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E163: Evelyn Hartley
5.5k Plays3 years ago
The night of October 24, 1953, was a busy one in La Crosse, Wisconsin as La Crosse State College was celebrating homecoming weekend. Fifteen-year-old Evelyn Hartley had accepted a babysitting job for a local college professor and had just settled down to do some school work when the Rasmussen family had left her in the care of their 20-month-old daughter. But, when Evelyn didn't call her parents at 8:30 to check in with them as she had promised to do, her father grew concerned. Even more alarming was when he arrived at the Rasmussen home to find signs of an apparent break-in yet no sign of his daughter.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
I come from an extremely large family.
Family and Babysitting Experiences
00:00:03
Speaker
My mom is the youngest of 12 siblings and my dad is one of five. I'm the youngest grandchild on my mom's side and the third youngest on my dad's side. So by the time I was in probably seventh or eighth grade, my older cousins, many of them, had already started families of their own. And as a result, I soon joined the ranks as a family babysitter.
00:00:23
Speaker
Being a babysitter requires quite a lot of responsibility. Much like teaching when you're a babysitter, you have someone's most precious possession in your care. John Alsheimer once said, quote, never forget you're teaching someone's child. For that reason alone, you have one of the most valuable jobs in the world, end quote.
00:00:41
Speaker
And honestly, that same quote could apply to nannies and babysitters as well. They're responsible for someone's most prized position. I vividly remember one summer when I was around 15, my cousin and aunts had gone out for a shopping trip and a dinner date, and I was asked to watch my baby cousin.
00:00:59
Speaker
She was around three at the time and I was obsessive about making sure the doors were locked anytime I watched her. When we would go swing on the front porch, I would lock the door as soon as we got back into the living room. If we rode her bike down the street, I would immediately lock the door when we walked back into the kitchen.
00:01:17
Speaker
I never wanted to take chances and always did what I could do to keep her safe. And on this particular summer's day, we had road bikes, we played with chalk, we played with dolls. And finally, I had her settle down enough to watch The Lion King and she loved The Lion King. So I knew watching that movie with her would allow me just a few minutes of rest.
00:01:38
Speaker
But, as soon as I got her settled into the show, she of course asked for a snack. I walked into the kitchen and can see her from where I stood. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed her juice. When I turned to hand it to her, she was gone from her spot in the living room. Inside, I panicked.
00:01:56
Speaker
I immediately checked both doors that they were locked. I knew if I started yelling her name, she would stay hidden. So I calmly made my way around the house, saying her name as if playing a game of hide and seek. I checked every single room. She was nowhere.
00:02:12
Speaker
I was thinking illogically. What if someone had a key to the house and they snatched her and those few seconds I had my back turned? After checking the house again and checking outside again, I knew I couldn't waste any more time. I called my uncle who lived just a few minutes from where we were and he was there in seconds. Together we searched and finally found my cousin under the bathroom sink inside the cabinet.
00:02:38
Speaker
She'd been hiding there the entire time. I hadn't even thought to check there. I was sure she couldn't fit, but somehow she had. Needless to say, we both learned a valuable lesson that day. She learned to always listen to her babysitter, and I learned to never turn my back, even for a second, on a toddler.
00:02:56
Speaker
Thankfully, my cousin was safe and sound by this point, and I'm sure all of you listening are convinced we're talking about a child stolen from the dead of night while her parents were gone and the babysitter was downstairs. Surprisingly, though, we aren't. Today, we're talking about a baby found safe in its crib when the responsible, smart and sweet babysitter can be found nowhere.
Introduction to 'Coffee and Cases' Podcast
00:03:16
Speaker
This is the story of Evelyn Hartley.
00:03:54
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:04:03
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:04:31
Speaker
Alison, before we actually dive into the case this week, I wanted to let, you know, and all of our listeners know that my cousin and fellow coffee and cases, listening. Why, thank you, Amy. Yes, Amy, she, actually all my cousins that are a lot of them listen to the show, which is fun to have their support. That's so nice, yeah. But Amy actually texted me like,
00:05:01
Speaker
around Christmas, I think, right after and said that she had figured out what throat painting was. And if you remember, I know that's exciting. We had no idea. Yeah. And then check Morgan case that I did just a few weeks ago, we had no idea what this was. But Amy is an RN and she said that she remembered talking briefly about
00:05:24
Speaker
this idea of throat painting in nursing school. And so I'm gonna let you guys know what she said. So she said that throat painting is when an ointment is applied to the mouth or the throat. And iodine is apparently commonly used for sore throats in that instance. Like natural remedies that we use. She said there's also
00:05:52
Speaker
Um, one for thrush, they use crystal violet, which turns your mouth like purple. Hmm. And she said, sometimes you have to dilute whatever liquid you're using and then gargle it for a period of time to get that painting or that coat on the throat. And sometimes glycerin is usually mixed with the solution because it helps it adhere to the mucus membranes. This is like weird. Yeah.
00:06:19
Speaker
Because with Chuck Morgan, then I'm thinking, how could they have made him gargle it? I guess which is they put it in your throat and was like, you would die if you swallowed this. Right. Oh, yeah, they are going to spit it out. Yeah, that's true. That's true.
00:06:35
Speaker
She said that she did try to find out what type of hallucinogenic drugs could be used. And she said that LSD was one that she kept hearing about. And it can be found in these gelatin strips, often called, she said, window panes. So she said it's possible that could have been the drug that Chuck took or that he was talking about. Interesting. So there's your throat painting lesson. There we go.
00:07:03
Speaker
Now you know. Yeah, now you know. Today though, we are not talking about a case quite as crazy as Chuck Morgan's. There's no initial disappearance and then the second disappearance. Right, right. But in every case that we cover, I like to research a little bit about the
Exploring La Crosse, Wisconsin
00:07:23
Speaker
town, if it's one that I've never been to before and nine times out of 10.
00:07:27
Speaker
I find myself researching the city because my world is, as I found out, relatively small. And in today's case, we find ourselves in a city right on the banks of the Mississippi River, but not in Mississippi, which is where my brain first went.
00:07:43
Speaker
But it's not there. And I remember the first time I saw the Mississippi River up close and personal. I had flown over it before, but you really don't pay attention to that kind of stuff or I don't when I'm flying. And it is very impressive. I mean, I've driven over the Ohio River enough that the size isn't as amazing to me. And it's not as big as the part of the Ohio River that I saw. So that probably has something to do with it.
00:08:12
Speaker
And I know that that sounds naive and sheltered when I'm saying I'm in awe of a river. But as we drove over the river going to my friend's wedding, I thought about just how powerful the water within was. It just has so much power. Because within those banks is the capacity to wipe out homes, kill people, wipe out cities. There's just so much within that.
00:08:37
Speaker
And one of those cities that, like I said, sits right on the bank of the Mississippi River is La Crosse, Wisconsin. And I feel like this town's pronunciation is much like Versailles and Versailles. And I did listen to a couple of different videos from the area, so I do hope I am pronouncing it right when I say La Crosse.
00:09:01
Speaker
But according to Google, Lacrosse is a very picturesque city. It's so cute. It's almost like in certain areas, time has stood still. It's like you're almost in another era. It's just so quaint and cute next to the river. And it still has riverboats that depart from the Riverside Park. I love that. They have an international friendship garden that features landscape styles from around the world, which I thought was neat. Wow, yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker
They have a Riverside Museum that traces the city's history. They have an auto museum that has all these restored classic cars on display. They have Grandad Bluff Park, which offers trails and views of the city. So it seems like a very special place. And the family in today's case felt the same way because in 1949, the Hartley family actually moved from Charleston, Illinois to La Crosse.
Evelyn Hartley's Disappearance
00:09:56
Speaker
So they also were kind of drawn to this cute little town. Right.
00:10:02
Speaker
The youngest of Richard and Ethel's children was daughter Evelyn. For several years, the family lived in peace in this small town. Richard was a professor at La Crosse State College or now the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. The family was heavily involved in the community and the church that they attended. I feel like that tends to be more, maybe that's stereotypical, but I feel like more
00:10:27
Speaker
in the small towns, you also have a higher percentage who are involved in the church communities as well as the community itself. Everyone was viewed as responsible and dependable by many in the community. And because she had that reputation, she was often requested to babysit local children. Makes sense. Yeah. Yes.
00:10:51
Speaker
Which I'm sure she was fine with because she probably earned many doing that so I'm sure she had no problem with that. This is like one of the biggest perks of being a teacher is when you had kids you were like especially high school students then if you needed a babysitter you had like a built-in arsenal of options.
00:11:09
Speaker
You know, and you knew which ones were responsible and dependable because you heard ones wearing. Yeah, that's right. Yeah on the night of October 24th 1953 15 year old Evelyn was hired by Vigo Ross mouson and I'm sure that is pronounced incorrectly too. There were two different pronunciations. So Hopefully I chose the right one
00:11:34
Speaker
A fellow professor at the college where her father worked to take care of his 20 month old daughter Janice. So almost two. And he's heard of her through the grapevine pretty much. And this night, the night of October 24th was extra special in the community because it was the cross states homecoming game. And pretty much everyone who was everyone would be there.
00:12:03
Speaker
Right. It is a small town after all. And it was expected that employees of the college attend the festivities. So because of this, Bigos family had to be there and their typical babysitter was busy because she had to be there. But Evelyn had agreed to watch Janice. And of course, Evelyn's parents are probably there too, since her dad worked at the college. You know, I didn't read anything where they were there.
00:12:32
Speaker
I don't know. I don't think that they were there for the actual game part, but maybe like the tailgating. Oh, okay. Just because a timeline event. So at that time, Evelyn was a junior at Central High School. Like her father, who was a biology professor, Evelyn also shared an interest in the sciences. Good for you, Evelyn. I liked chemistry. That was fun.
00:13:00
Speaker
Oh, Allison. Oh, yeah, you balance chemical equations. Oh, that was so fun. But she liked the sciences and she was a straight A student. She was really involved in various school activities. She was even in the drama club. So she is well rounded with a wide range of interest.
00:13:21
Speaker
As I mentioned earlier, Evelyn was thought of as dependable. She was very active in church. In fact, I read that she was an officer of the Presbyterian Youth Program and the Westminster Fellowship. Oh, wow. Sounds prestigious. Unlike most 15-year-olds, Evelyn didn't spend a whole lot of her spare time worrying about people of the opposite sex. She casually would go on dates, but she didn't have a steady boyfriend that I read about.
00:13:49
Speaker
Instead, she liked to spend her time hiking in the parks that were around her home, playing tennis, going swimming, golfing, going skiing. So lots of outdoorsy activities for Evelyn. And like a wide range of them. So again, it shows how well rounded she was.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I think a lot of kids tend to focus just on one thing, you know, like you're really into the drama club or you're really into playing tennis. Not a lot of them do a lot of different things. Right. So even though Viggo's family didn't know Evelyn personally, her reputation exceeded her and they felt really safe leaving their infant at home in her care.
00:14:31
Speaker
And according to stories of the unsolved, at around 6.20 that evening, Bigo picked Evelyn up from her home and brought her to his family's home in the 2400 block of Hochler Drive. It was a newer neighborhood on the edge of town with very little external lighting installed along the street. And that's actually one thing that I really love about the neighborhood we live in now, the streets are pretty well lit. And that adds like an extra level of safeness for me, even though I'm never
00:15:00
Speaker
Truly feeling safe when i'm right after dark but i like that i have a little bit of lighting when i'm out there and it makes sense that they came to pick her up cuz she was. A junior so she was even sixteen yet no she was only fifteen oh yeah so that makes sense that they came to pick her up.
00:15:17
Speaker
That same source said that Evelyn entered the home and she actually brought a bouquet of flowers with her and she put them on the kitchen table. That was nice. And she had planned, yes, I think very thoughtful, and she had planned to study. The baby went to bed, so she put her schoolbooks in the kitchen as well. I'm sure they're like, we made a great decision right here. Flowers and she's gonna study? Okay.
00:15:43
Speaker
I'm sure as soon as they saw the bag, they were like, oh yeah, this girl's good. Right. The family didn't hang around for very long after Evelyn got there. They just kind of informed her of Janice's knotty routine, you know, what time she went to bed and stuff like that, and then left to go on to the game and all the homecoming festivities. Alison, like I mentioned, Evelyn is 15, but only 15 if you know what I mean. Right.
00:16:12
Speaker
While her parents trusted her to be out of the house on those dates or evenings with friends or babysitting, she still had a curfew or time she was supposed to check in with her parents when she was babysitting and things like that. Okay, right. They just want to make sure everything's going okay.
00:16:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm on this particular night her parents had asked that she call them around 8 30 p.m To check in and just let them know how things were going with Janice because it can be difficult When you're new to a house and this is your first time babysitting a kid, you know kind of get into the swing of things. Mm-hmm
00:16:46
Speaker
Typically, as I'm sure we could all guess, we could all make this inference about Evelyn, is that she would call right on time. Right. Yeah, exactly. That's Evelyn. But when 830 rolled around, no phone call from Evelyn came. Naturally, as more time slipped away with no phone call, the Hartleys began to worry because that's just not normal for her. Right.
00:17:13
Speaker
Eventually, Richard picks up the phone and calls the house where Janice and Evelyn are. He calls several times and each time the phone would just ring and ring and ring. Okay, that is not normal.
00:17:28
Speaker
Something is wrong. And Richard, her father, felt that way too with so many unanswered calls. And he finally felt it was best for him to drive over just to check on Evelyn and little Janice. So he's just going to hop in the car real fast and drive over there because, you know, they could have both fallen asleep. Yeah, there could be logical reasons.
00:17:52
Speaker
I know that he must have reassured himself that yes, everything is fine because the lights were on when he pulled into the driveway.
00:18:05
Speaker
at the home. So he's like, okay, they've just fallen asleep. Right. And I'm sure he felt even more reassured when he twisted the door knob and it was locked. Oh yeah. Because he's like, okay. There's not been an intruder. Exactly. Yeah. But Allison, that reassurance soon faded when he knocked on the door and no one came to let him in and he knocked several times and waited and then would knock several times and no one answered the door.
00:18:33
Speaker
And it's at this point when Evelyn didn't come to the door He began looking through the windows of the house to see if he could see his daughter Right and because all the lights are on hopefully he could see pretty well
00:18:44
Speaker
Yeah, and I just pictured the neighbors though at this point. Like I wonder if they were like, there's a weirdo peeking into the windows. There's a peeping tom, yeah. I mean like if I am. Yep, peeping to look for my daughter. Thank you, come again. That's right. As he peered into the living room window, he saw his daughter's glasses and one shoe lying on the living room floor. Oh no, if you just see one shoe. But there's no. Yeah. I mean, that doesn't make any sense. Yeah. And he, at that point,
00:19:14
Speaker
His concern grew into a panic. Yeah. And so now he is searching every single window on the first floor because he's like, I have to get into this house. I have to get into this house. But they were all locked. This is like you with your cousin.
00:19:30
Speaker
looking around and you're like, no, okay, that's locked. Okay, that's locked. Okay, that's locked. But he finally stumbled upon an unlocked window. Oh, no. That entered into the basement. So this is like a basement window. Basements are always scary.
00:19:47
Speaker
Mm hmm. Oh, no. Yeah. The screen had been removed and placed against the outside wall. And that reminded me of the case that you covered where the screen was just like thrown on the ground. Oh, yeah. Or just really like. Mm hmm. Yeah, that was in the Anita Knudsen. Yeah.
00:20:06
Speaker
So this green too has been removed. It's been placed against the outside wall. A small step ladder had been positioned directly below the window, like on the inside. Which means either this person knew that there was a step ladder there where they could move it or they came prepared.
00:20:23
Speaker
So this was intentional. Well, I did read, I did read that the investigative team was able to determine that step letter was the homeowners. And there were reports, just a few that I read that said it had been placed there by the homeowner because they were like maybe painting or something like that. So they don't know if it was just coincidental or if it had been moved there. Seems awfully coincidental. Yeah.
00:20:52
Speaker
There were pry marks on the window and several others around the home, giving the impression that someone had trouble initially getting in. So they had been trying multiple windows to get in.
00:21:06
Speaker
Mm hmm. And Richard also reported seeing shoe prints around the window. It was thought that whoever entered the home before Richard used that window and it's through that window that Richard was able to get into the house. Oh, no, which I get it as a parent, because you're looking for your kid like you want to get into so you can look. But now at the same time, you've probably put your hands and handprints where this intruder has put hands and handprints. And now it's
00:21:36
Speaker
messing up any potential evidence. But I don't think you'd be thinking about that. Oh, no, no, I don't think so either. You're just trying to get to your kid. You might be thinking that something happened to her inside the home. Well, I don't know, because by this point, you've seen the window open. Yeah, but her shoes there. So you're like, maybe she's still there. Gosh. And I'm sure he was.
00:22:00
Speaker
had a million questions running through his mind. And I know he was trying to rationalize that fear. Like if he saw one shoe in the living room, where was the other? And if I was trying to think away my fears, I would tell myself, oh, well, there's a baby. Maybe the baby carried off this single shoe. And Evelyn was playing with the baby in the floor. And that's why her glasses were lying near the shoe. And she didn't answer the door because she'd fallen asleep when she put the baby down.
00:22:28
Speaker
And that's why you can't hear Janice because she's also asleep. But then you have things like who removed the screen. Unless you're thinking, well, maybe the screen was already removed from repairs they were doing. Gosh, I don't know. Well, I remember once when we moved into my new home when I was in high school, my mom
00:22:51
Speaker
locked the we got locked out and we had to take a screen out of a window because she had thankfully left one window unlocked and we took the screen out and i climbed through that window to let everybody in so maybe it had been something like that right they tried several different windows but could only get the one screen out you know this is scary though because you don't know which
00:23:14
Speaker
option is true at this point. Right. As he made his way across the basement, he found Evelyn's other shoe on the floor. Oh no, now I would be freaking out. I'd be freaking out at this point. Yeah, I'm sure that was like a stab to the gut. Richard slowly made his way up the basement stairs and entered the main house. And I know that his heart had to break with each step he took and each unanswered call of his daughter's name.
00:23:43
Speaker
And Allison, he checked every room. And while he thankfully found Janice safe and asleep in her crib, there were no signs of his daughter. And that's weird too, because I would think as he's walking around, once he sees Janice safe in the crib, that's when I would be like, okay, there has to be Evelyn is here somewhere.
00:24:09
Speaker
Maybe she fell and she hit her head and knocked herself out and that's why she's not answering. You know what I mean? Like that would probably calm me down a little bit. Yeah, I think so too. I think that you would say like what you said, she fell. You know, I don't know. You could think of a million things.
00:24:32
Speaker
but he checks and there's no sign of his daughter. In the living room, however, the rugs were all disheveled and strewn across the room in various places.
00:24:42
Speaker
Even the furniture was messed up and kind of shoved around in different areas. Evelyn's textbooks were scattered around the area. And so I think with that side, he realized there had been some type of struggle that had taken place and Richard quickly called the police. Right. Yeah. Somebody took her. So at least though, because she was supposed to call her parents,
00:25:09
Speaker
I mean, I hope that, you know, by the time he actually does call the police, she's only been there since what's around six thirty twenty. Yeah. So only about two hours. So at most this happened two hours ago, though I would think whoever did this would have waited till the homeowners were long gone.
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you're right. I do think she hasn't been gone a super long time because at the latest it's probably like 9.30. Right. He waited an hour before he went over there and they probably left the home around seven. So that's like two and a half hours. So not a lot of time has passed, but Richard, you know, quickly sees this struggle has taken place and he calls the police.
00:25:59
Speaker
and investigators arrive promptly at the home and begin their search. And just as Richard had noticed, the police found evidence that someone had attempted numerous times to break into the house. There were several prime arcs on several of the windows around the home showing that someone had tried other places of entry before settling on that basement window at the back of the house.
00:26:20
Speaker
There was also a lot of blood present in a couple of different areas. It looked like there would be a pool of blood and then in a couple more yards, another pool of blood. So there was blood at the scene and when that blood was tested, it matched Evelyn's blood type.
00:26:49
Speaker
So we're before like DNA, so they don't know that this is necessarily Evelyn, but they could say like this is A positive.
00:26:56
Speaker
Yeah. And I think I mentioned that later on, but yes, you're correct. So this is before DNA was a thing. And so while there's a lot of evidence in my opinion, compared to some of the cases we've talked about collected, they're just not the technological advances to do a lot with what was collected. Cause I mean, it could have been the case that whoever perpetrated this crime had the same blood type.
00:27:26
Speaker
Right, because that wouldn't be super unheard of. Right. There's like so many. Right. There are. Right. But yeah, at this point, all they can do is test it and say, yes, this matches Evelyn's blood type. Okay. So those two pools of blood that were in the yard were really large. They were 18 inches in diameter. And there were more pools of blood located inside the house and one near the basement window.
00:27:54
Speaker
Well, for other shoes down there, then obviously that's where they took her out too, because if nothing else is unlocked, then they didn't do this and then go out the front door.
00:28:03
Speaker
Well, we'll talk about it. Oh, okay. I read that a bloody handprint was also located about four feet from the ground on the wall outside the garage, which was about 100 feet from the main house. And additional stains were found on the outer walls of even a neighbor's residence. Now, I only read that in one source. That almost makes it seem like Evelyn was trying to get away, but had lost so much blood that
00:28:32
Speaker
you know it being found near the ground makes me think that she had like collapsed or something. Yeah and I don't know how close these homes are you know because if it's like Lexington area you could reach across and stand straight up and touch your neighbor's house so it's not like she would have to be really far away from her home.
00:28:55
Speaker
Police did determine, given the amount of blood at the scene, that Evelyn's abductors likely had been carrying her through the yard. So they would carry her for a while. They would stop and rest, placing her on the ground, pick her back up and walk a little bit further, which is why there was blood pulling in certain areas of the yard. And potentially the hand prints near the ground. That makes sense. Okay. And like we talked about, times were different back
00:29:22
Speaker
in the era of Evelyn's case, DNA wasn't a thing. So despite the fact that I feel police did a good job investigating the scene, because I think they found quite a bit of good evidence because of everything they saw at the scene, they really couldn't get a lot of concrete answers. Right.
00:29:48
Speaker
They just have a lot of theories. So they theorize that Evelyn heard a noise in the basement. She went to the top of the stairs to investigate. That's the first issue. It was there. She descended the steps that she saw someone in the basement. So she ran losing a shoe in the process. So she has the shoes and the glasses on as she's walking down the steps. She sees somebody in the basement. She turns to run. She loses one shoe.
00:30:16
Speaker
And potentially are glasses. Well, glasses are in the living room. Oh, we're talking about at the bottom of the basement. But gosh, it was found by the window, right? That means she went far in the basement. I don't think it ever said specifically where in the basement. Oh, okay. So it could have been near the bottom of the steps. Her other shoe. Okay. Yeah. So
00:30:39
Speaker
She sees somebody, she turns to run and then she runs towards the living room and she gets into the living room but was overtaken there and then she loses her second shoe and her glasses in that struggle there. So that explains why the rugs and the furniture and the textbooks are all over the floor.
00:30:59
Speaker
Neighbors did report hearing a single scream around 715, but at the time they thought, you know, it could just be the sound of kids playing because they scream when they play. And if it only, we've said this before, if somebody hears even a gunshot, but it only happens once, that might be enough to like jolt you out of your sleep or make you say, did I hear something? You know what I mean? And then you're really quiet listening. And then when it doesn't happen again,
00:31:26
Speaker
Then you're like, oh, right. There's probably nothing. As you might have guessed, Allison detectives also found clues to suggest that Evelyn had been removed through the basement window. Right. That's what I would have thought. And obviously, yeah, we came to this conclusion because the front door was locked. Police came to that conclusion for a different reason.
00:31:50
Speaker
Oh, they actually found a button with red threads attached to the window. Well, and Evelyn's father recalled that she had been wearing red denim pants when she left the house. So they think that button was from her pants and it got ripped off if she's being pulled out the window. Mm hmm. Yeah. Unfortunately, the evidence was not collected that button and read and it blew away in the wind.
00:32:19
Speaker
Again, a different time. That's the only justification I can think of for that. And that's not very good justification in my opinion. Interestingly, despite the fact that the front door was locked upon Richard's arrival to the home,
00:32:36
Speaker
Just as you pointed out, police said there was evidence and I didn't read what type of evidence to suggest that the suspect or suspects had left through the front door because it had a self-locking mechanism, which seems a little highfalutin for 1953. Yeah, it really does. I didn't even know that that type of technology would exist then, but that's what I read in one of the sources, so I just wanted to state it.
00:33:06
Speaker
But I just really think they all exited through the basement window. Yeah. Unless one walked around if we're saying they're straight. Right. Maybe one did go through the front door. They walk around to the basement window to help pull Evelyn up. But even that doesn't make any sense. Then the door would have been locked. Because if you're trying to hide
00:33:24
Speaker
then you're all going to go through the basement window. And if you could care less about being seen and you're carrying somebody, it's a lot easier to be carried out the front door than to be pushed out of a basement window. True. I don't know if you caught my Instagram reel a couple of weeks ago with a caramel frappuccino recipe, but I have been
00:33:47
Speaker
obsessed with making blended coffee recipes over the holidays in my BlendJet and have been singing its praises to my coworkers since the day I got it.
00:33:57
Speaker
Blendjet 2 is portable, so like Allison, you can blend up a smoothie at work, a protein shake at the gym, or even a margarita on the beach. It's small enough to fit in a cup holder, but powerful enough to blast through those tough ingredients like ice and even frozen fruit with ease. Blendjet 2 is whisper quiet, so you can make your work smoothies and frozen coffees without annoying the whole office. It lasts for 15 plus blends and recharges quickly via USB-C.
00:34:26
Speaker
And my favorite thing that the BlendJet 2 does is clean itself. Just blend water with a drop of soap and you're good to go. With more than 30 colors and patterns to choose from, there's a BlendJet 2 to complement just about any style. So what are you waiting for, people?
00:34:41
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:35:32
Speaker
There are so many times when I want to do something digitally like read a book or take notes, but I missed that fill of paper. I've tried journaling on my iPad, a great New Year's resolution by the way, but the fill of the screen didn't give me the same satisfaction as writing on paper until I got paper-like.
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Speaker
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00:36:15
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:37:03
Speaker
All right, Alison. So you know that the town is going to quickly rally around bringing Evelyn home. Yeah. This is a small town. Yeah. It's a small town.
Community and Police Search Efforts
00:37:16
Speaker
She babysits their kids. You know, things like this just don't happen in areas like this. Right.
00:37:24
Speaker
And as a result, the search for her was massive. According to everything that I read, some stuff on Stories and Softs, some stuff on the Charlie Project, they pulled out all the stops.
00:37:38
Speaker
to bring Evelyn home. They used tracking dogs that were brought into the scene to help investigators get a feel of where Evelyn's abductors went after leaving the house. They were able to follow. Evelyn sent two blocks, which is a pretty significant distance if you're carrying her, which is one of the theories police had, but unfortunately lost the trail.
00:38:01
Speaker
Like headed northwest and so the police are like well. She must have gotten to a vehicle that was parked there Like somebody parked a couple blocks away, so their car is insane
00:38:14
Speaker
Yep. We had volunteers that searched on foot for signs of her and while they combed the ground, the National Guard, the Civic Air Patrol, and the Air Force scanned the area from planes overhead. Wow. Boaters took on the waterways in hopes of uncovering clues. Everyone was searching for Evelyn.
00:38:36
Speaker
Wow. I even read that numerous college, because remember, this is a college town. So numerous college students and high school students joined the effort. And within the first few days, over 2000 people were looking for Evelyn. Wow. I mean, that could virtually be the whole town. Yeah. And they searched literally land, sea, and sky to find Evelyn. But
00:39:05
Speaker
nothing major came from these search efforts. I mean, yes, we make some pretty good discoveries, some pretty significant discoveries, but nothing
00:39:17
Speaker
came from what was found. Much like in our case from a few weeks ago, locals were asked to keep an eye out for any signs of Evelyn's body. Police even told squirrel and deer hunters in the area to watch the fields that they were in for anything that could help the investigation or determine what might have happened to Evelyn. Gosh, that's so sad to have to say that. And it's a sad truth.
00:39:47
Speaker
You hate, like you said, to say that because it is so sad. But I think just given the amount of blood that they found on the scene alone would determine them. You know, I think that played a big factor in them saying pretty much we're looking for a body at this point. Right, right.
00:40:07
Speaker
I even read in one article that fresh graves were dug up to ensure Evelyn's body had not been buried there in secret. And that I was like, Oh, Oh, who came up with that idea? Yeah. That, that makes perfect sense that if somebody were trying to hide her body, that that would be a place. Cause you wouldn't even think to something like that. Wow.
00:40:35
Speaker
I know that person, I hope they got a promotion because that was a stroke of genius. But I'm guessing they didn't find her. No. And by this point, the investigation is well underway and
00:40:53
Speaker
Now neighbors are starting to come forward with information for the investigation. So remember we have the neighbor that says they heard a scream between seven and seven 30. There was another neighbor or two that reported the same thing, but they both said we just thought it was kids playing. Hmm. One neighbor reported seeing a lightly colored car circling the neighborhood around 8 PM.
00:41:20
Speaker
Two days after her disappearance, a local man came forward to say that at 7 15 that night, he almost hit a two-tone 1941 or 42 Buick, which was going westward. Oh, that could have been it. And this encounter stuck out to him because he, well, first off, he almost hits them. So we're going to be, you know, hopper vigilant. Right. And he noticed two men and a girl inside the vehicle and he told police,
00:41:49
Speaker
that one man was driving and the other was in the back seat with the girl. And it appeared that the girl was kind of slumped forward with her head leaning against the front seat, you know, the back of the front seat. I bet when they hear this, they're like, these are our guys. Like this is, this is it. So now they, I'd be like, I'm looking for this two toned Buick. Oh, you just wait. You just wait to see what this little town does in regards to cars. Okay. You just wait.
00:42:19
Speaker
Furthermore, this same man reported that he'd seen the car's occupants just a few minutes earlier staggering down the street where blood was later found. And, you know, on any given night, this type of activity would be considered weird in this part of town. But because the town was in mid swing of the college's homecoming activities, I'm sure there were a lot of people drinking and out and out and strangers in town because it's a huge football game.
00:42:50
Speaker
Mm hmm. You know, alumni could be in from out of town. Yeah. From both colleges. Yeah. And he just assumed that the three were en route to the homecoming game like so many others were in town. Sadly, though, because of this game, we don't realize at the time the significance of how important these events were. Well, yeah, he wouldn't even know until he hears that Evelyn's gone. Right.
00:43:19
Speaker
because if it was a normal night and he saw two guys pulling a girl who could potentially look intoxicated down the sidewalk, he probably would have phoned police right away. But because it's a homecoming game, he's like, eh, you know, all the college kids are out doing their thing. And we talk a lot about police investigations, obviously, on this show. And we've talked about some really badly botched ones. And we've talked about
00:43:50
Speaker
There's so many. What are some of your top? Definitely Cecil Gaddy, where they tried to say that the house fire
00:44:00
Speaker
right, when his wheelchair was outside. Betty Gail Brown, I think, when they told everything to the public. And then, I mean, good ones that come to mind, Bill and Peggy Stevenson from Florence, Kentucky. And then Gary Grant Jr., where his dad was actually retired from the force, but was like doing his own investigation too, because it was his son.
00:44:25
Speaker
Good gone missing. So those, I think they did a good job, but yeah, it seems, it's rare that we're somewhere in the middle, either they're like, I'm not going to retire until I get this solved or it seems everything is messed up. Yeah. And this case, while an older one, I think they really had some great investigative ideas. So, you know, you have the digging up the freshly dug graves. Right.
00:44:55
Speaker
And another ingenious thing they did because, you know, you're like, oh, now we know that we're looking for a car. We know like what we need to be keeping an eye out for. They actually decided that every car that was in town or came through town needed to be checked for blood stains that matched Evelyn's blood type. Because remember, we can't do DNA testing at this point.
00:45:20
Speaker
or any other suspicious signs. And to take matters even further, authorities announced that all cars that were checked would get a sticker and you had to place the sticker on your car that said, my car is okay. Wow.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah. So that way they clearly, I mean, just by glance know, oh, we haven't checked that car yet. It doesn't have a sticker. Let's check it right now. That's smart. And they printed 40,000 of these stickers. Wow. Yeah.
00:45:57
Speaker
Police even, this also I think is super smart, recruited the help of gas station attendants to monitor this sticker campaign, right? Because everybody has to stop and get gas. So if they see a car that doesn't have a sticker...
00:46:12
Speaker
Hmm then they can yeah and police chief George long said that all gas stations Attendance were to report any suspicious vehicles or vehicles that did not have the okay sticker mm-hmm and attendance and police or Attendance were also told to report the license number of any driver who refused like a mandatory search I don't know if that means that
00:46:37
Speaker
They had people stationed at the gas stations and they were checking. I'm not sure what that would mean. I mean, if you had like a smaller town, then there probably wouldn't have been very many gas stations in it. So it's a possibility.
00:46:52
Speaker
So we have the police getting the help of the gas station attendants to check on the sticker campaign. We have them digging up the graves. We have all kinds of these innovative things in place to hopefully find out what happened to Evelyn.
00:47:09
Speaker
Unfortunately, despite all these investigative efforts, nothing of significance really turned up. Days went by with nothing until finally several days after Evelyn's disappearance, a pair of underwear and a bra that could have potentially been Evelyn's were found near the underpass of highway 14. And that was just about two miles south of La Crosse. But they just say it could have been?
00:47:36
Speaker
Well, they say it's potentially hers because the only thing we can do is determine that the blood that was stained, because both items were stained with blood. Okay. And the only thing the investigation team can do is determine the blood type. Right. Oh, right. They are able, and I don't know how you do this, and I didn't really look much into it.
00:48:04
Speaker
that the blood on the underwear was menstrual blood. And that the blood on the underwear and the blood that was on the bra matched the blood type that Evelyn had. But again, right. That's as much as we can do. Right. A bra and underwear were not the only things they found off highway 14.
00:48:29
Speaker
A bloodstained pair of men's pants were found along the same road just four miles away. Which could be if somebody carried her. Yes, and we don't know if the pants were connected to Evelyn's case. There is a
00:48:44
Speaker
size 11 blood stained sneaker that police found in the Coon Valley area, which was Southeast of La Crosse. They were apparently dumped there just a short time before they were discovered. They did figure out some interesting details about these good, rich sneakers. The soles had a section cut pattern that was very similar to the footprints found near
00:49:13
Speaker
where Evelyn was last seen, so around the home. And the blood type that was on the sneakers was also her blood type. And so because of those two things, investigators did say they believe these sneakers were worn by her abductor. And I did read that inside one of those sneakers was found a single human hair. I hope they kept it. Oh, I hope they kept it. We'll talk about updates towards the end.
00:49:41
Speaker
And just like with teeth, these shoes revealed, cause you know, we've talked about teeth reveal a lot, your hair reveals a lot. These sneakers revealed a lot about the person or persons who wore them. Okay. According to the Charlie project, authorities consulted the good rich company and learned that that particular model of shoe was called the hood muggle and was sold in Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. So pretty localized. Yeah. So you're now down to five States or at least somebody who had
00:50:11
Speaker
travel to those five states. And based on the pattern of wear on the shoes, investigators believe the owner worked with machinery. What? The shoes also had. And I don't know how you would determine that. Maybe like fibers that were found on the shoes potentially.
00:50:34
Speaker
The shoes also had a distinctive circular wear pattern on the soles suggesting that their owner frequently operated like a motorbike. That is wild. I know. Fascinating, I think. Yeah. And this one was like really made my mouth fall open. Investigators were able to determine that two different people had worn the shoes because they said that the second wearer's foot was too big for them.
00:51:05
Speaker
So I guess it like pushed out bulged different parts of the shoe. Interesting. And in that same area, police found a very well worn size 36 blue denim jacket. The jacket had metallic buttons. It also had blood stains on the front, the back and the sleeves. Very specifically, the jacket had been cut off at the bottom and roughly re-himmed with white thread. And one of the four buttons was missing. Now to me,
00:51:34
Speaker
This is an easily distinguishable piece of clothing. I would think that if you heard a description of this jacket and you knew the person who owned it, you would be like, oh yeah, I saw Allison wearing that jacket. That's probably her jacket. I think if this jacket is connected to Evelyn's case, it should have brought
00:51:57
Speaker
around some calls to the police, I would think. Right. And especially when you're adding to the description of the jacket, the size of the jacket, the car that they could potentially be associated with. Like, I feel like it's taking those details all together would surely help you narrow down to somebody.
00:52:23
Speaker
Yep. And the investigative team said that the jacket had these worn marks running the entire width of the jacket under the armpits from possibly a safety harness. There were fibers that were used in these scrubbing, scrubbing brushes in the left hand pocket. And just as the pants, the blood that was on the jacket matched Evelyn. Now,
00:52:50
Speaker
I know that we are mentally saying the person that wore this jacket obviously was the person that wore these shoes because that just makes sense. Right, especially since it's all found together. Right, but the jacket was actually estimated to be too small to be worn by the person who wore the size 11 shoes.
00:53:10
Speaker
they did some type of analysis and was able to figure that out. So authorities believe the jacket was worn by like the accomplice to this kidnapping. So they think there's two people there. Well, and the guy we have, yeah. Yeah. Who saw the car. He says two guys and a girl. Yep. So maybe the jacket was one person's and the shoes were the other. Well,
00:53:39
Speaker
So let me put it to you this way. If somebody did go out the front door, one of the people, and the other one was carrying Evelyn downstairs, then I would think that the bigger person, the one wearing the size 36 jacket, would be the one who would be like lifting Evelyn out of the window, because that's the harder part, right? Which is why blood gets on his jacket. And the person who's standing up higher up
00:54:08
Speaker
that her blood would have gotten on his shoes because he's higher up and he's dragging her out on the ground. I wonder what size the pants were that they found. I don't know. Did the pants go with the person who wore the shoes? That would make sense. Where did they go with the person that had the jacket on? That is a good piece of little investigation you did there, Allison. Thank you.
00:54:32
Speaker
As was evident from the size of the search party and the unconventional things police did while investigating Evelyn's kidnapping, it's no surprise when in May of 1954 police decided they were going to give lie detector tests to every single student and every single teacher at Evelyn's school. Wow. In total, they had planned to administer over 1,750 individual lie detector tests. Jeez.
00:55:02
Speaker
But they actually stopped at just around 300 because the practice was controversial. It reminds me of the Betty Gail Brown case because they did at least try to do, remember they were going to do the testing of all the students at Transylvania University and they started with the male students. So, hmm, I'm torn on this one. I mean, if you're giving consent, then... Yeah, and I, well,
00:55:31
Speaker
We know like really lie detector test. I know not admissible anyway. Right. I think we learn more about people from their willingness to take them or their adversity to take it. You know, Evelyn's father and Vigo were also given polygraph tests and pass because
00:55:55
Speaker
Right. Yeah. He was the last man to, he drove her to his house. You know, it would just be a dumb moment. They took the shoes and the jacket to 31 different communities in the area and displayed them to an estimated 10,000 people saying, do you know who these belong to? Have you seen this jacket? Do you know who owns these shoes? But nobody
00:56:21
Speaker
came forward saying, oh yeah, I know Billy Joe wore those or whatever. Not surprising for a police force. And again, these measures were taking it to this 10,000s of people. It was not surprising to a police force that placed stickers on cars when they checked for evidence. Right. Exactly. They are thorough, if anything.
00:56:43
Speaker
Clam Lake that was located near Fairmont, Minnesota was dragged after fishermen said he caught a number of hair strands and a bobby pin and a hook after freeing his tackle from an underwater snag. And of course he threw those back in the water. He didn't keep them. And the police were not able to find said bobby pin. That's like a needle in a haystack top bill or anything relating to Evelyn's case when they
00:57:09
Speaker
Check this link and the search was called off heartbreakingly her family the Hartley family continued
00:57:19
Speaker
to appeal to the public through the entire investigation for information regarding what could have happened to Evelyn. They also use the media to speak directly to those who were involved, asking them to just somehow let them know what happened to her. They weren't even saying, you know, be a man, turn yourself in, you know, do what's right. They're just saying, somehow let us know what happened to our baby. But they don't.
00:57:48
Speaker
get anything back from those pleas. Just like in many of our cases, the Hartley family was played several times by cruel, nasty people. Just like our case last week. I, oh, it angers me. I know cause I don't understand what type of person. With toy, toy with, yeah. Yeah. Humor in doing that. In particular, one incident,
00:58:19
Speaker
centered around this 20 year old man who offered an exchange of information for a $500 fee. The family though contacted the police and managed to say, you know, Hey, this guy's contacted us. He says he has information, but they actually trapped this guy because they figured out it was a scam and he,
00:58:42
Speaker
and he along with a 13-year-old boy he'd convinced to participate were arrested and he was convicted and imprisoned for his crime against the family, which is good for the investigation team. With an investigation this large, it should come as no surprise when investigators question dozens of potential suspects over the years, dozens of people falsely confessed,
00:59:06
Speaker
During the first year, over 3,500 individuals were interviewed, but obviously we would not be talking about this case today if it was a soft one. And so now we're going to talk about your favorite part, Allison, which is the theories. Okay. I'm ready.
00:59:25
Speaker
If you remember from super early in the episode, I mentioned that Evelyn was a replacement babysitter for the Ross Musons regular. Oh, so they're thinking, guarantee you, whoever did this was really looking for the original babysitter.
00:59:42
Speaker
Yeah, there are several who believe that the original babysitter was the intended target and Evelyn was taken by mistake. Many think that Evelyn was just pretty much in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is super sad. Because? Oh, well, no, you said the latter came from, but they at least came with a pry bar.
01:00:02
Speaker
So they came prepared, which means they didn't just pass by and say, hey, let's try to break in this house, because then you wouldn't have a pry bar with you. Right. Right. For the marks. And if it's planned, then maybe they didn't know, yeah, it was going to be Evelyn. So if the abduction had been planned, right, then the, like you said, the suspects would never have assumed that their original babysitter wouldn't be there that night.
01:00:28
Speaker
they would think she was in residence but she wasn't and so Evelyn was taken. But my issue with this theory is why? Even if this theory is correct and Evelyn wasn't the intended target somebody was and I think if we knew
01:00:46
Speaker
in this theory, why this original babysitter was the target. I think that could answer a lot of questions for us. Did this regular babysitter have any enemies? Could someone have had a vendetta against her and taken Evelyn by mistake? If the normal babysitter did have known enemies, did people know of those enemies? Were those enemies questioned?
01:01:13
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I mean, it could have been the case that, you know, when Evelyn hears the noise downstairs, she goes down there that whoever's down there, especially if they have a pry bar to get in the windows, they could have hit her on the head with that, you know, that pry bar or whatever. And then that's when they realize, holy cow, this isn't who we thought it was. You know, we were coming to get somebody else, but now we're in late. Yeah. Yeah.
01:01:41
Speaker
I hope that they questioned those people, or at least thought about this theory. And I think what you said about, you know, oh no, we've gone too far, kind of plays in with the second theory of robbery. So could this have been a robbery gone wrong? Since Evelyn's disappearance took place on the same night as the college homecoming game, could robbers have potentially thought the home was empty when they broke in?
01:02:09
Speaker
So we know from the police investigation that several different windows were tried before the basement was successfully opened with the family car gone from the driveway. Could someone just have thought no one was home and maybe Evelyn heard the break in. She came down the basement steps to check it out and she was spotted. Maybe once the robber caught her, he
01:02:31
Speaker
You know, kidnapped her because she'd seen too much. Or maybe like you said, he attacked her in the basement and she was able to get away and he's just in too far. And you know, by this point, the baby is asleep. So we wouldn't have even known there was a second person in the house and it's a baby. So they're not going to be able to talk even if he did leave them.
01:02:51
Speaker
Then to go further into this theory, some people say that maybe the intruder was already in the basement waiting for the family to leave because maybe he thought they were all going like one of the other families had. And so maybe he thought they were all gone and was making noise and when Evelyn opened the door, he just kind of panicked.
01:03:11
Speaker
But nothing of importance was taken. Nothing was stolen that the homeowners could see. So if it were a robbery, then obviously the plan drastically switched. I'm not convinced on robbery because if you've, you know, taken Evelyn out of the equation, then what would stop you from getting what you wanted out of the house too?
01:03:39
Speaker
And if the intent is to rob, you know, we talked about this before robbing a house and kidnapping and killing someone. That's really extreme things. I mean, maybe he did attack her, but why go, you know, knocked her out or whatever, but why go the extra mile? I guess, unless she could identify him, maybe, maybe, but I feel like if you're doing that, then you're still going to go ahead and rob the house. Yeah, I agree.
01:04:10
Speaker
Like something's still going to be missing. Yeah, you take at least one thing of value. Right, right. A very popular theory is that Evelyn was a victim of a serial killer named Edward Theodore Gang.
Theories and Unresolved Case
01:04:26
Speaker
Three names. Three names. Who was a killer and body snatcher who confessed to murdering two women and fashioning trophies out of human body parts.
01:04:38
Speaker
Oh my. Yeah.
01:04:41
Speaker
Just four years after Evelyn's disappearance, Wisconsin state police officers approached him in regards to Evelyn's case. Gain was just found responsible for the murder of Mary Hogan and Bernice Woodard, and the authorities found extra human remains on this farm, which made him a suspect in several other crimes in the area. Oh, but that's at least something that they could check and try to match, bones.
01:05:09
Speaker
Because Lacrosse was just 110 miles west of where he murdered both of these girls, he was questioned. He also had relatives who lived in Lacrosse. And you know, he would have known then that this was a big night where, you know, there might be kids with babysitters alone.
01:05:36
Speaker
However, though, after searching his property, they were able to determine that the remains weren't Evelyn's, those extra human remains that they discovered. He also passed two lie detector tests during which he insisted he had nothing to do with the case. And authorities officially said that he was in no way connected to Evelyn. Evelyn Hartley, however, many continue to suspect his involvement.
01:06:04
Speaker
Naturally, there are going to be some locals who believe the crime was a random attack by like a transient coming through town. Those that support this idea believe that it was just somebody not from the area just passing through. But for me, there are too many plot holes in this theory.
01:06:26
Speaker
why was nothing taken from the home in this theory were to believe this random person broken specifically to kill someone. Right. I mean, yeah, it's possible. But I mean, we are to just believe in this theory, this random person was walking down the street.
01:06:44
Speaker
and was like, I'm in the mood to kill somebody today. This house looks good, which I know happens. It's kind of frightening to think about, but I don't know. And again, there are two people. Right. Right. I mean, this theory has to spring from the fact that you have that witness who sees
01:07:05
Speaker
Well, I was going to say who sees a car that he doesn't recognize, though if it's a common enough car, then it could be anybody's. Plus there's all kinds of people who are in town for this football game. And I was going to say maybe because he also said he saw two young men and a woman and he didn't recognize the young men, but he also didn't recognize the young woman as Evelyn. And so even if he's a local, then that doesn't necessarily mean that these other
01:07:34
Speaker
people he doesn't recognize are out of towners because there's at least, if it was Evelyn, at least one other person in the car who is from the area, you know? Right. And we say it's a small town, but it wasn't super small. Like 56,000 people now isn't super tiny, but it's not gigantic either. So yes, maybe he just didn't recognize them. Mm hmm. I don't know.
01:08:02
Speaker
A final theory is a result of an audio recording that was submitted to police in 2004. In 2004? Mm-hmm. So 2004, according to two of my sources, a man named Mel Williams came forward with a conversation he recorded at a bar in 1969. So why didn't he take it to police in 1969? Well, at the time, his goal was actually to record a band that was performing at the bar. Oh.
01:08:27
Speaker
And I'm assuming when he goes back to listen to this recording, then he realizes, holy crap, I actually recorded a pretty interesting conversation between these two random dudes. Okay. On the tape, one of the men, a man named Clyde
01:08:43
Speaker
Tywe Peterson implicated himself, a man named Jack, and an unnamed third party person in the disappearance claiming that Evelyn was murdered and buried in another town in Wisconsin after her kidnapping.
01:08:59
Speaker
So this entire party, this threesome, is now deceased. One committed suicide in 1967, another had a heart attack in 1974, and the unnamed guy, I'm assuming is deceased because if not, he is really, really freaking old by this time. Well, and he's unnamed, so. Right. Yeah, there's not really a lead. Yeah.
01:09:23
Speaker
Although authorities promised to investigate the lead, no further developments were ever made. When Williams stopped recording the conversation, he doesn't remember like where the men went or what happened in regards to the men afterward. And really, Allison, that's it. Hmm. I'd be interested in seeing if law enforcement
01:09:52
Speaker
really looked into this other city in Wisconsin.
01:09:59
Speaker
You know what I mean? Especially as it relates to these people whose voices are heard on this tape. Unfortunately, like we've talked about, there are lots of false confessions. And this could have been somebody who, you know, because of their age, they were around, you know, during this time and they're like bragging about something that they didn't do. Yeah, trying to sound tough or whatever. I'm torn between that one though, obviously, because you have someone who's saying,
01:10:27
Speaker
you know, that they did it in a way that they don't know that they're being recorded or it being someone who was actually looking for the original babysitter.
01:10:40
Speaker
Yeah, that's where I am too. It has been nearly 70 years since Evelyn Hartley disappeared. Her case is still unsolved, but as we know, that doesn't mean her case is closed. According to La Crosse Tribune writer, Steve Rudeo, La Crosse Police Department, Lieutenant Avery Schott said police never close the book when a person vanishes without an explanation. Quote, we always want to know, she said, any police officer wants to solve the case.
01:11:09
Speaker
end quote. She said evidence from the case is still maintained and stored by her department but she declined to speculate whether today's sophisticated forensic technology would help solve the case. She said quote, over time new technologies have come into play and we would hope that they would help in a case like this but we can't know for certain end quote.
01:11:30
Speaker
La Crosse County Sheriff Jeff Wolf recalls getting just one tip about the Hartley case during the 10 years as an investigator in the sheriff's office in the 90s. However, he said it's possible that one day the truth will be discovered. He said, quote, it's not uncommon to hear about a case from a long time ago being solved in quote.
01:11:49
Speaker
Janice didn't find out about what happened to Evelyn until she read about it in a local newspaper. Naturally, her family did not speak of what tragically happened in her home. In fact, the family soon moved after Evelyn's disappearance. Janice told interviewers that her father never let her babysit and actually installed bars on the basement windows because of what happened to Evelyn.
01:12:11
Speaker
Sadly, Evelyn's parents never found out what happened to their daughter. Both of them passed before they could find out what happened. In the 1970s, they relocated to Portland, Oregon. Like Wolf said, we can still solve this case. It only takes the right piece of clothing to be tested or the right person to come forward. As we jump into 2023, I hope Evelyn can finally be given justice.
01:12:34
Speaker
Those with information regarding the case are asked to contact the La Crosse Police Department at 608-785-5962.
01:12:44
Speaker
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01:13:14
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:13:35
Speaker
It's love notes for Maggie and Allison. And I want to send a lot of love to Jackie Twyla and I hope that we are pronouncing your name correctly.
01:13:52
Speaker
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01:14:17
Speaker
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Speaker
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01:15:13
Speaker
You'll love listening to it as much as we love making it for you. And with that, all of our love is going out to each and every one of you. Until next week, Sleuth Hounds.