Thinking aloud about Winifred Long

I updated Winifred Long‘s case today with info I snagged from a newspaper archive. The new information is pretty significant, I think.

The only obvious theory that presents itself here is that her husband killed her. I’m not saying that because I believe it — I believe nothing. I only think it would just be the simplest explanation.

Yet there is a problem with that: Mr. Long (his first name was Alvin, btw) was a war veteran and lost both of his legs to a grenade blast. His arms and hands worked just fine, well enough for him to make a living as a carpenter, so he could still have killed his wife. But I don’t think it would have been possible for him to dispose of the body so thoroughly without help.

And who knows, it could very well have NOT been him at all. Over a million couples get divorced per year; very few of those divorces result in murder. Perhaps Winifred met a random predator at the bus stop; perhaps he offered her a ride home in his car and that’s why she didn’t buy a ticket.

What I would REALLY like to know is this: did the police test-drive Winifred’s car? And if they did, did the car in fact have a faulty transmission?