Blountsville Tennessee is a census designated place in Sullivan County just south of the Virginia border with just over 3 000 residents it’s tiny and it has that small town feel where things just move a little bit slower so when one of their smallest residents went missing the tyknit community of bluntsville were deeply troubled Evelyn Mae Boswell was born on September 21st 2018 in Blountsville to parents Ethan Perry and Megan Boswell she was a beautiful baby girl with Tufts of blonde hair and big blue eyes Megan
who was known as Maggie to her friends and family was just 17 years old when Evelyn was born like many young couples learning to be parents Maggie and Ethan eventually went their separate ways with Maggie obtaining sole custody of their daughter on February 18 2020 the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office received a referral from the department of children’s services stating that Evelyn now 15 months old had not been seen since before Christmas of 2019.
according to People magazine the complaint was filed by 68 year old David Jones who was Evelyn’s great-grandfather and Maggie’s grandfather however according to many other sources the complaint was actually filed by Tommy Boswell senior Maggie’s father who subsequently told WJHL news 11. stop it can you comment on that I don’t know what happened but I’m the one called DCs and got this started and why did you call DCs because my granddaughter she never did come back and I don’t know what happened to her when was the last time you had seen her
uh thanksgible up to his house we all had Thanksgiving dinner so you hadn’t seen her since Thanksgiving Thanksgiving I know some Reports say that it was like early December so yours was a lot longer than that yeah it was Thanksgiving had you been in communication with them at all like I knew you hadn’t seen her but no I hadn’t talked to her enough I stayed busy and I talked to my ex-wife and uh I told her I said if everyone don’t come home I said I’m gonna do something about it and she said you better not do that
you’re going to regret this detective Tracy Horizon CPS caseworker James Lewis took point on the investigation and responded to Maggie’s home to inquire about the whereabouts of her daughter according to Maggie Evelyn was in the custody of her father 20 year old Ethan Perry She further explained that she was scheduled to meet Ethan the following day to exchange custody of Evelyn allegedly the pair were to meet up in the parking lot of Ingles markets in Colonial Heights at around 4 pm there was just one problem with Maggie’s story
Ethan was on active duty for the U.S army and was stationed in Fort Polk Louisiana Maggie should have probably kept better tabs on her ex if she was going to cook up some ridiculous story now as time went on Maggie’s version of events kept changing depending on who she was speaking with in an interview with WCYB News 5 Maggie claimed that Evelyn was with a babysitter but would not reveal who that alleged babysitter was she then claimed she was scared to report her daughter missing stating quote the reason I didn’t report it or
anything was I knew the person who had her and I didn’t want them to run away with her and as soon as they thought anything was going on they just kind of vanished so I’m just kind of worried you know about where they are at what they’re doing with her during that interview the now 18 year old mother told reporters that she was again pregnant and could not take a polygraph test due to her condition however the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t use polygraphs they did not contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to
administer one can you tell me you said you can’t take a polygraph no I came here to take a polygraph and due to policy they could not give me one okay due to their policy okay um you can’t tell me why based on their policy or you just don’t based on their policy I just want to give you the opportunity to like address anything that you feel that the public should or shouldn’t know or I know everybody’s in your business I am pregnant that’s why they won’t give me a polygraph due to policy if you’re pregnant they cannot give you one okay
that makes sense you said in your interview yesterday with another station that you you kind of have an idea of where Evelyn is they’re checking they are checking out okay um and did you report that before they’re doing their best okay at 7 pm on February 19th an amber alert was officially issued in regards to Evelyn Boswell she was described as being two feet tall weighing 28 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes she was last seen on December 26 2019 wearing a tracksuit a hair bow and shoes that were all pink in
color although the TBI claimed that Evelyn was last seen the day after Christmas Sheriff Jeff Cassidy of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office stated that he believed she was last seen on December 10th or 11th by a babysitter this was because Sheriff Cassidy had spoken to said babysitter he said the 10th or 11th is what I’ve been going on simply because it was verified by somebody who’s not lied to us on February 21st the TBI announced that they were looking for a gray 2007 BMW because based on information provided
them by Maggie they believe people traveling in the car may have information regarding Evelyn’s whereabouts more on that in just a moment that same day Sheriff Cassidy held a press conference to announce that both Maggie and Ethan were actively participating in the investigation the sheriff also offered one thousand dollars of his own money as a reward for information leading to Evelyn’s safe return and urged others to donate as well within days the TBI received roughly 200 tips and the reward increased almost sixty thousand dollars
now like many bad parents that we cover on this channel Maggie had a number of social media profiles under different aliases in one profile where she calls herself Maggie wood she made a plea on February 24 2020 for her daughter’s safe return it read here are some more pictures of Evelyn please share and help me find my baby she is the sweetest baby you will ever meet and will smile and want to hug you when you see her around two feet tall 28 pounds dirty blonde hair and blue eyes the same day Maggie made another post
tonight at 11 there will be an important interview concerning Evelyn on WJHL please share this and get the word out in this interview Maggie shared a completely different series of events than what she had told detective harass as well as WCYB news 5. during the second interview Maggie claimed she knew where her daughter was she was with her drug addicted mother Angela Boswell and insisted she had shared this information with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation well actually I want to talk about that I’ve told TBI where to
find her in Mendota my mom took her to a campground and a silver camper and if they don’t go tonight I’m gonna go find her myself because I’ve told them and they’re not really like taking it seriously and if they don’t go tonight like I will go myself and go get her but in the same breath her story shifted again as if she didn’t realize she was going on record she said they’re not taking me seriously TBI isn’t because I’ve not fully told them I’ve been like hey like my mom camped out at Mendota you want to go
check them out but I’ve never been like specifically hey she’s not your silver camper because my mom did threaten me like you know if I told anybody I’m walking into that but she did for contacts mendota’s and other census designated place just 33 minutes north of bluntsville in the state of Virginia however the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office began growing impatient with Maggie in her frivolous claims according to Captain Andy siebolt the claim that Megan made stating that Evelyn was in a camper and Mendota was
investigated completely the Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office along with the United States Marshals checked every Campground in Mendota and nothing was found Megan’s story has changed multiple times throughout this investigation however that same day the occupants of the gray 2000 MW were found and arrested two hours away in Wilkes County North Carolina they were none other than Maggie’s mother 42 year old Angela Boswell and her boyfriend 33 year old William McLeod the pair were charged with possession of
stolen property as the car was in fact stolen apparently the car was going to be sold to the Boswell family but no agreement was reached and no money was exchanged in addition the payer also sought for questioning with regard to the whereabouts of Evelyn at their initial appearance in a North Carolina courtroom both wave extradition Angela told the judge that she was anxious to return home to face questioning she was later transported to the Sullivan County Jail where she was held without bond while her boyfriend remained in the
Wilkes County Jail shortly after their arrest their bail bondsman Derek Bishop had this to share with WJHL news 11. bondsman Derek Bishop says William McLeod claims to have only seen the missing Evelyn Boswell twice once when he and Evelyn’s grandmother Angela Boswell began dating and at some point last November and I just asked him if he knew where the baby was and he made a comment that the baby’s mother knows where the baby is and this seems like that she’s trying to kind of pawn it off on Angela Angela was arrested
last Friday in North Carolina on charges of probation violation and theft of property I guess Angela and her daughter had a little bit of a rocky relationship and they were trying to mend that and I guess the way they were trying to mend that was through the relationship with Evelyn as well Bishop assisted Angela Boswell with multiple bonds since 2018 and McLeod with one last year now he’s helping McLeod after he was arrested in a stolen BMW wanted in the search for Evelyn Boswell they didn’t know that the car was stolen or the car hasn’t been
paid for but that’s what he said he said that that the arrangement was that they were paying for the car and then all of a sudden the car got reported still on the 20th McLeod told Bishop that he visited his grandmother in Wilkes County North Carolina a week ago near the pond searched Wednesday by authorities officials called that search inconclusive Bishop says McLeod told him last night that he’s offered to take a polygraph test and I guess he did give his DNA to the authorities as well like everyone Bishop says when it comes to
the missing Evelyn Boswell he hopes for the best just wish everything’s safe for the baby and you will continue to help them oh yeah absolutely imagine having your own bail bondsman like some people have accountants or hairdressers soon Angela and William weren’t the only ones who were going to be facing the law on February 25th Meghan Maggie Boswell was arrested and charged with filing false reports she was placed in the custody of the Sullivan County Jail on 25 thousand dollars Bond her first court appearance was set for March 2nd at 1 30
PM in the Bristol General Sessions Court according to her arrest warrant signed by detective Tracy haraz through investigation it was determined that Megan Boswell made the false statements to law enforcement in response to a legitimate inquiry by law enforcement concerning a material fact about an offense or with the intent to hinder law enforcement from finding Evelyn Boswell in a press conference Sheriff Cassidy told reporters every time we talked to her her story changes I’m serious when I say that every single time her
conflicting statements had already made the investigation into Evelyn’s disappearance more difficult according to the sheriff quote we were already behind the eight ball 67 to 68 days before she was reported missing end quote at this point most of you are aware that we’ve received a number of conflicting inaccurate statements from the mother Megan Boswell during the investigation we determined that some of the statements Megan Boswell provided to us were false many of the false statements that Megan maybe delayed our investigations
and also got impeded our investigations on trying to find that one as a result she has been charged with false reported because the investigation remains active and ongoing we can only release specific uh answers to this uh investigation of course everybody knows that a lot of it’s a lot of the steps that we received and work with it being conflicting and inaccurate and a lot of the information you all receiving are from the mother Megan a lot of the stuff that you’re seeing out on social media and a lot of stuff that has been related to you
hadn’t come from from our office so we want to release the most accurate information to you all and we want to be promptly in doing so so a lot of the stuff that you all are getting is from the mother uh and you know you take take with it what you want but she has been an accurate conflicting statements uh all through this investigation following a tip that Evelyn could have been dumped in a pond in Wilkes County North Carolina a rescue team searched using a remote operated vehicle on February 26th however no body or other evidence
related to Evelyn’s case was found the tip which proved to be false was one of more than 570 tips that had now been called in within a week of little girl being reported missing according to TBI spokeswoman Leslie Earhart all tips have to be checked out just to make sure while in custody Maggie decided to finally complain with TBI agents Evelyn wasn’t missing she was dead the disgraced mother claimed that her daughter’s death was purely accidental she said she and her boyfriend at the time were sleeping in bed with Evelyn
when they woke to find her unresponsive Maggie claimed that she had to have been smothered after co-sleeping with two adults there’s just a few problems with this story Evelyn was 15 months old so it was unlikely that she would have suffocated inside of her mother’s bed the other disturbing part Maggie claimed to have thrown her daughter’s body into the trash but refused to tell the agents where to find it to me this doesn’t sound like something you do in the case of an accidental death however on March 6 2020 after weeks of
wild goose chases around Appalachia the Sullivan County Sheriff’s department and the TBI finally had a solid lead according to TBI agent Brian Fraley the tip came in from none other than Evelyn’s grandfather Tommy Boswell senior the same man who initially called in her disappearance according to agent Fraley quote we received a call from Evelyn’s grandfather talking about a storage shed on his property he believed it may have been valuable for us to look in it in search end quote inside of the storage shed located on Tommy’s property
on Muddy Creek Road agent Fraley found a child’s Playhouse allegedly the grandfather had originally built this Playhouse for Maggie years ago when she was a little girl or an agent Fraley it looked like it hadn’t been played in for years when he took a peek inside he came across a trash can that looked out of place in fact it appeared to have been placed inside recently but when agent freely removed the trash can and lifted a trash bag covering the top portion he knew then he’d Solve the Riddle of what happened to Evelyn
according to him he observed a leg with a foot attached on top of the trash the 15 month old’s body had been wrapped in aluminum foil and stuff inside of a black trash bag she was wearing an unzipped purple fleece onesie with penguins on it and had been tightly swaddled in a gray and white blanket it was unclear how long Evelyn’s body had been there but it was clear the little girl was in an active state of decomposition that had been taking place in a confined space on August 20th 2020 Megan Maggie Boswell was charged with
homicide in the death of her daughter Evelyn Mae Boswell the homicide charge was part of a 19 count indictment returned by a Sullivan County grand jury this included two counts of felony homicide one count of aggravated CA one count of aggravated child neglect one count of tampering with evidence 12 counts of false reporting one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of failure to report a death under suspicious or unusual circumstances her bond was set at one million dollars in her next court appearance was
scheduled for August 28th she of course pled not guilty this afternoon the grand jury of Sullivan County returned a true bill presentment charging Megan Boswell with a total of 19 counts there were two counts a felony murder one in perpetration of aggravated child abuse and one in perpetration of aggravated child neglect one count of aggravated child abuse one count of aggravated child neglect one count of tampering with evidence one count of foster 12 counts of false report one count of abusive corpse one count of failure to report a death
under suspicious or unusual or unnatural circumstances the next hearing date is August the 28th in criminal court for Sonoma County and to bond on this case currently is one million dollars baby Evelyn’s body was found on March 6th since that month since that time my detectives TBI agents and the DA’s office have worked tirelessly conducting interviews coming through evidence and establishing a timeline in order to determine the circumstances leading to Baby Evelyn’s death as a result of false information given
by the defendant along with misinformation circulated in the community there’s been a lot of confusion in the case I want to be clear when I say that after an extensive and thorough investigation other individuals were eliminated as suspects and Megan Boswell became the sole suspect in this case my office has received dozens of calls and messages over the last several months from concerned residents wanting to make sure that we had not forgotten about baby Evelyn I assure you we haven’t and we won’t I want to express my sincere
appreciation to those residents who have shown their support throughout this process we’ve received Foods cards prayers many encouragement and we appreciate that more than you know I know many of you still have a lot of questions in this case please know that we can’t speak to the evidence gathered during this investigation because this case now has to be prosecuted as we struggle to attempt to understand why or even how someone can harm an innocent child we will never know because thank God most of us are not
wired that way but we can certainly try our best to make sure that those responsible for these uncomprehensible acts are held accountable at a court hearing on September 23 2022 forensic pathologist Dr darinka malusnik polshen testified that Evelyn hadn’t died as the result of co-sleeping she was too old for that Evelyn had suffocated to death but the reason was just more Sinister Evelyn had been placed upside down inside of the trash bag which was then stuffed into the trash can with such force that her head was pressed backwards against her
back yes that sounds exactly like you think it does according to the pathologist quote she was sort of compressed in the can her head was completely tilted backward severely overextended she was in a distorted fetal position her facial features were pretty much flattened end quote it should be noted that Dr malusnik polchen serves as the Knox County’s chief medical examiner heads a regional forensic center located in Knoxville and is an expert in the detection of fatal CA this lady knows what she’s looking for and in her expert opinion Evelyn’s
death was intentional it was a homicide this little girl had been smothered according to the pathologist the blanket was wrapped so tightly around Evelyn’s body that it left imprints on her skin aluminum foil was also obstructing her Airway she added that decomposition in the infestation of maggots prevented investigators from determining if blunt force trauma was a factor in Evelyn’s death but that her skeleton did not show damage although Dr malusnik polchen’s testimony was made public details surrounding Evelyn’s autopsy and related
photographs were ordered sealed by judge William Goodwin according to Maggie’s then attorney Brad Sproles the photos were so great traffic that jurors would convict his client solely as an emotional reaction but in the end judge Goodwin ruled that some of these photographs were necessary for the state to prove its felony homicide case but he barred jurors from seeing two he deemed particularly graphic and prejudicial so where does this case stand now as with many cases that we’ve covered over the past four years the pandemic caused some
delays in due process in courthouses around the country further delays were attributed to intense pre-trial publicity emotions for a change of venue September of 2022 Brad Sproles was replaced by Gene Scott as Maggie’s court appointed attorney the change of counsel caused further delay in the trial moving it to February 3rd 2025 at 8 30 a.
m on August 20th 2023 Maggie petitioned judge Goodwin to wear civilian clothing at preliminary hearings this request was denied citing the fact that a jury had not yet been selected for her trial and that Maggie shouldn’t be treated any differently you’ve been any inmate in the county jail system as this case is all over the place we’ll keep an eye out for updates as they become available Evelyn May Boswell was laid to rest at the Glenwood cemetery in Chapel mausoleum in Bristol Tennessee she was buried beneath a heart-shaped red
granite gravestone decorated with etchings of praying angels in the center of the stone is a picture of Evelyn in happier times smiling as she sat barefoot in a chair made especially for her surrounded by Autumn Leaves
