Hi! My name is Susan Evelyn Doucette. I am fourteen years old, and I go to Newberry High School in Savannah, Georgia. I read Kitten for the first time when I was eleven years old. I snuck it off my aunt’s bookshelf when my family was on vacation at her beach house. She found out, and secretly gave me my own copy the next Christmas. Since then, I have read the book fifteen times (at least), read online articles, police reports, court transcripts, and basically done a lot (a ton) of research, possibly more than anyone else. Let’s get started. Welcome to Susan Doucette, Kitten Kid Detective!
Theory #1: Most Kitty Cultists don’t know this, but Frances Ashley went to stay at Ambletern because she had an affair with one of her married professors at college (George Tinley O’Brien). She became pregnant with his child but terminated the pregnancy. GTO was young, handsome, and the head of the English department. Frances Ashley probably took at least one or more of his classes her freshman year, specifically a Shakespeare class entitled “Macbeth and the Literature of Blood.” She took his creative writing class her sophomore year as well. To avoid scandal about the relationship and pregnancy, Frances had to lay low for the summer, but I think she was still in love with George Tinley O’Brien. I think she wrote the book, not to reveal the identity of some mystery killer (Dorothy Kitchens, the girl she based Kitten on) by planting a bunch of Easter eggs, but as a love/revenge ode to him and to ultimately protect herself. (See Theory #4) Here are a couple of examples that support my theory (and that I posted last year on the forums).
“Brian O’Hanlon”: The name of the doctor who investigates the guests’ “stomach virus” is Brian O’Hanlon, very close to “George Tinley O’Brien.” Even though he’s a villain supposedly, he is handsome and rather sympathetic—Kitten poisons him, but he survives. He has a “cowlick that made a lock of hair fall over his blue eyes.” (page 49) I couldn’t tell from the following link if GTO had blue eyes, but he definitely had a cowlick. (www.facultyarchives.asc.edu)
Miss Bolan’s silver necklace (Chapter Two): A GTO reference appears again—this time when Kitten tells Miss Bolan, the reclusive spinster, that another guest, “George” (an imaginary, and ultimately disappointing, suitor who she has invented), has been asking about when she’s going to join the rest of them at their nightly after-dinner drinks. (Miss Bolan falls for Kitten’s story, of course, and this is when Kitten steals the necklace.)
The Stained Green Gingham Dress (Chapter Four): GTO and Frances’s abortion is referred to indirectly here. When Kitten tells the young divorcée’s son, Henrick, she wants him to give her the dress that’s hidden in his mother’s suitcase, she says he must do it or else something dire will happen. Or as she puts it, “blood will have blood” (page 51). This is actually a quote from the play Macbeth, and refers to the above-mentioned undergraduate course that GTO taught at Agnes Scott College and later at Emory University. There’s no specific mention of the type of stains on the dress (e.g. semen, blood, sweat, etc.) but I believe this is a sort of homage to the way Frances felt “stained” after the failed relationship (and possibly after the abortion). More later on that “blood will have blood” quote.
Theory #2: All the Kitty Cultists are wrong about who murdered the real Cappie Strongbow. To review, let’s look at a list of their favorite suspects:
DOROTHY KITCHENS (Kitten) was not Kim Baker’s killer. She was only eight at the time of Kim Baker’s murder and according to the book was “undersized and anemic-looking.” A petite child of eight years would have difficulty bashing a skull hard enough to fracture it. The disappearances of staff and government officials can’t be confirmed via online articles and therefore must be considered mere rumors.
VERA BAKER (June Strongbow) was not Kim Baker’s killer. Although Vera was arrested and put in jail, indicted, she was never brought to trial because she had a diabetic stroke before the court date and died (she did NOT commit suicide like in the book, FYI). She never confessed to the murder, only to occasionally spanking her daughter.
VICKY KITCHENS (Delia Murphy), Dorothy’s mother, was not Kim Baker’s killer. She died in Custer, South Dakota in 1973, while taking part in an American Indian Movement (AIM) protest. Immediately after this, William, her husband, and Dorothy responded to an ad, buying Ambletern and moving to Bonny Island. (The Kitty Cultists who say Vicky Kitchens murdered Kim prove just how dumb they are. Just a small amount of research would show that was impossible.)
WILLIAM KITCHENS (Herb Murphy), Dorothy’s father, was not Kim Baker’s killer, even though he is, by far, everyone’s second favorite suspect, next to Dorothy Kitchens (Kitten). In the book, Herb Murphy did handyman work for June Strongbow, and he helped Vera Baker out in real life as well. William admitted this in the police reports and in The Camden County Tribune. It IS my belief that William and Vera Baker were conducting a secret relationship, as she made statements after her arrest to the sheriff alluding to the fact that he could provide an alibi for her. William WAS obsessed with Native American culture, was involved with AIM (American Indian Movement) and even took part in several protests. His wife, Vicky (who he claimed was of Native ancestry, although that is unproven), was accidentally killed in Custer, South Dakota. I DO believe this incident influenced William Kitchens’s behavior (more on this later). But I don’t think these beliefs or events spurred him to commit murder.
Theory #3: The murder weapon (WHICH SHOULD BE THE KITTY CULT’S FOCUS, NOT THE SUSPECTS) has never been found on Bonny Island, even though the police believe it to still be there (everyone who left the island after the murder was searched thoroughly). That’s why I believe William Kitchens hid it. However, I don’t think William would have thrown it into the water or done anything to permanently get rid of it, because I believe he thought he might need it for leverage with the police or killer later on. I do think he would have hid it in a place that would be protected somehow, for example:
The Mission Ruins: I believe William Kitchens might think hiding the murder weapon in a sacred place was a sort of poetic justice.
Vera Baker’s house: As he was a frequent visitor there, William could have easily hidden a rock on her property, and, as an original slave cabin from the 1800s, it’s designated as a historical place by the state of Georgia, so no one is allowed to raze or remodel it.