Morbid - Jerry Brudos: The Shoe Fetish Slayer (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Over the course of 1968 and well into 1969, several young women in Salem, Oregon went missing and would later turn up dead—all murdered and showing signs of having been tortured. Many of the cases bore certain similarities, but it wasn’t until investigators questioned the friends of one of the victims, Karen Sprinker, that they came to identify a suspect and eventually arrested thirty-year-old Jerome “Jerry” Brudos.At first glance, there wasn’t much to the mild and unassuming Jerry Brudos; however, when investigators looked into his background, they discovered several arrests for theft, prowling, and sexual assault. And the more they learned about Brudos’ life, the more certain they became that he was the man they were looking for.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1969. "Fisherman's grim discovery started search for slayer." Albany Democrat-Herald, June 30: 21.—. 1969. "Coed provided first lead in murder case." Oregonian, June 4: 11.Capital Journal. 1969. "Salem student, 19, feared kidnaped." Capital Journal, March 29: 1.Carbonell, Dan De. 2006. "36 years later, killer's death relieves victims' families." Statesman Journal (Salem Oregon), March 29: 2.Leibman, Faith H. 1989. "Serial Murderers: Four Case Histories." Federal Probation 41-45.Long, James. 1969. "Photo found in Brudos' home shows girl hanging by rope." Oregon Daily Journal, June 7: 1.Morrison, Allen. 1969. "Brudos tells of attacks, killings." Oregon Statesman , June 28: 1.—. 1969. "Indicted in death of Miss Sprinkler." Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), June 5: 1.Olmos, Robert. 1969. "Crews widen river search for clues in girls murders." Oregonian , May 15: 19.Oregon Journal. 1968. "2 teen-age girls missing." Oregon Daily Journal, February 6: J7.Oregonian. 1968. "Help sought in search." Oregonian, December 23: 24.—. 1969. "Office aide disappears ." Oregonian, April 26: 14.Painter, John. 1969. "Sudden shift in plea signals end of trial." Oregonian , June 28: 1.—. 1969. "Tests stall state trial of Brudos." Oregonian, June 6: 1.Roby, Larry. 1969. "Parole agency explains eligibilty of Brudos." Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), July 2: 15.—. 1969. "Judge discloses warrant details on Brudos." Capital Journal, June 6: 1.Rule, Ann. 1983. Lust Killer. New York, NY: Random House.Statesman Journal. 1969. "Brudos home alleged site of 2 slayings." Staesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), June 18: 1.Wong, James. 1969. "Somebody probably saw Linda Salee's killer--but will the person speak up?" Oregon Daily Journal , May 15: 5. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is morbid. It's an unexpected two-parter. And you know what that means? It's Elena's episode 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 yeah 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 want to 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 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, I don't even know if this hasn't, maybe this won't even have enough information. For like a 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 to with like an unexpected two-parter. I'll start the research and be like, oh, I don't know if this is going to make it to one part. Like, uh, and then it ends up being like, I can't one part. It's so funny how that happens. Like 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 got to do part two. as like theories and shit that came out. I always like to do that too because then you do kind of like get the full case in my one

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 for me. No?

Yeah. When I read it, I did not know this case. The named for me sounds familiar. Yeah, I could see that. Well, Dorothy Arnold 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. Are you serious? I literally almost did this case. Shut up. That never happens. That literally, that's the first time that's ever happened. That literally never happened.

As soon as you said that name, and I'm not usually like a 1910 kind of gal. 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 from kind of like I read like a little bit. But I'm actually so excited now that you did this one. 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 debutante ball, which was happening on the 17th. This is how fancy and rich this family was. I love it. It was the Gilmores. Yes. Debutante balls 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, according to Mary's later report, no mother, don't bother. You don't feel just right. And it's no use to going to the trouble. Yeah. And then she told her, if I find a dress, I'll give you a call. Cool. So makes sense. Like basically, nah, don't worry about it. You feel like shit again. We'll give you a call. Yeah. So she left. She left around noon. First, she stopped at Park and Tilford on Fifth Avenue. It's apparently Fifth Avenue and 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 like little section of Boston where the street is. alphabetical and that's the only semblance of organization that we have. Oh yeah. And that's in that even that because it's just the way that New York is set up. It's like the rose. Right. So it makes like numerical. 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 up down over. I fucking love Boston. I do too. But you know what? Park and Tilford is Fifth Avenue and 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 Brentano's bookstore, somewhere between 1.30 and 2 p.m. 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. Oh, okay. So, you know, she's feeling it. She's feeling the giggles today. She was 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 lunched. So she was having herself a day.

Mother fucking 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 said, I'm going to walk through Central Park on my way out. 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 seemed totally normal. 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 like not in the way I think I would panic in a similar situation. But then again, I am not like a well-to-do family from the 1910. This is true. Era. So they were perplexed because she never missed a meal. And, you know, like she never missed a meal with them. Sure. Like meals were like a big event then. Yeah. It wasn't like you just came home or were like, I'll just grab a burger. 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. So apparently they were confused, but they were hungry, so they ate. Now, when she still hadn't shown up, they started calling her friends, which makes sense. Yes.

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, it was really only Gladys. 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. Right. Like they haven't heard anything else since then. But her parents, Marian 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'd make that up. Old timey name. That sounds great. Good job. Hello, Miriam. Have you seen Dorothy, 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, it's weird, no matter which way you cut it, like, that's a weird thing to do. Yes. But I feel like because they were like a socialite family, they probably just didn't

want any talk starting up about that's that's 100% what this is yeah but it's strange as fuck yeah yeah it 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 going to find her if people don't know that she's missing so when did they took no one's looking for so oh don't worry that comes way later oh okay now her you're nowhere 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, duh.

They're not going to 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, has the door, 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 talk to her 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. 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 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 bizarre. 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 going to 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. You're 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. Right. She could have been abducted. Right. Why are we not telling the police and getting every, any, to me, this makes no sense. Well, and the whole thing is, you would have the whole fucking city looking for her. Well, that's exactly it. Like, why would you not just gather her friends 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 gets weirder and weird and weird. Really? Because there's a lot of things that the family does that you're like, what exactly was your motivation behind that? Oh, keep going. Because it's like, the other thing is, this. is a well-known family like we're talking about they wanted to avoid scandal and all that shit. But people know Dorothy. She's in the social, you know, pages and all that. If they said she's missing, the entire fucking city would be looking for her.

And you'd 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 wild to me. But again, Dorothy had not returned home. They were lying about that and they never explained why. 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 got a skylight frame and you get a skylight frame. Because really, it's like the best gift for everybody. It's the gift that keeps on giving you upload super freaking cute pictures to it

and then everybody can upload pictures to it. And then the mom in your life is just happy all the time looking at pictures of her family. It's also a really great way for families who can't always be together to actually feel close 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 Elena's mother-in-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 Skylight 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 right. To get $10 off your purchase of a skylight frame, just go to skylightframe.com and enter code M-A-T-C-P. That is S-K-Y-L-G-H-T-F-R-A-M-E dot 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. Okay. We know where we are now. Okay.

That she is 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 Francis Arnold were incredibly wealthy, as we discussed. Francis Arnold owned F.R. Arnold and company, which was an importer of like really fine cologne and perfume. Ooh, fancy. So very fancy. They were socialites and super well known. Francis 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 going to 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 Mayfile. She literally has like a defense. Yeah, like, are you fucking kidding? Like anybody gives an actual shit, Rory? But apparently people do. They give a lot of shit. That's like a, like not a great claim either.

I know, it's like, ooh. My family stole this land. Hell yeah. They were the first. Eek. 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. What is it? I've never looked deep. into it until now. What the fuck? Because it's a, 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 Zeran that she was like 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 Zerner was like, you don't even know where the social register is. And Ramona 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. I'm not going to tell you where it is. And Jill knew. Well, I'm going to tell you about the social register 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 words. 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 like let me just

be a real big dick here. 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 Rockefellers, like all that shit. Yeah. Now, these families were the families that would have kicked you off a lifeboat on the Titanic, like the Calhawkley's of the world, like the Hawkeley family. You fucking love Calhawley. You love Calhawley. Honestly, I do. Unfortunately, but like, that's a story for another day. 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 because I would like Ash to see the homepage of this. So hold on one second. Because it's active. It's active. Okay, she pulled it up. Just wait for this.

Wait for this little slideshow to continue. I love the color blocking right there. We got debutantes. Debutantes. We have some horseback riding. Modal pick. There was some yachts. We have headshots.

There's some cotillions happening. All right. I'm going to. Oh, there it is. There's the golf. There's the golf. And the tennis, of course. And the tennis.

Yep. That girl is like absolutely godge. We have two people on a safari where giraffes are just running in front of them. Cool. Yeah. So this is so dushy. I'm just going to say it. It's a wildly, wildly, wildly dushy looking web.

website. Can you put it down now? It's outrageous. I was going to say you're closer. That's the duchiest 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 socialites. These are all descendants normally from wealth back through generations. Everything in the social register is about club affiliation, society memberships, alma modders, 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 formals 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? I bet you're wondering.

I am, truly. 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. 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, no. 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 million. 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 through them. Give me all the tea. I found a legitimate Emily Gilmour-style society in Massachusetts. Stop it. There are also the same. 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 in 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 boozy new shit. Now, so this one I was particularly interested in though. Are you ready for the name of this? No, no. I'm not ready for any of this. I'm sorry. It's so funny because like I love this shit, but I'm 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? Now, 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 Gilmores of the world do. Eat lunch and talk. shit. Like the daughters of the American Revolution in Gomore Girls, I realize I'm making a lot of references to Gilmore Girls, but you know me. I mean, it's old money. And 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 America and all that and like, you know, like our forefathers and all that shit. Now, they own and operate three historic homes in Massachusetts.

Okay. The Prescott House in Boston. The Quincy. homestead in 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 visit. You can see all the old shit in there. They also maintain it.

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 in the area. So I got to give it to them there. Yeah. They also helped to 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, 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 implore you again to look at the official social register website. I implore you. Because it's a, it's a real situation. Like, we're all just stardust guys. We are. None of this. It does not matter at all. So anyways, that's all just to say that Dorothy Arnold's family was very well off. Sorry, they were on this list.

They were on the social list. They were on the social list. 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.

Totally Rufus. It around like wildfire. Rufelicious, it's not a gum. Oh, never been kissed, great. So good. But Rufus W. Peckham was actually a previous U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Oh, shit. Pretty big name definition.

Pretty Rufelicious job. Pretty 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 and steely blue-gray eyes. Cool. Sounds rare.

How are you quiet looking? I don't really know. Do I look loud? You do. Yeah. Yeah, you do. You look quiet. Yeah, 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 artist renderings of Dorothy. There's photos of her. And she was like beautiful. Time to go. And she looked fancy as fuck. 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 Bryn-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 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. She had money. 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 to the cashier and it would go chung chum, like that sound.

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integrations and apps, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and more. You can synchronize your online and online. person sales, gain insights as you grow with detailed reporting of conversion rates, profit margins, and beyond. It really is more than a store. Shopify grows with you. This is possibility powered by Shopify. Go to Shopify.com slash morbid, all lowercase, for a free 14-day trial to get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Grow your business with Shopify today. Go to Shopify.com slash morbid right now. Shopify.com slash morbid. While away at Bryn Marn, Pennsylvania, Dorothy also met a man.

Even though it's an all-girl college, she met him outside of the halls. Yeah. His name was George C. Griscombe, 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 Jr.

This relationship was one of those. I'm just going to move past that. This relationship was one of those forbidden lovers 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 different. friends, 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. And bloodline. Yeah. She was supposed to go to school and get her MRS. That's what she was supposed to do. I was like, MRI. 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. Hell yeah. After college, she was still living with her parents, and at the time, Mumsie 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 fuck? So she began to do things in secret, Because if mom and dadda say no, just mum and dadda. Just do it anyways.

Mother and Papal, girl. She wrote and she wrote and 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. Or no. Yeah. 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 McClure's magazine. for publication. Now, McClure is actually a magazine that is credited a lot of times with the

beginning of muckraking 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 in 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 actually basically, they were running the whole thing. But they ended up leaving to start their own publications. So they hired Willa Kather as the editor. And she took it in that literary direction. So there was like poems and short stories. Totally 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-investigative journalism. Now, unfortunately, her story was quickly rejected.

Oh. Which hit Dorothy hard. Yeah, because she had, like, built up the courage and worked on it for a while. It takes a lot to put your writing out in 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 her 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 P.O. box and use 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, we're just skipping way ahead. In September of 1910, her father found out that she had pawned quite a bit of jewelry. I guess the family was on a little vacation together in Maine. And at one point, so 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 previous, 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 Bryn Mar? And her parents were like, absolutely.

She was not hanging out with friends from Brin Mar. She was actually in Pennsylvania in a hotel for almost a week with George Griscombe. With junior. 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 pawn 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. Yeah. And her father said, absolutely not. And he said, quote, a good writer can write anywhere. Basically being 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 harshing my vibe a little bit. Yeah, you're harshing my mellow, man. And people do need like a,

like a good space. 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 a good writer can write anywhere yeah exactly get fucked dude try sitting down in the middle of chaos and write in like something anything like worth yeah no she deserved to have a place to write so as she secretly continued her romance with george junior there and continued writing she was outwardly projecting that socialite life she was a lady who lunched and shopped and attended cotillions and did things to

find a husband, quote unquote. 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. It doesn't, to me, nothing in the research said that she was not enjoying cotillians. She wasn't enjoying shopping and planning parties and all that. Like, she seemed to like 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 be like a diamond and be multifaceted. She didn't want to just be a socialite. 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 her sister's upcoming debutante ball. 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, but again, she was a fancy. 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. That's like, the cheap version. the Nordstrom. And you're like, fuck, yeah. I'm like, hell yeah, that's where I like, let's go. Nuts.

That's where I go and I'm like, ooh, we're going crazy today. Look at me. Not even the real Nordstroms. 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, it 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 cashish. 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 into Central Park, or she says she's going to go to 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 serge coat and a tight hobble suit. 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 dishpan. 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 fat.

bit of scalloped lace. Fucking. Or scalloped, I should have said. I said scalped weird. She looked fancy as fuck. 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 Nicks vibes from the hat, though. No. Oh, okay. You said like black velvet. lit though. Yeah, but it's like a fancy like Victorian hat kind of thing. Um, so she was definitely not

a background player that day, but a main character on Fifth Avenue. Uh, and remember, she went missing in 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.

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, but they didn't. 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. Right. 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. 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?

He searched her room. He searched through her things. He searched all over the city. He went to morgues and hospitals and all kind 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 seeing him. She was still seeing him. She was like, get fucked. Okay. Love it. But he was in Italy. Okay. He had been since November. All right.

So he was not a great suspect. Unless he had someone do it is 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're like, you called the police, right? Yeah, at this point, I'm like, they definitely didn't. No. 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 going to make them look bad. I don't really know.

Yeah, I don't really get it. They were going to 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, y'all. Yeah, well, I feel like the social register would be like, why you, what, your kid's 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 cruisers. 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 George in 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. 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 her in 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. McClure's 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, too, 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. Okay. And I'm like, what? 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 publicly. It's like 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, though. 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 garators or grotters 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. Central Park is a wild, And I'm sure it always was.

Yep. Now, they began asking him whether she was sheltered and kept it 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 he 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 and position, one whose profession or business would keep him occupied. I don't approve of young men who have nothing to do.

Okay. Which I'm like, I get it, bro. Yeah. 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. Because they're like, hey, guess what?

Someone's been missing for a long-ass time. 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 heiress who disappeared in broad fucking daylight on 5th Avenue. It's very strange. Imagine this, scented candles, soothing spa music, a warm but not hot cup of green tea, and a fresh

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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 Peckham of the United States Supreme Court. Her father, being a brother of Mrs. Peckham, Miss Arnold's aunt Mia Peckham, 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 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 Marr and has devoted most of her time to reading. Hmm. Which sounds like Rory Gilmore. It does.

No. Immediately the NYPD thought they immediately were like, well, she left voluntarily. Like, this is just her leaving. They cited. I kind of started to wonder that 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 a 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 or destroy. Why would she leave and let everybody find that shit? Those letters weren't burned. They were just out. Yeah. So it's like they, 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 a very happy person. Yeah. And she had actually very intensely planned a party for December 17th, the day of her sister's debutante ball. During the day on that day, she was going to have 60 women from Bryn Marr, and they were going to be attending a tea party that she was hosting. Cute. She had meticulously planned this party. So why would she do that if she planned a dip before it?

happened. Yeah. She also had her little sister's debutante ball that night, and that was a big deal, and she, everyone was like, she's not the type of sister that would have cast a shadow over that on purpose. 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 stole in her wardrobe. And would seem 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 like just dip, she would have just destroyed all those

or at least taking them with her. She had a P.O. 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. 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. She wouldn't have done that. Because she doesn't hate her family.

No. It's 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. Yeah. 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 of. 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 is 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 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. Woof. Now, then shit got 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 had pawned jewelry. And now the visit by Marion 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 props were surrounding him back then. And when they did this, he said that he was actually in Italy for business. Wise. And he said that he didn't. Well, technically not. I mean, it is. It's a lie. He's taking care of business.

And he said that he did not know that his mother had left home. That's a lie. 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 like days now. Yeah. And then he was like, oh, okay. Turns out he hadn't talked to his lawyers yet. So he made that decision himself to just lie about it. Why would 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. And a different statement that they knew. And so then he switched and said, oh, actually, I heard that she was missing on January 3rd. Honey, shut your mouth. You got to quiet down.

So then the lawyer, John Keith there, he said that, 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 because I didn't know what my lawyer said yet. I lied because I didn't know what my lawyers lied about. What? Guys, 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 like 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 this. So he clearly knew. And 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. He knew about it on December 13th. Well, and 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 Griscombe Jr., the Pittsburgh man who had been courting Miss 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. But he did. Yeah, like why, yeah. Yeah. So then the lawyer told a reporter, quote, it's, it ought to be made plain that Miss Arnold was not the sort of girl who have, 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 actually. actively trying to push this George Griscombe 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. So her family is trying to push the narrative that she's, She didn't have this lover and she was naive and just concerned with lunching with friends and shopping. They're trying to paint her as like, oh, she, no, she's just this lady lunches. She was not worldly in that way and she was certainly not doing anything to scandalize herself or the family. That's like irritating that they were just like, eh, she just like eats and writes things downs. She just eats and buy shit.

It's like, that's not fair. But the evidence is piling up here and now there's reports, you know, that are coming out from that Pong guy of like the whole week with George. and the media is now reporting about the secret of PO box because they found that. Of course. 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? But she didn't. Communicating on the regular with publishers and like editors and all that. And they were like, no. Yeah, we totally knew that. Like we were very much aware. Liars. Now in February, George came back to New York and put out ads.

spent tons of money putting out ads in all the papers trying to coax Dorothy out if she was alive. He heard absolutely nothing back from them. Love our boy. Then two different ransom notes came through to the family. But at this point, it's like everybody knows you're fucking rich. They don't have her. 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 Dorothe'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 like 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 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. Is there any theory in part two that you think is a strong theory? I honestly. Like, do you lean toward agreeing or like being close to agreeing with any of them? 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 going to dig a little more. Do you have any kind of personal theory that you? 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 it seemed like- Would have 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 in the same time, she had nothing with her.

they say 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 nine hundred dollars on her that day and did she not use the family's account for the chocolates the book or the dress yeah she used that so she used the family's account i believe for maybe the book in the chocolates, but not the dress, because she had spent the money on the dress. Okay. So then I think she used the family's account on the chocolates in the book. But then it's also like the P.O. 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, I think 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 of days to find that out? That seems like a lot of trouble that goes through like forwarding your 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, she went on her own volition based on what I know. But like with what? She left all her money. She could have pond 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, that, or if she did, she didn't have a ton. Hmm. 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... Could have like gone 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 you can do that now. It was just that was more of a joke. You're like, I swear of that. That was more of like a lull.

And I'm like, I don't think she could. I was like, I'm pretty sure she couldn't. 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 still for some reason that I'm just like,

no one saw anything. Yeah. Especially with like what she looked. looked like and how she was dressed. No one saw anything. Yeah. I don't know. 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 correspondent. It's very, it gets very weird. Well, and the other thing is like,

eyewitness accounts suck anyways, unfortunately. That's the other thing. And as fancy as she looked, she was wearing the style of other socialites and heiresses in the area, And on Fifth Avenue, it's not like... They all looked like that. Yeah.

So it's not like she would have, like, 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.

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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 that 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 BetterHelp does just that. BetterHelp 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. Morbid listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash morbid. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P-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 are. Is she by herself? Some people are really good at secret.

secrets. Secret secrets are no fun. Secret secrets hurt your whole social standing. Yeah. But it's like, and George. It seemed to me like she loved George. Well, that is, yeah, that is one thing for me that I'm like, hmm. But do you think that George- And he came back 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 still? came back to New York. Oh, do you think that was all of his songs? 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, you couldn't hide her away. It's like, I don't know. And again, she was into, like, planning parties. She was into the cotillions 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, I think she gave herself up, but it's, I don't know. I don't. I don't know. I mean, I'm going to dive even deeper in for season two. Season two. Season two of this one case. I was like, wow. No, I'm not going to go that far. I'm going to 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 persons.

Right. 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 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 you're not that I don't know what you would find that she had been there, but they were like, no sign that she had been there. I'm like, well, she, she was like dropping shit along the way. She didn't normally just drop shit as she went. She's like living the chocolate wrappers. I guess no one had seen her that was in the park that day or whatever.

Well, and then the other thing, though, is like, you figure if somebody like abducts her, do they not want ransom? Yeah. But then what's the motive there? Just to take the money on her? Take the money on her or sometimes just murder. Just to hurt somebody. I mean, you know that for sure.

Man, I'm fucking stumped. Right? It's just that 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 going to try to, we'll try to solve this. Let's try to solve this shit. Let's Troy. This like, you know, century old, like abduction slash missing person's case. Yeah. Well, we'll solve it. We'll do it. We got it. We'll do our best. Part two will conclude with me solving this. Part to do. Yeah, I'm going to solve it too, man. Yeah. Love it. Let's go. Let's go. And I love you and I hope that you keep listening. I was talking to them. Wow. Don't make this weird? Wow.

Wow. You know I love you too. Really weird. So anyways, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you. Keep it weird. But that's the way that you tell your sister you love her. Gross.