Dorothy Arnold was 25 when she disappeared from her Upper East Side townhouse on a frigid Monday morning in December 1910 with today’s equivalent of $1,000.
The eldest daughter of perfume importer Francis R. Arnold left her jewelry and passport at home and strolled toward Central Park, never to be seen again, according to reports The Charley Project which tracks missing persons cases.
Her disappearance has puzzled detectives for more than a hundred years, making her case the oldest recorded missing persons case in American history and what the Times has called “one of New York’s greatest mysteries.”
“A hundred years later, I don’t expect any resolution,” Jane Vollmer, Dorothy’s great-niece, told the story National Geographic last month.
Full name Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold. The socialite’s last words to her mother were “I’m calling you” as she stepped out of their Manhattan townhouse on East 79th Street.
Dorothy Arnold was 25 when she disappeared from her Upper East Side townhouse on a frigid Monday morning in December 1910 with today’s equivalent of $1,000.
Arnold told several people about her plans for that day. She told a friend that she was shopping with her mother, and her mother said she wanted to go alone.
She headed toward Fifth Avenue and stopped at the Park and Tilford candy store, where she paid for some chocolates with her father’s credit card at 1:45 p.m. The clerk told investigators at the time that she appeared to be in good spirits.
Arnold then bought a book at Brentano’s on 27th and Fifth, before running into a friend who she chatted with for a few minutes and told them she was heading to Central Park.
Her mother was waiting for her for lunch that day at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, but she never showed.
When she did not return home that evening, the family began to worry. Fearing bad publicity if they contacted the police, they hired a private investigator.
The eldest daughter of perfume importer Francis R Arnold, left her jewelry and passport at home and walked towards Central Park, never to be seen again, according to The Charley Project, which tracks missing persons cases.
Arnold then bought a book at Brentano’s on 27th and Fifth (pictured), before running into a friend who she chatted with for a few minutes and told them she was heading to Central Park the day she disappeared.
Nevertheless, the The case later caused a wave of media attention across America and Europe, along with a massive search mission involving the NYPD, private investigators and even the Pinkerton Agency.
But no conclusive evidence has ever emerged. Theories abound, ranging from kidnapping to voluntary disappearance, but none provide a definitive answer to the question that has haunted generations.
One prevailing theory suggests that Dorothy may have been involved in foul play. As a young woman of privilege, she undoubtedly attracted the attention of admirers, some of whom may have had less than honorable intentions.
Investigators have discovered one piece of information: that Arnold was secretly dating George C. Griscom Jr., an engineer in his forties from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the time of her disappearance.
He also came from a wealthy family. Police discovered that Arnold had spent a week with him several months prior to her disappearance. At the time, she told her family that she was staying with college friends.
Her disappearance has baffled detectives for more than 100 years, making her case the oldest recorded missing persons case in American history and what the Times has called “one of New York’s greatest mysteries.”
The case later generated widespread media attention across America and Europe, along with a massive search mission involving the NYPD, private investigators and even the Pinkerton Agency.
On the way home from her secret visit, she also pawned $500 worth of jewelry for $60.
Griscom is not a suspect because he was in Florence, Italy, in December 1910.
He also joined the search for her in Manhattan and said he would propose to her once she was found.
Another theory authorities looked into was that Arnold had faked her disappearance, but this was largely discredited over time.
“Some people believed Arnold committed suicide; others theorized that she had been pregnant and died during a botched abortion,” according to The Charley Project.
But area hospitals were checked and Arnold was never found. Although the case has been closed for almost a hundred years, Dorothy Arnold’s life remains shrouded in mystery.