avenue . But base on police investigations , the inheritrix made a match of detours along the way .
Wikimedia CommonsThe product on Fifth Avenue where Dorothy Arnold was reportedly last find .
She wasseen purchasingcandy at Park and Tilford on 59th Street and a humor book titledAn Engaged Girl ’s Sketchesat Brentano ’s . Her friend , Gladys King , bumped into Arnold as she was leave a nearby book shop class . That was the last time Dorothy Arnold was ever seen alive .
Public DomainDorothy Arnold’s sudden disappearance shook New York City and beyond.
As nighttime fall and she failed to hark back home , Arnold ’s family became disturbed .
They began enquire about her whereabouts among family friends . But oddly , after one friend call the kinsfolk back involve if she had been found , the Arnolds lie down and replied that yes , their girl had safely returned home .
The next daytime , though , the Arnolds reached out to John Keith , a family ally , and attorney , for advice . fear that her disappearance would become a media spectacle and a root of pity for the family , the Arnolds did n’t report their daughter ’s fade until six week after the last time she was seen active .
The Edwardsville IntelligencerAn artist’s sketch of Dorothy Arnold on the day of her disappearance.
But no matter how hard they need to keep her disappearance a closed book , the truth eventually follow out .
The Investigation Into Her Disappearance
Public DomainDorothy Arnold ’s sudden disappearing shook New York City and beyond .
Even before alerting police , Dorothy Arnold ’s kin set out to lead investigations of their own . They take private investigators , the infamous Pinkertons , who search everywhere for the inheritress : shops , infirmary , admirer ’ home , and even the morgue .
When they searched her elbow room for clues , they found “ favorable ” letters written by George C. Griscom Jr. , a 42 - year - old engineer who go with his parents in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . The find of these letters revealed that Arnold and Griscom were in veritable communication before she vanished , a communication she continue over her parent ’ protest .
Tuscaloosa NewsA 1928 article about Dorothy Arnold’s case inThe Tuscaloosa Newsdaily.
The pair had met when Arnold was still at Bryn Mawr , and Arnold once even lied about see an old college Quaker to meet with Griscom in closed book . But her Trygve Lie was unveil when the family gain she ’d pawn some jewellery to drop a week with Griscom at a Boston - area hotel .
The Edwardsville IntelligencerAn artist ’s resume of Dorothy Arnold on the twenty-four hours of her disappearance .
On Jan. 26 , 1911 , six workweek after she disappeared , Dorothy Arnold ’s family made her case public . Despite the New York Police Department ’s belief that Dorothy Arnold was still alive , her father filed an affidavit stating his belief that she was murdered .
“ I am steadfastly convinced my daughter has been killed , ” he said . “ And I will spend every dollar I have in the earth to retaliate her death . ”
He even told the military press thathe believedhis daughter was murdered in Central Park , and that her body was thrown in the Central Park Reservoir .
This theory was right away dismissed by police force because it was 21 degrees Fahrenheit in New York City on the day Dorothy Arnold disappear , which have in mind that the reservoir was frozen satisfying . When the reservoir subsequently thawed , police went research for Arnold ’s body and come up empty - handed .
Dorthy Arnold’s Case Remains Unsolved To This Day
Tuscaloosa NewsA 1928 article about Dorothy Arnold ’s case inThe Tuscaloosa Newsdaily .
Since Dorothy Arnold ’s disappearing , reported sightings of the inheritrix cropped up well-nigh every year subsequently and many pseudo arrogate to be her in a tender to hit her fate .
Conspiracies around what really happened to Dorothy Arnold go around like wildfire . One theory hint that the heiress had either ladder away or committed suicide after becoming bereft from receiving constant rejection from publishers .
Another theorysuggestedthat she had become pregnant — peradventure with Griscom ’s youngster — and died during an clandestine abortion . This possibility was tolerate by a doctor who ran an underground women ’s clinic known as the “ House . ” He claimed to have do a routine on Dorothy Arnold and that a surgical knottiness had caused her last .
There were also suspicions of murder . Six days after her disappearance , an inmate at the Rhode Island State Penitentiary identify Edward Glenmorris claimed he help bury a body that play off Dorothy Arnold ’s description . Some suspect the serviceman had been engage by Griscom , but when investigators searched the attic where Glenmorris said her body had been kept they found nothing .
By April 1921 , Arnold ’s parents had spent over $ 100,000 to retrieve her and the case formally went cold . But then that same twelvemonth , a shocking statement number out of the police force department : the case had been solved .
“ All that I can say is that it has been solved by the department , ” Police Captain John H. Ayers , the nous of the Missing Persons Bureau , told the press . “ Dorothy Arnold is no longer listed as a missing person . ”
Captain Ayers gave no more point but added , “ Her parents , relative , and friends , who had been lead to stick with in all direction clues sent in multitudes of letter , suddenly ceased their bodily process . ”
A lawyer for the family denied the casing had been cracked , stating that “ Captain Ayers seems to insinuate that the closed book of Dorothy Arnold ’s disappearance has been solved and that the family for some reason has keep the solution a arcanum … the whole affair is a damned lie . ”
The conflict between the law and her category over the case fuel even more speculation around her disappearance . But the mystery was never rightfully solved .
Sadly , the story of Dorothy Arnold ’s disappearance remains one of the biggest and perhaps most tragic mysteries in New York City ’s history .
Now that you ’ve uncovered the bizarre disappearing of Dorothy Arnold , learn aboutthe odd 11 - day saga of criminal offence novelist Agatha Christie ’s fade . Then , dive intothe secret life of Roald Dahl , the hero pilot and spy who became a dear children ’s generator .
