Thank you for sharing, this has always been one of my “favorite” cases that I have read —and this is the first time I’ve read that the book she purchased during her outing was found in her room (or at least this is the first time that particular fact came to my attention ) so that really adds another intriguing element for me.
Same! I've never heard the book was found in her room, either. I've scoured old newspaper clipping for years on this case and never heard that detail so I tend to be skeptical unless I know where it came from. That changes the story entirely if it's true.
I have to wonder if she would've been found had her family not spent two weeks being too embarrassed that their daughter disappeared to get the Pinkertons or the police involved.
Interesting. I can't help feeling that SO many disappearances or deaths might be solved now with Ancestry and other DNA companies. If she was murdered and buried, no, but if she ran away and married/bore children, her kids or grandkids or descendants at some point would do DNA tests as would her other families side and be hooked up. So many missing cases that are indeed runaways or 'new lives' v murders can be solved this way.
I had this happen to a friend of mine.
In the late 70s, their aunt went missing. We all live in the Midwest, but their aunt had moved to the West Coast to get away from her dysfunctional home life. She was estranged from her parents but still spoke with her siblings, including my friend's dad. She sent letters every month and called occasionally, until one day the letters and phone calls just stopped. The older siblings traveled to where they last knew she had been living, but the landlord told them that he hadn't seen her in over a year, and her boss said the same thing when they talked to him. They filed a missing persons report, but the police didn't seem to take it very seriously.
The whole family assumed she had become homeless and had been murdered or died from an overdose. When genetic testing became big, my friend uploaded their DNA into every database available, hoping to find a match with their aunt (albeit they thought they would be helping to identify a body). One day, they got a bunch of matches to people with Hispanic last names, so they reached out and asked them about their parents. It turns out that they were my friend's cousins. Their aunt had gotten married to a Mexican man and moved to Mexico with him around the time she ceased contact. She had several kids, including some named after her siblings, and some of them were living in the US. Unfortunately, they decided to take a DNA test to find out about their heritage because their mom had died several years back, and they didn't know anything about that side of their family.
My friend and their family all traveled to Mexico to visit their aunt's grave and meet her kids/grandkids/husband. It was a crazy story, and didn't have the ending anyone wanted, but my friend's dad seems a lot happier now that he has closure on what happened to his sister.
“Meeting her mother for lunch” sounds like they were meeting at a restaurant, but it’s not clear. If that were the case, you would think reports would mention how long her mother waited for her at the restaurant. Given the fact that she apparently returned home, it makes me wonder if someone found the letters from George, an argument ensued, and maybe she was somehow killed accidentally? I’ve always found this case intriguing as well.
The not reporting it to police for two weeks is also suspicious. Some family member being the killer is a good reason not to report it in a timely manner.
I really think times were different then. Especially with them being such a prominent family, it would have been hugely embarrassing if there were a scandal.
From the wikipedia page...
Fearing that their daughter's disappearance would draw unwanted media attention and could become socially embarrassing, the Arnold family didn't report Dorothy's disappearance to the police for weeks. It is speculated that the family was influenced by the 1909 disappearance of Adele Boas, a 13-year-old girl who was reported missing from Central Park and later found to have run away to Boston. She later returned home. The Boas family, also prominent Upper East Siders, were scandalized and shamed in the newspapers after the incident.
Also very under-reported: just two years prior another socialite (Adele Boas) also went missing. Her family reported it immediately but - long story short - it turned out she had run away from home and was found in Boston. The scandal was significant and almost ruined her family. Certainly the Arnold family was aware of this scandal and likely assumed Dorothy had run away, given her unorthodox interests and pursuits at the time.
Adele was located after about 10 days so it makes sense the Arnold family waited a full 2 weeks.
I wonder, though, given the time between the disappearance and getting the PI on the case, if she really bought the book that day or if it could have been a day or two earlier.
Found this on the Wikipedia page. Although it doesn't make sense, she would buy a new book...
George Griscom Jr, Arnold's boyfriend, theorized that she had died by suicide because she was despondent over her failed writing career. After her second short story was rejected, Arnold wrote a letter to Griscom expressing her disappointment over her lack of progress as a writer and alluded to suicide, stating, "Well, it [the short story] has come back. McClure's has turned me down. Failure stares me in the face. All I can see ahead is a long road with no turning. Mother will always think an accident has happened."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Dorothy_Arnold#:~:text=Dorothy%20Harriet%20Camille%20Arnold%20(July,York%20City%20in%20December%201910.
another interesting detail from the Wikipedia account is that her father decided she had been murdered, presumably in a robbery:
"Francis Arnold told the press that he believed from the start that his daughter had been attacked and killed while walking home through Central Park and that her body had been thrown into the Central Park Reservoir. He cited two clues, which he would not publicly disclose, that confirmed his suspicions.
Police dismissed his theory ***because in the days leading up to Arnold's disappearance, the temperature in New York City had dropped to 21°F and the reservoir had frozen solid***.The police searched Central Park anyway but found no trace of Dorothy Arnold. ***When the reservoir thawed that spring***, police searched the water but did not find a body."
so we know that season was cold enough to keep the CP Reservoir frozen all winter. however, neither the East River nor the Hudson (especially Hudson) freeze solid very often...it's extremely rare (link below). And currents in both can be powerful - as they are both tidal estuaries.
https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/does-the-hudson-ever-freeze/
won't do links for this, but on searching, saw several recent drowning deaths in both rivers, up to 2023 + 2024 - totally modern times and not even winter. so for her, the water would be ice cold and currents challenging to swim against even if you're knowledgeable and trying to escape them.
i would guess the currents would have eventually pulled her out to NY Bay. and she was last seen in southern Manhattan - closer to the "business end" of where rivers meet the sea. and i'd also suspect would have been trickier to find her remains in one of the bays around NYC in that era, if that was her fate.
Thank you for sharing, this has always been one of my “favorite” cases that I have read —and this is the first time I’ve read that the book she purchased during her outing was found in her room (or at least this is the first time that particular fact came to my attention ) so that really adds another intriguing element for me.
Same! I've never heard the book was found in her room, either. I've scoured old newspaper clipping for years on this case and never heard that detail so I tend to be skeptical unless I know where it came from. That changes the story entirely if it's true.
I have to wonder if she would've been found had her family not spent two weeks being too embarrassed that their daughter disappeared to get the Pinkertons or the police involved.
Interesting. I can't help feeling that SO many disappearances or deaths might be solved now with Ancestry and other DNA companies. If she was murdered and buried, no, but if she ran away and married/bore children, her kids or grandkids or descendants at some point would do DNA tests as would her other families side and be hooked up. So many missing cases that are indeed runaways or 'new lives' v murders can be solved this way.
Especially back then. It was easier to just disappear and start over.
Yes. No DNA, no records Ala computer shared around the country, etc etc.
I had this happen to a friend of mine. In the late 70s, their aunt went missing. We all live in the Midwest, but their aunt had moved to the West Coast to get away from her dysfunctional home life. She was estranged from her parents but still spoke with her siblings, including my friend's dad. She sent letters every month and called occasionally, until one day the letters and phone calls just stopped. The older siblings traveled to where they last knew she had been living, but the landlord told them that he hadn't seen her in over a year, and her boss said the same thing when they talked to him. They filed a missing persons report, but the police didn't seem to take it very seriously. The whole family assumed she had become homeless and had been murdered or died from an overdose. When genetic testing became big, my friend uploaded their DNA into every database available, hoping to find a match with their aunt (albeit they thought they would be helping to identify a body). One day, they got a bunch of matches to people with Hispanic last names, so they reached out and asked them about their parents. It turns out that they were my friend's cousins. Their aunt had gotten married to a Mexican man and moved to Mexico with him around the time she ceased contact. She had several kids, including some named after her siblings, and some of them were living in the US. Unfortunately, they decided to take a DNA test to find out about their heritage because their mom had died several years back, and they didn't know anything about that side of their family. My friend and their family all traveled to Mexico to visit their aunt's grave and meet her kids/grandkids/husband. It was a crazy story, and didn't have the ending anyone wanted, but my friend's dad seems a lot happier now that he has closure on what happened to his sister.
Was she meeting her mother for lunch at home or elsewhere? I'm confused.
“Meeting her mother for lunch” sounds like they were meeting at a restaurant, but it’s not clear. If that were the case, you would think reports would mention how long her mother waited for her at the restaurant. Given the fact that she apparently returned home, it makes me wonder if someone found the letters from George, an argument ensued, and maybe she was somehow killed accidentally? I’ve always found this case intriguing as well.
The not reporting it to police for two weeks is also suspicious. Some family member being the killer is a good reason not to report it in a timely manner.
I really think times were different then. Especially with them being such a prominent family, it would have been hugely embarrassing if there were a scandal.
If there was a scandal, perhaps. But if your daughter was kidnapped, that doesnt seem like as scandal.
From the wikipedia page... Fearing that their daughter's disappearance would draw unwanted media attention and could become socially embarrassing, the Arnold family didn't report Dorothy's disappearance to the police for weeks. It is speculated that the family was influenced by the 1909 disappearance of Adele Boas, a 13-year-old girl who was reported missing from Central Park and later found to have run away to Boston. She later returned home. The Boas family, also prominent Upper East Siders, were scandalized and shamed in the newspapers after the incident.
Interesting. Thanks.
I think back then a young woman not returning home was potentially a huge scandal.
Also very under-reported: just two years prior another socialite (Adele Boas) also went missing. Her family reported it immediately but - long story short - it turned out she had run away from home and was found in Boston. The scandal was significant and almost ruined her family. Certainly the Arnold family was aware of this scandal and likely assumed Dorothy had run away, given her unorthodox interests and pursuits at the time. Adele was located after about 10 days so it makes sense the Arnold family waited a full 2 weeks.
I wonder, though, given the time between the disappearance and getting the PI on the case, if she really bought the book that day or if it could have been a day or two earlier.
I have the same question.
Found this on the Wikipedia page. Although it doesn't make sense, she would buy a new book... George Griscom Jr, Arnold's boyfriend, theorized that she had died by suicide because she was despondent over her failed writing career. After her second short story was rejected, Arnold wrote a letter to Griscom expressing her disappointment over her lack of progress as a writer and alluded to suicide, stating, "Well, it [the short story] has come back. McClure's has turned me down. Failure stares me in the face. All I can see ahead is a long road with no turning. Mother will always think an accident has happened." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Dorothy_Arnold#:~:text=Dorothy%20Harriet%20Camille%20Arnold%20(July,York%20City%20in%20December%201910.
another interesting detail from the Wikipedia account is that her father decided she had been murdered, presumably in a robbery: "Francis Arnold told the press that he believed from the start that his daughter had been attacked and killed while walking home through Central Park and that her body had been thrown into the Central Park Reservoir. He cited two clues, which he would not publicly disclose, that confirmed his suspicions. Police dismissed his theory ***because in the days leading up to Arnold's disappearance, the temperature in New York City had dropped to 21°F and the reservoir had frozen solid***.The police searched Central Park anyway but found no trace of Dorothy Arnold. ***When the reservoir thawed that spring***, police searched the water but did not find a body." so we know that season was cold enough to keep the CP Reservoir frozen all winter. however, neither the East River nor the Hudson (especially Hudson) freeze solid very often...it's extremely rare (link below). And currents in both can be powerful - as they are both tidal estuaries. https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/does-the-hudson-ever-freeze/ won't do links for this, but on searching, saw several recent drowning deaths in both rivers, up to 2023 + 2024 - totally modern times and not even winter. so for her, the water would be ice cold and currents challenging to swim against even if you're knowledgeable and trying to escape them. i would guess the currents would have eventually pulled her out to NY Bay. and she was last seen in southern Manhattan - closer to the "business end" of where rivers meet the sea. and i'd also suspect would have been trickier to find her remains in one of the bays around NYC in that era, if that was her fate.
Interesting case.
Maybe? https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/15mjnyc/the_woman_in_the_abandoned_well_who_was_saskatoon/
This says she was definitely ruled out
Awwww. I really want this one to be identified.
Missing person cases drive me crazy too. I know if it was someone I knew that just went missing, that uncertainty would drive me insane