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

[JacksonFentry]

I am in contact with the team that is working the case. If you have pertinent information, I can have someone get in touch with you.

How about detective Ponder from the FBI Atlanta office, and who was his best suspect as well ?. Ponder was haunted by never having solved this and must have had a ton of info and files before he passed way. The other associates of his called Det. Ponder " Jop " by the way.

 

[JacksonFentry]

Dear Solvist,
You make an interesting point about staging. You raise the possibility that MSL was abducted because a certain person, or persons, at C&S had reason to believe she might have been in possession of material information regarding unsavory, and probably illegal, activities at the bank. And so, this person, or persons, may have arranged to have her abducted. Rather than just killing her on the spot, or having her disappear without leaving any clue as to motive, her Comet is instead returned to the mall and parked with her blood smears inside, as well as her blood speckled underwear placed between the seats and on the floor. This placed evidence suggested the primary motive for her abduction was sexual, but consistent with your speculation, it was actually placed to obscure the fact her abductor(s) really wanted to find out what she (and perhaps others at C&S) knew before they killed her to ensure silence. If this was their true motive, then it would make sense to stage the car in such a way as to suggest a sex related motive for her abduction. It also allowed her abductors to buy time because if they intended to question her, she couldn’t be killed immediately. Presumably, as the car was returned with 41 unexplained miles, she was taken somewhere roughly a 20 mile radius from the Lenox parking lot to a location where she was kept, or more likely transferred to another car and driven to another location.

I have read the available articles and reports on this case over and over, but really can‘t find anything on the internet that would suggest criminal malfeasance or fraud on the part of C&S higher ups in the mid-1960’s. Perhaps this is just another theory that can never be proven, but I agree with you point that there is a strong likelihood that the Comet was parked and the condition of its interior was deliberately staged. The question then becomes why.

One question arises. Assuming that the above theory is true, after presumably bundling MSL off, likely into another car, why did they drive the Comet back to Lenox at some risk of being spotted rather than just abandon it elsewhere? Why was it so important to have the Comet discovered at Lenox shopping mall?


FS

There was a great deal of questions that began at the top of C&S Bank in January 1965. A Federal lawsuit was brought against the bank on a Sherman Act violation statute, and the bank of having monopolized the surrounding counties under their purchases of and doing business afterwards under and as C&S Bank. This lawsuit was brought about by several banks in the are after C&S made huge expansion in the other counties of metro Atlanta between January 1965 and 1971 or maybe 1972. According to law it would have been a direct violation of this statute preventing large banking to unfairly corner the market on other smaller banking entities. The Fed Justices ruled regardless for C&S Bank however, due to what the court justices majority ruled as too much time passing between the first expansion in Jan of 65 and up until the suit filed after such a long period of time had passed by 1972 before so. ??????????????. I read this public record yesterday. It is quite surprising that the allegedly same person and name of a well known Federal person who later became such a very well known name during one of the nations biggest scandals in history broke on the news in Washington DC. During the Nixon administration. This however is speculation on my part if its even the same person. But beginning in 1965 there was beginning to be such a huge influx of Federal dollars for construction coming into Atlanta it was incredible to see the figures. All of this is my opinion and I have no legal background however, so again it is only presented as thoughts on what I have read and not meant to be an accusation or to persuade someone having any guilt or not against anyone. you decide.

 

[Richard]

She has been missing for over 60 years.

 

[Markybug]

She has been missing for over 60 years.

Insane amount of time !

Is her husband still alive? Has he ever spoke about her case over the years?

 

[ms-t]

Her husband is still alive, but of course elderly now ... he lives in Florida and from what they said in the documentary, wants distance from the case at this point because it was such a difficult situation.

 

[dotr]

Mary Shotwell Little disappearance

Clipping found in The High Point Enterprise published in High Point, North Carolina on 11/21/1965. Mary Shotwell Little disappearance

www.newspapers.com

 

[JacksonFentry]

After some more consideration I have to agree with you this most likely had something to do with Mary's job at the bank.i dont't think it was any coincidence that her husband was in training to be a bank examiner, the very person whose job it is to report misconduct at a bank. Could someone have not wanted him to complete that training?
I think it is unlikely that Mary was abducted from the mall but probably met someone that night. I feel like she was gonna use the groceries as an excuse to not stay long. Now these are just some thoughts but neatly folded clothes makes me think of doing laundry (money laundering) and a half cut stocking makes me think of a bank robber with it over his head. The stolen tag and purchase in Charlotte could have been a warning to the Shotwell family just in case Mary had said anything to them about something. The tag was probably only used during the purchases and then switched back to the rightful one. The receipts were signed in the husbands name and I wonder if Mary always did this. Maybe she did but if not could this be a warning shot at him?
I believe Mary was murdered shortly after signing the receipt in Raleigh. The perps mission was complete and I think they headed straight back to the Atlanta area. No need to chance bringing Mary back, I believe she was disposed of somewhere just south of Raleigh probably not far off the southbound lane of 85. If her disposal was as well planned as the rest the site was most likely prepared and waiting.
I also have some questions about Marys car being returned to the mall and the way her boss acted that morning and then there's the fact that whoever returned the car took the keys. Now taking the keys could just possibly have been habit or to make sure the car wasn't moved or stolen before it was discovered but for some reason I get the feeling there may have been something else on a key chain that someone really wanted.
And I do think the Diane Shields case is connected. She told at least one person that she was working as an informant and I tend to believe it but it doesn't neccesarily matter if it was true because if she was telling this to people then that could be enough to get her killed. Her car was found in the parking lot of a dry cleaners (more laundry) and then there's the cookbook in the trunk. Cooking the books anyone? There is a picture back on this thread of the car and it was placed directly beneath a no parking sign. Could that also have a meaning? I don't know but that's enough thoughts and feelings for now.

JMO

Psychological profilers could probably do well to read your well thought out and certainly worthy of a modern FBI profile. There was indeed the beginnings of major irregular banking practices being looked into starting early in the year 1965. So much government guaranteed loan money pouring into the city and state for federal road building and infrastructure during these years. Also several banking locations were already operated as branches yet somehow not fully owned by C&S Bank of Atlanta in other Metro Atlanta counties. They had began to fall under the outright ownership as majority shareholders in The C&S Bank in Fulton County Atlanta began absorbing these out of county branches, though named and operating as C&S branch independently owned in other counties. But other large banking institutions claimed these purchases created unfair banking practices.The Federal Government created the Sherman Act years before to stop such monopolies from occurring in the banking institutions. It took the Government until the mid 1970s to finally bring it's suit against the C&S Bank of Atlanta. Which it lost btw. Filings were not done in a timely manner, statute of limitations claims, etc. Eyebrows can be raised when looking back on the players in all of this be they on the side of the state or plaintiff's. Did Mary know something or was this way above her knowledge to know about these at all at her pay grade ?. Did it have anything or nothing to do with her disappearance ?. Money is a corrupting force in many situations, and that is a truth that cannot be denied.

 

[T rex]

Psychological profilers could probably do well to read your well thought out and certainly worthy of a modern FBI profile. There was indeed the beginnings of major irregular banking practices being looked into starting early in the year 1965. So much government guaranteed loan money pouring into the city and state for federal road building and infrastructure during these years. Also several banking locations were already operated as branches yet somehow not fully owned by C&S Bank of Atlanta in other Metro Atlanta counties. They had began to fall under the outright ownership as majority shareholders in The C&S Bank in Fulton County Atlanta began absorbing these out of county branches, though named and operating as C&S branch independently owned in other counties. But other large banking institutions claimed these purchases created unfair banking practices.The Federal Government created the Sherman Act years before to stop such monopolies from occurring in the banking institutions. It took the Government until the mid 1970s to finally bring it's suit against the C&S Bank of Atlanta. Which it lost btw. Filings were not done in a timely manner, statute of limitations claims, etc. Eyebrows can be raised when looking back on the players in all of this be they on the side of the state or plaintiff's. Did Mary know something or was this way above her knowledge to know about these at all at her pay grade ?. Did it have anything or nothing to do with her disappearance ?. Money is a corrupting force in many situations, and that is a truth that cannot be denied.

I don't know if Mary would have had any knowledge of something on that level but if the bank was corrupt at the top then it was corrupt all the way through as far as I'm concerned. I was thinking more along the lines of some shady dealings between the bank and some of it's customers. I always thought someone was sending a message and if the Diane Shields murder is connected then apparently they felt like the message hadn't been received. If a woman gone missing didn't get the message across then maybe a woman in a trunk would do the trick.