In August of 1996, 11-year-old Trudy Appleby vanished from her neighborhood in Moline, Illinois, leaving behind one of the most haunting mysteries in the Quad Cities. There was no sign of a struggle, no clear witnesses, and no immediate answers. For nearly three decades, her case remained unsolved.

But behind the headlines, Trudy’s father never stopped fighting. From the very beginning, he insisted he knew who was responsible. While police chased false leads and dead ends, he pointed to the same small circle of men—names he repeated year after year, long before investigators finally confirmed them as persons of interest.

In August 2025, almost exactly 29 years after Trudy disappeared, an arrest was finally made. The breakthrough came too late for her father, who passed away without seeing justice—but it proved he had been right all along.

This is the story of Trudy Appleby: a child gone without a trace, a family’s relentless search for truth, and the decades-long fight to hold those responsible accountable in the Quad Cities’ most infamous missing child case.

Trudy’s Missing Poster: https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/822441/1

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