WEBVTT 1 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:30.960 Welcome back to the Pathway Chili. 2 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:33.320 I'm Robin, I'm Jules. 3 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.880 And I'm Ashley. Let's dive right into this week's case. 4 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:44.000 October twenty fourth, nineteen fifty three, Lacrosse, Wisconsin. The father 5 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:47.079 of fifteen year old Evelyn Hartley attempts to phone her 6 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:50.719 while she's babysitting an infant child, but receives no answer. 7 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:54.920 After traveling to the house, he discovers that Evelyn has disappeared, 8 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:57.679 and the evidence suggests that she was the victim of 9 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:02.640 a violent abduction by an intruder. Days later, blood stained clothing, 10 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:06.519 including women's undergarments, a denim jacket, and a pair of 11 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.879 tennis shoes are discovered miles away and believed to be 12 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:13.239 connected to the case. Over the years, there would be 13 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:16.400 a number of potential suspects and the discovery of a 14 00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:19.760 tape recorded confession to the crime, and the discovery of 15 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:23.239 a tape recorded confession to the crime, but Evelyn Hartley 16 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:24.200 is never found. 17 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:29.239 After that, the path went chilly. So today we'll be 18 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.120 covering a frightening missing person's case which took place over 19 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:36.319 seventy years ago. The nineteen fifty three disappearance of Evelyn Hartley. 20 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:39.120 I originally covered it on The Trail Went Cold in 21 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:43.159 October of twenty eighteen as one of our Halloween themed episodes. 22 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:46.280 As the circumstances of how Evelyn Hartley went missing are 23 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:49.040 like something out of a horror movie. The idea of 24 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:52.480 a teenage girl being terrorized while babysitting is a popular 25 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.840 trope in a number of horror stories, including John Carpenter's 26 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.760 nineteen seventy eight classic Halloween, where Jamie Lee Curtis's character 27 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:02.640 is talked by the mass slasher Michael Myers during a 28 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.000 babysitting job on Halloween night. Today's episode is almost like 29 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:08.319 a real life version of this, as it involves a 30 00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:11.280 fifteen year old girl named Evelyn Hartley disappearing from the 31 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:13.840 home of a family friend while she was looking after 32 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.439 their infant daughter. There was a lot of evidence to 33 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:19.039 indicate that Evelyn was the victim of a violent abduction 34 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.599 by an intruder, and some bloodstained clothing, some of which 35 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.319 was believed to belong to Evelyn, would later be found 36 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.599 miles away from the residence. Over the years, there would 37 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.759 be a number of interesting developments in this case, including 38 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:34.800 the suspected involvement of one of the most infamous murderers 39 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:37.879 of all time, ed Geen, who is the alleged real 40 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:41.280 life inspiration for a number of hiconic horror movie villains. 41 00:02:41.879 --> 00:02:43.879 But when all is said and done, Evelyn is still 42 00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:46.520 a missing person and we don't know who is responsible 43 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:47.479 for her disappearance. 44 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.199 Here's what's wild about this is that Evelyn was at 45 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.719 a friend's home babysitting their child. So it's almost as 46 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:59.360 if that home was either a pre arranged target in 47 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.879 Evelyn happened to be there, or it was a crime 48 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.120 of opportunity where someone watched Evelyn or knew that Evelyn 49 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.560 was going to this house, happened to see a young 50 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:11.159 girl walk in and the parents leave, and then they 51 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:14.560 acted on whatever they did to Evelyn. It's just wild 52 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:18.840 because there's a million other places she could have been 53 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:21.199 that night, and yet she's at a friend's home babysitting 54 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.319 in this little child and never comes home. 55 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:26.879 Yeah, even after all these years, there's still a lot 56 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:30.680 of ambiguity about whether Evelyn was specifically targeted or if 57 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:34.759 someone just happened to see her babysitting alone or another 58 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.560 babysitter usually did that job so at that house, So 59 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:40.520 maybe she was targeted or something, and they have gone 60 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:42.919 over a couple potential suspects over the years, but none 61 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.159 of them seem to have a close personal connection to Evelyn, 62 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:48.759 so we really don't know what the motive was for 63 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:51.719 this crime and if she was just targeted at random. 64 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:56.520 Our story begins in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, in nineteen fifty three. 65 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:00.240 Our central figure is fifteen year old Evelyn Hartley, who 66 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.719 lives with her parents, Richard and Ethel Hartley. Evelyn is 67 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.280 one of four children in the family, though she lost 68 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.800 a brother to polio years earlier. The Hartleys moved to 69 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:14.000 Lacrosse from Charleston, Illinois in nineteen fifty and Richard works 70 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:17.959 as a biology professor at Lacrosse State College. Evelyn is 71 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.319 a junior at Central High School and is considered to 72 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:23.519 be an excellent honor student with a straight A average. 73 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.360 On the evening of Saturday, October twenty fourth, Evelyn was 74 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:30.920 picked up at her home by Vigo Rasmussen, a coworker 75 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:33.480 of her fathers who worked as a physics professor at 76 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:37.360 Lacrosse State College. Vigo, his wife, and seven year old 77 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.319 daughter were all planning to attend the college's homecoming football game, 78 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.519 which was always a huge deal in the town, and 79 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.160 they needed a babysitter to watch over their twenty month 80 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:51.079 old infant daughter, Janice. They had a regular babysitter named 81 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.120 Janis Cowley, which she would also be attending the game 82 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.079 that night, so the Rasmussens asked Evelyn if she would 83 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.480 take the job instead. Evelyn agreed, and this would be 84 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:04.319 her first babysitting job in three months. After being picked 85 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.319 up by Vigo at six thirty pm, Evelyn was taken 86 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:10.560 to the Rasmusen home. The house was located in a 87 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:14.560 new subdivision on Bachelor Drive and the Rasmusans had only 88 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.720 lived there for three months. Evelyn lived about a mile 89 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.680 and a half away and told her parents that she 90 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:22.879 would phone them at eight thirty pm to check in. 91 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.639 She was told to put Janis to bed at seven 92 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.040 p m. And since the child was going to be 93 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:31.480 sleeping most of the evening, Evelyn brought several school books 94 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:35.240 along with her to spend time studying. The Rasmusans then 95 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.959 left to attend the game while Evelyn remained alone with 96 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.360 their daughter. However, eight thirty came and went, and the 97 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:44.319 Hartleys did not receive their scheduled phone call from Evelyn. 98 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:49.079 Richard Hartley tried calling the Rasmussen home multiple times but 99 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:52.639 received no answer, and even tried calling neighbors of the 100 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:56.040 Rasmusans to check if they had seen her. After not 101 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.519 hearing from Evelyn, Richard decided to go check on his daughter. 102 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:03.000 He arrived at the resmuse in residence at around nine 103 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.319 to twenty and discovered the front door was locked. The 104 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.360 lights inside of the house were still on, but even 105 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:13.439 after Richard repeatedly knocked, rang the doorbell and shouted for Evelyn, 106 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:18.079 no one answered. Since the living room window had no curtains, 107 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:22.120 Richard decided to peek inside and was very concerned when 108 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:25.279 he noticed that Evelyn's school books were scattered around the floor, 109 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:28.600 along with one of her shoes at her eyeglasses, which 110 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:29.399 were now broken. 111 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.000 My god, I can't even imagine as a parent, when 112 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.560 you're sitting there and you have an expectation that your 113 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:38.079 little girl's only a mile and a half away. She's 114 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:41.439 babysitting for family friends that you know, and there's a plan. 115 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:44.120 She's going to put the baby down around eight point thirty. 116 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:45.839 She's going to go ahead and check in with mom 117 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:50.759 and dad. And it's just such a typical scenario. She's 118 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:53.439 even brought her books so she can read and study. 119 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.920 And Dad knows and has got something's wrong. My daughter 120 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.639 would have called, she would have answered my calls, something 121 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:03.959 would have occurred in the kind of her normal routine. 122 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.519 And yet everything seems wrong in his gut, and he 123 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:11.959 gets over there and sees truly a horror scene. His 124 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.079 daughter's not there, she's not answering, and her books are 125 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:19.959 scattered you said one shoes there, and her eyeglasses, which 126 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.879 are broken, are there, So there's a clear sign that 127 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.800 she didn't leave willingly, didn't walk outside. She's not down 128 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:29.920 the street somewhere. Something happened to her. And then he's 129 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.160 left standing in this in this house, wondering where's the 130 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:36.199 child and where's my baby? 131 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.079 And you also have to remember this is back in 132 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.560 the nineteen fifties, and as far as I know, Lacrosse 133 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:42.360 was not known for being a town with a lot 134 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.720 of violent crime. So this sort of thing just didn't happen. 135 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.319 It's not something that'd experienced. They always had this feeling 136 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:50.319 this is a safe ay And if we leave, like 137 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.959 our teenage daughter to baby sits someone alone, then nothing's 138 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:56.480 going to happen to her. But then her father arrives 139 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.560 and realizes that he has entered his worst nightmare. So 140 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.160 Rachel desperately tried to enter the house, but found that 141 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:05.040 most of the doors and windows were locked. However, when 142 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.639 he went around back, he discovered the basement window was 143 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.000 opened and that the screen had been removed and was 144 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.279 now leaning up against the outside wall. Richard decided to 145 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:15.560 enter the dark basement through the window and turned on 146 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.680 the lights. A step ladder, which the ras Musans had 147 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:21.120 been using to paint the basement, was next to the window, 148 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:24.040 and Richard noticed that Evelyn's second shoe was at the 149 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.000 bottom of the stairs. He went upstairs into the living 150 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.959 room and noticed that the radio was still playing. In 151 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:33.120 addition to Evelyn's items being scattered across the floor, the 152 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.080 furniture had been disarranged, so all indications were that a 153 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:40.559 violent struggle had taken place. Thankfully, baby Janis was discovered 154 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.840 to be sleeping unharmed in her crib. The child was 155 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.600 not covered by her blanket, even though the ras Musans 156 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.759 had given Evelyn instructions to cover Janet at seven fifteen pm, 157 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.799 so the scene to indicate that Evelyn went missing shortly 158 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.279 after she put the child to bed at seven o'clock. 159 00:08:57.240 --> 00:08:59.360 Richard quickly went to a neighbor and asked him to 160 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:03.080 phone the police. When they arrived, they found additional evidence 161 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:05.639 that an intruder had entered the house in abducted Evelyn. 162 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:08.919 Other windows were discovered to have pride marks from a 163 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.799 screwdriver on them, so the intruder had likely tried to 164 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:15.639 break in elsewhere before entering through the basement. A set 165 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:18.000 of footprints made by a pair of sneakers were found 166 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.600 in a flower bed near the basement window, and there 167 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:23.639 were also dirty footprints in the living room rug. But 168 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:27.000 most disturbingly, there were two pools of blood found outside 169 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.200 the house. One of them was located in the Rasmussen's 170 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.799 yard near the basement window, while the other was about 171 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.919 one hundred feet away next to a neighbor's garage. If 172 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:38.639 that wasn't enough, a bloody palm print was also on 173 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.000 the garage's wall, and additional blood stains were discovered on 174 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:46.000 the side of another neighbor's house. Testing would eventually show 175 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:48.960 that all this blood was type A, which matched Evelyn's 176 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:52.440 blood type. Red cloth fibers were also found in some 177 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:55.320 of the blood, and Evelyn was wearing red pants at 178 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.559 the time she disappeared. It was theorized at while being 179 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:01.399 dragged through the yard by or Abdu, Evelyn had either 180 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:03.960 rested or fallen on the ground to create the pools 181 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.480 of blood. Tracking dogs would follow Evelyn sent through the 182 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:10.840 backyard and pass some neighbours' homes to an adjacent street 183 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:14.600 called Cooley Drive. The scent then abruptly came to an end, 184 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.519 suggesting that Evelyn may have been placed inside a vehicle 185 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:18.360 and driven away. 186 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.639 So it seems like the whoever this intruder was apprehends 187 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.440 her and restrains her and is forcing her out of 188 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:29.559 this home, maybe through the basement where he came in. 189 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:34.519 And it doesn't appear that there's been an injury necessarily 190 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:37.600 that would cause her to bleed until she gets outside 191 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:37.919 the house. 192 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.519 Is that correct? Yeah, they didn't really find any traces 193 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:42.840 of blood indoors. It was only on the outside, so 194 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:44.919 for all we know, maybe she cut herself on the 195 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:46.159 window or something like that. 196 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:48.440 I was going to say, either that, or right when 197 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:51.159 she gets outside, she tries to flee him, or you know, 198 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:54.600 causes a commotion and he hits her or you know, 199 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.960 cuts her or something like that, and that's where the 200 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:01.559 blood starts. But it's really bizarre because even like tracing 201 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.240 her and tramping her back down through the basement and out, 202 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:07.240 why not just leave through the back door or another 203 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:09.159 place it would be easier to get her out of 204 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.519 than in and out of a basement window or a 205 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:15.039 basement out, you know, outage. It just seems very bizarre. 206 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:19.159 And also as much as you know Type A did 207 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.799 match Evelynce blood, it'd be interesting. It's possible the offender 208 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:26.879 also was a Type A back in the fifties. How 209 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:29.480 would they know how to distinguish if there were two 210 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:31.120 you know sources at the time. 211 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:33.080 They wouldn't if they were both Type A? 212 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:36.679 Yeah, yeah, yeah, correct. There was no DNA testing in 213 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:38.240 the fifties, and I know that a lot of the 214 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.679 evidence in this case has since been lost, so I 215 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:42.639 don't know if they have any of this evidence still 216 00:11:42.679 --> 00:11:44.399 available to do DNA testing. 217 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:48.080 Do we know the layout of the house, like if 218 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:51.759 the perpetrator or perpetrators would have taken Evelyn out the 219 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:53.759 front door or the back door, Like was this a 220 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:57.759 well lit area where they really close to neighbors? Was 221 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:01.039 it sort of like the best option was to go 222 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.039 through the basement because maybe the path out was too 223 00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:07.840 a backyard and it was like the least obvious to neighbors. 224 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:11.440 That's what I'm thinking that maybe they figured there's just 225 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:13.879 too much open space near the front, like a lot 226 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.000 of houses closed together. So if we try to take 227 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:18.679 Evelyn out through the front, someone is going to see her, 228 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:20.799 and if she screams, then it's gonna get a lot 229 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:23.720 of attention. And like we mentioned earlier, like the front 230 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:26.600 window of the living room did not even have any curtains, 231 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.240 so for all we know, maybe a lot of the 232 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:31.000 other houses had open windows where they could see out 233 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:35.000 into the street. And so maybe the perpetrator or perpetrators 234 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:36.759 thought that we have a better chance of getting away 235 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.720 with this if we take Evelyn out through the back. 236 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:43.320 It wasn't long before a number of eyewitnesses would report 237 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:47.399 strange occurrences in the neighborhood that night. Neighbors are called 238 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:51.600 hearing screams sometime between seven and seven fifteen pm, but 239 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:55.679 assumed it was nothing more than children playing. Given the timeframe, 240 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:59.480 it seemed likely that the screams were connected to Evelyn's disappearance. 241 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:03.960 Another witness also remembered seeing a light colored tan sedan 242 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:07.120 circling the neighborhood at least three times at around eight 243 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:11.120 p m. But the most interesting eyewitness account came from 244 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:14.000 a man named Ed Hoffer, and in order to protect 245 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:18.000 his identity, the original newspaper articles about the case simply 246 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:21.600 refer to him as mister X. At around seven fifteen, 247 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:24.639 Hoffer was picking up his brother in law at his house, 248 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:28.960 which was located one block from the Rasmusen residence. He 249 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:31.759 claimed he saw two men and a girl staggering down 250 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:34.559 the street in the distance, next to the same house 251 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.720 where blood stains were later found. It was too dark 252 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:39.720 to get a good look at them, and Hoffer just 253 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.720 assumed that it was people who'd been drinking to celebrate 254 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:46.320 the homecoming game. A few minutes later, Hoffer and his 255 00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:49.240 brother in law were driving away when they almost ran 256 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.240 into a two toned green nineteen forty one or nineteen 257 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.879 forty two Bewick, which was speeding westward. The car was 258 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.559 being driven by a man, and Hoffer also saw a 259 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.879 second man sitting in the back alongside a girl who 260 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:06.000 had her head slumped forward. After learning about Evelyn's abduction, 261 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:10.039 these incidents suddenly took on more significance for Hoffer, and 262 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:13.399 he contacted the police. As far as anyone can tell, 263 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.240 nothing appeared to have been stolen from the Rasmusen home, 264 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:18.879 which seemed to go against the idea that she was 265 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:23.840 abducted during an attempted burglary. Needless to say, Evelyn's disappearance 266 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.080 would launch one of the largest missing person's investigations in 267 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:31.120 the history of Wisconsin, as over two thousand people volunteered 268 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:35.279 to participate in the search for her. Her disappearance terrified 269 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:38.679 the community so much that a ten pm curfew was 270 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:44.279 implemented for teenagers. Investigators launched a unique vehicle inspection program 271 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.519 in order to search every car in the county. If 272 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:50.320 a car was inspected and ruled out as having any 273 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:53.440 connection to Evelyn's abduction, it would be given a sticker 274 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:57.480 which read my car is okay. Gas station attendants were 275 00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:59.919 also told to be on the lookout for any car 276 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:04.200 which had bloodstains and report them. Recently, Doug Graves were 277 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.960 also checked to see if perhaps someone had placed Evelyn's 278 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:11.720 body inside there. In the years following Evelyn's disappearance, investigators 279 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.080 would question over thirty five hundred potential suspects, but failed 280 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.480 to turn up any promising leads. One of the most 281 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:23.399 unusual aspects of the investigation occurred in May of nineteen 282 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:27.120 fifty four, when the biggest massed liide detector tests in 283 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:31.559 the history of criminal investigation took place. It was decided 284 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:34.200 that all of the male students and faculty of each 285 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:38.519 high school in the area, approximately one thousand, seven hundred 286 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:42.200 and fifty people in total, would be questioned about Evelyn's 287 00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:46.080 disappearance while taking a polygraph. About three hundred people were 288 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:49.799 tested before the school board intervened in forced law enforcement 289 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:51.279 to bring the whole thing to a halt. 290 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.480 Wow, so they pulled out all the stops to try 291 00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:59.200 to help find Evelyn. What's horrifying is when you listen 292 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:04.759 to quote mister X or mister Hoffer's explanation, that really 293 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.360 fits what we were talking about with where she was 294 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:11.120 probably injured and having to be helped to the car. 295 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.399 To me, it sounds like she's forced out of the house. 296 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:17.679 It is very probable that two people would make that 297 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.320 a heck of a lot easier to get her to comply, 298 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:24.720 But once she's out, something occurs where one of them 299 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:28.600 stabs her, hits her to a point where now she's 300 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:33.080 actually struggling to walk on her own. She might be 301 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.120 weak or I'm not alert right because of a head 302 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.879 injury or something like that. So when you see those 303 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:41.600 two men and a girl staggering down the street in 304 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.440 that same area where we believe they could have taken her, 305 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.919 it's horrifying. Like I can't imagine being a witness that says, Okay, 306 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:53.360 I saw this incident. It's homecoming, it's a drunk party, 307 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.000 and then very shortly later you rewind that in your 308 00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:59.360 head and you say, oh, my gosh, I think I 309 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:03.039 saw that poor girl in the car. And the way 310 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.759 he described them in the car, one person driving and 311 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.680 one next to her in the back seat, you would 312 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.480 think if you apprehended somebody and there were two of you, 313 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:13.960 you would definitely keep somebody with her in the back 314 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.160 seat and not both of you in the front. So 315 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:18.119 absolutely horrifying. 316 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.119 Yeah, And that eyewitness account seemed to confirm what a 317 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:24.079 lot of people speculated right away that multiple people were 318 00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:26.799 involved in Evelyn's abduction, because it would have been really 319 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:29.319 difficult for just one person to bring her down into 320 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.920 the basement and force her outside the window into the 321 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:36.519 backyard without assistance. So that's why it's been theorized that 322 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:39.079 maybe one person abducted her in the house while the 323 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.200 second person stood as a lookout outside the window and 324 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:47.880 helped drag her outside. On October the twenty seventh, three 325 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.440 days after Evelyn went missing, a pair of women's underpants 326 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:54.319 and a brazier, both staying with blood, were found two 327 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:57.559 miles south of Lacrosse near the underpass of Highway fourteen. 328 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.640 Interestingly enough, this particular area had been searched one day beforehand, 329 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.279 but the undergarments were not there, leading the speculation that 330 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:08.880 someone drove through the area and tossed them outside a 331 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:12.720 moving vehicle. The undergarments appeared to be Evelyn's size, and 332 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:15.839 the blood was type A. A blood stained pair of 333 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:18.519 men's pants were also found four miles away along the 334 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:21.079 same road, though it can never be established if they 335 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:24.559 were connected to the case. On Halloween, a pair of 336 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:28.279 size eleven good Rich brand tennis shoes were discovered alongside 337 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:32.319 Highway fourteen near the village of Coon Valley, fourteen miles 338 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:35.720 southeast of Lacrosse. About eight hundred feet away from the 339 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:39.039 shoes was a size thirty six blue denim jacket, and 340 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:43.319 both items had Type A bloodstains on them. Investigators felt 341 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:45.480 there was a good chance the tennis shoes belonged to 342 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.920 Evelyn's abductor, as their souls seemed to match the footprints 343 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:53.079 found at the Rasmusen home. This prompted investigators to check 344 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:56.000 with Goodrich to learn everything they could about this particular 345 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:59.880 brand of shoes. The brand was called Hood Mogul and 346 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:04.279 sold in Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois, though they 347 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:06.920 had not been sold in Wisconsin for at least three years. 348 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:11.039 The shoes had a distinctive circular wear pattern on the soles, 349 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.000 which suggested that their owner may have frequently rode a 350 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:17.839 whizzard motorbike. There was also a hair found inside one 351 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:20.039 of the shoes which may have belonged to an African 352 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:22.480 American male, though I'm not sure if they were able 353 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:26.039 to conclusively establish that. It was also believed that the 354 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.440 Denham jacket belonged to the person who kidnapped Evelyn, as 355 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:32.400 were blood smears found at the rasmuse In residence which 356 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.519 seemed to have been made with cloth with Denham characteristics. 357 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:41.119 The jacket contained The jacket contained faded spots underneath both armpits, 358 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:43.920 which appeared to have been caused by a safety harness 359 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:48.079 commonly worn by people who worked as steeplejacks, which involved 360 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:52.400 scaling high structures such as steeples and chimneys to repair them. 361 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:55.200 Investigators were able to track down a local man who 362 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:59.599 had manufactured safety harnesses for two steeplejacks the previous year, 363 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:02.000 but all he remembered about them is that they were 364 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:05.519 young and possibly from the area. It was believed that 365 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:07.799 the jacket was too small to have been worn by 366 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:11.079 someone who wore size eleven shoes, but this also lent 367 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.880 credence to the idea that two perpetrators may have been 368 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:18.039 involved in Evelyn's abduction. Investigators would bring the shoes and 369 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.880 jacket to thirty one different communities and put them on 370 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:24.119 display for thousands of people, but no one recognized them 371 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.880 and it failed to generate any leads. 372 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.920 What's interesting is it's almost as if someone was watching 373 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:35.640 the either media coverage, police movements, things like that, and 374 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:40.240 that's when they start dumping these items along Highway fourteen. Because, 375 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:42.720 like you said, at one point there was a particular 376 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:46.720 area that had been searched already and then these bloody 377 00:20:46.759 --> 00:20:50.039 items appear there, and it's as if they were in 378 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.839 the car going down Highway fourteen and one at a 379 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.279 time or two at a time, throwing items out in 380 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:02.039 order to spread the evidence down on that road. Do 381 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:06.079 we know when mister X described the two individuals that 382 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:08.680 he saw with this young lady when Evelyn's being walked 383 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.759 by them, is one of them described as an African 384 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:11.400 American male. 385 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.799 He doesn't really give any specific descriptions because I think 386 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:17.720 it was too dark for him to get a good luck. 387 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:20.200 But I don't see him specifically saying I saw two 388 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:23.240 white males inside the car, so I guess it was 389 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:25.240 just too dark for him to tell for certain. 390 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:29.559 Interesting I also I find it very impressive how much 391 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:32.920 effort is being put in by law enforcement from the 392 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.880 get go, where there is really no stone unturned, and 393 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:40.559 they're really trying to even take these clothing items around 394 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:43.640 to different communities and say do you recognize these? Do 395 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.279 you know anyone who wears these? And for this to 396 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:50.880 be the fifties, what incredible science they're doing. They're finding 397 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:54.400 those shoes and the manufacturers, the wear on the shoes. 398 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:57.119 It's just it's quite remarkable. 399 00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:00.359 I think the fact that they looked into recently Dug 400 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.680 Graves as well, and like even thought of that as 401 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.039