‘We are the voice for the voiceless’: Moline police chief, detective discuss Trudy Appleby investigation

MOLINE, Illinois (KWQC) - Moline Police Chief Darren Gault and Detective Michael Griffin don’t consider themselves heroes.

“Without the community’s support, this case would never be where it’s at,” Griffin said in an exclusive interview with KWQC-TV6. “They’ve stood up for Trudy Appleby, they said her name, they kept her relevant, kudos to them."

But for Appleby’s family, everyone in law enforcement is a hero.

“It took a lot of work and I’m totally grateful to all them,” Ray Eddleman, Appleby’s uncle, said.

‘I wouldn’t wish it on anybody’

In the days before Appleby’s disappearance, the 11-year-old asked her father, Dennis, if she could go swimming with a friend. He said no.

But phone records show she may have made plans to go anyway. On Aug. 21, 1996, Appleby was seen getting into an older model gray-colored vehicle with a man inside.

She was last seen alive on Campbell’s Island, police said.

29 years of not knowing

“I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, to go through what we’ve been through,” Eddleman said.

While Trudy’s family struggled with her disappearance, detectives spent decades tirelessly investigating.

“This is our job,” Gault said.”This is what we do. This is the responsibility that we bear to try to bring justice to victims, and to not be able to do it for a long time certainly is frustrating.”

For 29 years, Aug. 21 would come and go with no real answers. But behind the scenes, detectives were hard at work.

“You don’t see a detective sitting behind a desk listening to hours and hours of prior interviews, reading through thousands of pages for one little nugget,” Gault said.

A nugget, they hoped, would help put the person who killed Appleby behind bars.

‘I am her voice now’

Several police officers and investigators spent time trying to solve the Appleby case.

One of those detectives was Griffin, who was assigned to the case in 2016.

“We are the voice for the voiceless,” he said. “I am her voice now. When that case was assigned to me, I’m Trudy Appleby’s voice. It’s my job to tell her story and quite frankly, it’s been my honor to tell her story.

Police eventually named three persons of interest: Jamison Fisher, 50; William “Ed” Smith, who died in 2014; and David Whipple, who died in 2022.

Griffin pored through evidence over the years and led a targeted campaign, urging the people who police say know what happened to Appleby to come forward.

“Those people have had the opportunity to come forward,” he said. “Those people never believed it, that we would get to this point and they called our bluff. They thought this was something that they’d just be able to live with in secret forever.

Police put up billboards in the areas where those people lived so they had to drive by them daily.

“All we did was put her face and ‘See something, say something,’” Griffin said. “That’s how powerful that little girl is.”

Griffin also posted photos of Appleby on the police department’s Facebook page. Police hoped it would encourage someone to come forward.

“This was never really a cold case,” he said. “People have been engaged in this case since Day 1. They’re still engaged. We’ve been swamped with tips and information since last week. She’s never been forgotten.”

The family stood by as investigators followed up on leads, digging up yards and waited for answers.

Closer to closure

Year after year, they held a vigil honoring Appleby and hanging on to the hope she would one day return.

Then, on Aug. 13, a break came in the case.

A Henry County grand jury handed up an indicted Fisher on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealment of a homicidal death.

Police told the family - and the community - the next day.

“10,584 days,” Gault said during a press conference at the Henry County Courthouse. “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.”

Fisher is currently in the Scott County Jail awaiting trial on unrelated drug charges.

‘Bring Trudy home’

While relieved, Gault and Griffin said it’s not a moment of celebration.

“It’s a bit of a catch-22,” Griffin said. “It’s nice to say our community is safer because we’ve taken a predator off the street. He will get his day in court. But at the end of the day, we’re also dealing with the homicide of an 11-year-old child.”

And her body still hasn’t been found.

“I’m scared of when we find Trudy,” Eddleman said. “I’ve been waiting so long to find her, I don’t know how I’m going to feel, but ultimately, I just want to lay her to rest.”

Griffin said, “I told the family that my goal is to bring Trudy home and give her the proper burial, and I fully intend to do that.”

‘We don’t give up’

Appleby’s case is not the only one police are pursuing.

When Gault became police chief he allocated more funding for cold or unsolved cases. That money has gone a long way - the department has taken seven cases down to two.

“We don’t give up on these cases,” he said. “We still have the Corey Harrell homicide, we still have the Jerry Wolking missing persons case. We still have other cases the detectives are working every day, and just because that case doesn’t have monumental progress today or tomorrow, doesn’t mean that we won’t get there someday.”

They said they won’t stop working to find Appleby and the answers to the department’s other unsolved cases.

“If you commit a crime in Moline, you might as well turn yourself in,” Gault said. “We’re coming for you.”