Maybe you're onto something there, or it could be that Capcom is re-using some of the stuff they cut from previous games. Like that rumor about female B.O.W helping the main character through entire game? It reminds me on one of the character/plot parts which were in Resident Evil 3.5 before that game was dropped, a girl (i think she was also either infected with something or was B.O.W) and her B.O.W dog who would help Leon. Also, that other rumor about B.O.W or monster who will also have a Merchant-like role? It sounds at least little bit like one of the many things which were cut and changed from Village, i still remember when the leaks about it first came out. More details;Hopefully that's either totally bogus or old leaks resurfacing.
In the early beta versions of the game which were tested and had lots of info about it leaked out, the Old Hag was another witch-like enemy who would chase Ethan around some of the locations, just like few other bosses or enemies in the game. In another later version of the game, her character was completely changed and she was turned into the merchant who would also tell Ethan more about what is going in the village, but after more changes she was turned into one of Miranda's fake forms, and Duke, who originally was going to be 5th lord of the village, was changed into the merchant.
It's a fascinating thought, especially since the takedown of Umbrella never happened in any game post-RE3. All we ever got was that anti-climatic intro shown in RE4. "Oh so Umbrella's gone now? OK, moving on I guess."Yet, in the Resident Evil 3 remake, we see a scene of her grabbing the broken vial like there's more to come.
Could this be what Dusk Golem was referring to? A game about Jill set between 3 and 4? It does seem like a great way to capitalize on these remakes and could very well be the reason why they exist to begin with. Establish a new version of the events to branch off new stories from. With the way the main series has been heading, I think something like this could be exciting. Kind of like how the Star Wars sequels messed things up so bad that we're now getting stories between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens in an effort to "make things right."