Okay, so I spent the last couple days really researching this and creating my own file on Tiger Lady from the sources I found.
Prepare to read your eyes out.
My theories range from the Grateful Dead concert to sex slavery to just having a mental illness.
THEORIES:
1. Tiger Lady went to the Grateful Dead concert in Madison Square Garden, took a ride with someone to (or through) New Jersey, and was killed by the driver
She could have taken a train to the concert, or a bus, or a taxi. Then she could have become enamored with someone from the concert and was offered a ride back to New Jersey (or Pennsylvania even – people travel far for concerts, and Warren County borders Pennsylvania). An altercation could have occurred, or the driver developed a malicious intent. The lack of any signs of sexual assault could point to a different motive (argument, psychotic reasoning, robbery, etc.)
Drawbacks: Okay, maybe the tiger on her calf and on Jerry Garcia's guitar is a stretch – they don't look THAT similar. There's also the major lack of signs of injury. This is also assuming she didn't have her own car, of course. The assumption is iffy. On one hand, she could have been 17 or 18 – just barely old enough to even get her own car. If she had used a family car, we would have heard something from that. On the other hand, she could have very well have owned her own car had she been 20 or even 21. Gas was cheaper back then and people liked road trips, although going on a road trip alone is generally unfavorable. Plus, she couldn't have arrived with a friend, since that friend would return empty-handed and we would have heard a peep out of them or their surrounding friends. It could also be possible that she hitched a ride to the concert with a stranger and returned with that same stranger, who developed a malicious intent.
2. Tiger Lady went to The Grateful Dead concert, returned with a stranger, but died from some medical condition on the way back, and the stranger left her body at the rest stop.
Heart condition maybe? A sudden allergic reaction? There can be many possibilities here.
Drawbacks: Again, maybe she didn't go to the concert at all, and the tiger resemblance might just be a coincidence. Also, it could be more likely that forensics, especially now with modern technology, would have found evidence of a medical condition.
3. Tiger Lady was the victim of the same murderer of Princess Doe in 1982 and an unidentified man in 1976 (both in Warren County).
Drawbacks: The time frame is too long time for these murders to be connected. If anything, Princess Doe of 1982 may be linked, being that it was a young girl, but the time frame there is 9 years. On the other hand, the fact that these three deaths occurred in the same area and the bodies were unrecognizable can support the idea that the murderer knew how to handle the bodies in order to not be caught. But also, the death of Princess Doe is much different than Tiger Lady; Princess Doe, for one, was still clothed. I cannot find any info on the unidentified man in 1976 other than it was mentioned in some of the links about Tiger Lady.
4. The hunters who found Tiger Lady were the ones who murdered her (or someone in the group did)
Drawbacks: That's kind of stupid . . . and yet not at the same time. But there are no bullet wounds or any other signs of trauma.
5. Tiger Lady was a sex slave in a human trafficking ring and was murdered and dumped at the rest stop.
This could explain why none of the interviews at gentlemen's clubs brought up anything – she was part of a deep trafficking ring.
Drawbacks: If she had been trafficked, she would most likely have had obvious injuries if somebody wanted to get rid of her. Also, human traffickers wouldn't leave the corpse of one of their workers lying there in a rest stop. That would be really foolish, too foolish for a trafficking ring or group. Sex slaves would more likely be buried; made sure to never be seen again. Also, if killed by a stranger and not one of her employers, she would be hard-pressed to leave her place of work to hitch a ride with a man.
6. Tiger Lady was being transported as a sex slave in a truck, escaped the truck at the rest stop, but was too emaciated to run away.
Hrm. That could work. She could have been a sex slave for some indefinite amount of time beforehand. While transporting her, the driver had to stop at the rest area. It would most likely very late at night. Tiger Lady slipped out of the truck and hid in the woods. However, she was probably already very emaciated, already close to death. She passed out and died on the spot, succumbing to the elements. Remember the witnesses saw a jade green truck that was either a Marmon or Wester Star parked right in front of where the body was found. These are both very big transport trucks – perfect for transporting sex slaves. The driver maybe returned to the spot to try and figure out where she could have gone, but then saw her dead body and quickly left.
Drawbacks: Usually sex slaves are drugged up, and the autopsies did not reveal any evidence of drugs or alcohol. On the contrary, not all human trafficking is sexual, however they could be less likely. Also, would she really be the only sex slave in the truck?
7. Tiger Lady was not murdered. She could have come from a low income family who did not care much for her, got lost naked because she suffered some mental illness, and succumbed to the elements.
Okay, so the official autopsy declared it a homicide. But let's say they are wrong, because after all – there were no signs of injury. They never really said why they ruled it a homicide, but my guess is that Tiger Lady being naked made them conclude that someone stole her clothes to hide evidence or that the murder was sexual in nature. But something that struck me was the crooked teeth. People raised in poor conditions tend to have crooked, bad teeth. She could have come from a very low income, broken family, or could have even been kicked out of her home. An explanation to her nakedness could also be that she had some sort of mental illness. She ran off or wandered off and eventually succumbed to the elements. Warren County can be a very isolated (and strange) area – my girlfriend and I once wandered into Blairstown from Walpack, which is in the neighboring Sussex County. This is also 1991 we're talking about here – NJ was not as densely populated as it is currently in 2015.
Drawbacks: Wouldn't the mental illness be somehow detected by forensics in her brain? Not necessarily mental retardation, but some other clue in the structure compared to people with other mental illnesses? Also, we would have to assume that the family from whence she came from is so cruel that they pretty much did not care about her at all and have kept quiet all these years. Wouldn't someone who knew them have brought something up?
OBSERVATIONS:
Madison Square Garden, NY to Knowlton, NJ takes about 1 hour and 17 minutes, according to Google Maps, which is approximately 65.6 miles. To drive from Madison Square Garden to Knowlton, one would take I-280 West and then I-80 West, where ultimately Tiger Lady was found. Another way is to take I-80 West directly, which Google Maps says is merely a minute less than taking I-280 first. A third way is to take I-95 South to I-78 West, and then reach I-80 West; this supposedly takes 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Given the above directions from Google Maps, it's plausible for Tiger Lady to have been a Grateful Dead fan, attended the Grateful Dead concert in Madison Square Garden, and ended up on I-80 in Knowlton, NJ. These routes are reasonable main highways that one would use to enter New Jersey from New York City. Madison Square Garden is very close to the Lincoln Tunnel, which is what all three routes go through in order to quickly reach I-80 West.
None of the sources though specify which direction of I-80 Tiger Lady was found on. If west, the Grateful Dead concert theory could hold more water, since it is heading from New York City. If east, it is unlikely that Tiger Lady would have been murdered before attending the concert, and therefore the Grateful Dead concert theory could crumble.
If I've gotten any of the facts wrong or left out anything, please correct me.
but I'm willing to do what I can to help others out.
