Replay: Trudy Appleby - The Arrest
The Vanished Podcast
Audible
4.5 • 15.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode originally aired on June 22, 2020. Since that time, there have been significant updates in Trudy's case.
On the morning of August 21, 1996, Dennis Appleby left his Moline, Illinois, home to head to work, leaving his 11-year-old daughter, Trudy, at home to spend the summer day. Around 9:30 a.m., a neighbor saw Trudy with a man who appeared to be in his 20s, with dark curly hair and a baseball cap. The unidentified man was driving a silver or gray four-door sedan.
Dennis came home from work that evening and was surprised to find that Trudy was not home. He called neighbors and some of Trudy’s friends, but she was not with any of them. That is when Dennis called the police to report Trudy missing.
For decades, Trudy’s case remained unsolved. In this episode, originally released in 2020, we discuss the people investigators believed may have been responsible for Trudy’s disappearance and the evidence that led them there.
In 2025, there was an arrest in Trudy’s case. Stay tuned until the very end of the episode to hear about the latest developments.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Trudy Appleby, please call the Moline Police Department at 309-524-2140.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode originally aired on June 22nd, 2020. Since then, there have been major developments |
| 0:07.8 | in Trudy Appleby's case. Stay with us until the very end of this episode to hear the latest. |
| 0:29.6 | My thought process is she left her house that day with somewhere she thought she could trust with every intention on returning home. And that's not what happened. |
| 0:32.6 | Every day was, well, what's it going to be today is going to be open? |
| 0:36.6 | The lead comes up and I get a phone call from the police or is it going to be today? Is it going to be open? |
| 0:40.0 | The lead comes up and I get a phone call from the police, |
| 0:43.4 | or is it going to be a down day where the bottom falls out? |
| 0:45.5 | It was a dead end, and we didn't find nothing out. And so for quite a long time, it was a roller coaster. |
| 0:51.4 | On the morning of August 21, 1996, Dennis Appleby left his home in Moline, Illinois, to head to work, |
| 1:00.8 | leaving behind his 11-year-old daughter, Trudy, to spend the summer day at home. |
| 1:06.4 | Around 9.30 a.m., a neighbor saw Trudy with a man who appeared to be in his 20s, with dark curly |
| 1:13.3 | hair wearing a baseball cap. |
| 1:16.2 | The unidentified man was driving a silver or gray four-door sedan. |
| 1:21.3 | Dennis came home from work that evening and was surprised to find his daughter wasn't home. |
| 1:26.5 | He called around to his neighbors and some of |
| 1:28.7 | Trudy's friends, but she wasn't with any of them. That is when Dennis called the police to report |
| 1:34.5 | Trudy missing. Trudy's case went unsolved for more than 20 years, but now investigators believe |
| 1:41.6 | they know who is responsible for Trudy's disappearance. |
| 1:45.7 | I'm Marissa, and from Wondery, this is episode 230 of The Vanishedold Trudy Appleby was enjoying the last days of summer vacation before starting 6th grade at |
| 2:20.9 | Washington Elementary School in Moline, Illinois. She was looking forward to taking an 11-day trip to |
| 2:27.5 | Utah with her dad Dennis and her older brother Sean. She had even saved up $200 as spending money for their Utah vacation. One of the people we |
| 2:37.8 | spoke to for this story was Trudy's Uncle Ray, who remembers Trudy as being an adventurous girl |
... |
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