If/when someone enters Huntsville they are going to know almost immediately that the town is full of prisons. Unless she was literally blindfolded and parachuted from a plane that landed her smack dab in the middle of Hitch'n Post parking lot, she likely would have known this.
So if she
were going to make up a story about who she was or what she was doing, I don’t think “I’m headed to the prison to see a friend” is too far fetched in this scenario. Now, “I need directions to the Ellis Unit” is an entirely different story. That’s very specific in this case. She
could have seen signs around that area indicating Ellis was close by, I’m not sure what “markers” were present back in 1980. Same with the Rockport/Port Aransas...she could have simply seen signs (if they were there).
What I’ve always wondered is this; if she
were going to a specific prison to see a specific person, even being a convicted felon, why hasn’t even the tiniest rumor surfaced from or about this person. Inmates are going to talk, even officers too. So I can’t think of any scenario where this mystery “boyfriend” would still be a mystery after 40 years. Could he have been responsible for her death? Could it have been a corrections officer? Could he have been a too-frightened-to-talk death row inmate? Could he be dead by now? The answer to all these, IMO, is ‘yes’! But that still doesn’t explain how not so much as a peep about his identity has ever been uttered over the years.
That makes me think that either the “visiting a friend, need directions” story was fabricated by WCJD herself, or it was made up/exaggerated by the witnesses. Yes, more than one of them said the same thing and one even said they drew a map for her, but again, 40 years and not a peep from these witnesses (including 2nd hand ones; products of the rumor mill). As I understand it, most of the witnesses are no longer living. Also, no concrete proof that such encounters took place. Someone mentioned ice cream (milkshake) showing up during her autopsy. That’s a perfect example and something that would give credibility to the account. Similar to the fruit that the Sumter Mystery Couple
did ingest; proven by the autopsy results.
Although not probable, for all we really know, the girl we call WCJD may not even be the girl witnesses described seeing at the Hitch'n Post and the gas station. So maybe a disheveled, bratty, 19-year-old girl
did speak with a waitress, get directions to the Ellis Unit, order and drink a milkshake, and then leave, never to be seen again. Maybe the girl seen that day looked like the photos of WCJD shown to the witnesses and they really believed it to be the same girl. Remember though, she had been severely beaten about the face and wouldn't have looked the same. Maybe no one at the prison recognized the girl in the photos because none of them had actually seen or met her before. They were after all shown postmortem photos.
Too many frustrating "why?"s and "what if?"s. It's been far too long to be asking the same questions. Someone knows this poor girl.
JMOO