Divers pull car out of lake searching for clues to the 1974 disappearance of 3 girls

Fran Langston sat in a chair on the shore of Benbrook Lake Saturday as a light drizzle fell while divers worked to pull submerged cars out of the waters.

She wasn’t alone.

More than 100 residents joined Langston as they watched and hoped the vehicles would have answers to one of Fort Worth’s most noted cold cases — the 1974 disappearance of three girls from a shopping center.

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” said Langston, whose daughter was one of the three who went missing Dec. 23, 1974, from then Seminary South Shopping Center on 4200 South Freeway. “I hope there’s some evidence in the cars.”

There were no immediate answers.

One car, which was almost unrecognizable as a vehicle after being submerged for so many years, was taken to an undisclosed location to be analyzed for evidence.

The car, which a tow truck driver said was a Chevrolet Corvair, took about two hours to pull out of the lake. Divers had difficulty with a second car, and finally gave up for the day, though they plan to return, perhaps next weekend, and continue efforts to raise it.

Rusty Arnold, Langston’s son, went on a “hunch” that vehicles found submerged in Benbrook Lake may have clues to the 1974 disappearance of his sister, 17-year-old Rachel Trlica, along with Lisa Renee Wilson, 14, and Julie Moseley, 9.

Arnold was 11 when the girls went missing, and the group of volunteers are focusing on the cars because they believe one of the vehicles belongs to a person of interest in the case who knew the girls.

Arnold did not disclose the name of the person of interest.

“At the same time the girls went missing, we believe the vehicle he was driving also disappeared,” Arnold said in an August telephone interview with the Star-Telegram. “We sat around coming up with theories, and we discovered that the person of interest lived within five miles of Benbrook Lake at the time. It’s a hunch.”

Divers with North Texas Marine Recovery & Salvage which raised about $12,00 for equipment for the project, decided Saturday against pulling a third car because it was too dangerous.

But the divers would return at later date to pull that car near Longhorn Park at Benbrook Lake.

Six boats were used Saturday to help divers pull the cars, including one owned by Arnold.

Earlier in the day, divers and crews noted that they would head to shore and delay the project if thunderstorms arrived at the lake. A light drizzle hit the crew off-and-on throughout the day.

That drizzle didn’t stop Langston or the dozens of other residents who arrived at the lake to watch.

Most of the residents who came to observe were family and friends of the three girls.

Kimberly Horton of Burleson came to the shore of Benbrook Lake because she grew up with the story of the missing girls.

“I was 8 back in 1974 and we always went to Seminary South during those days,” Horton said. “But right after that happened, we had to stay close to our parents. We couldn’t go off and throw pennies in the fountain by ourselves.”

The girls left home before noon the morning of Dec. 23, 1974, and stopped at an Army/Navy store to pick up Christmas presents that were on layaway.

Then they headed to the shopping center, which is now La Gran Plaza, and parked Trlicas’ Oldsmobile on an upper-level parking lot near Sears.

Witnesses told police they saw the girls inside the shopping center during the day.

The families have heard several stories about what happened after that. A witness reported some men hustled the girls into a pickup. Another witness said he’d seen a man forcing a girl into a van. Nothing has ever been corroborated.

For decades, Arnold, his family and relatives of the other girls have searched for clues. They’ve dug at dozens of locations throughout Texas, searched creeks and even combed a swampy bayou near Port Lavaca, on the Texas coast.

Arnold created a website, missingtrio.com, and a Facebook page in hope of finding clues.

“We’re searching for answers,” Arnold said. “We have to keep looking.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2018 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Divers pull car out of lake searching for clues to the 1974 disappearance of 3 girls."