[Verginius Rufus]

I've never seen that theory before--if the speaker had had a baby, wouldn't her parents have discovered it? Maybe Billie Joe had proposed and she threw the engagement ring into the river (Brother Taylor misinterpreted what he saw--Billie Joe was actually trying to stop her from doing the tossing instead of assisting her) and then he killed himself in despair after being rejected.

Or maybe they were throwing Barack Obama's real birth certificate into the river. Billie Joe killed himself when he realized that their action would make it possible for him to become President some day using a fake birth certificate.

[SaveFerris]

Pregnancy terminated early, before it was to be discovered.

Billy Joe, remorseful over what had been done, jumped. The girl could not eat when she heard the news.