Authorities in the Quad Cities say they've made an arrest in the disappearance of a girl nearly 30 years ago, and a family member says he believes they're a step closer to finding her body.
No one has seen eleven-year-old Trudy Appleby since she vanished from her Moline home on August 21st, 1996.
Moline Police Chief Darren Gault told reporters on Thursday that a grand jury has handed up an indictment on murder charges against Jamison Fisher, 50, of East Moline.
The chief describes Fisher as a friend of the family.
He says authorities still have not located the girl's body, but noted that suspects have been successfully prosecuted in past murder cases in the absence of a body.
In Moline, where loved ones have looked for Trudy Appleby for nearly three decades, her uncle Ray Eddleman says the announcement of charges means the family is a step closer to finally having closure.
"I feel like we're turning a page in a story and we can now move on to the next chapter," he told Our Quad Cities News. "Whether it be a trial, but ultimately the end of the book will be when we lay Trudy to rest ... when I can put a headstone on that grave."
