Rachel Trlica’s brother, Rusty Arnold, told WFAA an anonymous donor offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction Tuesday.
FORT WORTH, Texas — The disappearance of Rachel Trlica, 17, Renee Wilson, 14, and Julie Ann Mosley, 9, stands as one of Fort Worth’s biggest unsolved mysteries.
The girls went Christmas shopping at the Seminary South Shopping Center, now known as La Gran Plaza, and were never heard from again, leaving behind only a car with presents left in the parking lot.
Rachel’s brother, Rusty Arnold, was only 11 at the time.
“I was just wanting to find my sister,” he told WFAA.
“And for the last 48 years…I’m just wanting to find my sister.”
Arnold has never stopped conducting research and searching for clues.
He even worked with diving organizations to search the bottoms of local lakes.
“I can’t tell you how many holes we’ve dug in the ground,” he said.
“We dug up car parts. No girls.”
But Arnold had new hope Sunday when he learned Melissa Highsmith, the baby kidnapped in Fort Worth 51 years ago, said she reunited with her family.
“The goosebumps,” he told WFAA.
“It’s insane, that someone could turn up after 51 years. I’d like to see our girls turn up after 48. It took 51 years, but they got closure. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it…but I’ll keep trying.”
Arnold pointed to the proximity between the two disappearances.
“Melissa disappeared a block over from Seminary South Shopping Center, Rachel disappeared at Seminary South Shopping Center,” he said.
Arnold said on Tuesday an anonymous donor stepped forward with a $50,000 dollar reward for someone with information leading to an arrest and conviction.
That money, plus Melissa’s story, adds fuel to his fire to find his sister and her friends.
“I’m not gonna quit until I find out what happened to them.”