TX TX - Julie Moseley, 9, Mary Trlica, 17, Lisa Wilson, 14, Fort Worth, 23 Dec 1974 - #2

[TedMac]

As to the query regarding postal service time. Could the letter be sent in the evening of the 23rd and received the next day? Not likely. Not with the DFW postal service...it takes 2 days for me to get a letter from my mom...and she lives 15 mins from me, in Arlington, TX.

Welcome to Websleuths!!! :welcome4:

 

[Rcm_squared]

Thanks TedMac! I'm looking forward to the discussions!

 

[Hatfield]

Thanks TedMac! I'm looking forward to the discussions!

Me too. I just read it for the first time today and cases like this are sad but amazing because 3 girls and not just one person.

WELCOME to WS!

I just pray that the families somehow get closure and these old cases I am sure they have lost hope numerous times over the years. It would be nice if something would break in the case to give some solid answers.

The seriel killer mentioned on the Page 1 with the long last name sounded like a definite possibility since he was in the area at the time. I will get the name and post in next post.

 

[Hatfield]

Debardeleben is the serial killer listed on some posts on Page 1 of this thread.

Just struck me that it is a real possibility.

People don't ever want to think their odds would ever be that bad to run into a seriel killer but it seems like a real possibility.

 

[liserhart]

Bumping to keep these girls at the top.

 

[thebigcookie]

Today marks 41 years since these girls disappearance. I just hope Rachel's brother Rusty can get this $20,000 so that he might be able to solve this case and so we can know what happened to them.

 

[thebigcookie]

Bumping this for them. First post on this thread in 2016. As of last week, Rachel's brother Rusty has raised over $600. He still has a long way to go to get to $20,000 so I hope more people can help.

 

[rascal32]

I've been trying to read from thread one for a few but it's getting late so I will continue tomorrow. Not sure if I'm repeating theories here so bare with me. I believe it was actually discovered that the letter in question was post marked the 24th but didn't arrive for several days after the girls disappeared. The letter written to Thomas instead of Tommy tells me Rachel likely didn't write the letter. IMO the girls had every intention of returning especially having a 9 year old neighbor with them. I am leaning in two directions. First direction- random kidnapping likely occurring when the girls were trying to leave. Possibly van parked by their car waiting for them.
I don't think they would agreeably leave with someone to use drugs having the 9 year old with them. They could have easily taken her home and then left to go meet up with friends.
Second theory is that I have been suspicious of the ex-police/security guard saying he saw the girls in another security guards vehicle. Doesn't seem likely as parents were already there looking for the girls. But it is possible that the other security guard approached the girls saying something like they were suspected of shoplifting and that they needed to come with him. He could have then handcuffed them and placed them in his own vehicle either hiding them or taking them somewhere else.
I'm not really convinced or suspicious of family members having involvement. I think family members are just dis functional and using this case as a way to start drama with each other.
I'm also not convinced that any of the girls are alive and certainly don't think Rachel comes back to town every Christmas. Why would she? Makes no sense to me.
Forgive me for the long post. Just wanted to put my random thought out there and "bump" up the case.
Question 1- was this an outside parking lot or a parking garage?
2- did LE look into the other security guard?
3- was the letter ever tested for DNA?
Sorry if these have already been answered.


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[rascal32]

As I read a little more I see both of my theories have already been discussed.
I also see that some are leaning toward possible human trafficking but I'm not so sure. Most human trafficking cases involve women who are already prostitutes or into heavy drugs, or children that are given away or sold by drug addicted parents. It's unusual that girls like this would be abducted for trafficking as they would be reported missing and searched for by LE. It's not impossible but I think it's unlikely.
My opinion only

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[Deleted member 165916]

I cannot tell what I know. I cannot comment on the status of the investigation. I am an advocate devoted to right this wrong. I would like to frame some questions for this group. Among the "dead-wrong" are some folks that are pointed in the right direction. Your perspective could be valuable. Play or don't.
Question #1 - Why is there such a dearth of interest in Tommy Trlica?

 

[zensiert]

I cannot tell what I know. I cannot comment on the status of the investigation. I am an advocate devoted to right this wrong. I would like to frame some questions for this group. Among the "dead-wrong" are some folks that are pointed in the right direction. Your perspective could be valuable. Play or don't.
Question #1 - Why is there such a dearth of interest in Tommy Trlica?

So, you say you cannot tell what you know... but do you actually know something material that is not in the public domain, and the rest of us and LE does not know?
So you say "I cannot comment on the status of the investigation." Well, neither can I, because I don't know what the status of the investigation is.
"Play or don't" Play what...?

What about Thomas A. Trlica? Here's an observation. The guy was married 4 times in 7 years between 1971 and 1978. That seems unusual. To start things off, he married a 16 year old girl in 1971. He then divorced his first wife on April 26, 1974, just 6 weeks prior to marrying another 16 year old girl; Rachel Arnold. Supposedly he dated Rachel Arnold’s older sister Debra, and was "sort-of" engaged to her before he married her younger sister Rachel on June 8, 1974. I wonder if he called off the “sort-of” engagement to the 19 year old Debra Arnold because she was too old. He must have been very busy going to work, taking care of his two year old son from his first marriage, all while he was romancing the two Arnold sisters back-to-back during the very brief window between his first and second marriage. Then later, his former girlfriend Debra Arnold (his current wife Rachel's older sister) came to live with him and his new wife (Rachel). Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
Then, 23 months after his second wife Rachel went missing, in 1976 he married for the third time; this time to a seventeen year old girl. Maybe he knew Rachel was never coming back.

He divorced his third wife in June of 1978. Two months later he then married his fourth wife in August, 1978.

 

[scriptgirl]

He sounds like a real sleaze. How are the parents of these girls okay with him marrying underage girls? And he married 23 months after Rachel went missing. Did the cops really vet him that closely?

 

[zensiert]

So, you say you cannot tell what you know... but do you actually know something material that is not in the public domain, and the rest of us and LE does not know?
So you say "I cannot comment on the status of the investigation." Well, neither can I, because I don't know what the status of the investigation is.
"Play or don't" Play what...?

What about Thomas A. Trlica? Here's an observation. The guy was married 4 times in 7 years between 1971 and 1978. That seems unusual. To start things off, he married a 16 year old girl in 1971. He then divorced his first wife on April 26, 1974, just 6 weeks prior to marrying another 16 year old girl; Rachel Arnold. Supposedly he dated Rachel Arnold’s older sister Debra, and was "sort-of" engaged to her before he married her younger sister Rachel on June 8, 1974. I wonder if he called off the “sort-of” engagement to the 19 year old Debra Arnold because she was too old. He must have been very busy going to work, taking care of his two year old son from his first marriage, all while he was romancing the two Arnold sisters back-to-back during the very brief window between his first and second marriage. Then later, his former girlfriend Debra Arnold (his current wife Rachel's older sister) came to live with him and his new wife (Rachel). Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
Then, 23 months after his second wife Rachel went missing, in 1976 he married for the third time; this time to a seventeen year old girl. Maybe he knew Rachel was never coming back.

He divorced his third wife in June of 1978. Two months later he then married his fourth wife in August, 1978.

Still counting: Update, he has been married at least FIVE times that we are aware of. You wonder if all of the subsequent wives #3, #4, and #5 knew that he had a previous wife that mysteriously disappeared and is presumed to be murdered. I think most reasonable people would decline to be married to somebody with that marital history.To be fair, being married at least 5 times does not make one a murderer. However, it does reflect on your judgment and character, especially when 3 of them were under age teenage girls.

 

[foureyes]

What swamp do you think they were dumped in?

Victoria Advocate

Friday, April 11, 1975

INVESTIGATOR SAYS SOMEBODY KILLED

"A private investigator organizing a Calhoun County search Sunday for the bodies of three missing Fort Worth girls says he thinks "somebody has been killed" and water level beneath bridges already searched once may lead to such evidence.

Jon Swaim of Special Services, reportedly a one-man investigative firm in Fort Worth, declining to reveal his source of information concerning the possible Calhoun County connection in the case, told the Associated Press in Fort Worth:
"I'd say that we've got one of two things. Either the girls have met with foul play and are down there, or somebody has been killed and someone up there wants them found."
The girls Rachel Trlica, 17; Renee Wilson. 11 ; and Julie Ann Moseley 9, disappeared Dec. 23 after leaving for a shopping trip at Seminary South shopping center on Fort Worth's south side. Swaim, who was here earlier this week to seek the assistance of local law enforcement officers in the Sunday search, says he was hired by families of the missing girls after police failed ID find them.

Calhoun Sheriff Maurice Wood, Port Lavaca Police Chief Gene Iluran and other officers searched for the bodies in the Hog Bayou area in February without finding any evidence. Durrant said that search was prompted by a phone call from a Fort Worth city detective saying an "unreliable informant" had told authorities there that the bodies would be found under a bridge in this area. Swaim said water beneath the bridges in February was two or three feet deep and made it difficult to find anything, ……"

http://www.officialcoldcaseinvestigations.com/showthread.php?2029-MISSING-TRIO-FORT-WORTH/page2

 

[dvo]

I cannot tell what I know. I cannot comment on the status of the investigation. I am an advocate devoted to right this wrong. I would like to frame some questions for this group. Among the "dead-wrong" are some folks that are pointed in the right direction. Your perspective could be valuable. Play or don't.
Question #1 - Why is there such a dearth of interest in Tommy Trlica?

I've never had anything to contribute here before - I've always just read and checked back hoping for a resolution or hint or some speck of hope. But I HAVE to comment on this.

With everything I read, I expect the next comment to provide some backstory about Thomas Trlica, some explanation of how the authorities looked into him because protocol and all that, he was the husband after all, never mind his odd romantic history and being married to a teenager, and he was cleared because such and such. But there's no explanation of that. Why? No matter how great a guy, or how innocent or concerned seeming, wouldn't he have been looked into (however briefly) because he's her husband, and wouldn't there be some information somewhere citing his alibi? I mean, just to clear that up, so we can move on to more complicated theories- because isn't that the most basic one? What am I missing on this point?

Any light shed would be MUCH appreciated on the subject of how Mr. Trlica was cleared of any involvement. I haven't been able to get past that one question to move on to considering the more complicated theories that have been shared, and I must just be missing some key piece of reading or something.. right?

 

[ATheLibrarian]

What about Thomas A. Trlica? Here's an observation. The guy was married 4 times in 7 years between 1971 and 1978. That seems unusual. To start things off, he married a 16 year old girl in 1971. He then divorced his first wife on April 26, 1974, just 6 weeks prior to marrying another 16 year old girl; Rachel Arnold. Supposedly he dated Rachel Arnold’s older sister Debra, and was "sort-of" engaged to her before he married her younger sister Rachel on June 8, 1974. I wonder if he called off the “sort-of” engagement to the 19 year old Debra Arnold because she was too old. He must have been very busy going to work, taking care of his two year old son from his first marriage, all while he was romancing the two Arnold sisters back-to-back during the very brief window between his first and second marriage. Then later, his former girlfriend Debra Arnold (his current wife Rachel's older sister) came to live with him and his new wife (Rachel). Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
Then, 23 months after his second wife Rachel went missing, in 1976 he married for the third time; this time to a seventeen year old girl. Maybe he knew Rachel was never coming back.

He divorced his third wife in June of 1978. Two months later he then married his fourth wife in August, 1978.

Wait a minute, I've read this book... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18723574-the-seventh-mother

 

[zensiert]

I've never had anything to contribute here before - I've always just read and checked back hoping for a resolution or hint or some speck of hope. But I HAVE to comment on this.

With everything I read, I expect the next comment to provide some backstory about Thomas Trlica, some explanation of how the authorities looked into him because protocol and all that, he was the husband after all, never mind his odd romantic history and being married to a teenager, and he was cleared because such and such. But there's no explanation of that. Why? No matter how great a guy, or how innocent or concerned seeming, wouldn't he have been looked into (however briefly) because he's her husband, and wouldn't there be some information somewhere citing his alibi? I mean, just to clear that up, so we can move on to more complicated theories- because isn't that the most basic one? What am I missing on this point?

Any light shed would be MUCH appreciated on the subject of how Mr. Trlica was cleared of any involvement. I haven't been able to get past that one question to move on to considering the more complicated theories that have been shared, and I must just be missing some key piece of reading or something.. right?

I've wondered the same thing. I've researched this case extensively and have read everything I could locate. I have not found any information that states that LE has ruled TT in or out. I suspect he exists in the gray area between not guilty and possibly guilty / involved. So, since there is no information that specifically states that he has been cleared of any involvement, then I would infer that he could be somebody that LE has on their radar. They (LE) probably don't have enough information to name him as a POI, so they keep their cards close to their vest and watch and wait.

Just an aside, I could not even begin to count the number of TV shows like Dateline, 48 hours, etc... that show some "who-dunnit" murder mystery about a woman that was murdered. Just about every one of these shows ends with the murdered woman's husband (or boyfriend) being convicted of the murder. Its to the point where I don't even watch them anymore, because you know from the start that it was the husband, duh.

 

[sweet bee]

I posted a theory forever ago (I'm just now catching up on this thread) pointing to DeBardeleben or whatever. That cryptic post by someone who "knows something" could be true. I'm kinda going back on my initial guess now, and leaning towards it being at least an acquaintance. I dismissed her husband immediately, and I'm still skeptical that it would be him. BUT, according to Occams Razor, the simplest explanation is usually right. Which would make the answer Tommy (with potential involvement from Debra). Everyone (myself included) has come up with intricate theories involving pseudo security guards and the underground labyrinth in the mall. It's all possible, but this is THREE girls we are talking about. I don't know, all theories make sense in their own way.
Also, someone up there said the two older girls wouldn't go do drugs (I would assume smoking pot, not doing coke) with a 9 year old but I very much doubt that would deter 2 teenagers. I'm not saying that's even the likely scenario, I'm just saying the presence of a 9 year old doesn't rule it out.
As far as that Acala picture, I go back and forth on whether it could be Rachel. It certainly looks JUST like her, just 8 or 10 years later. That being said, the quality of the picture looks too good for it to be the early or mid 80s, to be honest.

 

[scriptgirl]

What is Tommy up to these days? New underage wife?

 

[Deleted member 165916]

Exactly! Well done. And his alibi?