By no means am I a professional when it comes to body decomposition and estimation of weight when it comes to approximating what is left behind from skeletal remains, but you defintely humbled me down with my suggestion. Per Little's words, he had estimated the woman to be 260 lbs and heavy set, so the UID's estimated weight of being 140 lbs is a drastic change even for what was alleged. The article did imply that her son was old enough to comprehend what message she wanted to relay to him, but that still does leave open the possibility of her having recently given birth. (I know that people do make money this way for a living, but to immediately go back to this job after giving birth? She must have been desperate for a stable income to support her child(ren?))
Also, I will out myself as being a college-aged male who has an extremely loose concept of how panties work, but then again, your pregnancy story does support the notion that she may have been top heavy as opposed to a defined bottom half. My thoughts were just that, if she was a topless dancer and wanted to really show off her body, then she would wear smaller undergarments to bring attention to her curves. They should have specified what type of panties were found, that would definitely be an indicative sign to question the case further. (Also, thank you /so/ much for that Karen Carpenter joke, that was really needed!)
For the island part, all that was included in the report was a reference to a "Big Island", but your theory of an area being island-like in a high/roadway sense makes far more sense. The ring part... it honestly is miraculous that it remained in the care of this person. It must have been secured tightly.
It is extremely odd that he hasn't alluded to any murders committed in Alabama... maybe there is a personal reason there that the public is not yet aware of?
Oh, when I post about Samuel Little's possible victimology I am definitely posting exactly what I see in my mind regarding possibilities related to the known or suspected circumstances regarding the victim.
I did not mean to in any way discount any theory or explanation you have posted or thought of. We don't know what the man has done, or to whom in probably half the unsolved murders he committed.
My theory was not based on her being an exotic dancer, but as she may have looked, and her body may have been exactly when Samuel Little abducted her or paid her to get in his car. As I understand it, a lot of men do not know what women weigh, even if they do have the person in their arms, and I think a focus on HIS statement about the weight is likely to be " off".
Next, I do believe that a topless or otherwise exotic dancer who had a weight gain, such as an unexpected pregnancy that went almost full term or ended in a birth, would explain a lot of the extra weight Little may have seen but not accurately calculated.
It's likely he didn't ever see a lot of newly postpartum women, or women in their last trimester of pregnancy, regardless of what happened to the fetus or newborn. So, he was likely to misconstrue weight going by the areas where women gain most of the pregnancy weight and then lose it- almost all is in the front, from breasts to mid abdomen.
He'd definitely see that part of her nude, and if he wasn't expecting a fuller body, he might have interpreted it as " fat" or " large".
I know this is true from things men who aren't familiar with pregnant women's bodies have said to me in my career as a nurse. I mean, one man who was thought to be a smart man said he thought he might divorce his wife ( who was about 7 months pregnant) because she was " getting too fat in her bosom and abdomen". Direct quote. I was there when he said it. She wasn't fat, she was pregnant. He simply had never seen another woman without clothing in the last trimester of pregnancy and it was extremely strange to him that his wife had " put on so much weight'.
Oh, and I didn't mean my Carpenter comment to be in poor taste- I literally did starve myself to the limit of what I believe is human endurance to lose weight quickly and also regain my figure through excessive exercising. I never chose to go through pregnancy again for that reason.
In 1969, abortions were illegal, and this victim likely would not be able to afford any type of abortion, so she'd give birth and adopt the child out or give it to relatives, most likely.
The obvious reason that I believe she was newly postpartum is because there is no stated fact of a fetal skeleton being found with her remains and if she was in the third trimester of pregnancy, one would see a formed skeleton and there should likely have been some fetal bones mixed with her skeleton.
The other possibility is that he's just way off on some of the women's weights due to his advanced age now. Maybe pain meds. affect his judgment or recall in the details unrelated to the face and the crime scene in general.
Maybe Little didn't always pick victims by size range but by his killing desires and who was available to him, but he doesn't want to say that as it does make him look a bit less omnipresent.
I have been wondering about the lack of victims in Alabama for a few months, have been waiting, expecting to see some pop up on his maps, but no, they don't appear. I fully believe there's a compelling reason, either something about the state that's taboo to him, or an extreme fear of getting caught there, which might indicate that he had extensive prior arrests in Alabama earlier in his life. I honestly do not know what his prior records show
If I could ask him one question it would be: " Why did you drive through Alabama all over the South, but do not claim to have killed any women in the state?"
It is an anomaly which I believe is NOT being picked up in the scheme of things, and a question which likely has a very significant answer. ( This is the behavioral psych. in me talking, but I do think it's important to know why there's an absence of victims in this one state).
