In December 1910, the heiress to a perfume empire vanished from the streets of Manhattan while shopping on the illustrious Fifth Avenue.

Her disappearance left the public reeling with questions and speculations, and her family’s secrecy in handling the case only served to amplify the concerns of the mystified onlookers. The family was reluctant to engage the police in their investigation into the socialite’s disappearance, which led to a rift and an apparent power struggle between the two entities.

The actions of the family, investigators, and the missing socialite herself paved the way for a plethora of conspiracy theories, and to this day, the vanishing of New York City socialite Dorothy Arnold remains one of the most infamous missing person cases in American history.