“On a crisp December day in 1910, Dorothy Arnold walked out of the pages of life and left behind her a mystery that outdoes fiction. There have been a thousand theories, a million rumors- but not one shred of real evidence which might explain where she went, how she went, or why.” This newspaper quote perfectly summarizes the unsolved disappearance case of Dorothy Arnold, the heiress of a wealthy New York family, who vanished suddenly and without explanation. 

Dorothy Arnold was a well known and liked socialite of a prestigious family.   The young woman had aspirations of becoming a writer, though all of her submitted works came back rejected.  Dorothy was secretly carrying out a romantic relationship with an older man, against her family’s wishes.  On one fateful day in December of 1910, Dorothy said farewell to her mother and left the house to go shopping.  The distinguished Arnold family would never see her again.

The mystery of this cases revolves around the bizarre question, how does a woman simply vanish while walking along a busy city street in the middle of the day?  There are far more questions than answers in this intriguing mystery: Did Dorothy run away?  Was she abducted, kidnapped, or murdered? Did her secret lover have anything to do with her disappearance?  Was Dorothy’s depression too great to continue living? Almost any theory is as plausible as any other due to the complete lack of evidence and clues following the young lady’s disappearance.

Listen to this episode of Strange Matters and hear all about what was called at the time the most famous Missing Persons case in American History!