I grew up in Fort Worth and am the same age Rachel would have been, so I've always been interested in this case.
The letter arrived in the mail box early the next morning, almost too quickly to have been delivered by the USPS. It was the only thing in the box. I have never heard if there was more mail delivered at the house later that day. It did have a postmark and police have determined it was mailed from Fort Worth. It arrived too quickly to be a cruel hoax, but could have been written by the perpetrator, or Rachel could have been forced to write it. One source indicates it was written by a right handed person and Rachel was left handed, but tests were inconclusive. It addressed her husband as Thomas even though she called him Tommy, and, if written by Rachel, could have been used to signal distress. I don't think Rachel wrote it of her own free will. If two girls decide to split for Houston for the weekend, would they really take a 9 year old girl with them? And obviously they were with someone else, because of course if they went by themselves, they would have taken their own car. They were with someone else, and the letter was written to make it look like they were with that person by choice, and yet Rachel did not name the person or even say they went with someone else. "We (as in, the three of us) went to Houston".
But the bottom line is, why does Rusty Arnold think his sister Debra wrote the letter? Okay, Debra went out with Tommy before Tommy and Rachel got married. So Debra wakes up one morning and decides to kill Rachel and two other people? She picks them up at the mall, takes them off and kills them, and there's no evidence to be found? An 18 year old girl?
In a radio interview, which can be found on his website, Rusty says Debra took a polygraph which indicates she may have had knowledge of what happened that day. He gives no details. Why not? How do we know this is true and not simply his interpretation? To my knowledge, the finding that Debra failed the polygraph was never reported in the papers, or apparently further investigated by police.
Rusty believes that Rachel is still alive, is being kept away by unseen forces, and that she visits Fort Worth every Christmas. What does he base this belief on? He has never said. I'd be curious to know.
The police have said the girls probably left with someone they trusted. A witness came forward and said he saw the three girls in a mall security truck, with the security guard, at about 11 pm. I have problems with this. The mall would have been long closed even at Christmastime, and if the girls had car problems or any other problems other than being abducted, they would have called their parents or Rachel's husband hours earlier; they were expected home by dark.
This case has torn the families involved apart and it is very sad. I understand they need some closure but I think Rusty needs to accept that his sister is gone.
The letter arrived in the mail box early the next morning, almost too quickly to have been delivered by the USPS. It was the only thing in the box. I have never heard if there was more mail delivered at the house later that day. It did have a postmark and police have determined it was mailed from Fort Worth. It arrived too quickly to be a cruel hoax, but could have been written by the perpetrator, or Rachel could have been forced to write it. One source indicates it was written by a right handed person and Rachel was left handed, but tests were inconclusive. It addressed her husband as Thomas even though she called him Tommy, and, if written by Rachel, could have been used to signal distress. I don't think Rachel wrote it of her own free will. If two girls decide to split for Houston for the weekend, would they really take a 9 year old girl with them? And obviously they were with someone else, because of course if they went by themselves, they would have taken their own car. They were with someone else, and the letter was written to make it look like they were with that person by choice, and yet Rachel did not name the person or even say they went with someone else. "We (as in, the three of us) went to Houston".
But the bottom line is, why does Rusty Arnold think his sister Debra wrote the letter? Okay, Debra went out with Tommy before Tommy and Rachel got married. So Debra wakes up one morning and decides to kill Rachel and two other people? She picks them up at the mall, takes them off and kills them, and there's no evidence to be found? An 18 year old girl?
In a radio interview, which can be found on his website, Rusty says Debra took a polygraph which indicates she may have had knowledge of what happened that day. He gives no details. Why not? How do we know this is true and not simply his interpretation? To my knowledge, the finding that Debra failed the polygraph was never reported in the papers, or apparently further investigated by police.
Rusty believes that Rachel is still alive, is being kept away by unseen forces, and that she visits Fort Worth every Christmas. What does he base this belief on? He has never said. I'd be curious to know.
The police have said the girls probably left with someone they trusted. A witness came forward and said he saw the three girls in a mall security truck, with the security guard, at about 11 pm. I have problems with this. The mall would have been long closed even at Christmastime, and if the girls had car problems or any other problems other than being abducted, they would have called their parents or Rachel's husband hours earlier; they were expected home by dark.
This case has torn the families involved apart and it is very sad. I understand they need some closure but I think Rusty needs to accept that his sister is gone.
