TX TX - Julie Moseley, 9, Mary Trlica, 17, Lisa Wilson, 14, Fort Worth, 23 Dec 1974 - #1

[LillyRush]

The only reason I asked where you read that her name was something different than Julie is because if there is a website that is stating her name as being Tracey then they should probably be contacted, since they are wrong. I suppose it doesn't matter anyway since suddenly no one remembers where it was that you read it that way. The missing trio website is put together by family members of the victims so I am sure that if their loved ones went by alternate names it would be written as such there and in the interview with Julie's mother (which is also posted there). The doe network is fine but definitely not as comprehensive as it's former sister website, the missing person's cold case network, used to be. Also, I was not stating that you did not know that Debra dated Rachel's husband before they got married. If you look back you will see that I was clarifying information on a post that said that the 'youngest girl's' (Julie's) older sister was Debra and that that was some ironic twist to how she was connected to the case, which is not how it was and the correct info is in my post above..the same information is on the missing trio website but was not being re-told here in the same way it was written there. I certainly did not mean to put you on the spot but since this seems to be a place where people go to gather information on cases details large and small pretty much matter, otherwise you have people doing searches for the wrong thing or person and that just kind of defeats the purpose of looking further into these cases in the first place. There is a high # of views to this thread, outside of the smaller conversation within it, so it could only stand to benefit the case in the long run (imo) for people to get the clearest pictures of the case circumstances. That is all.

 

[KATKAT19691]

I was just wondering, what was the relationship between the husband and the sister after the girls went missing, did they get together????

Kat
IMO

 

[emma l]

As far as I know it was just platonic. They never got back together...........

 

[Richard]

The case of the three girls who disappeared from Seminary South Shopping Center in Fort Worth on 23 December 1974 is indeed an intriguing and unusual one. Multiple abductions by strangers are quite rare, and are therefore outside the usual patterns. This case, however, bears a number of striking similarities to another one which occurred in Maryland only three months later.
These three Fort Worth girls; Julie Ann Moseley (9), Mary Rachel Trlica (17), and Lisa Renee Wilson (14) all disappeared two days before Christmas from a shopping center.
In Wheaton Maryland, a few days before Easter on 25 March 1975, the Lyon Sisters, Sheila and Kate disappeared from a shopping center. They too are still missing.
While these cases have never been connected by any evidence (there simply isn't much evidence in either case), they stand out as very rare occurances of multiple abduction, so close together in time and circumstance.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Very much indeed Richard. Welcome to Websleuths. Do you have a link to any stories about this other case?

 

[emma l]

Goodness you're right. Welcome Richard!! I have read about that abduction loads of times and didn't connect them. I am a RUBBISH detective. Here we are Jeana............

Shelia and Katherine disappeared from Wheaton, Maryland on March 25 1975. There was a suspicious man who was never seen again. He was asking people for their comments and had a micro-phone. He could have used this ploy before- easily.He never came forward as a witnesss, and there was loads of publicity, so he is the prime suspect.


They were possibly seen April 7th bound and gagged in the back of a van.
"..................When the driver spotted a witness tailing him, he ran a red light and sped west on Route 234 towards Interstate 66 in Virginia. The station wagon had Maryland license plates with the possible combination "DMT-6**." The last two numbers are unknown due to the bending of the car's plate. The known combination was issued in Cumberland, Hagerstown and Baltimore, Maryland at the time. A search for matching plate numbers failed to produce any information.".............snip This is from the links below.........

Sheila 64DFMD - Sheila Mary Lyon 12 years old

Katherine 65DFMD - Katherine Mary Lyon 10 years old.

I wonder........................Can anyone else come up with other connections? between these girls and the fort worth girls? I'm gonna search and post tommorrow. <modsnip: broken link>

Their poor families, imagine losing both of your children at once.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Thanks Emma and Richard!! Lots to catch up on.

 

[emma l]

Just thought I'd bump this cause its such an interesting case. Also with Christmas coming up it will be 30 years this year since this happened and I wonder if that might jog someone memory? Maybe they'll be some kind of memorial?

Still haven't been able to get anymore information at all...................

 

[T-Rex]

That is an interesting case. What about this? The girls bump into someone they know. They go out to his van with him to get high. The little girl has a fatal reaction, and dies. They hide her body. The friend convinces them to go away while he figures out what to do. He sends the note to Rachel's husband to buy time. But knowing that he will be in trouble if they ever tell what happened, he convinces them they will be arrested and go to jail if they come back. Maybe the middle girl eventually decides to come back anyway, so he kills her. Now he has that much more to blackmail Rachel with to keep her away.

 

[emma l]

T-rex!! I am impressed with your theory! I wonder if any of them had a history of drug abuse? How did you come up with such an interesting theory? I guess if Rachel is still alive she would probably have to have a pretty good reason not to contact anyone after ths long. Blackmail is as good as any..............

You'e not the murderer :laugh: are you?! (I know thats a crazy question but I had a compusion to ask!!)

 

[Richard]

It will be the 30 year anniversary of the disappearance of these three girls. There are probably many theories about how or why they disappeared, but in the end, it is still a mystery. I would be somewhat skeptical about letters, phone calls, or other after-the-fact clues because of the tendency for hoaxers to try and mess with the case. This has happened in almost all high profile cases. My personal feeling is that this was an abduction by more than one kidnapper (maybe three), probably using a cargo van parked near the victims' car. I doubt that the kidnappers knew the girls, because if they were going for someone specific, they would have waited for just that one person. More likely they were looking for victims of opportunity, and took the girls when they felt no one was watching.

 

[LillyRush]

I think the letter was placed in the mailbox by Rachel's sister.

 

[emma l]

It could well have been- anythings possible!!

 

[2sisters]

It has been 30 years they have been missing. It is sad that their families have spent the past 30 years not knowing what happened to them.

 

[sharon25]

Just came across these three missing girls while I was looking through the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Any news?

 

[KatherineQ]

has the 'missingtrio' site been disabled?

I can't make it load.

Thanks -

 

[Yeah me]

I couldn't get into it either. I guess they closed it down?

 

[blueclouds]

The site is archived though. Try this:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040203183628/missingtrio.com/TRIO/index.htm

If the above link doesn't work, let me know.

 

[KatherineQ]

Thanks Blueclouds.

Very interesting.

 

[mysteriew]

The letter that Rachel's husband received shortly after their disappearance can only mean 1 of 2 things as far as I'm concerned:
1) It really was sent by Rachel and they decided to dissapear(They then stayed away or met with foul play)

Or

2) The letter is fake and someone who Rachel knew is responsible for their disappearance.

Apparently the handwriting tests were inconclusive..............

Theres no other possible explanations. I don't know of many multiple murderers who go around copying their victims handwriting and sending letters to their victims families to cover their tracks! By definition they're mad and don't care about the victims as "people" at all. It has to be someone they knew- this is the most likely explanation.

.

While is it unusual for a multiple murderer to write letters to the family that purports to be from the victim, it is not unknown. John E. Robinson the Internet Slavemaster did it in his 1984/85 murders (link to story: http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/robinson.html)
In a recent cold case in my area the suspected murderer has approached the victim's father a couple of times and asked him if he had heard from his dau. and has told stories of how he has heard of the woman living in an area and being on drugs. Everyone thought the woman had run away, no one knew she had been murdered, because her body had not been found yet. Because she was thought to be alive and missing voluntarily, no one looked for her.
So the purpose of this type of communication seems to be to keep the confusion on what exactly happened, and to provide misdirection in any investigation.