Fort Worth

New Efforts to Find Three Girls Who Vanished in 1974

The family of a girl who, along with two other girls, went missing in one of Fort Worth's most notable missing persons cases is launching a new search to find who was responsible.

Rachel Arnold Trlisa, 17, Renee Wilson, 14, and Julie Ann Moseley, 9, haven't been seen in more than four decades.

It was just two days before Christmas in 1974 when the girls disappeared from a Fort Worth mall parking lot with little trace. Police found Arnold's car in the mall parking lot.

"They didn't even fingerprint the car when it was first found. They treated them as runaways for the first year. My sister did not runaway," said Rusty Arnold.

"Me and my mother went through every store," he said, about the day his big sister disappeared.

Over the years there have been many theories about what may have happened to the girls, but little evidence. Investigators did retrieve DNA from a letter purportedly signed by Rachel Arnold, but to this day there's been no DNA match.

"It is my opinion Rachel did not write that letter," Rusty Arnold said.

The letter supported the runaway theory, but it's been 42 years and still not a single trace of the three.

Rusty Arnold believes they were murdered.

"Knowing that there's a possibility you can find out if you just keep looking, you never give up. As we always say, no stone unturned, ever," he said.

Rusty Arnold says that with the help of Texas EquuSearch, he has been able to locate several vehicles deep down in the water at Longhorn Park in Fort Worth. He believes evidence in Benbrook Lake might lead to his sister's killer, but he also feels somebody who was there at the time would know the answer.

He also provided sonar images of the vehicles, but Fort Worth police say at this point there's nothing to indicate they are connected to the case.

Either way, Rusty Arnold believes his sister's case will eventually be solved.

"You know who you are, you know what you did. We're not going away, simple as that. We're not going away," Arnold said, of the person he believes murdered the three girls.

The case remains open. Anyone with information is asked to call Fort Worth police.

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