Mary Shotwell Little was a woman who vanished under suspicious circumstances in Georgia in 1965.
Background[]
In the weeks before she vanished, Mary received distressing phone calls at work. She explained to this person, whose identity was still unknown, that she could no longer visit them now that she was married, although she did say it would be fine for them to visit her. She had also received flowers from a "secret admirer." The flowers were traced back to a florist near Mary's home, but the exact buyer is unknown.
According to some of Mary's friends, she had also been feeling generally unsettled in the weeks before she vanished and had become afraid of spending time alone at home and in her car. A few days before she went missing, Mary had insinuated to a colleague that there was something important that she needed to tell them about, although they had never learnt what it was.
Case[]
Mary was last seen in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 14, 1965. At the time of Mary's disappearance, her husband, Roy Little, had been out of town for work, but he was due to return the next day, so she had been planning a welcome party for him. She also went to work, bought groceries and met a colleague for dinner at the Piccadilly Cafeteria in the Lenox Square Shopping Centre in the Buckhead neighbourhood, a well-off area of Atlanta. The colleague said Mary was in a good mood and spoke positively about her marriage. She was last seen when she left at 8:00 p.m. to go out to her car, a Metallic pearl-gray 1965 Mercury Comet with Georgia license plate number 2829.
The following day, Mary was absent from work and had not called in sick. When her boss mentioned it to the co-worker she had been with the night before, they became concerned and called security at Lenox Square, asking them to look for Mary's car. However, they could not see it. Mary's boss then went to look for the car himself and found it abandoned in the car park. Roy was subsequently notified that his wife was missing and returned home.
When police arrived, they observed a fine coat of red dust on the car's exterior, indicating that it had been driven down a dirt road. Inside the vehicle, they found Mary's panties, girdle, slip, bra and one of her stockings. All of the items had been neatly folded and placed on the console between the front bucket seats except for the bra and stocking on the floor. The stocking appeared to have been cut, most likely using a knife. Four bags of groceries, a packet of Kent cigarettes and empty Coke bottles were also found in the vehicle.
Blood was smeared on the steering wheel, the driver's side door near the handle, the inside window of the passenger's side, and the front seats. An unidentified fingerprint was found in the blood on the steering wheel. There was also blood speckled on the underwear. Testing indicated that the blood was probably Mary's. As there was only a small amount, equivalent to what might be caused by a nosebleed, this did not necessarily indicate that she had suffered a fatal wound.
It was later discovered that someone had placed a stolen license plate from Charlotte, North Carolina, on Mary's vehicle. Authorities believe that this may have been why security couldn't spot the car- it may have been there but wasn't recognized because the number plate was not the one that had been described to them.
Some police officers think that the scene in Mary's car may have been staged because of how the blood was smeared. This has not been confirmed or disproven.
On October 15, 1965, Mary's gasoline credit card was used twice in North Carolina. Once in an Esso station in Mary's hometown of Charlotte, the second time approximately 12 hours later at another Esso in Raleigh. When police spoke to the gas station attendant, they recalled seeing a frightened-looking woman with a gash on her head. She seemed to be trying to hide her face and was being ordered around by a man she was with. According to the gas station in Raleigh, a woman with blood on her legs and two men came in. Both attendants described the men or man as middle-aged and unshaven. The signatures on the credit slips read "Mrs. Roy H. Little Jr." and appeared to be in Mary's handwriting.
After the information regarding the credit slips was made public, a ransom demand of $20,000 was made to Roy over the phone. The caller demanded that he go to an overpass in the Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina, where he would find a sign with instructions for what to do next. An FBI agent went to the area, finding a blank sheet of paper stuck to the sign. Neither Roy nor the police were ever contacted by the alleged abductor again. The ransom demand is now considered a hoax, although this has never been entirely confirmed.
Investigators have conflicting theories about what might have happened to Mary. Some think she may have staged her disappearance and decided to start a new life elsewhere for unknown reasons. Others believe she was abducted. The second theory may be supported by the fact that another woman had been accosted by a man in the Lenox Square Shopping Centre shortly before Mary went missing.
Characteristics[]
- Light brown hair.
- Hazel-green eyes.
- Wore glasses.
- Discoloration on left arm.
- Smoked Kent cigarettes.
Clothing and accessories[]
- Olive-green cotton/dacron sheath dress with long sleeves and a print of small white flowers.
- White London Fog raincoat.
- Flats.
- Solitaire engagement ring.
- Platinum wedding ring.
- Yellow gold Women's College of the University of North Carolina class ring.
- Scarab bracelet.
Belongings[]
- Set of keys.
- Brown burlap and leather John Romain purse/handbag.
Exclusions[]
- Tucson Jane Doe (1965)
- Perry County Jane Doe (1979)
Gallery[]
