BREAKTHROUGH

Suspect Charged in Trudy Appleby Disappearance After 29 Years

Jamison Fisher has been charged for Appleby’s murder, which authorities have called a “turning point” in the decades-long case.

A suspect has been charged with the murder of 11-year-old Trudy Appleby nearly 30 years after she disappeared. A grand jury in Henry County indicted Jamison Fisher, 50, on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealment of a homicidal death on Wednesday. While Fisher is accused of kidnapping Appleby, he will not face kidnapping charges because the statute of limitations has expired. “The arrest of Fisher marks a turning point in this mystery that has spanned nearly three decades,” said Moline Police Chief Darren Gaul. Appleby disappeared in 1996 near her home in Moline, Illinois, with a witness reporting that she was last seen in the passenger seat of an older gray vehicle. Fisher has already been jailed for a separate crime. Appleby’s body has not been found.