Disappearance of Dorothy Forstein
unsolved missing person case
Dorothy "Dora" Forstein (born Dorothy Cooper, 1909) was an American woman who went missing after being last seen at her Philadelphia home on October 18, 1949.
Disappearance
On the night of October 18, 1949, Dorothy's husband, magistrate Jules Forstein, left home for the evening. He later called Dorothy and told her that he would not arrive home until late. When he returned home, he was very surprised to find his two children, Edward and Marcy, clinging together in a bedroom.
They were both crying "Mommy's gone!" Marcy told her father that roughly 15 minutes prior, she had been woken by a noise and had gone downstairs, where she had seen a middle-aged man in a brown, peaked cap carrying her unconscious mother down the stairs over his shoulder. When she asked him what he was doing, he patted her head and told her, "Go back to sleep, little one. Your mom is fine." He then left and locked the door.
Investigation
Police initially doubted Marcy's story, but believed it after a psychiatrist interviewed her and confirmed she was apparently telling the truth. The theory first posited by police was that someone with a grudge against her husband due to his job had targeted her. This was seen as most likely given that five years previously, a home intruder had stolen nothing but had severely assaulted Dorothy.
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