GA GA - Diane Shields, 22, strangled, beaten, found in car trunk, East Point, Atlanta, 19 May 1967

[dotr]

10/25/2019
Exclusive: A possible crack in the cold cases of Mary Shotwell Little and Diane Shields
''ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) – After years of endless tips and dead ends CBS46's crime scene investigator Sheryl 'Mac' McCollum said she's one-step closer to finding Diane Shields killer.''

''In 1967, the 22-year-old receptionist was found strangled and beaten beyond recognition, crammed inside the trunk of her car.

“Her fiancé literally had to identify her by the engagement ring and the dress she was wearing,” said.

Mac has been investigating this case for 15 years with some of the city's most prolific cold case experts, including licensed private detective, John Fedack.

“You go through reports. You go on the internet. I've called people in California and Sea Island. And people in Canada,” said Fedack. “There was nothing in the files that just jumped out until our colleagues came up with some information.”

Shields’ death is woven into the fabric of Atlanta's dark folklore: a pretty, young blonde, engaged to be married, last seen leaving work in her Chevy Impala.

But she never made it home.

“All the men wanted her, and all the women wanted to be her,” Mac said.

Her murder happened just 18 months after Atlanta's most notorious missing person's case: Mary Shotwell Little.''

''Although the women never met, they're connected by coincidence and immortalized in conspiracy theories revolving around sex scandals and hits by a lesbian mafia.

After Little disappeared, Shields took her secretary job at Citizens and Southern Bank – even sitting at Little's old desk and rooming with her former roommates.

Now 52 years later, Mac is convinced the alleged killer is hiding in plain sight – right here in metro Atlanta.''
THREAD for MARY SHOTWELL..
GA - GA - Mary Shotwell Little, 25, Atlanta, 14 Oct 1965


Monument Multi-Media

 

[dotr]

5 Roses, 2 women: Finding Diane
Author: Jessica Noll
June 2, 2019

11Alive.com
''EAST POINT, Ga. -- Diane Shields left her office just after 5 p.m., but she still had not returned home after midnight, and worry gnaws at her sister and fiance.

At 3 a.m., East Point Police officers, Grady Henderson and W.M. Wilson call in to dispatch to report finding a dead woman in the trunk of Diane's car. Officer Jones, Capt. J.W. Stubbs, Capt. L.M. Banks, Capt. H.A. Rickerson, Lt. L.D. Shipp and Lt. Roberts are called to the scene.''

''He observes the blue 1963 Chevrolet two-door hardtop Super Sports Impala parked in the driveway beside the building at the rear of the laundry mat, facing outward to Sylvan Road, with the passenger’s side of the car next to the building.

The window on the driver’s side is down. The passenger’s side sun visor is down and all the way against the windshield, and the driver’s side visor is pushed down vertically.

The trunk is wide open.

As he peers into the trunk, the investigator notices an opened cardboard box on the left side, with a Betty Crocker’s “New Dinner for Two” cookbook sitting on top. The cover illustrates a romantic, candle-lit dinner for two.

Between the box and a spare tire is Diane’s folded body—her left hand donning her shiny engagement ring.

She is on her back, face up, with her legs flexed at the hip and knees. Her thighs are folded up against her chest and her legs are crossed at her ankles.
And she has been brutally beaten and strangled''.

''She is fully dressed, wearing an olive-green jumper-type dress and a white top with olive-green trim on top and pantyhose—but barefoot.

Blood that once oozed down the side of her chin, now stains her mouth with a deep red. And a piece of cloth that once likely soaked up the blood, saliva and screams just hours earlier, is left protruding from her mouth.''

''The medical examiner reports her cause of death as strangulation, or asphyxia due to ligature, caused by a phone wire or venetian blind cord placed around her neck and squeezed tightly.

Further, he notes that a paper towel and a head scarf are shoved in her mouth and down her throat—and her left ear is severely torn.''

''The Diane Shields’ murder case and the Mary Shotwell Little’s missing persons case have gone cold for more than 50 years. Detectives have come and gone—investigated, retired and died, before ever getting to the truth.

Do you know what happened?

If you have any information on either of these cases, contact the Atlanta Police Department, at (404) 614-6544, East Point Police Department, at (404) 761-2177, or the FBI Atlanta office, at (770) 216-3000.

You can also reach out to Crime Stoppers, at (404) 577-TIPS.''

 

[dotr]

Nov 2019
CSI Atlanta exclusive: Could a creepy caller be the link to finding Diane Shields’ killer?
''ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) – A mysterious, creepy phone call could change everything in two of Atlanta's most notorious cold cases – one woman murdered. Another missing.

CBS46’s crime scene investigator Sheryl 'Mac' McCollum believes the man behind the voice likely killed Diane Shields.''

''No matter who talks about Diane Shields this person contacts them almost immediately,” she said.''
''For 50 years, he called on the day Mary Shotwell Little disappeared. And the day Shields was found murdered.
Both were her friends.
The caller never said a word.
Until one night, he said something that shook Webb to her core.
“When he said to me ‘well, I guess she was just stringing me along huh?” said Webb. “I may have misinterpreted that but to me it sounds like I'm pissed.”

“Whoever put her car here was concealing her, not hiding her and to me that's a big difference,” said Mac.''
''Mac’s been investigating the case for 15 years and said the killer's friendly interactions with Shields' later turned into an obsession.''
''The caller – a man who never gave his name – told cbs46 he dated Shields and mentioned intimate details about her investigation that were only detailed in the case files''.
''He also said he knew where to find missing evidence in the case that has been lost for decades.''

 

[dotr]

•Nov 11, 2019

 

[Richard]

Here is a link to the Websleuths thread on Mary Shotwell Little, who is went missing 14 October 1965. Diane's murder is discussed in the thread as possibly being linked to Mary's disappearance.

LINK:
GA - GA - Mary Shotwell Little, 25, Atlanta, 14 Oct 1965

 

[kh_1975]

10/25/2019
Exclusive: A possible crack in the cold cases of Mary Shotwell Little and Diane Shields
''ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) – After years of endless tips and dead ends CBS46's crime scene investigator Sheryl 'Mac' McCollum said she's one-step closer to finding Diane Shields killer.''

''In 1967, the 22-year-old receptionist was found strangled and beaten beyond recognition, crammed inside the trunk of her car.

“Her fiancé literally had to identify her by the engagement ring and the dress she was wearing,” said.

Mac has been investigating this case for 15 years with some of the city's most prolific cold case experts, including licensed private detective, John Fedack.

“You go through reports. You go on the internet. I've called people in California and Sea Island. And people in Canada,” said Fedack. “There was nothing in the files that just jumped out until our colleagues came up with some information.”

Shields’ death is woven into the fabric of Atlanta's dark folklore: a pretty, young blonde, engaged to be married, last seen leaving work in her Chevy Impala.

But she never made it home.

“All the men wanted her, and all the women wanted to be her,” Mac said.

Her murder happened just 18 months after Atlanta's most notorious missing person's case: Mary Shotwell Little.''

''Although the women never met, they're connected by coincidence and immortalized in conspiracy theories revolving around sex scandals and hits by a lesbian mafia.

After Little disappeared, Shields took her secretary job at Citizens and Southern Bank – even sitting at Little's old desk and rooming with her former roommates.

Now 52 years later, Mac is convinced the alleged killer is hiding in plain sight – right here in metro Atlanta.''
THREAD for MARY SHOTWELL..
GA - GA - Mary Shotwell Little, 25, Atlanta, 14 Oct 1965


Monument Multi-Media

Thank you for creating the new thread. Hopefully, we can get some new information here.

 

[Richard]

Diane Shields, 22, Murdered 19 May 1967

 

[Richard]

Diane Shields, age 22
Murdered 19 May 1967

Diane's 1963 Chevrolet.

Diane's body was found in the trunk of her car.

LINK:

The Mystery of Mary Shotwell Little and The Murder of Diane Shields : Two of Atlanta’s Most…

 

[dotr]

Cold Case Atlanta | Diane Shields | Monument Multi-Media
''Photo & Excerpt from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sunday, March 21, 2004 by Jim Auchmutey, Gerdeen Dyer and Pat Koester)
May 19, 1967, Shields left work in her blue and white Chevy Impala. She never made it home.

Diane Shields was a pretty blond secretary from Gunterville, Alabama. Transferred into personnel after Little vanished, she occupied Mary’s old desk and befriended her former colleagues. For a time, she roomed with some of them in their Buckhead duplex. She eventually moved out to live with her sister in College Park and took a job as a receptionist with another company downtown.

On May 19, 1967, Shields left work in her blue and white Chevy Impala. She never made it home.

East Point Police spotted the car at 2:30am near the drive-in window of a laundry on Sylvan road. Bloods was dripping from the rear end. Finding the keys in the ignition, they opened the trunk to discover Shields’ body crammed upside down between a spare tire and a cardboard box. Amon other things, the box contained a copy of “Betty Crocker’s New Dinner for Two”; the receptionist had planned to marry in July.

Shields was fully clothed and had not been sexually assaulted. Nor had she been robbed. She was still wearing a diamond engagement ring. A scarf and a piece of paper had been stuffed down her throat, as if to silence her.

ATLANTA COLD CASE
Victim: Diane Shields (Engaged to be married)
Murdered: May 19, 1967 leaving work.
Originally replaced Mary Shotwell Little position, Mary had at the Citizens & Southern National Bank.
Age: 22''
''Ponder thought the similarities in the Little and Shields cases were mere coincidence. On his recommendation, the FBI stayed out of the second investigation.

Most of the police who worked the homicide disagreed with his assessment. To this day, Melvin Banks, East Point’s chief detective on the case, believes that someone implicated in the internal investigation at C&S was responsible for Shields’ death. “They’re connected, no question,” he says. But East Point was never able to make an arrest. As with Little, the case file is nowhere to be found.''

"There was one other potential connection between Shields and Little that was never reported. Shields told her closest friend back home in Guntersville that she was working undercover with police trying to solve the disappearance of a woman named Mary. “They want me to work with them so we can close this case,” Gail Husbands recalls her saying.

Others recall that Shields was uncharacteristically secretive in the months before she died, not showing up for appointments and vanishing for hours without explanation. None of the surviving detectives knows of any involvement by Shields in the Little investigation.

Perhaps, Jack Perry, Atlanta’s lead on the case, gave her his card and asked her to keep her eyes open, since she was working in Little’s office and living with Little’s roommates. Perhaps he asked her to do more. He never said.''

 

[dotr]

Sept 14 2022

The Mary Shotwell Little Case, Chapter Two; The Experts Weigh In -

First, the latest news on the case. We have been authorized to share that law enforcement recently became involved in the case. There is potential new evidence and a possibility that new technology may also be able to gain additional information from some of the older evidence. As we can, we...

thesouthernvoice.com

''Diane Shields told a childhood friend, Gail Husbands, that she was working with police to solve the Mary Shotwell Little case. The coincidence of her murder after she had held the same job as Mary seems long odds to be a coincidence.​

East Point police detective, assigned to investigate the Shields case, said of the Shields and Little cases, “They’re connected, no question.”​

He was quoted as saying that he believed someone implicated in the internal C&S investigation was responsible.​

The condition of Diane’s body led police to suspect that the victim knew her. It was a violent death, with a heavy strike to the back of her skull, strangulation estimated to be five times what was necessary to kill her, and she had a scarf and pages from the Atlanta phone book shoved down her throat. She showed no evidence of a sexual assault. Her body was folded and stuffed into the trunk of her car.​

Diane was considered a beautiful woman and was wearing a very distinct outfit on the day she was murdered. After canvassing the area near her office and where Diane’s body was found, no one remembered seeing her. For her to be apprehended, she would almost have to have stopped someplace, but the police could never determine any stops that she made. There were few businesses in the area that would have been logical for her to stop. Drawings of Diane in her outfit were run in the Atlanta Journal, but no usable information was developed.​

A suspect was interviewed who hailed a cab near the location of Diane’s car around the time it was discovered, but authorities never were able to come up with evidence tying him to the murder.''​

 

[Frank Smith]

Sept 14 2022

The Mary Shotwell Little Case, Chapter Two; The Experts Weigh In -

First, the latest news on the case. We have been authorized to share that law enforcement recently became involved in the case. There is potential new evidence and a possibility that new technology may also be able to gain additional information from some of the older evidence. As we can, we...

thesouthernvoice.com

View attachment 368781

''Diane Shields told a childhood friend, Gail Husbands, that she was working with police to solve the Mary Shotwell Little case. The coincidence of her murder after she had held the same job as Mary seems long odds to be a coincidence.​

East Point police detective, assigned to investigate the Shields case, said of the Shields and Little cases, “They’re connected, no question.”​

He was quoted as saying that he believed someone implicated in the internal C&S investigation was responsible.​

The condition of Diane’s body led police to suspect that the victim knew her. It was a violent death, with a heavy strike to the back of her skull, strangulation estimated to be five times what was necessary to kill her, and she had a scarf and pages from the Atlanta phone book shoved down her throat. She showed no evidence of a sexual assault. Her body was folded and stuffed into the trunk of her car.​

Diane was considered a beautiful woman and was wearing a very distinct outfit on the day she was murdered. After canvassing the area near her office and where Diane’s body was found, no one remembered seeing her. For her to be apprehended, she would almost have to have stopped someplace, but the police could never determine any stops that she made. There were few businesses in the area that would have been logical for her to stop. Drawings of Diane in her outfit were run in the Atlanta Journal, but no usable information was developed.​

A suspect was interviewed who hailed a cab near the location of Diane’s car around the time it was discovered, but authorities never were able to come up with evidence tying him to the murder.''​

"They're connected, no question."

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up...

 

[dotr]

May 19, 2023
'A young woman vanished from the parking lot of Lenox Square Mall, and the woman who replaced her at work was found murdered. Her body was stuffed in the trunk of her car. What happened to Mary Shotwell Little and Diane Shields'

 

[Markybug]

The (if true)information that she told a friend she was working to solve Mary’s murder is puzzling, due to police stating it was not the case. Could a policeman/detective who was actually involved in Mary’s disappearance been using Diane to see what people knew?