Mary Shotwell Little, a 25-year-old newlywed, vanished on a seemingly ordinary autumn evening. After her workday as a secretary at the Citizens & Southern Bank, she drove to the Lenox Square shopping center in Atlanta. There, she purchased groceries for a dinner party she was planning for her husband, Roy, who was due to return from a business trip the following day. Following her shopping, she met a coworker for dinner at the S&S Cafeteria.
Her friend later recalled that Mary was in good spirits, happily discussing her recent marriage. At approximately 8:00 p.m., the two parted ways in the parking lot, and Mary walked towards her 1965 Mercury Comet. She was never seen or heard from again. The weeks leading up to her disappearance held a sense of unease. Mary had reportedly received unsettling phone calls at work and was sent flowers from an unknown admirer. Friends noted that she had become fearful of being alone in her home or car.
The morning after she was last seen, Mary's absence from work, without any notification, immediately raised concern among her colleagues and supervisor, as this was highly uncharacteristic of the reliable employee. Her boss, after speaking with the friend she had dined with, went to Lenox Square to look for her car. Initially, security guards couldn't locate the vehicle, but it was later found in the parking lot that afternoon. The metallic gray Comet was covered in a fine red dust, suggesting it had been driven on an unpaved road. Inside, police discovered the groceries she had purchased, but her purse, keys, and the clothing she was wearing were gone. Several articles of her undergarments were found, some neatly folded on the console, while others were on the floor. There were traces of blood on the undergarments, the steering wheel, and on both the driver's and passenger's side doors.
The investigation into Mary's disappearance deepened when it was discovered her gas credit card had been used twice in North Carolina in the hours and day following her last sighting. The first transaction occurred in Charlotte in the early morning, and a second took place several hours later in Raleigh. The signatures on the receipts appeared to be Mary's. Gas station attendants at both locations recalled seeing a woman who matched Mary's description, appearing distressed and injured, in the company of one or two men. Despite these leads, the mileage on her car did not account for a trip to North Carolina and back, adding another layer of complexity to the case. The police file related to her disappearance later vanished, and despite theories ranging from a staged disappearance to abduction, her case remains one of Atlanta's most enduring and baffling unsolved mysteries.Last Seen: Oct 14, 1965
