Police: “Many” in QCA know what happened to missing Moline girl

Moline Police indicate the disappearance of Trudy Appleby could be solved if certain individuals would come forward.

“There are people within our community of the Quad Cities that hold the truths and continue to harbor the secrets regarding Trudy,” the Moline Police Department posted on its Facebook page last Friday, which was National Missing Children Day.

“Another year passes and it's another year of silence.”

Appleby disappeared at the age of 11 on August 21, 1996.

She was last seen near her residence getting into the passenger side of an older model, gray-colored vehicle with an unknown male.

Moline Police announced a person of interest in the case last August but no actual suspects have ever been named.

The person of interest, William “Ed” Smith, died in 2014, but last Friday on Facebook Moline Police indicated he is not the only one with information vital to the case.

“We believe there are many more people that know what happened,” Moline Police commented. “The secrets of Trudy are very much alive with subjects who reside locally in the QC area.”