Your post reminds me about the Holly Bobo murder case. Only in that case they told the dumbest of the four suspects to "get rid of her clothes" (and purse and other items), believing that was one simple task he might be capable of, and he drove to where one of the other suspects lived and scattered her things on the road in front of his trailer, leading investigators right to one of the scenes of the crime.

When I see a lone shoe on the road I sometimes think about a vechicular abduction, with someone who was walking being dragged into a vehicle. I guess I've listened to too many episodes of "Forensic Files"