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- [00:00]
Host 1
Limu Emu and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.
- [00:13]
Host 2
Fascinating.
- [00:14]
Host 1
It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
- [00:18]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?
- [00:21]
Host 2
Cut the camera.
- [00:21]
Host 1
They see us.
- [00:22]
Liberty Mutual Voiceover
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Vary unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts.
- [00:33]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
And Doug Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it. Cue the Emu music. Limu.
- [00:41]
Host 2
Save yourself money today. Increase your wealth. Customize and save. We save.
- [00:51]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
That may have been too much feeling.
- [00:52]
Liberty Mutual Voiceover
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Fairy Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts Foreign.
- [01:09]
Host 2
In August of 1996, 11 year old Trudy Appleby disappeared from her quiet Illinois neighborhood on a late summer morning. There was no evidence of a struggle, no clear witnesses, no answers. And for decades, her disappearance was one of the Quad Cities most haunting mysteries. But behind the headlines, the missing girl's father insisted from the very beginning that he knew who was responsible. While police were chasing tips, organizing searches and following leads that went nowhere, this father pointed to a small circle of men he believed had lured his daughter away that morning. He continued to repeat their names for years, even when no one else seemed to listen. It would take decades before investigators publicly confirmed those same names as persons of interest. And the distraught father who had tirelessly been looking for his daughter had been right all along. From a story that began in 1996, an arrest was finally made just last month at the recording of this episode In August of 2025, almost exactly 29 years later, and for nearly 30 years, this father repeated the same names, convinced that he knew who stole his daughter's life. And he was right all along. So why did it nearly take three decades for anyone to listen? This is the story of Trudy Appleby, a child gone without a trace. Her family's relentless search for answers, and a father who never stopped chasing the people he believed were responsible. Trudy Leann Appleby was born on September 4th of 1984 and was described as a kid who was vivacious, lively, bold, and instantly social. She was the kind of child who would walk up to a new neighbor and ask if they had any kids to play with and then become a part of the family by dinner time. Friends remember rollerblading out front, talking about School and Trudy's way of making herself and everyone else feel welcome. Trudy was also very bright and exceptionally smart by family accounts. Her dad, Dennis, even said that she was bright enough to skip sixth grade, but he wanted to keep her with her friends. A childhood friend later told local TV that Trudy was so smart that they were going to put her into gifted classes. She loved little kids, and little kids loved her. She listened to, she didn't pick on other kids, and she was described as a great friend. Those who knew her best still talk about her as a ray of light in the neighborhood.
- [03:56]
Host 1
This was a girl who was a fearless extrovert. The brainy kid excited about the gifted classes. The friend who rolled up to your porch and made your day feel bigger. And that's exactly how Trudy's friends and family remember her, right up until the day before her disappearance.
- [04:14]
Host 2
Kelly Carlson was Trudi's neighbor and the mother of one of Trudy's best friends, Amber Dunlap. Trudy had been over at her house the afternoon on August 20th of 1996, as she commonly did, talking, laughing and skating up and down the road with Amber until the evening. Well, around 8pm Trudi said goodbye, vowed to talk to them tomorrow, and headed back home. And so the next morning, August 21st of 1996, it started off in a way that was immediately unusual for the Appleby family. Trudy's routine call to Amber Dunlap, it never came. So 9am passed by, and Amber never received a call from Trudy. Amber called her instead, but no one picked up. This was the first sign that something about this day was different.
- [05:07]
Host 1
And meanwhile, Dennis had left and gone to work like he did every single morning. And when he came back at lunch to check on Trudi, the house was quiet.
- [05:17]
Host 2
She wasn't there, but he didn't panic. It was the last stretch of summer and Trudy loved spending time outside with friends. In fact, Trudy had asked him that morning if she could go swimming with some friends. Even though Dennis had said no, he figured that Trudy probably snuck out to do it anyway, thinking that she would be home safe and sound before Dennis. Dennis came home from work. She probably wasn't expecting him to stop by on his lunch break, so he figured that he would deal with it once he arrived home that evening. But when Dennis returned home after his shift that evening, the house was still empty. There was no sign of Trudy this time. He was worried. He began calling neighbors and checking with Trudy's friends and family, hoping that she had just lost track of time. But as the hours passed, he couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong. So by 7:30pm Dennis picked up the phone and reported his 11 year old daughter missing.
- [06:18]
Host 1
But again, this was 1996. The response is going to look completely different than it would today. I mean, missing children were often treated first as possible runaways. And investigators typically waited to see if that child would just turn up on their own.
- [06:35]
Host 2
Yeah, and they even would, you know, check to see if there was a miscommunication with parents. Maybe. Or maybe the child is at a different friend's house than the parents thought and they would return home eventually.
- [06:47]
Host 1
Exactly.
- [06:48]
Host 2
And we know now that those first hours, they're so critical in cases like this. But even despite the belief that Trudy was a runaway, police still came out to the Appleby home that night. They took a missing person's report and began canvassing the neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking if anyone had seen Trudy that morning. A woman who lived nearby told police that she had seen Trudy that morning just after Dennis left work around 9:30am and she said that she spotted Trudy outside her home, standing in the driveway. Then she watched as Trudy climbed into the passenger side of a gray box style car, possibly a Chevy Celebrity or Cavalier. And behind the wheel was a white man in his early 20s with curly brown hair tucked under a baseball cap.
- [07:39]
Host 1
And how terrifying must this had been for Trudy's father, Dennis. I mean, at first he told news outlets that he thought Trudy could have gone camping with her mother. But now with this sighting, it makes it so much more unlikely.
- [07:55]
Host 2
Right? So they saw her in the driveway at 9:30. That tip was devastating, even though it did give police officers their first concrete lead. But police were still convinced that Trudi was a runaway. Maybe the man was an older boyfriend or a trusted family friend. Maybe it was the friend that Trudy had asked to go swimming with that morning. This was especially believable since the neighbor also reported that Trudy had on a black swimsuit and towel tucked under her arm while she was getting in that car. But Trudy's father, Dennis, wasn't convinced. He and Trudy were supposed to leave for vacation the very next day. And Dennis had already arranged for Trudy to miss the very first week of sixth grade at Washington Elementary School. Trudy had been looking forward to it. She wasn't the kind of girl who would jeopardize a trip that she was so excited about. And Dennis knew that this wasn't a.
- [08:51]
Host 1
Runaway yeah, and looking back on it, you would think that there's no way she ran away. Nothing was missing from her room. Her purse, her makeup, her new clothes that she had gotten for school, all of it was still there, including $200 that she had been saving up for vacation. So if she was planning to leave, she would have taken more with her than just her bathing suit and a towel.
- [09:17]
Host 2
Exactly. And Dennis explained this to the local paper in the days following her disappearance. He said that she's not the type of girl who would just run away from home. Something was wrong. Somebody tricked her or fed her a story, and she had been thinking that she was coming right back. What public sources didn't know at this point was that Dennis was already sure of who had taken Trudi and was trying to convince law enforcement of it. In the days immediately following Trudy's disappearance, the investigation stretched far beyond the police department. Dennis Appleby refused to sit by helplessly. His car, truck, and home were outfitted with citizen band radios or CB radios, and he sent out descriptions of his daughter to anyone who was listening. He turned every driver on the road into a set of eyes looking for Trudy.
- [10:12]
Host 1
And the community stepped up, too. Friends, neighbors, and volunteers blanketed the Quad City with more than 2,000 flyers. They handed them out at gas stations, grocery stores, and along major roads, making sure that Trudy's face was impossible to miss.
- [10:30]
Host 2
At the same time, police were carefully checking every angle as days went on, slowly realizing that Trudy was not a runaway, but abducted. Both Dennis and Trudy's mother were asked to take polygraph tests, and. And they both passed. Trudy's mother, Brenda, told reporters that she believed her daughter was still alive. She held on to hope that someone was taking care of her, keeping her warm, and giving her food. But she also admitted that if Trudi wasn't found, she would just lose her mind. Police reported the following days that Trudy likely knew the driver of the car that she got into that morning. Her family's home sat off the main road, tucked back where it wasn't visible from the street. For someone to pull into the driveway and for Trudy to get into the car willingly. It wasn't a random abduction. By Aug. 30, investigators kicked the search into high gear. They had already checked into known sex offenders in the area, but they found no connections. Out of frustration and pressure, they brought in a nationally known psychic to consult the case, one who had previously been a big help in a missing child case. While police were grasping for answers, Trudy's loved ones were clear about what they knew. Her best friend's mother, Kelly, whom Trudi had been with the night before her disappearance, told reporters that she knew Trudy was too smart to run away or engage with an older boyfriend, as some people believed.
- [12:03]
Host 1
Kelly was such a good source of information and a strong voice for Trudy throughout all of this. She had said that she and her daughter Amber knew when Trudy didn't call that morning on August 21st that something was wrong. Trudy had become part of the family, playing with her older daughter Amber, bickering with her son, and gently caring for her younger daughter. Kelly said that Trudy even called her mom sometimes. And Kelly often got on her like a mother would. But she always listened. And she had been keeping a picture of Trudy under her pillow as comfort until she heard any news.
- [12:42]
Host 2
And this was really hard on Kelly as it was for everyone. But they were committed to helping the investigation however they could. In fact, Kelly's daughter Amber ended up providing amazing details to the case that would help it along. She revealed to police that three weeks before the disappearance, Trudy had been caught shoplifting at a grocery store near her home. And Dennis, the father, grounded her for three weeks. And the very day that she vanished was supposed to be the day her punishment ended. Amber was adamant that she wouldn't have broken that rule. She would have waited until she knew that she was ungrounded before leaving the house unless someone convinced her that her father was okay with it.
- [13:28]
Host 1
Amber also explained why she believed a stranger couldn't have taken Trudy. The Applebee's kept three dogs at the house. They were protective animals who wouldn't let anyone near Trudy if she didn't know who they were. Amber described that Trudy would often have to hold her dog's back in case someone came over that the dogs didn't know. So the fact that a guy could have just came up to the house and convinced Trudy to leave, like that couldn't have happened, not with those dogs.
- [13:59]
Host 2
So it really tells you definitively that it was someone Trudy knew. And it was someone who had convinced Trudy that her dad changed his mind about letting her go swimming even though she was grounded. It was the last day that she was grounded because she left with a swimsuit and. And a towel in hand. So in this case, it seems like a solid lead, like someone who knew her asked her to go swimming earlier that morning. But this didn't lead police very far. Even when the FBI got involved in.
- [14:30]
Host 1
Trudy's case, I agree. I think this is someone that she had known, someone that she trusted, someone she met in the driveway who's like.
- [14:38]
Host 2
Hey, let's go swimming. She grabbed her suit and towel, got in the car. No big deal.
- [14:44]
Host 1
Yep.
- [14:45]
Host 2
So on September 4th of 1996, what would have been Trudy's 12th birthday was instead marked by a vigil. Family, friends, and neighbors gathered to pray for her safe return. Her parents brought some of her belongings as small reminders of the child that they hoped would walk back through that door. At Washington elementary school, where Trudy had been set to start, sixth grade grade teachers and students wore purple ribbons in her honor, a way of keeping her memory visible. A daily reminder in the hallways that one of their own was missing. And behind the scenes, the calls kept coming in from all over the country. Police and the FBI fielded everyone, but there were no breakthroughs coming through.
- [15:31]
Host 1
It really did seem like she had the whole community behind her. Like they really were worried about her. They were really looking for her.
- [15:39]
Host 2
Yeah. I mean, an 11 year old girl who goes missing, the whole school's involved. All of her peers are involved at school. Like they're wondering where this young girl went. The parents are worried. You know, they have to be worried at this point where they're thinking, could my child be next?
- [15:55]
Host 1
Yeah, I 100% agree.
- [15:58]
Host 2
So on September 15th, Trudy's cousin, Blake Ross, he took the family's fight to another level. He asked his boss at Reagan Outdoor advertising if there was anything that they could do to help. And the company responded by donating 17 billboard poster spaces across the region, plus two massive roadside panels in Rockford and Cedar Rapids. Trudy's face and name were now on highways and impossible for drivers to miss. Police acknowledged that Trudy's case was officially being treated as a kidnapping. But when pressed for progress, they admitted that they were still working through what they called the standard stuff, which was eliminating suspects, chasing tips, and trying to piece together a solid timeline.
- [16:43]
Host 1
And Trudy's parents were so active in her case, but obviously they were devastated. Trudy's family reported that Trudy's mother wasn't sleeping and she was barely holding it together. While Dennis could hardly get through a sentence without fighting back tears, he looked like he hadn't slept in a month. Telling reporters about, quote, his baby daughter, who was smart as a whip. And we're going to talk about this a little later. But he mentions to news reporters that he could never stop crying because he felt so much guilt for what had happened to her.
- [17:19]
Host 2
And we'll talk about that More in a 2017 interview that he did with news outlets. But before that, there's still a lot to get through in this timeline. So By November of 1996, nearly three months had passed with no obvious answers. The community's determination to bring Trudy home hadn't faded. There were hundreds of people who turned out for a reward fundraiser, a gathering that showed just how deeply her disappearance had shaken the quad Cities. And among the contributors were the Moline police department and the Frattanol order of police, who added 7, $150 to the reward fund for the officers working the case. Many admitted that they were taking it very personal, bringing their work home with them, spending hundreds of hours chasing leads that always seem to end in nothing.
- [18:11]
Host 1
And honestly, how could you not? I'm sure they're all thinking the same thing. I mean, this could have been their own child. And how easy it is for a child to just get in a car and never be seen again. And now we know that this person knew Trudy and they knew her father. And the fact that it's so easy for someone to just come up to your house and steal your child, I mean, that would haunt you for the rest of your life, Especially when you're working on a case like this. Like, it really hits home.
- [18:44]
Host 2
Yeah, it would be very frightening. In their efforts, they continued to reflect that kind of commitment that they had to finding Trudy. By December, there were thousands of letter carriers who joined the search through the eagle eye child net program. It's a national initiative designed to keeping missing children in plain sight. The larger post offices received faxed sheets containing Trudy's photo, her physical description, and the date that she was last seen. That information was then relayed to smaller branches where postal carriers were briefed and handed Trudy's information. And with about 22,000 employees across the state taking part, nearly every neighborhood in Illinois had a fresh set of eyes watching for any sign of Trudy.
- [19:33]
Host 1
And even with all of that effort, 1996 ended with no sign of Trudy or the mysterious car that Trudy got into that day. But that brings you to the question, was this car really that mysterious? As we'll learn, people knew exactly whose car that was and exactly what happened to it. Just a few days after Trudy's disappearance.
- [19:59]
Host 2
1997. The case had entered this painful new stage. The investigation dragged on with few answers. Tensions within Trudy's family began to spill into the public view. And early in the investigation, Trudy's mother, Brenda Gordon, had remained mostly silent. But eventually she reported to the local newspaper that she blamed Dennis for Trudi's disappearance, saying that his so called partying lifestyle was responsible. She needed someone to blame and she placed it on him. She also spoke about her own struggles. She said that she had given up custody of Trudy because of her learning disability and depression. When Trudy was nine, she moved in with Dennis. But Brenda had assumed that she would be raised mainly by her maternal grandparents. Instead, Dennis was first in line to take custody of her. She went further by saying that Trudy had been forced to fend for herself, doing her own cooking and housework while her father was gone all day.
- [21:02]
Host 1
But we also have to remember that this is 1996 and I said it before, but this is a really different time, different times than we're living in today. And Dennis knew that Kelly was close by. If Trudi really needed anything.
- [21:17]
Host 2
We're looking at this in a present day lens and we have so much more information about this stuff now. But for Dennis, these claims felt like a distraction from the search for his daughter. He called Brenda's remarks a name calling contest, insisting that what mattered wasn't what his life was like decades earlier. So Dennis admitted he was open, that he had a wild past. But he said that this was ancient history by the time that Trudy came to live with him. He said that Trudy was the best thing that ever happened to him, Pushing him to settle down, securing a full time job, and he wanted to focus entirely on being a good father to her. He described that the two of them were best friends, inseparable, and that Trudy was the most important thing in his life. He also revealed that the pain of their earlier separation, saying that he hadn't been allowed to see Trudy in five years. When she moved in with him, he swore things would be different.
- [22:20]
Host 1
And that coincides with what Amber had talked about in her conversation with police. She said that Trudy was really hurt. Over the years, she had not been allowed to see her father. So it seemed like both of them were making up for lost time. And it's so sad that this happened in the midst of that. Dennis was repeating that whatever mistakes he had made in the past, Trudy's disappearance wasn't about that. It was about finding his daughter, no matter the cost.
- [22:51]
Host 2
And by this point, they had questioned 1,344 people and Dennis was one of them. He had been cleared of any involvement, so and police were still working through serious leads. According to them, some of them looked very promising. But there was not any one lead that they were following more closely than the other. I mean, imagine all that waiting, your anger just building up. And both Brenda and Dennis, their anger was definitely piling up at this point. By 1999, three years since Trudy vanished, the family were organizing their yearly vigil that was held on August 21. And at this one, Dennis Appleby's grief boiled over, showing just how much pain he was carrying. He stood before the crowd and said, I know who you are now. I'm coming for you.
- [23:43]
Host 1
And that's kind of the first public glimpse that we get that Dennis knew who did this and was trying everything in his power to pin him down. But as we know, it's hard to get evidence against these people without physical evidence or solid witness statements. And that's why police, they reminded Dennis to not take matters into his own hands, saying that he could jeopardize the case by doing so. So by the end of the decade, the public knew that Dennis is sure who took Trudy, and police were trying to get proof.
- [24:19]
Host 2
And this is where the case stayed for 12 years. So by 2012, Dennis Appleby's suspicion hadn't changed, and he finally was ready to share who he believed was involved. David Whipple. Okay, I know this is random, but do you know what I love most about our wireless bill?
- [24:43]
Host 1
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Host 2
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- [24:59]
Host 1
Seriously. And let me tell you, every time I see that bill now, it's like a breath of minty fresh air. We're paying less. We're on the nation's largest 5G network, and we're still using the same phones and numbers that we've always had. Nothing changes except that ridiculous price tag, right?
- [25:17]
Host 2
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- [25:58]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
Limu Game and Doug Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it. Cue the emu music. Limu Save yourself money.
- [26:13]
Host 2
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- [26:16]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
We say that may have been too much feeling.
- [26:20]
Liberty Mutual Voiceover
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- [26:30]
Host 2
Dennis shared more by saying that the day that Trudy disappeared, David Whipple had taken several of his family members to Credit island in Davenport, a close by island on the Mississippi river where people frequently went swimming. And Trudy's parents both believed that someone in that group had picked her up, as they had done in the past. But this time, what should have been a carefree day on the river went terribly wrong.
- [26:56]
Host 1
So Dennis knew from that day in 1996 that David Whipple was involved. I mean, that's got to be so soul crushing to keep it a secret for that many years. And even then, the police couldn't officially call Whipple a suspect. They just acknowledged that he was on the radar.
- [27:13]
Host 2
Police said they still considered Trudi's case active and were exploring every lead, including Dennis's accusations about David Whipple. Still, nothing concrete ever came of it. That didn't stop Brenda and Dennis from speaking out. Brenda openly wondered if Trudy had been maybe knocked unconscious, struck by a boat propeller, or even buried along the shore or or one of the nearby islands, just trying to make sense of what could have happened. And Dennis echoed fears, convinced that something terrible had happened that day and then been covered up ever since. Both parents carried the heartbreaking belief that Trudy wasn't simply missing, but gone. Dennis held onto one fragile hope that the truth would eventually surface and those responsible would be exposed. By then, the reward for information had grown to nearly $20,000. And but just as the family was clinging to that hope, tragedy struck again in 2014. Two years later, Brenda, who had dedicated herself to keeping Trudi's story alive, was killed by a drunk driver. Only weeks after that year's candlelight vigil for her daughter, one of the organizers remembered her plea from the very beginning that the community must never forget Trudy. And for nearly two decades, Brenda made sure of that.
- [28:32]
Host 1
And Brenda worked very hard to keep Trudy's name alive during all of those years. She spoke up at vigils, interviews, anniversaries, even when years dragged on without answers. And she was gone before she could ever get an ounce of closure or information. Of what happened to her daughter.
- [28:50]
Host 2
Right. And it's so Sad, because by 2017, more than 20 years after Trudy's disappearance, There was finally a break in the case. The Moline police department released a statement saying that a witness had come forward who said that they had personally seen Trudy on the morning of August 21, 1996. And according to the statement, Trudy was in the passenger seat of a late model silver Chevrolet four door, and it was driven by a man named William Ed Smith who lived on Campbell's island. The witness knew Trudi personally and said that they were close enough to be certain that it was her. The account placed Smith and Trudi together near his residence on Campbell's island late that morning, saying that Ed Smith had threatened to kill him if he ever told the police what he had seen. The reason he was coming forward now, because Ed Smith had died in the same year as Trudy's mother three years earlier. Now, from that moment on, police officially listed William Ed Smith as a person of interest in Trudy's case. He had been interviewed several times over the years, but he never cooperated with investigators. And now with this witness account on record, Campbell's island was the last place anyone confirmed seeing Trudy alive.
- [30:06]
Host 1
And the fact that Ed Smith lived on Campbell's island is suspicious enough because Trudy asked to go swimming there that morning. But the thing that's most interesting here is that this isn't the same guy that Dennis mentioned back in 2012. Instead, he named David Whipple.
- [30:24]
Host 2
Right. And as soon as the person of interest was named best believe that, Dennis immediately sat down with news outlets to share his side of the story. And so in this interview, Dennis looks just as heartbroken as he had been 20 years before. And the interview begins with Dennis crying, saying that he feels like he let Trudy down. But he was here to say what he hadn't been able to for decades. In Trudy's case, Dennis explained that Ed Smith had been a friend of his. And two days after Trudy went missing, he had already given police Smith's name, Along with others he believed who were involved. He knew that Ed Smith drove a silver Chevy. So when he heard the neighbor give the description of the car, he knew exactly who had taken her. And he knew the same car was scrapped just a few days later. But the police, they didn't have any evidence. There was no car. There was no confession and no statements. So Dennis was forced into silence. Dennis also said that he knew exactly who the witness was that had come forward the same man he had NAMED back in 2012, David Whipple, who was Ed Smith's son in law and lived just across the street from him. In 1996, Whipple was the father of one of Trudy's best friends, a man that Trudy had spent time with on the water before he was in his 20s. He was white with curly brown hair. Fits the description. Right? And from the description of the driver, Dennis knew from day one that Whipple was also involved and he knew what happened.
- [31:58]
Host 1
And this part's interesting because Dennis says in an interview that he first met David and Ed Smith over CB radio. And throughout that connection, Trudy had come to know Whipple's children and she often spent time swimming with their family. And I can't imagine sitting on that for so many years without being able to do anything about it, knowing that your own friends betrayed you like that. Luring your only child away from your home. And honestly, it's probably why he feels responsible for her disappearance, even though it's obviously not his fault.
- [32:32]
Host 2
And it's so sad because we've heard this so many times before in these missing persons cases where the families, they know who did it, but publicly they can't say anything because there's an ongoing investigation.
- [32:46]
Host 1
Right. I mean, there are so many families that are publicly saying that they know who's responsible for their loved ones disappearances, but they just don't have the evidence or witness statements to actually make an arrest or press any charges.
- [33:00]
Host 2
Yeah, and it's so common, it's so devastating. And it gets even worse when you hear in Dennis's interview that he personally witnessed Ed Smith's behavior following Trudi's disappearance, which was also suspicious, to say the least. In the days after the disappearance, Ed Smith was constantly drunk, crying, mumbling and acting strangely whenever Trudy's name came up. A police press release even confirmed that Smith was often despondent and wept openly when the subject of Trudy arose. Dennis also reflected on the fact that he had no idea that this group of friends he had were so depraved, saying that when you make friends, sometimes they turn out to be good and sometimes they turn out to be bad. But despite Whipple's history with sexual crimes, the dad never thought that David and Ed would betray him or had any idea about, quote, the stuff they were into. And when he asked about what he thinks happened to Trudy, he believed that Smith and Whipple took Trudy out on a boat on the Mississippi River. Maybe it started out as an ordinary outing and Something went wrong, maybe an accident, or in his own words, maybe he tried to do something funny and Trudy fought back, which would be in her nature. But even though he had theories, Dennis just wanted the truth, and he wanted to know where Trudy's body was. Through tears, Dennis pleaded with David Whipple to share everything he knew about the crime, saying, quote, he knows what happened to my daughter. I believe that in my heart 100%. He doesn't need to be protected anymore, unquote.
- [34:36]
Host 1
And this is such a big turn in the case because now the public knows who the police and Dennis have been following all of this time. I mean, Dennis said back in 2012 that he knew who was involved in this. So it has to give him at least a little bit of hope that something might actually move forward, especially since investigators were actually starting to bring evidence together against Ed Smith and David Whipple.
- [35:03]
Host 2
Right. I mean, investigators, they backed up pieces of Dennis's theory with their own findings. There was information that was gathered during the case that showed Ed Smith often traveled by boat to places like Blackbird island and Dynamite island, small land masses on the northern edge of Campbell's Island. They were accessible by water, secluded places that would be difficult to search and easy to hide things. This confirmed the idea of Trudi being taken out on a boat and maybe never coming back.
- [35:34]
Host 1
And again, this is relevant because she was going swimming that day. She was seen in her driveway with a towel, in a bathing suit.
- [35:43]
Host 2
Yep. And Leeds also confirmed what Dennis already knew about Ed Smith, that he had driven a silver Chevrolet and his car was likely destroyed within days of her disappearance. In October of 2017, authorities brought in cadaver dogs to search Campbell's Island. They scoured the brush and shoreline for any traces of Trudy's remains after a family member of the prime suspect directed them to two lots, one of which being where David Whipple lived back in 1996. Sadly, the searches didn't uncover Trudy, but they did uncover what was reported as items that would be processed for evidence. So far, all the evidence police had was circumstantial. And on top of that, Ed Smith was now dead. So the new questions were whether other people were involved, whether they could connect David Whipple to the case through physical evidence. And where was Trudy's body? Because of this, Moline Police Department made a public appeal. They asked the community for help with any memories of suspicious activity, and not just on Campbell's island, but also on the waterways surrounding it. The boat launch at Empire park in East Moline and The small islands of Blackbird and Dynamite.
- [36:56]
Host 1
And this kind of reignited the public's involvement in this case as well. Even though it had been so long. Crime Stoppers of the Quad Cities offered a $10,000 reward for any information tied to Smith's movements or the disappearance. It wasn't just dentists that still wanted answers in this case.
- [37:14]
Host 2
But unfortunately, no one came forward with any more information and the case kind of stalled again. In 2018, Detective Michael Griffin of the Moline Police Department announced new billboards placed across the Quad Cities and expressed his frustration on the police department's Facebook page with a message aimed directly at the people involved that were still out there. And it said, to the people who committed the violent acts against Trudy and to those who continue to harbor their secrets. As you drive past these billboards, we wonder if you enjoy the little things in life. Little things like looking straight ahead. You are going to start looking over your shoulder, looking behind you and wondering, wondering when we are coming for you. The dark secrets of the past shall soon be brought to light.
- [38:03]
Host 1
And this is also the public's first glimpse that the police believe that Ed Smith wasn't the only one involved in this crime. Crime. It was very clear from this post that they were referring to the people who committed the violent act against Trudy. So they were looking for more than just information on Ed Smith, maybe David Whipple, maybe somebody else. So this case keeps unfolding with little pieces of the leads police are following.
- [38:28]
Host 2
And they were making it known as best they could without putting the investigation at risk. And at this point in our research, I was wondering if Dennis also knew who else was involved, but just like before, couldn't really say anything because of the position of the investigation. But it all comes out soon. But the point is, is that the Moline police were done speaking in press release language and started speaking directly to whoever still held the answers. Griffin even said to the local news that they can call it what it is and that he's definitely trolling them, saying that he's trying to be very pointed about it and talking to these people in ways that they will understand.
- [39:07]
Host 1
And honestly, I love this and I know that investigators are supposed to remain kind of professional, but this is the what is now believed homicide of an 11 year old girl in the concealment of her body. I think it was time to be serious about what was really going on here instead of just trying to be cordial about it. I mean, it had now been 8,014 days since Trudy was last seen, and.
- [39:32]
Host 2
Griffin Said that, too. In another social media post, he said that for the last 8014 days, that whoever else was responsible had been lucky. But that police only had to be lucky. One day, he said, is today that day, we are coming for you, and the truth shall be brought to light. And I think it really made a difference and probably inspired people in Trudi's life that investigators weren't taking this lightly. Even after all of this time, they were still taking this case very seriously.
- [40:03]
Host 1
Yeah, for sure.
- [40:05]
Host 2
Kelly Carlson, the neighbor and the additional mother figure in Trudi's life, commented on this as well. She didn't understand how anyone could keep the truth about Trudy a secret for this long. For her, Trudi's loss was deeply personal, the stolen innocence of a child who should have grown up, gone to college, maybe gotten married, and had kids of her own. Kelly said that she could have been a veterinarian since she loved animals and dogs. She had so much potential, and it was all ripped away from her in the blink of an eye. Over the years, both Kelly and Amber have been some of Trudy's most vocal advocates, often turning to social media to share stories about her to keep her memory alive in the community. In 2011, they took over the missing Trudi Appleby Facebook page, which was started by people who had heard about Trudy's case and passionate about unsolved missing children's cases, who wanted to keep her memory alive. And it's crazy, because when you look at this page, you can still see Amber Dunlap on this page, responding to comments, making her own posts, basically 30 years later. And it just shows you how affected she was by this, her childhood best friend who had become part of her family. She doesn't want her to be just another statistic.
- [41:21]
Host 1
And that's a kind of endurance and personal strength that you just have to admire. And I'm happy that the police were using social media right beside them to try and keep the awareness about Trudy's case going. It can be such a powerful tool, and we've seen it with other cases. But for right now, it didn't do much to get immediate answers.
- [41:41]
Host 2
So things went quiet for another two years in the investigation. Besides the FBI seizing a boat that they believed to be connected to Trudy's disappearance, it had ties to the same circle of men Dennis had named. From the beginning, the boat was retained for forensic testing, hoping that even after two decades, it might still hold fibers, traces, or chemical markers that could confirm what had happened. But the results of that testing Were never shared publicly, and no new news came. But a huge one did come in 2020, when police named two more people of interest in Trudi's case. There was David Whipple and Jamison Jamie Fisher, believing that they knew more than what they had originally reported. And Jamie wasn't a stranger to the case either. He had been a lifelong friend of the Smith family and an associate of Ed Smith, the man police believed was the last person seen with Trudy in 1996. By then, Dennis had long believed that this wasn't just one man acting alone, but a group of people who knew each other and Dennis and worked together to keep the crime hidden. At the time, police didn't release the specifics of Fisher's involvement, but they confirmed that he was connected to Ed Smith and Trudy's case.
- [42:58]
Host 1
So one question I have is now they're bringing Jamie into the mix. Right. So what did they find? That his name is finally coming up and it's being reported to the public. There had to have been something, right?
- [43:13]
Host 2
Yeah. Maybe they thought putting this person of interest out there to the public would put some pressure on David Whipple on. On the case itself. Maybe more people would come forward. However, David Whipple failed to add any new information outside of his alleged witness statements from 2017, and he passed away in 2022 at the age of 61. So David and Ed, they're now deceased. What we did find was very interesting. So during this time was a Facebook post by Amber Dunlap comparing the sketch of the man driving the silver car that Trudy got into and the mug shot of David Whipple. And I have to say, they look very similar. So it's becoming very clear that David Whipple is involved. Ed Smith is also involved, and now this Jamie Fisher guy is involved. These three people, all friends of Dennis Appleby, allegedly, of course, viciously took advantage of his daughter. But now two of them would never be able to add any clarity to it. So all they had left is this new person of interest, Jamie Fisher.
- [44:19]
Host 1
So who the hell is this guy?
- [44:20]
Host 2
Right. So from here, there's no new news until 2023, when Moline Police executed a search warrant at the property in Kelowna, Illinois. Unconfirmed who it belonged to, the neighbors. They watched as an excavation crew moved onto the lot. A tarp was set up. Crime scene tape surrounded the area. Investigators worked carefully through the dirt. In a press release, police explained that the investigation was being done to search the property for evidence relating to Trudy's disappearance. Ray Edelman. Trudy's maternal uncle spoke to the news outlets that day, saying that the investigators came up empty and they didn't find what they were hoping for. He spoke about how hard it had been for him over these last two decades for Trudy's grandparents and mother to pass away without knowing what happened to her.
- [45:13]
Host 1
And Ray was instrumental in keeping Trudi's disappearance in the public eye. He participated in annual vigils, spoke with the media, and even joined a missing persons network to help spread awareness and actively participate in solving cases. He and Dennis were some of the only people in Trudi's family that could keep her name alive.
- [45:33]
Host 2
Exactly. Yet despite Dennis, his family, and the police giving everything they could, there was still more waiting to do until something concrete actually came of it. But it did. On August 14th of 2025, the Moline Police chief, Darren Gault, stood at the podium and he said, 28 years, 11 months, and 23 days. That is how long the family of Trudy Appleby has waited for a resolution to her disappearance. That's 10,000, 584 days. That is the time it has taken to stand before you and say what we long had hoped we could say. We have made an arrest in the murder of Trudy Appleby. So the day before, on August 13th of 2025, a grand jury in Henry County, Illinois, indicted Jamison A. Fisher on three charges of first degree murder and one count of concealment of a homicidal death. At the time of the indictment, Fisher was already in custody in Iowa on unrelated drug and parole violation charges. And police served the warrant there, preparing to bring him back to Illinois to face justice.
- [46:42]
Host 1
And what a relief that must have been. But still, it took almost 30 years to make an arrest. I mean, it makes me think of so many cases where it's just been decades, but the family, they're still fighting and they're still trying to find justice. But this is one of those instances where the fight wasn't for nothing. And it proves that new information can still be gathered no matter how much time has passed.
- [47:08]
Host 2
Definitely. And the State's attorney, Kathy Runte, obviously emphasized that Fisher was still innocent until proven guilty, which is important to keep in mind at this point. But it still must have felt like a huge weight lifted off the shoulders of everyone who had been fighting for Trudy for so long. Kathy Runte also explained that because the case had been stretched nearly three decades, the statute of limitations prevented prosecutors from charging him with kidnapping as well. But for the first time since 1996, the legal system was calling this what Dennis and Brenda had always known it to be, a murder. And it was finally going to be brought to justice. Even though Fisher was still sitting in jail in Iowa on a $50,000 cash only bond, the Scott county judge officially ordered on August 22 that Fisher would be released on his own recognizance, recognizing that the state of Illinois has a detainer for him so he could be transported to Henry county to face prosecution for his murder charges. And in true scum like fashion, on August 26, Jamie Fisher refused to waive his extradition, which meant he would not voluntarily return to Illinois to face his charges. He wanted to stay in jail in Iowa. Now, Illinois must submit paperwork to the governor's office, which includes the indictment and details of the case. And if it's approved through a court hearing, the governor has to sign what's called a governor's warrant authorizing Fisher to be transferred to Illinois for trial involuntarily.
- [48:45]
Host 1
So why does it not surprise me that after all of these years, Fisher still refusing to give Dennis, Ray, Kelly, Amber, or anyone who loved Trudi any ounce of dignity? I mean, I'm not really surprised, but it really shows you what type of guy this was.
- [49:02]
Host 2
Exactly. So now we're just waiting for that paperwork to come through and for Jamie Fisher to actually face trial for what he did. And the family is still left waiting. Ray Endelman, Trudy's uncle, said that the indictment brought the family closer to closure, but they still hope to find Trudy's body. After all this time, they just want to lay her to rest. Dennis and Ray said that Fisher was always on their radar, and they were unsurprised and relieved by the news of his indictment. But Ray also said that the relief was bittersweet, since he heard a lot of difficult details of Trudy's disappearance. He said the only way he could be satisfied is if they took his heartache away and this never happened. Ray also said that he doesn't want to carry resentment, saying that it's hard for him to hate somebody, but he wishes that Jamie could understand the hole that he ripped in the family's hearts. He said, if I hate him, then he's winning, and I got hate in my heart, and that's not getting me anything. So I'm not going to hate him. I'm going to let him stew on his own. And it hurts even more when you look back and see how many times Dennis Appleby said, justice is coming soon. Dennis knew for so long what happened, and over 30 years, he kept saying that these men would be brought to justice. In 2002, in 2012, in 2017, in 2019, also in 2021. He said it over and over and over again. Every time he spoke out, pleading for Jamie and David Whipple to come forward. He spoke at every vigil, at every memorial service, news outlets. Every time he said he knew what had happened and that justice would be coming. And that day is finally here. And Jamie, he's just torturing him into waiting even longer. But at least we know that justice is really coming. Soon, Jamie Fisher will be transferred to Illinois to face his crimes. And we hope with all of our heart that he will tell Trudy's family where she is so they can have answers once and for all. And from here, we'll just have to see what happens during the trial. Maybe we'll circle back to this story and give you an update. But for now, all we can do is keep Trudi's name alive. A bright little girl who loved animals and friends and never had a chance to grow up.
- [51:21]
Host 1
And even though this seems like a closed case, if there's anything you know about this case, please share it with the Moline Police Department, because the state of Illinois is still tasked with making a case for Jamie Fisher's conviction. Seriously, any information helps.
- [51:36]
Host 2
And hopefully when the trial begins, we'll finally learn what evidence was strong enough to point it to him. But most importantly, the focus is on Trudy. I mean, after all of these years, the real hope is that this process brings answers for her and some measure of peace for those who have carried the weight of her disappearance for so long. Thank you all so much for listening to this week's episode. If you want to support our show, make sure that you subscribe to us. Leave us a review and a comment. If you're on Spotify, share this podcast with a friend. It helps us bring more stories like this to light.
- [52:11]
Host 1
Also, if you hate ads as much as we do, you can get ad free listening on patreon.com crimesaladpodcast for as little as $1.
- [52:21]
Host 2
Wow, that's amazing.
- [52:22]
Host 1
It's a good deal.
- [52:23]
Host 2
And also, since we're here, if you go to crimesaladpodcast.com we have a website up. You can check it out. Check out our merch. We have some awesome black cat fan merch.
- [52:34]
Host 1
Perfect for fall time.
- [52:35]
Host 2
Yeah, cats and true crime. I mean, can't go wrong. And yeah, thank you so much for supporting our show. It every little bit helps. It really does. And it helps us bring more stories like this to light. So thank you and we'll see you next time.
- [52:50]
Host 1
Crime Salad is a Black Cat production. Check out blackcat FM for more information.
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