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
