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The Mysterious Kidnapping of Catherine Thom · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion is
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advised. From an early age, Katherine and Tom, or Kathy as she
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was more commonly known, was ambitious, intelligent, and independent. She undoubtedly
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pathed her own successful path in life using these seemingly innate qualities, but it's
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difficult to imagine Kathy's interesting childhood didn't at least imbue her with some of the
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characteristics that would eventually define her. Born in Japan to parents John and Nancy
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France and a graduate of a German high school, her father's career in the
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military shaped Kathy into a worldly sort who'd traveled to more destinations by adolescents than
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most folks do in their lifetime. Her father, an Air Force colonel,
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flew F four Phantom Jets in combat from Danang Air Force in the early days
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of the Vietnam War. Not long after graduating high school, Kathy married and
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gave birth to a son, Danny. The marriage lasted four years, and
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when it ended, she decided to go back to school. Quite the opposite
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of a low achiever, Kathy Tom managed to navigate life as a single mother
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and college student. In fact, she graduated from Christopher Newport College in Virginia
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with a degree in business administration and magna cum laudie. She even made the
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list of who's who in American colleges and universities. Now, after a busy
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life of moving from place to place, it was time to settle down and
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stay put. Kathy moved to Arlington, Texas, where she commuted to her
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day job in Dallas as a loan officer for the Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance
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Division. Even this job kept her on the move, as she was sent
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wherever a natural disaster had occurred. It kept her away from home and her
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son. From nineteen eighty three to nineteen eighty eight, Kathy traveled all over
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the United States for work, including a five month stint in Sacramento, California
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in nineteen eighty seven. When she realized how long she'd have to stay early
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on, she sent for Danny, who was mesmerized by places like Yosemite National
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Park and Sutters Mill, the rustically preserved settlement where James Marshall inadvertently discovered gold
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in eighteen forty eight, leading to what would become famously known as the California
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Gold Rush. Other than that, however, the boy found Sacramento to be,
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in his own words, the pits. During this period, Kathy somehow
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found time to fix up the town home she'd bought for Danny and herself her
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own tile, among other renovations, and with a natural mechanical inclination, fixed
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what needed fixing. By nineteen eighty eight, Kathy, who didn't like to
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party or play the Weekend Warrior with friends, was tired of being away from
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home. She liked to be with Danny, whether they were going to see
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the Texas Rangers play ball, going on boy scout outings, of which Kathy
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was a den mother, or simply hanging around the house playing board games and
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catching a Dallas Cowboys game on TV. With a new career prospect on the
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horizon, it looked like the single mother would have plenty of time to spend
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with her son. But shortly after she was elected to a high position at
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an Arlington bank, a job that promised the settling down she'd always wanted,
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Kathy Tom vanished seemingly without so much as a trace. An article in the
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October fifth, nineteen eighty eight edition of the Fort Worth Star Telegram announced that
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Catherine A. Tom was elected assistant vice president in commercial Lending at First City
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Bank, Central Arlington. It was quite an impressive feat for the thirty one
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year old, and Kathy was ecstatic. She was also proud, and as
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a hard working and ambitious person, began intensively studying for the job so she
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could perform it well and eventually move up the ranks. Between the new job,
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her beloved son Danny and do it yourself approach to ownership. Kathy Tom
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was a busy woman who didn't take her time for granted, but finally her
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roots were deeply planted and she was able to relax a little, sometimes sketching
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in her free time, and she was even able to have Danny up at
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the office on the day of the week she worked late Thursdays. Her accomplishments
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set an outstanding example for the boy, now ten years old. For the
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first month of the new gig, everything seemed perfect. At approximately seven thirty
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am on the unusually warm morning of Monday, November fourteenth, nineteen eighty eight,
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Kathy Tom exited the back door of her home on Chapel Hill Lane in
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South Arlington and entered the covered carport. Danny had walked over to a neighbor's
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house, as he did every morning to catch a ride to school. Kathy
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climbed into her gray a nineteen eighty seven hunday, started it up, and
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backed out. As she drove away from the house, she waved to a
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neighbor and then headed to downtown Arlington, where she was to attend a banking
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seminar. Kathy never made it to the seminar, nor did she return home
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that evening. The following day, Tuesday the fifteenth, Kathy Tom's family reported
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her missing to the Arlington Police Department. Her disappearance was immediately concerning. Kathy
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was about as dependable an employee as they come, and in fact, had
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been reluctant to even call in sick a few weeks before. Within moments of
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launching their investigation, the Arlington Police learned something crucial. About twenty minutes after
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leaving the house, Kathy pulled into the drive through lane of the bank where
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she often worked, located on West Arkansas Lane. This alone was unlike her.
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She was around twenty minutes away from the seminar in central Arlington, but
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was due there in ten minutes. Even more puzzling at the time, perhaps
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was the fact that she was only several minutes away from home and in the
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opposite direction as the seminar. There were far more troubling things to consider.
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Kathy had withdrawn one thousand dollars worth around twenty six hundred dollars today, and
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had pulled into the farthest possible drive through lane from the tellers to do so,
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even though there were closer lanes empty. The tellers told police that at
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that distance they were unable to see much in Kathy's car. The next day,
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Wednesday, November sixteenth, nineteen eighty eight, Kathy Tom's gray nineteen eighty
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seven Hunday was found in the parking lot of a Euless, Texas Kmart store
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located at the intersection of Industrial Boulevard and Texas State Highway ten. The cops
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had already suspected foul play, but this discovery sealed the deal. Kathy's photograph
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appeared in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and on local news broadcasts, along with
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her description. She was five feet six inches tall, weighed one hundred and
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fifteen pounds, and had sandy brown hair and hazel eyes. Arlington Police detective
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Helen shilling Wallace told a reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram that the devoted
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and responsible mother was considered unlikely to abandon her life, but the department and
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FBI agents who'd been assigned the case had no leads. As the days turned
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to weeks, no clues as to the whereabouts of Kathy Tom could be found.
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When ten days had passed since Kathy Tom was last seen, her son,
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Danny, expressed his worry, but he speculated, with the hopeful confidence
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of a ten year old, she's probably somewhere tied up and would work her
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way loose. After gaining temporary custody of Danny by Child Protective Services officials John
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and Nancy France, Kathy's parents said they'd been open with the boy about what
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was happening, except about the darkest speculations that they discussed in private. John
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told reporters about Kathy's cat that had wandered off when she was a teenager and
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the family was living on an Air Force base in Germany. Military policemen had
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found and released the feeline in nearby woods, believing it was Ferrell, finding
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it seemed impossible to him a needle in a haystack scenario. John recalled,
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but Kathy insisted they try they found the cat. John was racking his brain
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to think of a way to apply that scenario to the current one, of
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course, and he realized it there was no comparison. The missing woman's mother,
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Nancy, found hope in Kathy's character. She was self reliant and not
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easily had her husband agreed. His daughter was able to deal with dangerous situations
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as well as anyone, perhaps more so than most. Still, remaining positive
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was not easy. All they'd been able to do was wait, and though
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the phone would ring and cause the parents to flinch with both dread and hope
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simultaneously, the calls never offered any news, no police breakthroughs, and no
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calls with ransom demands. Weeks turned to a month, and just when hope
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was at its lowest, the needle practically unempty, out of nowhere came about
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the biggest breakthrough imaginable, one that rendered hope obsolete. As the day turned
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till Wednesday, December fourteenth, nineteen eighty eight, with it came a slight
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chill. It had been exactly a month to the day since thirty one year
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old Kathy tom had been seen, and police were no closer to finding out
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what happened to her than they were On day one. In East fort Worth,
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Tennery's Pizza on East Lancaster Avenue was closed, but there were still a
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few folks inside performing closing duties. The mundane day of restaurant work was almost
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at an end. Before it could, the night made a sharp turn to
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anything but an average one. At twelve oh five am, assistant manager Tammy
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Brewer was shocked as she peered at the restaurant's glass door to see a naked
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woman leaning against it. Assuming the woman was the victim of a rapist,
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Tammy hurried to the door to get her inside. Though still a bit warmer
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than the average temperature in North Texas at fifty one degrees, it was uncomfortably
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cool for someone unclothed. Still, it took Tammy about five minutes to convince
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the woman, who was apparently traumatized emotionally and obviously physically banged up, to
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come inside. She wasn't unconscious, the Teneris Pizza assistant manager later told a
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reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram, but she didn't say anything. She
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had a blank stare as. An ambulance rushed the woman to John Peter Smith
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Hospital she recalled and whimpered as paramedics attempted to attend to her wounds, most
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notably a cut over her right eye. At the hospital, a female doctor
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was sent to care for the woman for obvious reasons, but still she flinched
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and cowered from the doctor's touch. The woman, it would soon be discovered,
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was missing thirty one year old banker Kathy Ann Tom. She was released
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to the care of her father at eight thirty am and shared a tearful reunion
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with her son Danny shortly thereafter. Kathy had believed for a month that her
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ten year old boy was dead. Being so close to the holiday, Kathy's
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parents, John and Nancy, and her son Danny all remarked that the season
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was now looking bright and that they'd been given the best Christmas present they'd ever
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received. John and Nancy's home had admittedly dwindled down to nothing, and though
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they hadn't necessarily shared their darkest thoughts on Kathy's disappearance, her parents did not
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take for granted the fact that her son Danny was the only one who truly
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believed she was still alive. The ten year old thought the entire time that
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whoever took his mother did so for money, but no ransom had been called
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in. Though severely traumatized, Kathy was hanging in there. Her father said
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she's a good, tough gal. Whatever happened, police knew appeared to have
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been brutal, but Kathy tom they also said, was too traumatized to talk.
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She could tell detectives nothing about where she'd been or who her captors were.
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The day Kathy was found, the fort Worth Police received a call from
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a woman who said she'd seen someone matching Kathy's description in a car with three
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men when she saw it the night before. The vehicle seemed suspicious to her,
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the caller said, but it wasn't until she heard a news account of
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the kidnapping the morning Kathy tom reappeared that she thought it might be important.
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As the fort Worth police arrived to question them, the three men were leaving
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their residence. They fully cooperated, and although the fort Worth Star Telegram reports
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they were arrested, that is not the case. The men simply and willfully
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accompanied detectives to the police station, where Arlington detectives and FBI agents questioned them.
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They allowed the cops to impound the car to process it for evidence.
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And even offered to let them into their home to search, but it's unclear
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if the police took the men up on it. Whatever the case, there
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was nothing connecting the men to the kidnapping of Kathy. Tom Arlington Police detective
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Helen Shilling Wallace had developed a few working theories before Kathy reappeared. Perhaps the
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detective thought Kathy had been trying to signal the bank tellers that she was in
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distress the morning she withdrew money and disappeared. Kathy had been a bank teller
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supervisor before, so the fact that she asked the teller how much money she
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could withdraw at the bank she worked at, Shillings Wallace speculated was one such
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signal. The tellers knew Kathy well enough, so the fact that she included
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her driver's license during the transaction also seemed strange. It isn't known if the
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detective ascertained with certainty that the teller was or was not a stickler for the
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rules, which might explain the latter speculate, however, was all police could
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do, as remained unable to speak about what had happened. Emotionally distraught,
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as police spokesperson de Anderson put it, the cops remained in the dark about
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virtually every detail in the case. Even when family inquired, Kathy would recoil
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and become upset or withdrawn. The Arlington police, who were inexperienced in dealing
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with such a case, and even the president a First City bank, Jim
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Tipton, her employer, who was keeping Kathy's job open until she felt she
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could return, were practicing patience and temporary passivity. Still, the cops were
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getting restless, as was the local newspaper. In a Fort Worth Star Telegram
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article, Dallas police psychologist al Soma Devilla discussed wartime tactics like isolation in breaking
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down the human spirit. There's a great deal of difference between being held for
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ransom in a bank vault up seven to eleven or an embassy and being tortured
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alone by a sadistic character, the psychologist said, going on to place Kathy
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in the latter category. Although no one at all knew at this point what
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had happened to her, Kathy, being a mother, her life was likely
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filled with many relationships, some intertwined, some separate from the rest, and
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losing those altogether for a prolonged period can wreak severe emotional damage, add starvation
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and interrupted sleep to the equation Somemo devilla went on and captors can achieve a
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total eclipse of the personality or brainwashing. Finally, six days after her return,
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Kathy Tom began providing police with some details of the terrorizing ordeal, but
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still far too few to eat even provide police with a simple scenario of what
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had occurred. On Thursday, December fifteenth, nineteen eighty eight, the Arlington
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Police interviewed thirty one year old Kathy and Tom in the presence with the assistants
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and at the home of her parents, John and Nancy Franz. She'd only
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reappeared the previous day after a month long disappearance and could not speak of the
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terrible ordeal. It gave her captors the advantage, police spokesperson de Anderson commented,
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Still, detectives understood and decided to hit the pavement. Without Kathy's help,
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they went door to door in the neighborhoods in the vicinity of where the
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missing woman had reemerged, speaking with residence to determine whether anyone had seen anything.
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Almost a week later, on the twentieth, detectives tried interviewing Kathy again.
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She gave them details, and although police wouldn't elaborate on what they were,
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they did say that the information was fragmented, each detail unrelated to the
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next. Even theorizing a coherent and educated scenario remained impossible. The following two
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months were grueling for the Arlington Police detectives working the Kathy Tom case. Not
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a day went by without them phoning or visiting the home of John and Nancy
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France to see if Kathy was ready to talk. It wasn't a matter of
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memory, police continually reported to the local media. Rather, it was a
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matter of her inability to deal with what had happened, let alone talk about
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it. Finally, nine weeks after her reappearance, she was ready to talk.
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From the disjointed statements Kathy gave police, they were able to put together
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a remarkably detailed account of the mysterious kidnapping. The morning of December fourteenth started
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out as normal as any ten year old Danny went to a neighbor's to catch
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a ride to school, and Kathy left home through the back door, then
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through the back gate to the car port. She put her key in the
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door lock and turned it, but it didn't click, the car wasn't locked,
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and though that was unusual enough for Kathy to momentarily stop and give it
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some thought, it only took a couple seconds to assume either she or Danny
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had simply forgotten to lock it. She began to head toward downtown Arlington,
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where she was to attend a banking seminar. About a blockdown on the road,
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Kathy told detectives a woman arose from the back seat and at gunpoint forced
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her to pull over if she did not cooperate fully and followed directions. The
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armed woman reportedly said she and her son would be killed, both of whom
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she referred to by name. They drove to Kathy's bank, where she withdrew
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one thousand dollars. Then, Kathy told police she was forced to drive through
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various other places in Fort Worth until nine am, when they stopped at Texas
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Commerce Bank at Precinct Line Road and Airport Freeway in the city of Hurst.
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The woman demanded Kathy go in alone and withdraw more money using her credit card,
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she told police, and reminded her before she did that they would kill
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Danny if she attempted to signal for help in any way. About thirty minutes
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later, the woman forced to drive to a small strip mall in North Richland
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Hills at Grapevine Highway and Interstate Loop eight twenty. There a man exited a
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blue and white pickup and approached. He ordered Kathy Tom out of the Hyundai,
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and as she started to get out, hit her in the head with
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the butt of his pistol. Her statement continued, Dazed and in and out
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of consciousness, Kathy told detectives she was tied up and taken to an old
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house for the duration of her captivity. She said she was locked in the
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house's bathroom. At some point, another man began appearing at the old house
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and would continue to be there off and on throughout the ordeal. Though police
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spokesperson d Anderson refused to comment on how Kathy was treated during the time she
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was held captive, he did remark that she appeared in no way malnourished,
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reported as only from time to time, Kathy was blindfolded, taken from the
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old house, and driven to various other locations while lying on the back seat
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floorboard of what she described as a large, old white car. Late on
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the night of December thirteenth, nineteen eighty eight. The man with the blue
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and white pickup blindfolded Kathy, who was naked, and put her in the
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big white car's back floorboard. The man drove and then after a while parked.
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He warned Kathy not to try anything funny or he'd kill her boy,
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and then got out of the car. Kathy stayed put for some time until
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she was startled by some type of noise, one that police could never figure
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out. By her descriptions, It appears whatever it was, Kathy rose up
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when she heard it, looked around and realized she was in a neighborhood that
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an escape seemed entirely possible. She got out of the car and ran,
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apparently discombobulated and confused, until she ended up outside of Tenery's Pizza on East
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Lancaster in Fort Worth, just after the day turned to December fourteenth, nineteen
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eighty eight. Kathy could not lead Arlington police detectives to the house outside from
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which she escaped, and police theorized, for whatever reason, that it was
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within a two to three square mile radius of the pizza joint. Kathy was,
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however, able to give police extremely detailed descriptions of the kidnappers and captors,
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so good, in fact, that Kathy was said to have a strong
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reaction when looking at the composite sketches drawn from them. The three individuals Kathy
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Tom described as being involved in her abduction and disappearance make up an odd trio.
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The woman who initially kidnapped Kathy, she told police, was white and
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slightly built, about five feet three inches tall and one hundred and twenty pounds.
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Her hair was auburn, her nose sharp, and her thin eyebrows sat
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above brown eyes. She was in her mid twenties, Kathy said, and
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kept her hair covered with a hood. The man with the pickup who pistol
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whipped Kathy, she reported, was white, about five feet eight inches tall
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and heavy set. Kathy said he was in his thirties. His hair was
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brown, his eyes described as dark, and he had a wispy mustache.
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Judging by the composite sketch, this man was not clean cut, but the
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other man was. This man seen occasionally at the house where Kathy Tom was
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held captive in the bathroom, she told police, was white, slim,
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and stood about six feet tall. His eyes were light blue or steely gray,
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and his blonde hair short and wavy. This man's eyebrows were heavy,
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Kathy went on, and he had a cleft chin. Within twenty four hours
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of the release of the suspect's composite sketches in the newspaper and on the local
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television news, the Arlington Police Department was inundated with calls dozens of folks reported
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to have seen the unlikely trio. The cops, judging by spokesperson de Anderson's
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comments, were bursting with optimism about their chances at solving the case. They
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believed the operation, as they called it, was well planned and closely followed,
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though Kathy had never seen them before. The captor's new details about her
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life, including these criminals, they believed were sophisticated, although taking a step
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back, one could argue, driving around with a naked, blindfolded kidnapping victim
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in your back seat several times over the course of a month is the farthest
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thing from well planned or sophisticated. Hindsight is on our side. Perhaps the
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abduction was, as Kathy's ten year old son, Danny had said, all
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about the money archetypal, hard boiled. Detective Jim Ford told the fort Worth
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Star telegram. Though Kathy's family told reporters that one thousand dollars had been withdrawn
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from her accounts, Detective Ford said it's a lot more than that. The
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CoP's enthusiastic and positive outlook over the coming course of the investigation began crumbling in
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the months between her reappear pearance. In telling her story, detectives worked closest
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with Kathy Tom's relatives and police psychologists with experience in perhaps similar cases. In
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the months after her incredibly detailed descriptions were released via composite sketches, eventually resulting
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in more than one hundred tips, all of which were exhaustively examined. Not
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one substantive lead had been developed. By September of nineteen eighty nine, tips
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coming into the Arlington Police Department had abruptly dropped to little more than a trickle.
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Even the twenty five thousand dollars reward donated by the company Kathy Tom worked
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for to crime stoppers in December of nineteen eighty nine, an amount worth about
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sixty one thousand dollars today, provided nothing significant. Detectives Helen Shilling, Wallace
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and Jim Ford followed up on every one of the one hundred fifty leads that
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Reward produced, but not a one was any good. Kathy Tom eventually returned
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to her position at First City Bank. She continued to undergo counseling and the
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Arlington Police continued to give her space to deal with her trauma. Kathy just
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wanted her life back, her father, John France, told reporters, and
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desired simply to be like anybody else. To our knowledge and to this day,
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Kathy was neither able to tell police where she was held nor the location
30:37
of the house from which she escaped from the parked car. The statutes of
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limitations from the crimes that are thought to have been committed against Kathy have passed.
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Still. If you have any information about the kidnapping and captivity of Catherine
30:56
Ann Tom, please call the Arlington Police at eight one CE two seven four
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