Dorothy Arnold

On the afternoon of December 12, 1910, Dorothy Harriett Camille Arnold, a 25-year-old socialite and aspiring writer from one of New York City's most prominent families, left her family's home at 108 East 79th Street to go shopping on Fifth Avenue. She purchased a box of chocolates and a book, and was last seen by a friend near 59th Street at approximately 2:00 p.m. She never returned home.

Dorothy's family, deeply concerned about social scandal, did not report her missing to police for six weeks. Instead, they hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to conduct a discreet investigation. It was not until late January 1911, when the Pinkertons had failed to find any trace of Dorothy, that her father reluctantly contacted the New York Police Department.

The investigation that followed was the most extensive missing person search New York had seen to that date. It emerged that Dorothy had been carrying on a secret relationship with an older man named George Griscom Jr. and had recently been deeply disappointed by the rejection of a short story she had submitted to McClure's Magazine. Some theories suggested she had committed suicide, while others pointed to Griscom or to a botched illegal abortion as explanations.

Despite following leads across the United States and Europe, investigators never found any trace of Dorothy Arnold. No body, no confirmed sighting, no evidence of travel under an assumed name. The case became one of the most sensational of the early 20th century, and Dorothy's disappearance from a busy Manhattan street in broad daylight remains unexplained over a century later.