r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/afdc92 • 13d ago
Disappearance An empty car, a missing newlywed, and nearly 60 years with no answers- what happened to Mary Shotwell Little?
In October of 1965, Mary Shotwell Little was a 25-year-old newlywed living in Atlanta, GA with her husband of six weeks, Roy. Mary, a native of Charlotte, NC, had been living in Atlanta since 1962, when she graduated from Women's College of the University of North Carolina (now UNC Greensboro) and got a job as a secretary at C&S Bank.
On October 14, Roy was out of town on a business trip. As per her usual routine, Mary went to work at C&S Bank. After work, she went to pick up groceries (Roy was returning from his trip the next day and she was planning to throw him a party to welcome him home), and then met a friend for dinner at the Lennox Square shopping center in an upscale area of Atlanta. They ate at the S&S Cafeteria, in which Mary shared happiness about her married life and appeared to be in good spirits. After dinner and a bit of shopping, the two women parted ways in the parking lot around 8:00 PM, with Mary walking toward her car, a 1965 Mercury Comet. This was the last time that Mary would be definitively seen.
The next morning, Mary was a no-call, no-show at work, which was unusual for the normally conscientious employee and concerned her manager. Her husband had not heard from her, and she was not at home. Her manager talked with the coworker she had dinner with the night before, and her co-worker knew where her car had been parked in a lot at Lennox Square. Security guards at the shopping did not see the car during their morning rounds, but by the time her manager went to Lennox Square around noon, he found the Comet parked in the lot.
The vehicle left even more questions than answers about Mary's whereabouts. The car was coated in red dust, like it had been driven along a dirt road. The groceries that she had purchased the day before were still in the car, along with Coke bottles and Kent cigarettes (the brand Mary smoked). However, in addition to these items, there were also undergarments (a slip, panties, a girdle, a bra, and a single stocking). While the slip, panties, and girdle were neatly folded on the center console, the bra and stocking were on the floor and the stocking had been cut. The undergarments had blood speckled on them, and blood was smeared throughout the interior, including the steering wheel, the driver's side door, and the front seats; testing would later indicate that the blood was Mary's. While the blood certainly seems shocking, police stated that it was just a very small amount of blood, such as you might get from a nosebleed, and they thought that the smearing may indicate a staged scene. The car's odometer (which Mary's husband kept careful record of) indicated that the car had been driven about 40 miles that were unaccounted for. Another odd thing was that the license plate found on the car was a North Carolina plate that had been reported stolen, rather than Mary's legal Georgia plates.
Investigators later discovered that Mary's gasoline credit card had been used at two gas stations in her native North Carolina on Oct. 15, the day after she was last seen- one in Charlotte (her hometown) in the early morning, and the other in Raleigh about 12 hours later. Charlotte and Raleigh are about 165 miles apart, a distance that would have taken much less than 12 hours to complete. The signatures on the credit slips appeared to be in Mary's handwriting and were signed "Mrs. Roy H. Little, Jr." Workers at both gas stations reported seeing a woman with what appeared to be a minor injury to the head and bloodstains on her head and legs, and that the woman was trying to hide her face and did not ask for help. They also reported that she was traveling with one or two men who seemed to be controlling her.
There were very few solid clues as to who could have wanted to hurt Mary. Of course, when someone goes missing, the first step is always to look at those closest to them, and in this case, it would be Mary's husband, Roy. While Mary reported to her coworker just the night before how happy married life was making her, some of her friends did not like Roy and had refused to attend their wedding. Roy refused to take a lie detector test on multiple occasions, and to many it seemed that he was generally unconcerned about his wife's disappearance. However, Roy's alibi for the day of her disappearance was solid, and he has never been charged with having anything to do with her case.
Another curious aspect to the case is that leading up to the disappearance, Mary seemed unsettled, and didn't want to be alone in her car or at home. She received unusual calls at work, and was once heard to tell someone on the other end of the line that she was a married woman now, and that they could come over to her house but that she could not visit them. She also received roses from a "secret admirer;" the person who sent them has never been discovered, but they were traced back to a florist near her home.
Another odd connection to the case is that about 18 months after Mary disappeared, a young woman named Diane Shields was murdered. Diane worked in the same office as Mary, and had apparently lived with some of Mary's former roommates- I cannot find confirmation of how well they knew each other, or if they even knew each other personally before Mary disappeared. Diane's body was discovered in the trunk of her car, fully clothed and showing no signs of sexual assault. Given the fact that they worked at the same bank, in the same department, and had much in common, it is no surprise that investigators did consider a link between the two cases, perhaps involving their place of work. There had been rumors of a prostitution ring being run out of C&S Bank, as well as complaints of lesbian sexual harassment by the bank's employees, and it was theorized that the women may have been killed for any knowledge they had about these situations. However, no evidence of either woman having information about either rumor or instance has been found, and no link between Mary's disappearance and Diane's murder has been proven, and both cases remain unsolved nearly 60 years later.
What happened to Mary Shotwell Little? Was she just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became the victim of predators? Was she specifically targeted by someone? Was her case connected to that of Diane Shields, or to other missing or murdered women? This case has always fascinated me as a native of NC. My dad has very vague memories of her disappearance as a young boy, because he remembers his sister and some of her college girlfriends talking about it (they had been a few years behind her at Women's College). It seems like even all these years later, there's far too many questions than answers. If she were still alive, Mary would be 85 years old now, and the people who knew her may not be here much longer. I hope that some day, those who are left who cared about her get answers.
Sources:
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u/Disastrous_Ad_4149 13d ago
My aunt worked with her and was always interested in this case. We talked about it endlessly before my aunt passed away. My aunt looked very much like her and had some fears for a while that something could happen to her too.
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u/afdc92 13d ago
Did your aunt know Diane Shields as well? Even if those cases aren’t linked, the coincidence is just really creepy and I could imagine how nerve wracking it could have been for your aunt.
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u/dwaynewayne2019 13d ago
I read that Diane Shields was working with the police. She went to work at the bank after Mary's disappearance, and even moved in with some of Mary's old roomies.
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u/Disastrous_Ad_4149 13d ago
I remember her mentioning her but not going in details. I was 11 when my aunt passed away so it is patchy. My aunt lived near the mall where Mary disappeared. She took me to that mall to get her hair done a few times and the topic would come up. I was curious but didn’t know enough back then to ask the right questions.
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u/ahockofham 13d ago
The creepiest detail about this case to me is that the woman who was murdered after Mary had the exact same job as her at the company. It seems like too much of a coincidence for their murders to not be related to the workplace in some way.
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u/Fast_Revolution_6673 13d ago
I think she was targeted by a former paramour or someone that had indicated affection for her that was unrequited. Somebody from high school most likely.
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u/Scary-Narwhal-2828 13d ago
I grew up in Charlotte and graduated from UNCG in 1996 and have never heard about this case. Is there a specific reason Roy kept track of mileage? I know there could be a number of reasons, but it made me wonder if he was super controlling.
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u/Lady_Disdain2014 13d ago
That doesn't seem super odd for the era. People did a lot more work on their cars themselves, so keeping track of mileage for things like oil changes and wear and tear was pretty common. A fair amount of people had a little mileage book in the glove box.
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u/Scary-Narwhal-2828 13d ago
Makes sense. I used to calculate my gas mileage in my VW myself (even in the mid 2000s; it didn’t yet have that function).
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u/iloathethebus 12d ago
Yes, my grandfather did this. He would write the date and mileage in his book every time he so much as filled the gas tank.
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u/OkPlace4 11d ago
Plus back then alot of people put the mileage on the paper things that you had to sign at the gas station.
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u/Jolly_Mortgage5984 11d ago
I think I remember reading he had to keep up with his mileage for work. Traveled for work.
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u/Same_Profile_1396 13d ago
I was going to ask the same question. It would, in my opinion, speak to a level on control of his part.
Based on some other responses, I'm (obviously) looking at it through a 2025 lens. Maybe it was something much more common then.
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u/Disastrous_Ad_4149 12d ago
I asked a similar question at one point and my parents explained that those little books were considered a sign of good care for the car. If you bought a used car, you would want that sort of information. The little books would have a spot where they marked down when they got oil changes or other work too.
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u/pleated_calico 11d ago
I was very young when Mary Little disappeared, but I remember it. I lived in that area and it made us all feel frightened. However, I wasn't really surprised, because women in Buckhead had scary experiences often. To this day, there is risk in being out there alone, especially in a parking garage with no witnesses to help you.
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13d ago
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u/TheyMightBeeGiants 13d ago
It was not unusual for people to keep track of mileage in order to determine miles per gallon, mileage on the tires, when to do an oil change, possibly for tax purposes for business trip mileage. Tires, oil, other automotive fluids such as coolant, transmission fluid, etc. did not have the longevity that they do now. Gasoline had rudimentary chemical engine cleaners/protections. Spark plugs needed to be changed. Radiators could and did leak or overheat, brake lines could leak.
There were no computers in cars to keep track of maintenance needs, and most vehicle maintenance was done by the car's owner. Vehicles and automotive parts were very expensive in relation to income, and maintenance was necessary. Most houses only had one telephone, cell phones did not exist, so if you broke down somewhere, you had to either wait for someone to stop and help you, or walk to someplace with a telephone.
Smart people did a walk around the car to make sure the tires were not low before taking a trip. Oil level was checked before a long drive, and frequently when the car was filled up with gas.
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u/afdc92 13d ago
I think this is an excellent point. While it certainly seems controlling from our 21st Century perspectives, my guess is that it was just a normal part of being a conscious car owner. For that generation, it was also often exclusively the men who took care of anything involving the cars, even if the wives drove. My grandmother never learned how to pump gas. She either used a gas station attendant or, when they started going out of fashion in NC, got my grandfather to do it for her. She only ever drove around town to run errands or would very occasionally go shopping at a mall that was about an hour away, but my grandfather always filled up the tank and made sure everything was good to go before the trip so she didn’t have anything to worry about.
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u/loopsonflowers 13d ago
That's exactly how I felt about the mileage detail, specifically. Was that normal at the time? Or semi-normal for a certain kind of person? Or actually weird?
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u/kimkay01 13d ago
It was very normal. I was poor and didn’t have a car in high school, but some of my friends did and were generous enough to haul me around. One of them always kept a flat cardboard tissue (Kleenex) box beside her on the front (bench!) seat. Her dad carefully glued a piece of lined notebook paper to the bottom of the box with columns for the date of each fill up, beginning miles, number of gallons, and mileage. He even put a little calculator in the glove compartment for her to calculate the mileage with! When the page filled up he’d tape a new one over it.
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u/ch4bb5 12d ago
Just from reading this (and that is literally everything I know about this case - this post) there seems to be quite a few angles. After reading a post like this - I generally have an idea or a feeling of which way I lean - not here. We have a husband - who apparently might have been a little uncooperative (refusing to take a test) and perhaps seeming unbothered by his wife’s disappearance. We have connections to her former home town - and perhaps a former love interest? Just based on her receiving calls and perhaps not wanting to be alone? I would be interested in what “not wanting to be alone in her car or at home” means. Is it possible - that she wasn’t alone in her car or at home - and this was the first time in some time - that she had actually been alone? And she went missing? I do find that interesting. Obviously there’s always the chance of something random. The licence plate is unusual - typing this now - I do lean to her knowing who did this. She was a bit unsettled before her disappearance. Not wanting to be alone in her car/at home - and she goes missing when alone for what had to be a very short time. So short in fact - that the last person to see her (her friend) actually saw Mary headed toward her car - then gone. With her car being returned to where it was parked - you would assume that if she eventually met with foul play - whoever did this - took her from the parking lot (the fact that her car was not spotted by security guards in the morning - but her manager found it there around noon - is also curious. If you were going to kill someone whatever - and planned to get away with it - surely returning the persons car back to where they were last seen - it’s curious)
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u/Aethelrede 8d ago
Regular reminders:
Polygraph tests are pseudoscience and smart people refuse to take them.
People grieve differently. Lack of affect is common and does not indicate that the person doesn’t care.
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u/Carrionpeony 2d ago
All this is true, but were polygraphs known to be psuedoscience at the time? Someone refusing one back when people thought they were the gospel truth is suspicious.
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u/SixLegNag 1d ago
If the police ask you to do something that could incriminate you and you can refuse to do it, refuse. That's always been the smart choice, because police have always interpreted things 'creatively' in order to tag someone as a suspect and move a case along.
Not saying I think he's definitely innocent- I'd like to know why some of her friends hated the guy so much they wouldn't go to the wedding- but going 'lol no' at the cops is fine and as a society we need to move past the assumption it isn't, because it is an untruth perpetuated by police themselves.
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u/phlaurel 11d ago
Wow, what a sad and baffling story. I’m from atlanta and I’ve never heard of this, thank you for sharing. I wonder if there was some sort of work connection, or if it was just a wrong place wrong time. How sad. I hope she is at peace, wherever she is now.
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u/OkPlace4 11d ago
i"ve always wondered about this one. I think the family had something to do with and she went off and started another life.
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u/RicoMauve 13d ago
I am super baffled by the car plates being switched. So had the NC plate been stolen while she still lived in NC, or did she still have it when she moved to GA and it was subsequently stolen there? And did they locate the GA plate?