244 - The Vanishing of Loy Evitts - Trace Evidence

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
The last day of February was a chilly one.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
In downtown Kansas City, Missouri, twenty nine year old Lloy Evans,
a Kansas resident working as a legal secretary, drove into
the parking garage of the law office in which she
was employed. Intelligent, driven, and hard working, the elegant blonde
spent much of her morning and early afternoon completing various tasks.

(00:32):
When one of them stretched out longer than she had expected,
she decided to shift her brake, leaving. Around two that afternoon,
Lloyd drove down to some local businesses and did a
little shopping. She was seen by multiple witnesses and appeared
to be safe and conducting her life as normal. Sometime
before three pm, she drove back into the garage and

(00:53):
parked in her designated space, but she never made it
back to the office. When her employers noticed her absence,
they contacted her husband, and, after notifying police, he went
downtown searching desperately for his missing wife. From the first
moments of the investigation, detectives believed that foul play had
been involved. The problem was they had absolutely nothing in

(01:17):
terms of solid evidence. They would be stymied by a
lack of information and leads referring to Loi as seeming
to have vanished.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
From the face of the earth.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Over the course of the next year, Loy's disappearance would
be at the center of a storm of speculation, contradictory theories,
and unverified claims. What exactly happened to Loy that cold
afternoon has never been determined, and forty seven years later,
her name remains on the file of the oldest unsolved

(01:49):
missing person's case in Kansas City history. This is Trace Evidence,
Episode two forty four, The Vanishing of Loy Evidence. Welcome
to Trace Evidence. I'm your host, Stephen Pacheco. Today we

(02:12):
examined the disturbing and perplexing disappearance of twenty nine year
old wife, daughter, sister, and aunt, Looy Evits, the oldest
unsolved missing person's case in Kansas City. This is Episode
two forty four, The Vanishing of Loy Evits. Lloyd Gillespie

(02:38):
was born on Friday, December twelfth, nineteen forty seven, to
parents William and Jewell in Coffeeville, Montgomery County, Kansas. Looy
was the couple's first child, and three years later, in
nineteen fifty, they would have their second and last a
son named John Lloy grew up in and around Coffeeville,

(02:59):
located in the southeastern corner of the county. While today
the city remains the most populous in Montgomery, the most
recent data shows a population of less than ten thousand.
Throughout her youth and teens, the city was at its
peak boasting a population of nearly twenty thousand residents. Locals
described Coffeeville at the time as a big little city.

(03:22):
While enterprise and industry had expanded, social relations remained tight
and close knit. According to the family and supported by
census data, Loye's parents were both listed as farmers in
the nineteen fifties. She and her brother would be raised
in a small white house on West Fourth Street, in
a gritted patchwork of intersecting streets, not far from downtown Proper.

(03:46):
The Gillespies have been described as blue collar, devout Christians
who were very involved with the church, which, given the
time and location, would put them in the majority of
their friends and neighbors. When it comes to loy herself,
descriptions tend not to vary much, with several key characteristics
always being mentioned. She was caring, tender, polite, smart, talented,

(04:11):
immaculately organized and cleanly. There appeared to be somewhat of
a dichotomy as well, with many saying that while Loy
was a beautiful young woman who was kind, welcoming, and friendly,
she was also somewhat hampered by a deep seated shyness
which could initially put others off. Essentially, some would mistake

(04:31):
this shyness for snobbishness, but once Loy felt comfortable and
pulled down the curtain, she made friends easily and would
be devoted to them for life. As a teenager, she
would go on to attend field Kinly Memorial High School,
located just a few blocks from her home. Loi was
extremely studious and intelligent, scoring high marks in the classroom

(04:53):
and participating in different clubs and extracurricular activities. She entered
her senior year in the fall of nineteen sixty five,
and according to her yearbook, she earned the award for
perfect attendance. Was in the French Club, was secretary treasurer
of the student government, and was a candy striper amongst
other groups and clubs. Given her warm and caring nature.

(05:16):
As the end of high school approached, she found herself
drawn to the possibility of pursuing a career in nursing.
Nineteen sixty five, as it turned out, would also be
a fateful year for the young woman who would eventually
meet and fall in love with an older guy nineteen
years old at the time. Coffeeville native Donald Evitts met

(05:36):
Lloyd when she was seventeen, and the two quickly developed
a romantic interest. The couple went out on their first
date on the evening of Thursday, November fourth, seeing the
film Cat Blue at the local theater. According to everyone
that knew the young couple, they quickly developed a strong bond,
and it was clear to their friends and family that
they were deeply committed to one another. During this time,

(06:00):
Don was attending Pittsburgh State University, not to be confused
with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, located just seventy five miles northeast of Coffeeville.
Don would later note that during this time, the two
frequently wrote letters back and forth, and on the weekends,
when he had no classes, he would hop in his
firebird and drive back home to spend time with Loi.

(06:23):
She would go on to graduate from high school in
the spring of sixty six and began attending college in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
where she majored in nursing. Two years later, in nineteen
sixty eight, Don enlisted in the army and was sent
to Fort Leonard Wood, a military base located in the
south central Missouri Ozarks. Much as had been the case

(06:44):
with Pittsburgh, Don devoted any free time and leave he
accrued to traveling to spend time with Loy. Whether he
was driving to Tulsa or Coffeeville, he didn't mind as
long as the two could be together. He would eventually
be sent overseas to sir in Vietnam, and during this
time he and Lloy wrote to each other on a
weekly basis. Being that he wouldn't need his car while

(07:08):
he was away, Don allowed her to drive the Firebird
and she fell in love with it. Around this time,
Lloyd decided to change her future plans as well and
left Tulsa to instead attend Kansas State University in the
city of Manhattan, located two hundred miles northeast of Coffeeville. There,
she changed her major from nursing to clothing and retailing.

(07:31):
According to friends, she decorated a bulletin board in her
dorm room with pictures of Don that he would send over,
as well as all of their letters. When he went
on leave to Hawaii, she flew out to visit, and
when he was back in the States, he spent all
of his free time with her. As years passed on,
the two would only grow closer, and it appeared from

(07:52):
the outside looking in that they had in fact found
their soulmates in one another. During her time at KSU,
Loie was involved in a lot of activities and was
also nominated for school Queen alongside a handful of others.
Always noted as being stunningly beautiful, Louie's nomination was actually
hand picked by musician Glenn Campbell of Wichita Lineman fame.

(08:16):
Although she did not win the title, it didn't appear
to mean much to the twenty two year old senior. Interestingly,
while people have most frequently commented on Loy's physical appearance
and attractiveness for Loi herself, she didn't appear to be
much affected by it, keeping a shy, almost demure disposition.
In the spring of nineteen seventy one, she graduated from

(08:39):
KSU with honors, having earned her degree, and when Don
finished up his enlistment with the army, the two decided
to make things official on Saturday, November fourth, nineteen seventy two,
the seventh anniversary of their first date. The two were
married in a small ceremony back home in Coffeeville. Delighted

(09:00):
to be together, the happy couple would only linger in
their hometown for a short while before life drew them
northeast to where they purchased a small home in Overland Park,
less than four miles west from the Kansas Missouri border
and just outside of the busy mecca of Kansas City.
Their home, located along Concert Street, was a three bedroom,

(09:22):
two bathroom bungalow built in the late fifties. The two
loved the home they shared together, and immediately upon moving in,
they began constructing happy memories, whether they were painting, purchasing furniture,
or packing the house with antiques. Lloy had a love
for shopping, this is frequently reported by friends and family,

(09:43):
and Don had away with his hands, where oftentimes she
would bring home an old piece of furniture and he
would proceed to fix it up and refinish it. Over
the course of the next five years, the couple built
a life for themselves. Despite having pursued a degree in
clothing and re detailing. Loy would end up working as
a legal secretary for a couple of different law firms

(10:05):
in the Kansas City area. Don, on the other hand,
picked up work as an insurance auditor for Fireman's Fund,
then located at seven to twenty Mainstream in downtown Kansas City.
Though they didn't make a lot of money, the couple
were happy with what they had and spent much of
their time together. They might go out to a movie

(10:25):
or have dinner out, but they weren't much into partying
and the scene wasn't really for them, with Don describing
Loy as more of an introvert a home body. They
had their groups of friends, but the two generally preferred
to spend time back at the house, whether they were
working on a new antique or if Don was firing
up his camera and shooting photos of his beloved wife.

(10:47):
They just like living their own quiet lives. By the
winter of nineteen seventy seven, little had changed, though the
couple had seen some improvements financially. Don was from auditor
to premium audit manager, and Lloyd changed jobs, getting hired
on at the firm of Miller Simmons, Moore and young

(11:09):
located then at eight hundred West forty seventh Street, placing
her five miles south of her husband's main street offices.
According to Don, this was the happiest time in their lives.
They had been together for eleven years, married for five,
and they were excited to see what their next adventure
might be. He was thirty one and she twenty nine,

(11:32):
and while both had made their own careers, the possibility
of children lingered on the horizon. It could be their
next big step in expanding the family they had already
found in one another. But tragically, less than three months
into the new year, Lloyd would mysteriously vanish and Don
would be devastated, wallowing in the pain and grief of

(11:54):
his collapsing world. Monday, February twenty eighth was a chilly
day in Kansas City. Temperatures peaked at just fifty five
degrees while strong winds blew in from the southwest. According
to investigators, the day began like any other Monday, with
Don and Lloy exchanging goodbyes as they left their Overland
Park home heading for their jobs in Kansas City. She

(12:18):
climbed into her bright yellow nineteen seventy MGB Sports car.
Even with cold winter temperatures and a car that didn't
have the greatest heater, she absolutely loved the vehicle, and,
according to friends and family, even if a distance was
an easy walk, she would often choose to drive just
because she loved being behind the wheel of her two seater.

(12:39):
It was a short drive for her, traveling less than
ten miles, and if streets were clear enough, she could
really open it up and listen to the roar of
the engine. Located directly behind the building that housed the
law firm at country Club Plaza, Looy pulled into the
parking garage, which ran parallel to Summit Street, and slowly
moved into her a signed spot, number ninety eight. The

(13:03):
rectangular shape parking garage ran north to south and had
multiple levels accessible via short cement staircases. While some of
the west side of the garage was partially lit by
the morning and midday sun, Loi's parking space in the
northeast corner of the fourth level was shrouded on a
large shadow cast by a nearby apartment building. According to

(13:25):
co workers, Loi arrived in the office that morning and
appeared to be in a good mood, polite and kind,
as she is often noted to have been. Throughout the morning,
she completed several tasks that were part of her typical
Monday morning routine, but things changed around lunchtime. Normally, Loi
would take her lunch break between one and one thirty,

(13:46):
but on this day she was caught up at work
and decided to push through the normal break, planning instead
to go later in the afternoon. It would be reported
that Loy mailed her paycheck to her bank for direct deposit,
and then is thought to who have left for her
lunch hour around two ten PM, but she would never return.

(14:06):
She had a habit of working later than her scheduled
off time, so when she hadn't returned to the office
by three point thirty, her coworkers certainly noticed, but no
one thought anything about this was out of the ordinary.
When another hour passed, though, people in the office began
wondering if she had gotten into an accident or been
held up in some way. Thirty minutes later, at approximately

(14:28):
five PM, an employee went down into the parking garage
and noted that Loy's car was parked in her assigned space,
but there was no sign of the twenty nine year
old herself unaware of the growing concern around her absence.
Don completed his shift at work and arrived home shortly
after five pm. According to him, moments after he entered

(14:51):
the home, he could hear the phone ringing, and when
he answered, it was the law firm that Looy worked for.
They were wondering why the twenty nine year old hadn't
returned from her lunch break that afternoon, but all of
this was news to Don. Interestingly, while it was initially
reported that Loy often stayed late at work, Don said
it was rare for her to come home late from work,

(15:13):
which made him concern from the moment he received that call.
Trying to believe that there must have been some legitimate
reason for her lateness, Don placed calls to several friends
in search of his wife. After being unable to locate her,
Don picked up the phone and contacted the police. According
to reporting of the time, Don's initial call came in

(15:35):
between six and seven pm, depending on the source, which
would be roughly one to two hours after he was
notified by his wife's employer. Don's call went to the
local police in Overland Park, though they would notify the
Kansas City Police in regard to the missing person's report.
Outside of notifications being made in Loye's description being dispatched,

(15:57):
the real investigation wouldn't begin into the following day, as
they informed Don that he should wait. Twenty four hours
later in the evening, after calling police, Don was notified
that a friend of Loi's had gone to see a
movie not far from the law office, so he drove
down to the theater to check. While he managed to
locate this friend, he was quickly informed that loy had

(16:20):
not gone along to the movie. Not knowing what else
to do, he left the theater and went over to
Country Club Plaza. He walked around the building where his
wife was employed, then expanded his search area block by block,
and ultimately searched on his own for hours, later telling
the Kansas City Times that he searched until midnight, at

(16:41):
which point he decided to head home and sit by
the phone, hoping for news from the police or, better yet,
a call from Loi herself. Unfortunately, anytime the phone did ring,
it was a friend or relative asking for an update,
which at that time there was none to give. The
following day day Tuesday, March first, police officers kicked off

(17:03):
the full investigation in earnest After speaking with Lois's coworkers
and on, they started canvassing the area in search of
Loi or anyone who may have seen or interacted with
her the previous day. Sergeant John Wilson, head of the
Kansas City Police Department's Missing Persons Unit, was assigned as
lead on the case and quickly noted that within the

(17:24):
first few hours they'd managed to find multiple witnesses who
had seen Loi on her lunch break after her coworkers
had seen her for the last time. It appeared that
upon taking her break, the twenty nine year old had
traveled just a few blocks east of the office building
to run errands and do a little shopping. Based upon

(17:45):
interviews with witnesses, police managed to put together a fairly
detailed timeline of events, tracking Loy's movements and interactions from
the moment she left her office right up until she
mysteriously vanished. I should preface this by noting that according
to old and new maps, this area of Kansas City
has changed quite a bit since nineteen seventy seven, so

(18:08):
store locations and even street arrangements are not precise today
to what they were back then. According to investigators, Loy
left the law office at approximately two ten pm and
walked the short distance to the parking garage, where she
climbed into her yellow MGB. She then proceeded east, parking
the vehicle near the intersection of West forty seventh and

(18:30):
Warnoll Road, a distance of approximately three tenths of a mile.
After parking, she crossed Warnall Road in a westward direction,
then turned south and proceeded approximately four hundred and fifty
feet to the Hellsburg's Jewelry Store, still today located at
four hundred Nichols Road. Employees informed detectives that Loy had

(18:52):
come into the store to have a watch adjusted.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
It had been a gift from Don.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
After exiting the jewelers, Lloyd ti turned north and walked
back up Warnell. Turning east, she walked past her park
car and entered the Rothschild's Department store at two thirty
seven West forty seventh Street, traveling a little over a
tenth of a mile. According to investigators, she browsed through
the store for a short period of time, but then

(19:19):
left and turned back towards the west. Walking past her
car again, she traveled just shy of five hundred feet,
moving from the Rothschilds over to a location of a
former Macy's department store. According to police, she browsed through
the store and eventually went down into the basement floor,
where plants were stored. There, she spoke to an employee

(19:42):
and asked a few questions about a particular plant, but
ultimately did not make a purchase. Heading south, she crossed
west forty seventh Street and made a short one hundred
and thirty foot walk from the Macy's back to her car,
which again was parked at forty seventh and Warnell. Entering
the vehicle, Looi turned east and drove to Main Street,

(20:03):
where she made a left and proceeded north for a
little over a mile, arriving at thirty nine forty eight.
At the time, this was the location of a Skag's
drug store, though the building looks very much the same
as it did in nineteen seventy seven, it is today
a nonprofit called drug Store KC, which offers studio space

(20:25):
and opportunities to local artists. At the pharmacy, she picked
up a prescription and purchased a yellow umbrella. Exiting the store,
Loy is thought to have done a few minutes worth
of window shopping in the area before hopping back into
her car and driving a little over a mile southwest
back to the parking garage, entering via Summit Street to

(20:46):
the east from that point on, Though investigators have never
been able to determine what happened, Looy's car was found
parked in its assigned spot with the doors unlocked. Inside,
they were covered several items, including a rag used to
wipe the windshield, a doughnut bag, and the stem of
a carnation that Don had given her. They also found

(21:10):
the yellow umbrella sitting on the passenger seat with the
skag's drug store tags still attached. There was no evidence
of a struggle in or around the vehicle, nor were
they able to find any witnesses who reported hearing anything unusual.
Based upon witness accounts, Louis's car was noted as being
in that parking lot by three pm, suggesting she still

(21:32):
had about ten minutes left on her break.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
When she got back.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Police theorized that someone had grabbed the twenty nine year
old as she was walking back towards the office. Investigators
would later note they did manage to find two witnesses
who both saw different vehicles speeding out of the parking
garage around the time Loy is thought to have been abducted.
One vehicle, which was never described, was tracked down by police.

(21:59):
The owner was brought to the station for questioning and
later released, apparently cleared of any involvement. The other vehicle
spotted by a delivery man was described as a brown van.
According to the witness, the driver sped out of the
parking garage with such haste that he nearly crashed into
another vehicle, and then as he passed the delivery man,

(22:21):
he used one of his hands to obscure his face
so that the witness was unable to give.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
A description of him.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
This van would become a focus for the investigation, but
tracking down a vaguely described brown van would prove extremely difficult,
as vans were very popular at the time. Asked about
the possibility that perhaps Loy had chosen to leave of
her own volition, or that something else may have happened,
authorities were fairly certain that this had been an abduction.

(22:50):
Sergeant John Wilson would explain to the Kansas City Times saying, quote,
nothing we have at this time would lead us to
believe she left of her own accord right off off.
We smelled foul play. A woman like that doesn't just vanish.
She parked her car and that's where we lose her.
That's the end of lloy Evans end quote. For investigators,

(23:12):
it was extremely frustrating. They were able to track Looy
all the way up until around three pm, and after
that there was nothing. They didn't even have any solid clues,
with detectives describing the disappearance by saying it was as
if the woman had simply vanished from the face of
the earth. Within the first days of the investigation, following

(23:34):
interviews with store employees, shoppers, and workers in the area,
detectives obtained between fifty and sixty leads to chase down. Unfortunately,
for the most part, those leads didn't pan out, and
police found themselves set back to square one, baffled by
how the missing woman had vanished from such a busy
area without anyone really seeing anything. In addition to leeds collapsing,

(23:59):
they didn't really have any evidence either. Louie's car was
clean of any unidentified fingerprints, and they couldn't find anything
to indicate whether she had been forcefully taken or if
perhaps she had willingly gotten into a vehicle with someone
she knew, not knowing that they had ill intent. Without
anywhere to truly focus their attention, investigators were determined to

(24:21):
dig into Loy's life, believing they might find a mode
of her person of interest there. In discussions with friends, family, coworkers,
and former coworkers all the way back to her teenage
years in Coffeeville, detectives were struck by how similarly people
described and discussed the missing woman. Everyone stated that she
was a smart young woman who, while being somewhat shy,

(24:44):
was also very welcoming, loving and kind. No one had
a bad word to say about her, and no one
had any awareness of a secret or dark side to
her life. Investigators themselves hit dead ends when they found
no debts or financial issues, no problems at home, no
secret romances or jealous xes. Sergeant John Wilson would later

(25:06):
comment about this to the Kansas City Star, saying, quote,
this is the first saint I've ever seen. Everybody says
that she's perfect, and I haven't hardly been able to
disprove it end quote. At Loy's office, things changed as
many of the female employees felt concerned for their safety,
especially in the parking garage. Arrangements were made so that

(25:29):
women walked to their cars in groups or were escorted
by male co workers. Everyone was freaked out about the
disappearance and worried someone could possibly be targeting that particular
garage in area. Law enforcement didn't necessarily concur with that opinion, though.
While they lauded the law firm for taking security precautions,

(25:50):
they did not believe someone was hunting victims in the area.
More likely, they presumed someone had either specifically targeted Loy
or she'd found herself in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Unfortunately, they lacked much evidence to support their
theory one way or the other. From Jump Street, they
believed that Looy had been the victim of foul play,

(26:11):
but they still needed to look into the possibility that
she may have planned her own disappearance. Back at the
home in Overland Park, they went through everything, only to
discover that all of the missing woman's belongings had been
left behind, outside of the clothing on her back and
the contents of her purse. In a perplexing sea of unknowing,

(26:32):
one thing became clear. If Lloyd did plan her own disappearance,
and if she had any assistance, it had been kept
so top secret that no one in her life had
even the slightest hint. While unable to completely rule out
the possibility, investigators had found absolutely nothing to support the
theory nor any leads to pursue in that regard. Sergeant

(26:55):
Wilson requested assistance from the FBI, who quickly classified the
case as a kidnapping, going on to alert law enforcement
agencies throughout both Missouri and Kansas. Investigators who would initially
believe they would find answers quickly were slowly coming to
terms with the harshness of reality. You can work a
case without evidence, but it's vastly more difficult to run

(27:18):
down numerous dead ends in hopes of finding something. Just
as the bright spark at the heart of their investigation
was beginning to flicker, the discovery of the first major
piece of hard evidence would quickly reinvigorate their spirits. The
discovery would be made by three young children searching for
a missing dog in a sparsely populated, densely wooded area

(27:40):
approximately fourteen miles southeast from the parking garage. Ten year
old Kimberly Stone, joined by her cousins Chris and Ginger Simpson,
eleven and nine, respectively, were searching through a hilly wooded
area for a lost poodle at approximately six thirty pm
on Thursday, March tenth. Remote area, known locally as a

(28:02):
Lover's Lane, is located directly beneath the Rhinehart Road bridge,
which spans the Little Cedar Creek near eighty second. The
children found the brown leather bag with a shoulder strap
in the creek bed, with one side laying in the water.
Unaware of the importance of what they had found, they
returned to Kimberly's home, then located at eighty one forty

(28:24):
one Rhinehart Road, approximately two tenths of a mile northeast
from the discovery site. For you dog lovers out there.
The missing poodle, named Pierre, was later recovered safely. Around
seven pm. Kimberly's father, Stephen Stone, then employed as a
detective for the Santa Fe Railroad, walked into his daughter's

(28:45):
bedroom and saw the children playing with the bag and
its contents. Quickly identifying real credit cards bearing Loy's name,
he took the bag from the children and asked them
where they had found it. After they explained he quickly
knew the local police, informing them that he believed they
had found evidence in this highly publicized disappearance. This particular

(29:07):
area was under the jurisdiction of the Lee's Summit Police Department,
who dispatched officers and also notified the Kansas City Police,
who in turn sent some detectives to the house. Arriving there,
investigators were taken down to the area beneath the bridge,
at which time they were directed to the approximate spot
that the purse had been found. They would later specify

(29:30):
the location as being east of ray Town and around
a mile north of Unity Village and what was then
Turner and Coburn Roads. The Missouri Pacific Railroad has tracks
running through the area around fifty yards to the south
of the creek. Examining the area, detectives described the purse's
location as being just beyond the west edge of the

(29:53):
bridge above. It did not appear as though the person
had been thrown from the bridge, and it was instead
theorized that it had been and gently dropped over the railing,
or perhaps had been placed there by someone who was
in the wooded area beneath the bridge. Though police hoped
to search the area that night. The sun had set
shortly before six thirty, and so the rural location had

(30:14):
quickly grown dark. After approximately fifteen officers conducted a fruitless search,
the decision was made to cordon off the area at
approximately ten thirty PM. A squad car was parked beneath
the bridge and the area was watched overnight, with plans
to launch a massive search the following day. Around seven
to am, searchers arrived in the area. In addition to

(30:38):
both Kansas City and Lee's Summit police officers, they were
joined by more than fifty recruits from the police academy.
Around nine to forty five am, police found part of
a checkbook with Don's name on it and an open
pack of cigarillos, which Loy was known to smoke, lying near.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
The creek bed.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
They also recovered papers, some with Looyd's name on them,
scattered along the north bank of the creek. When investigators
notified Don of the finding, he was quick to note
that he could think of no reason his wife would
have been in that area, and he himself had no
knowledge of her ever having been there previously. The perse
itself was shown to Don, as well as several of

(31:20):
Loys's friends and coworkers, all of whom identified the bag
as belonging to her. An examination of the bag itself
showed that it had sustained minimal damage other than the
side which had laid in the water. Police analysts determined
that the bag had been lying in the spot where
it was recovered for likely no more than a day
or two, which made police wonder if her abductor had

(31:42):
thrown it out on his way out of town, or
if perhaps this could be an indicator that Loy was
still alive. It was a topic they didn't like discussing much,
nor did they wish to speculate on, but the hard
truth was that the longer the twenty nine year old
was missing, the greater the chance that she would not
be found alive. All in all, it would later be

(32:04):
revealed that within the purse itself, police recovered prescription drugs
with Loy's name on them, a pair of sunglasses, a
pair of clear glasses, a Kansas driver's license with Loy's
name on it, and several credit cards. Police also recovered
a billfold with matched descriptions of one carried by Loy,

(32:24):
and there were several smaller items for which exact descriptions
were never given. After the first day's search, police decided
to expand the perimeter and dramatically increase their search party.
More than eighty recruits were brought in to help search
a twelve square mile area. They would be aided by
police officers and volunteers on the ground, as well as

(32:46):
a helicopter hovering above. Day two, however, would prove challenging
as strong rains flooded down hillsides and ravines, leaving bogs
of mud up to knee deep in some spots. Although
determined to push the search on, Sergeant Wilson noted to
the Kansas City Times that they were uncertain if the

(33:07):
person had been dumped there, or if perhaps it was
a diversionary tactic to draw their investigators away from the
kidnappers reel trail. In hopes of contributing to the investigation,
the law firm for which Loy had worked put a
one thousand dollars reward for information in place and supplied
local papers with the bank where they could also contribute

(33:29):
to the fund.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Locals were very.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Aware of Loy's disappearance, and it was described as a
polarizing event. A brazen broad daylight abduction had everyone's concerns raised,
and they wanted to try to fight back in some way.
Back home in Coffeeville, Loy's mother, Jewel, stated that all
of the local churches had drawn together and were offering
their prayers for the twenty nine year old's safe return.

(33:55):
On Wednesday, March sixteenth, over two weeks since Lloyd disappeared,
from the area of country Club Plaza, a jogger made
a disturbing discovery. A woman identified as Miss Rammel was
jogging with her Doberman in the area of Little Blue River,
approximately two hundred and fifty yards south of US forty
in North Lee's Summit. Today the area is home to

(34:17):
multiple subdivisions, but at the time it was quite rural,
as Miss Rammel told police that she often rode her
dune buggy through the area when she wasn't jogging. While
out that morning, Rammel came upon a bra and a
pair of women's underwear. Sergeant Wilson described the bra as
faded and stained and the panties as torn in several places.

(34:39):
The stains were a faint red brownish color, which they
thought could possibly be blood. The items themselves were sent
to the regional criminalistics Laboratory and Independence, while a large
police presence closed in on the area intent on searching
more efficiently. Miss Rammel led police to the location, noting
that she had found the items partially buried beneath a

(35:01):
thick clump of leaves. More than seventy searchers spanned out
over half a square mile, which they combed over twice
before abandoning the search due to nightfall. All told, they
found arrusted men's watch, two oil cans, several old shotgun shells,
a squirrel skull, and two copperhead snakes. In order to

(35:24):
ease their concerns during the search, several miles of traffic
along US forty were condensed down to one lane only,
allowing searchers to park their vehicles along the busy roadway.
Police considered the area as possibly being linked to the case,
not just due to the finding, but also because it
was just a few miles northeast from where the purse

(35:45):
had been found, and both locations could be easily reached
by small back roads which were less traveled and therefore
less likely to expose the driver to witnesses. After a
full day of searching, it was decided that they would
not return the following day. This decision was based in
part on Don's inability to identify the undergarments as belonging

(36:08):
to his missing wife. Evans was taken down to the
lab and independence, and while he noted that the sizing
was similar to what Lloyd would have worn, he didn't
recognize the items themselves. Asked about this lack of identification, later,
Don would tell the Times quote, she had awful good
taste in clothing. She wouldn't wear underclothes in that kind

(36:30):
of condition.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
End quote.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
On Friday, March eighteenth, Jackson County Sheriff Robert Renault announced
that his department would be conducting a second search on
the area surrounding where the purse had been found. He
didn't believe a thorough enough search had been performed, and
it was his hope that going back in would result
in the discovery of some new evidence. He later explained
to the Kansas City Times, saying quote, it was too

(36:55):
inclement for them to see anything they needed to. We'll
be looking for anything at all that might have to
do with the disappearance. They found the purse, and I'm
hopeful of finding some other articles or anything that might
be of possible benefit to the investigation end quote. The
search party consisted of fifteen mounted members of the Sheriff's posse,

(37:17):
twenty officers on foot, ended observer riding above in a plane.
Sheriff Renault planned to focus in on an area bordered
by Reinhardt Bridge to the south, Little Blue Road to
the north, and one mile to the east and west.
While this search failed to turn up any new evidence,
several creepy phone calls made by an anonymous man over

(37:39):
that weekend would quickly grab the attention of investigators, and
while they attempted to verify the information given by the
caller and determined whether or not it was a sick prank,
they also hoped to identify the man so they could
bring him in for questioning. It was announced that a
thirty four year old man and living in the area

(38:01):
of Grand View, fourteen miles southwest from where the purse
was found and fifteen miles southeast from the home of
Lloyd and Don, was taken into custody by authorities at
his home. The arrest came after police successfully traced an
anonymous call which had been placed from that location to
the Lee's Summit Police Department. He was being held in

(38:22):
Lee's Summit, and authorities noted that they had been in
contact with the Jackson County Prosecutor's office while the man
was in custody. It was noted that there were no
determinations about probable charges, and investigators were questioning the man
in an attempt to determine whether he truly had knowledge
of the case or if it was an elaborate ruse.

(38:43):
James Potter, then assistant director of Lee's Summit Police, explained, quote,
there has been no determination at this point as far
as the filing of charges on the disappearance and homicide.
We're going on the assumption that we've got a good suspect,
but we just don't know until we run the full
gauntlet and check out all leeds end quote. Police noted

(39:06):
that they were able to hold the man because a
warrant had been issued for his arrest regarding the passing
of bad checks back in Kansas. He was scheduled to
be arraigned in Jackson County Magistrate Court on that charge.
Asked about the search for additional evidence in the disappearance,
Potter stated that they had conducted a search of the
man's home, but did not reveal if anything was found.

(39:29):
Following the arrest, a joint search was conducted by the
Jackson County Sheriff's Department and the Kansas City Police Department,
focusing in on areas which had previously been searched near
to where the purse was found. The search, which began
at approximately nine am, fell into the boundaries of Unity
Village in the south, Little Blue Road to the north,

(39:51):
Lee's Summit Road in the east, and Noland Road in
the west, encompassing an area just shy of five square miles. Ultimately,
this search did not yield any new evidence, and though
a pair of pantyhose and socks were found, they were
not believed related to the case. Scott Hoober, media liaison

(40:12):
for the Kansas City Police, said the search had been
prompted by information delivered by the anonymous caller. Huber expressed
frustration regarding the information given by the caller, noting that
investigators had flip flopped on it, apparently while the Lee's
Summit Police were working on the caller. The Kansas City
Police didn't think the information was reliable at all. Huber,

(40:35):
in a quote that exquisitely explains the chaos of jurisdictional
dick measuring contests. Explained, quote, that's why they were searching
the other day, because he said search here. They started
out thinking he was real, and then decided he was
faking it, and now apparently are back to thinking he
was real. I assume they have some basis for that.

(40:57):
I don't know what it is. And On Tuesday, March
twenty second, thirty four year old Richard Lee Smith was
identified as the man who had allegedly made the anonymous calls.
Living then at a home on East one hundred and
fifty second Terrace in Grandview, seventeen miles southeast from Lowy's home.

(41:18):
Smith was released on his own recognisance in regard to
the fraudulent check charges, and no charges related to the
disappearance were filed. According to investigators, Smith placed multiple anonymous
calls in which he delivered information he claimed to possess
about Loye's disappearance. One call was placed directly to the

(41:39):
Lee's Summit Police department, while two others were made to
local businesses. Asked why he was not charged, James Potter
stated that while they could prove the calls came from
Smith's home, they could not conclusively prove that he had
been the one who made them. Interestingly, Potter noted that
one of the places in which Smith was wanted for

(42:00):
passing bad checks was an overland park, the same city
in which Loy and Don lived. Reportedly, Smith made several
statements alleging to know the location at which Ley's remains
might be located, but following searches, nothing could be found,
and it was ultimately determined that he had likely made
the calls as a prank or based upon rumor and conjecture.

(42:23):
Robert Pattison, Kansas City Police Department captain, noted that much
of what the man relayed was information that had previously
been published in local papers, and that additional information he
provided could not be verified. Potter went on to reveal
that a combined fourteen officers between Lee's Summit and Kansas
City were working the case. The Jackson County Sheriff's office

(42:46):
was also involved, and they sent twelve deputies to search
through two abandoned houses located off Bowland Road, southwest of
US Route forty and approximately six miles northeast of where
the purse was found. Found that the name Loy Evitts
had been spray painted on an interior wall of the
garage of one of the houses, though they could not

(43:07):
say when the painting had been done. At the other home,
they drained a cistern and searched along a half mile
stretch of Bowlin Road, but found no signs of the
missing woman. It was noted that the abandoned homes were
in bad shape and were apparently popular locations for local
teens to hang out and party.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Potter stated that.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Investigators were growing frustrated and they were approaching a standstill.
Asked about any progress on the case, he said lab
tests on evidence linked to Richard Smith had returned with
negative results, though he would not say what that evidence was.
He went on to note that without additional leads or
new evidence, there was a high likelihood that most of

(43:49):
the investigators assigned to the case would return to normal duty.
Potter went on to say that they might conduct another
search along a quarter mile stretch of Eye four seventy,
which was under construction at the western edge of Lee's Summit.
Investigators obtained information which suggested that Loy's body had been
buried in the construction zone, but foot searches hadn't turned

(44:12):
up any signs. Curiously, this information came from Richard Lee Smith,
so it's another flopback to whether or not he was
telling the truth. Police were debating whether or not to
dig in the area because it could cause a significant
delay to road construction, and they had hoped to get
a more specific location. Curiously, while discussing all of this,

(44:35):
Potter told reporters that even though nearly a month had passed,
they weren't still entirely convinced that Loy was dead. A
few days later, it was announced that the Kansas City
Police Department would be conducting a search along the construction
area of I four seventy. Sergeant John Wilson said that
the Kansas City Fire Department loaned them a methane detector

(44:58):
and they were hoping it could help to govern a
location to dig. They were planning to probe the dirt
beneath the roadbed, and if Loy were buried there, they
hoped to detect methane gas, which is given off by
a decomposing body. The stretch of highway to be checked
was described as being a tenth of a mile west
of View High Drive, approximately seven miles southwest from where

(45:21):
the perse had been located. While conducting the search, investigators
were overwhelmed by the scope of what needed to be done,
with some referring to it as searching for a needle
in a haystack. The area focused on was a quarter
mile long, forty feet wide, ten to twelve feet deep
in some places, and covered with ninety thousand cubic yards

(45:45):
of rock and dirt fill, which was dumped there on
March first, allegedly after the body had been placed there.
Police conducted some digging with a small backo, the bucket
of which could only handle a half a yard of
cubic dirt at a time. Digging lasted for three hours
on Thursday, March twenty fourth, focusing in on areas that

(46:07):
the methane detector indicated the possible presence of human remains.
One trench they dug was described as forty feet long
and seven feet deep. Another hole they had dug was
twelve feet wide and twelve feet deep. Nothing was found
at the time, with Sergeant John Wilson noting that it
would be helpful for specifics, telling the Times quote, We're

(46:30):
trying to make an educated guess on where to dig
and I don't think it's that educated yet end quote.
Investigators noted that while the methane detector could mean a
body was there, methane is also released by decaying vegetation
and can result in a false positive. In hopes of
enhancing their search efforts, law enforcement also utilized search dogs,

(46:54):
as well as infrared photographic equipment supplied and operated by GARYK. Compton,
then president of Paralegal Services Incorporated. Compton explained that heat
signatures released from decomposing materials as deep as one hundred
feet below the surface would show up when the film
was developed, allowing police to zero in on specific spots.

(47:18):
Though calling off the search as night fell, law enforcement
stated they would return if the infrared images showed any
indication that there was a body nearby. While this search
was being done, more than one hundred and fifty members
of the Missouri National Guard made an offer to come
and conduct a more thorough search of the area surrounding

(47:38):
where Loye's person had been found. Sergeant Wilson stated that
to that point, nearly a month after the disappearance, they
had utilized more than three thousand man hours working the
case and could use more help much of it, though,
was frustrating due to their inability to take action, with
Wilson saying quote, the hardest part of any of this

(47:58):
is the waiting. There's nothing you can do. If we
find a body, it will come down to the hard work,
the shovels, spoons, and the investigation will go into high gear.
Right now, it's a waiting game.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
End quote.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
On Sunday, March twenty seventh, the search was officially called off,
with police saying they were unlikely to do additional searches.
One of the infrared images had shown what appeared to
be a human body, but upon digging out the area,
they instead found a large rock which had retained much
of its heat. The National Guard did conduct their search

(48:34):
as well, for approximately five hours north of US fifty
and Chipman Road, in the area near the Truman Medical Center,
approximately one mile from the perse location, beneath Rhinehart Road Bridge.
Some clothing items were found, though they could not be
connected to Loy and after all of that, the Least
Summit Police announced they were pulling out of the investigation

(48:57):
and turning all aspects of it back over to can
City authorities. James Potter of the Lee's Summit PD told
the media that they had done a thorough job, saying,
quote the part that we were told the body might
be buried in they really tore up. When they were through,
they were satisfied that she wasn't in there end quote.

(49:19):
March twenty eighth marked one month since Loy had last
been seen, and by that point the case was growing stagnant.
In early April, Sergeant Wilson told reporters that their chances
of finding Loy safe did not look good and they
hadn't managed to obtain any new evidence or leads. In
the weeks following her disappearance, her case file had grown

(49:39):
to be four inches thick. Between two hundred and three
hundred people had been interviewed, and more than one thousand
calls in tips about the case had been pursued and
closed down. Wilson stated that every body of water from
Lake Jacomo west to the state line and from Country
Club Plaza south to the Cass County line had been searched.

(50:01):
They dug up cisterns and wells. They dug anywhere there
could possibly be a grave or where they found disturbed earth. Unfortunately,
they never found anything. Asked about the anonymous caller, Richard Smith.
Sergeant Wilson was stuck between a rock and a hard
place when it came to that possibility, he told the

(50:21):
Kansas City Star. Quote, I can't dismiss him yet. I
don't have that much faith in the man's statements. I
don't think that he was involved, but he could have knowledge.
He could just be an anonymous caller who never thought
he'd get caught. I'm upset enough about this case. I
probably won't give up until I turn up something. I'd

(50:42):
just like somebody to give me a call to say
that she's alive or that she's dead alive. Mainly, there's
still a possibility she's alive, and that's the way I'd
like to find her.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
End quote.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Wilson went on to say that Smith had claimed responsibility
for Lloy's murder during the call, but when confronted during interrogation,
he denied any involvement. Sadly, at this point, the investigation
slowed and the case began growing cold. Saturday May twenty
eighth marked three months since the twenty nine year old

(51:16):
had mysteriously vanished from her employer's parking garage. Little had
been learned to that point, and Sergeant Wilson had spent
much of his time trying to track down any new information.
He packed boots and a shovel into the trunk of
his car, just in case he might need to dig somewhere.
He tracked down a stripper who bore a striking resemblance
to Loy, but was able to confirm she was a

(51:38):
different person. Wilson said that to that day, the best
lead they possessed was the witness account of an unknown
man speeding out of the parking garage behind the wheel
of a brown van. However, they still couldn't identify the man,
nor could they find the van. Both in the police
department and in the lives of those who knew and
loved Loy, the over whelming sentiment was that she was

(52:01):
dead and would likely not be found. Wilson refused to
fully accept this, later telling the Kansas City Star quote,
it's gotten down to the point where we've run everything out.
Everybody who knew her takes it for granted that she's dead.
I'll probably keep my interest going for some time or
until I reached the same conclusion end quote. Two months later,

(52:25):
in late July, the partial remains of an unidentified woman
were found by a marina owner on the north Little
Rock side of the Arkansas River, approximately four hundred miles
south from Kansas City. The remains, described as only a
lower torso from the waist to the ankles, were considered
as possibly being Loy due to the fact that estimates

(52:47):
of height and weight matched the victim, and she appeared
to be dressed in similar clothing to what Loy had
last worn. Police said the body was estimated to have
been in the water for seven to ten months, which
would put it outside of the range for Lly, but
they weren't absolutely certain. William Livingston, a detective in Kansas City,

(53:08):
was sent south on Wednesday, July twenty seventh to speak
to investigators and to bring photos and hair samples for comparison.
Just a few days later, the body was ruled out. Reportedly,
the clothing did not match what she had last worn,
the body appeared heavier and was thought to have belonged
to an older person, and both photos and hair samples

(53:29):
did not match. Captain Robert Pattinson would later tell the
Arkansas City Traveler quote, we feel certain it is not her.
There are enough dissimilarities to make us sure.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
End quote.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
While the discovery had brought the case back into the headlines,
it quickly fell back out as detectives remained without solid
leads or evidence to pursue. Sergeant Wilson stated that in
the beginning they received around twenty calls a day with tips,
but now months later they only received calls once in
a while, and usually the information was run down and

(54:06):
quickly ruled out. Asked about the status of the case
one month later in late August, Sergeant Wilson replied that
while he was dedicated to finding Loy, everything had slowed
and was mostly frozen in place. When asked for a
similar case that came to mind, Wilson replied, quote maybe
Jimmy Hoffa end quote.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
He went on to.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Explain, quote, of course, every large city has its own
Miss Evatts type case. We have people every day that
for some reason vanish off the face of the earth.
People never know what happened to that person unless they've
been standing in their shoes. Most who disappear want to disappear.
End quote. Wilson noted that he had returned to that

(54:51):
quarter mile stretch of I four seventy that had been
searched in March. Upon this second search, even more sensitive
infrared film was used, but returned the same negative result.
Though he couldn't prove it, Wilson believed that if Lloyd
had been murdered, her body would be found somewhere in
the area. He continued to follow up on unidentified bodies

(55:12):
found throughout the country, but in his personal opinion, he
believed the answer lay close to home. During this discussion,
Sergeant Wilson revealed new details about the investigation which had
not previously been made public. Firstly, he noted that they
had struggled to obtain copies of Loy's fingerprints. Apparently the

(55:32):
twenty nine year old was so meticulous that she had
a habit of wiping down everything she touched. They checked
the cosmetics case in her work desk and found it
had no prints. They examined her car, but again no prince,
and the same was true of her typewriter. In hopes
that she might have typed something that could give them
some insight to her disappearance, they pulled the ribbon at

(55:56):
her office desk and examined it. What they found was
a professor letter written for work, followed by a cryptic
stream of random numbers and letters They would later find
out in the days following her disappearance that one of
the law firm's partner's children had sat at her desk
and punched the keys for entertainment. Strangely, Wilson said that

(56:19):
both Don and Loy had some indiscernible fear about something
bad happening to her. In the days and weeks leading
up to her disappearance, Don told police that he experienced
a dark feeling, like one he'd had in Vietnam before
combat led to the death of a close friend. He
worried about Loi's shopping by herself for too long and

(56:40):
told her that she needed to be more careful when
she was out on her own. Don told investigators that
Loy herself had been shaken by a growing sense of
fear and dread, indicating that something terrible would happen to her.
He explained to Quote, she had kind of a premonition
about a week before this happened. She said she was

(57:00):
going to die. She came back and told me what
cemetery she wanted to be buried in. End. Quote asked
about the possibility of Don himself being involved, Wilson was dismissive,
though he did not give much information. He related that
investigators were very convinced that he had not been involved.

(57:20):
He cooperated fully with the investigation, was at work during
the time of Loye's disappearance, and had voluntarily sat for
a three hour long polygraph examination, the results of which
confirmed the police that he had no idea what could
have happened. Don himself noted that there were those who
believed he was involved, and he understood that perspective, but

(57:42):
he argued anyone who was close to either he or
loy and knew their relationship would never think that for
a second. Over the course of the next year, the
case grew quiet. Don struggled to keep his life together,
finding that friends slowly pulled away as they were unable
to deal with the situation. While they married, had children,

(58:04):
and moved forward, Don was stuck reaching back for a
pass that was forever unattainable. He couldn't decide what to do.
At some points, he thought of selling the house and
moving away, but ultimately decided against it. He struggled as
on the one hand, the house kept him feeling close
to Loi, but on the other he couldn't help but

(58:24):
jump up every time he heard a car approaching, or
the phone ringing, wondering if she was somehow finally coming
back to him. He was tormented by prank callers who
rang him in the middle of the night to claim
they had information that Loi was alive, or that they
had grisly details of her murder to reveal. Even some

(58:45):
who had the best of intentions would push him into
a depression, with both friends and coworkers frequently asking for
news and updates that had never come. At one point,
his bosses at work had to send out an office
memo asking co workers to leave the grieving man alone
and to stop bombarding him with questions and theories about

(59:05):
what might have happened. Initially, Don turned to alcohol and
began frequenting local bars in hopes of numbing away all
of the pain and hurt, but it only made things worse,
negatively impacting his employment. As his drinking grew out of control.
He explained, quote it cost me a couple of jobs
because I was drinking too much. I tried to tough

(59:28):
it out, but when I was alone, I cried. I
really cried. End quote. Tuesday February twenty eighth, nineteen seventy eight,
marked a full year since Loy had last been seen alive,
the case remained in a lull, and by that time
almost everyone connected to it, both law enforcement and family,
had accepted the likelihood that the twenty nine year old

(59:51):
was dead and would not be returned safely. The investigation
had transformed from a missing person's case to that of
a homicide, and detective believed that at some point they
would find Loy's body. Even for Don, who had tried
so hard to hope for the best, he had to
confront that reality, saying, quote, I have prepared myself mentally

(01:00:13):
and accept that I will never see her again end quote.
Don had done several things to try and take steps forward.
He redecorated parts of the home they had shared and
sold Lois's beloved sports car, noting he never drove it
and he didn't believe she would want it just collecting
dust in the garage. He sent some of her clothing

(01:00:34):
and personal items back to her family in Coffeeville, and
slowly began isolating himself. He took up new hobbies and
began leaving the house less and less. Though he had
tried dating a little bit, it felt wrong to him,
and eventually he cut that off as well as for investigators,
they had pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that

(01:00:56):
the case would not move forward without something more substantial,
specifically a body. Sergeant Wilson explained to the Kansas City
Star saying, quote, we knew within an hour where she
was when she disappeared from the parking lot of the plaza,
and we know where her purse was found. And that's
about all the hard evidence we have. I suspect she

(01:01:18):
is buried in a shallow grave somewhere in the area
where her purse was found. But if you don't have
a body, you don't have a homicide.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
End quote.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Following the passing of that first year, time began to
proceed more rapidly. Discussion of the investigation, media coverage of
the case, and calls about Loy dried up. There were
flashes of possibility here and there. Several bodies found in
and around the areas searched previously would stir up talk
about Loi, but she was ruled out every time. Each

(01:01:51):
time Don was contacted and told to brace himself, only
for it to be a false alarm. In the mid eighties,
at the height of speculation circling around the claims of
killer Henry Lee Lucas. It was thought that he could
have been involved, but he was ruled out when evidence
contradicted the possibility and the confession killer himself denied any involvement.

(01:02:15):
In nineteen eighty four, following the required passage of seven years,
Don had Loy legally declared deceased. He would then go
on to file a lawsuit against the insurance company, which
did not wish to pay out her total death benefit
due to the fact that her body was not recovered.
A battle Don would ultimately win. The law firm in

(01:02:36):
which she had been employed, that of Miller, Simmons, Moore,
and Young established a scholarship in her name for the
education of law enforcement officers at Rockhurst College. The last
time there was much discussion of Loy or the case
came in February of nineteen eighty seven, which marked a
full decade since the twenty nine year old had last

(01:02:56):
been seen. While Don declined to tear open old wounds
for an interview at that time, Lloy's mother, Jewel seventy five,
then agreed to share her thoughts. In her mind, her
daughter was stolen away by a monster without a name.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Or a face.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
She explained, quote, somebody was there at the time, they
shouldn't have been there, and they snatched her out of
this world. I have prayed that those who did it
would have a conscience and confess end quote. Thirty three
years later, Tuesday February twenty eighth, twenty seventeen, officially marked

(01:03:38):
forty years since Lloyd disappeared, and while much of Kansas City,
the twenty nine year old knew and loved, would then
be unrecognizable to her, little had changed with the investigation.
Sergeant John Wilson retired and Sergeant Ben Caldwell was now
in charge. In hopes of jogging something loose, they took

(01:03:58):
another look at the case file, now well over a
foot thick, and decided to reinterview key witnesses to determine
if anything had been missed or if there were new
avenues to pursue. Don was one of the first people
detectives went to, and according to Caldwell, there was little,
if any difference between their discussion with him in nineteen
seventy seven. He explained, quote, he broke down and cried,

(01:04:22):
much like he did in nineteen seventy seven when he
was interviewed by police. He obviously is very heartbroken. End quote.
Meeting with Don, law enforcement was given hair from one
of Looy's hair brushes, which he had kept all those years,
allowing them to get her DNA and officially add it
to nationwide databases, including NamUs.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
That was really the only new.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Development, with Sergeant Caldwell being quite blunt that chances of
finding an answer all these years later was very unlikely.
They were still perplexed by what exactly happened that Chile
Monday afternoon in Kansas City. Sergeant called Well explained quote,
there are still no new leads and right now the
case is suspended pending new information. This one is a

(01:05:10):
little more unique because she was abducted. She was either
targeted or it was complete happenstance that somebody abducted her.
It's very obvious that it was an abduction. End quote.
For the first time in decades, Don seventy one years
old in twenty seventeen, agreed to sit down for an
interview again. So much time had passed, but the wounds

(01:05:34):
were still tender, and for him, escaping from the pain
of laws transformed his entire life. The Kansas City Star
noted that his home, the very one he had shared
with Loi, was now covered in model train sets, a
hobby he picked up to try and keep his mind distracted.
He also learned to play guitar, having written some songs

(01:05:54):
about Loi and the heaviness of the grief with which
he has struggled. I need to hope that someday someone
would provide the information necessary to locate Loi, that someone
might be arrested and charged, but he acknowledged that he
didn't have much faith in that. David evitts, Don's brother,
summed up the pain and loss of all of those years, saying, quote,

(01:06:18):
they put him into a depression that I don't think
he's ever been able to overcome. Don never remarried, never
dated again. Loi was the one and only love of
his life. End quote. When last scene, Loy Gillespie Evits
was described as being a white female with blonde hair

(01:06:39):
and hazel eyes, standing five feet five inches tall and
weighing approximately one hundred and twenty six pounds. Loi was
last seen wearing a three quarter length blue hand knit
sweater with vertical maroon stripes, a maroon turtleneck, maroon slacks
wood wedge shoes with a bread leather strap.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
She also wore.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
A wide gold wedding band, a wide gold Hellsberg diamond
solitaire engagement ring, a white gold woman's watch with a
square face, and a plaid gold bracelet with a knot.
At the time, she drove a yellow nineteen seventy MGB
sports car with the license plate Joe forty eight sixty nine.

(01:07:25):
It's believed that she drove the car into the parking
garage just north of Country Club Plaza, where she worked
at the time, between two forty five and three pm
on Monday February twenty eighth, nineteen seventy seven. Somewhere between
her vehicle and spot number ninety eight and her office
at eight hundred West forty seventh Street, she was either

(01:07:46):
forcibly abducted or got into a vehicle with someone she
thought she could trust. A delivery man in the area
at the time notified authorities that an unknown man driving
a large brown van had sped out of the parking
lot at the approximate time Loy is thought to have
been taken. This witness did not catch the license plate,

(01:08:08):
nor was he able to identify the driver. Since the
unknown man shielded his face with his hand. The van
pulled out so quickly and recklessly that it nearly collided
with another vehicle. Neither this man or the brown van
have ever been located or officially identified. Loy was twenty
nine years old when she vanished, and if alive today,

(01:08:31):
she would be turning seventy seven this December. She has
now been missing for forty seven years, nearly twice as
long as she was able to.

Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
Live her life.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
Both of her parents, William and Jewel Gillespie, have since passed,
as has her brother John. They carried their grief and
pain with them and never relinquished the hope that someday
they would know the truth and see justice done. As
for Don, He he spent nearly five decades continuing to
grieve for the loss of his wife, a flashbulb moment

(01:09:06):
from which he has never been able to move forward.
According to everyone who knew them, Lloyd was the love
of his life, and without her he struggled to find
a reason to press on. He lives now in the
quiet solace of the home they had once shared, a
home which by this time he had fully expected to
be flooded with visits from grandchildren and friends, a home

(01:09:30):
which suffers tremendously from the absence of the life and
love that had once filled it. Asked his thoughts all
these years later, Don somberly replied, quote, she's been gone
this long. You can't expect her to come back and
still be alive.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
We just don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
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(01:10:10):
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The investigation into the disappearance of Loyevits is simultaneously filled

(01:11:19):
with a lot of information but bereft of solid, reliable evidence.
Detectives were able to dig into her life, her husband's life,
everything going all the way back to her upbringing Coffeeville, Kansas.
They were able to piece together almost every aspect of
the last day she was seen alive. They mapped out
where she went on her lunch break and narrowed her

(01:11:39):
return to the parking garage to within a five to
ten minute period, and then everything stops. They know she
parked her car in her assigned spot, but somewhere after
that she completely vanished. When someone disappears, there's usually something
for them to work on, some lead to follow, some
evidence to pursue, but they come up with a blank.

(01:12:00):
In this case, the closest they ever really got to
a lead with statements from the eye witnesses who saw
a brown van speeding out of the garage around the
time they thought Lloy had likely been abducted. Later, they
would get more information from Richard Smith, the so called
anonymous caller, but they couldn't verify any of what he
had told them, as he flipped from claiming responsibility to

(01:12:23):
denying any involvement whatsoever. The investigation itself was an exercise
in futility for the most part, with every lead being
run down in every clue being analyzed, but they continually
found themselves reset to square one, looking for the ghosts
of what happened in that parking garage. Now, I fully

(01:12:44):
admit I had an awareness of this case for years,
but I had never dug much beneath the surface level.
When I dove into the research, I was under the
impression that I would come out on the other side
with a fairly decent idea of what most likely happened.
That's true of most cases I've covered. I generally have
my own opinion of what probably occurred, but at least

(01:13:05):
in this instance, much like the investigators, I don't have
real solid clues to work with. I mean, sure, it
seems likely that Loy was abducted, but when you go
down to the motive and the suspects, there's nothing there.
You have a likely crime, but no one to point
the finger at, and as a result, that makes it

(01:13:25):
pretty difficult to analyze the theories, but we're going to
give it a shot anyway. The first theory, and by
general consensus, the weakest, is that perhaps loy left of
her own volition and was either assisted by others or
orchestrated and pulled off this disappearance without telling anyone. In
a lot of missing persons cases that are severely lacking

(01:13:46):
in terms of evidence, this is a theory that is
proposed on a basis of essentially anything is possible, so
maybe this was all part of a plan. While there
have certainly been cases over the years in which someone
disappears for years and was later found alive and well,
having chosen to do so, those instances are very rare.

(01:14:07):
Usually they involved more than someone simply walking away. We
know for a fact that Lloyd didn't take any of
her personal belongings, she never accessed any of her bank
accounts or personal funds, and no one in her life
had any reason to believe.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
She would ever run off.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
What I think makes this the least likely is that
in the hours leading up to Loye's disappearance, she spotted
by multiple people store employees, other shoppers, people out on
the street. She was easily and quickly noticed. It's somewhat
difficult to believe that less than twenty minutes after being
spotted by multiple people, she would suddenly become a ghost

(01:14:47):
that managed to escape from the parking garage seemingly without
another vehicle. But no one saw her during this time.
Her image, her description was broadcast on the radio, local
news stations, and flyers were put up all over the area,
but no one saw anything after around two forty five.
It's not to say it's impossible that Loy got away unnoticed,

(01:15:09):
or perhaps utilize some type of disguise, but now we're
getting into an area that feels less and less realistic.
Police dug into Loy's life, and they couldn't find anything
that might suggest she wanted to get away, nor anything
she might be afraid of. She had no financial problems,
no secret rendezvous, no hidden relationships or activities, at least

(01:15:31):
that they could find. Although somewhat tongue in cheek, Sergeant
Wilson did refer to her at one point as a saint. Obviously,
no one is a saint, but she appears to have
walked the straight and narrow to a degree where if
she ever did step outside of that box, nobody knew
about it. Certainly there could be a motive that law
enforcement were unable to track down, but the biggest indicator

(01:15:53):
that Looy did not disappear of her own volition is that,
nearly fifty years later, she has never been seen or
heard from again. Her Social Security card was never used,
her bank account was untouched, and to top it all off,
her prescription medication was found in her purse, along with
her checkbooks and driver's license. I know many of you

(01:16:14):
were thinking what I am, that running away is a
baseless theory in this case, but I did want to
address it just for the sake of being thorough A possibility, perhaps,
but even detectives don't believe there's enough to support this
as a possible theory. The next theory that has some
weight behind it in the beginning but has thinned out

(01:16:35):
tremendously over the years is that Loy's husband, Don was
in some way connected to the disappearance. Whenever someone goes
missing or is murdered, the people closest to them always
fall under the microscope of suspicion to some degree, and
the spouse is often the most likely. This doesn't necessarily
mean that the spouse had to have been involved, but

(01:16:55):
to not look into that person and their relationship with
the victim would be a bad decision by detectives and
a tremendous oversight in any investigation. According to what we
know about this case, Don came home that night to
a ringing phone, and it was his wife's boss. They
explained she had not returned from her lunch break and
they were concerned. Don contacted authorities to report his wife missing,

(01:17:19):
but they didn't really do anything at that moment, giving
him the old, oh, wait, twenty four hours excuse, because
that always works out so well. Over the course of
the next few hours, Don went downtown and tried to
find Lloyd. He called friends and family members. He went
to some of her favorite stores, but he couldn't find anything.
Around midnight, he went home to wait by the phone

(01:17:41):
in case she called, or perhaps law enforcement showed more interest.
When none of this happened and the investigation kicked off
for real the following day, he was seemingly paralyzed by
fear and anxiety. He couldn't go to work, couldn't sleep,
could barely eat. Friends and relatives came by to look
after him because he seemed incapable of taking care of

(01:18:02):
himself as he struggled with the harsh reality of this loss.
Lacking evidence as they were, investigators took a long hard
look at Don. They dug into his past, talked to friends, relatives, coworkers.
They searched for anything they might find to give them
a reason to believe he had a motive. They came
up completely empty handed, and instead developed a profile on

(01:18:26):
the man that suggested he was completely in love with
his wife and arguably to some degree, dependent upon her.
For years, his life had revolved around Lloyd, and the
same could be said for her In regard to Don.
Their relationship was strong and loving. They spent years apart
and wrote daily letters while he was in Vietnam while

(01:18:47):
she was away at college. They went out of their
way to visit as often as possible, and then, when
they were both able to, they got married on the
anniversary of their first date. According to detectives, they could
only find evidence that the couple had ever had one argument,
and that had happened years earlier before they married. There's

(01:19:10):
no such thing as a perfect couple. Every relationship has
its ups and downs, but there's a distinction between a
troubled relationship and a happy one, and law enforcement could
find no person who defined Loy and Don as anything
other than a healthy, happy marriage between two people who
were clearly in love. Usually in a case in which

(01:19:32):
the spouse is involved, there's something more to it, a
possible divorce, a monetary bonus, a bitter and hateful argument,
or a dispute. But none of that happens here. Not
to mention, Looy doesn't vanish from home. She doesn't go
missing on a trip the two took together or from
a quiet location that they frequent. It's not that he

(01:19:53):
doesn't call police for days. There's nothing really suspicious about
his behavior. She vanishes from a parking garage in the
middle of the day. At that time of the crime,
Don's at work. His job was a little more than
five miles north from Lloy's office building, but there are
no reports of him leaving early, taking an extended lunch break,

(01:20:15):
or being sighted in the area. Police questioned him thoroughly
and report back that he broke down emotionally, and in
their experience, these are not fake emotions in an attempt
to cast suspicion off of him. While I'm not a
huge proponent of light detectors. They do sit him down
for a lengthy three hour polygraph examination and he passes

(01:20:37):
with flying colors. I think, at least for me, what
convinces me most that Don was likely not involved is
how he spends the next forty seven years of his life.
He dates for a very short period, but eventually quits.
He stops going out and socializing and withdraws into the
home they shared together. He pretty much becomes a wrecks

(01:21:00):
with even his own brother saying that the loss of
his wife completely devastated him and he didn't know how
to move on and start again. He finds himself struggling
with alcohol addiction, loses jobs over the combination of substance
abuse and an inability to focus on things outside of LOI.
He doesn't move into a bigger house, buy a bunch

(01:21:21):
of random stuff. He doesn't appear happy in the slightest
and while there is a life insurance policy on LOI,
there's also one in him. I mean, he worked for
an insurance company, so this isn't all that surprising, and
he isn't able to cash in the policy for seven
years until nineteen eighty four, when he does their numbers

(01:21:42):
are far from exorbitant, and the total death benefit paid
out twenty thousand dollars. That is not a life changing
amount of money, and while people have been killed for
far less, it doesn't really make any sense in this case.
Some people have argued that some of Don's be behaviors
in the months and years after the disappearance carry a

(01:22:03):
sinister tone, but that's really more of a matter of
opinion and speculation. He sells Loy's beloved car, but notes
he never drove it and it was a constant reminder
of his loss. This doesn't really rattle my cage or
jump out as some big red flag. He sends much
of her clothing and personal effects to her family, and
donates others to local charity shops. He takes down a

(01:22:26):
lot of the pictures of Loi, but he keeps them all,
storing them gently in a bin downstairs. Yet when law
enforcement needs a source of Loy's DNA, he's able to
give them one of her hair brushes that still has
her hair in it, suggesting he has kept items of
hers in good enough condition that they appear somewhat undisturbed.

(01:22:46):
He didn't pack everything up and haul it out to
the trash. He slowly comes to grips with reality and
agrees with friends, family, and detectives that Loy is probably deceased.
He stops doing interviews and lives a quiet, simple life
by himself. Decades later, he does a handful of interviews
in twenty seventeen, marking forty years since the disappearance, but

(01:23:09):
he comes across as a man who is still crushed
by what happened. There's no joy in his life, nothing
that would suggest he's better off or happy about the
way anything went. Even police say that when they interview
him again that year, those old wounds are torn open
and he breaks down emotionally. If it's an act, he's

(01:23:29):
done a masterful job of keeping it going for nearly
fifty years now. Much of what I've just discussed is
emotional personal, but stepping out into the harsh light of unbiased,
cold heart facts. There has never been a single scrap
of evidence presented to suggest Don was involved in any
way whatsoever, and police have never really believed that he was.

(01:23:54):
Sergeant John Wilson developed a deep seated interest in this case.
He spent years trying to crack it, and spent so
much energy digging in that. He would later report that
he felt like he knew Loy even though he had
never met her. It was the one case he worked
that he could never solve, and it stayed with him,
broke his heart and frustrated him beyond the point where

(01:24:17):
he could rationalize it. He didn't believe Don was involved.
It was a possibility they ruled out early on, and
I think retrospect in hindsight have only worked to confirm
those beliefs. Could Don have been involved? We well, maybe,
but over forty seven years, no one has managed to
come up with a motive, and perhaps more importantly, they've

(01:24:40):
never been able to develop a theory on how exactly
he could have pulled this off. So if Don wasn't involved,
is it possible that someone else Loy knew and maybe
even trusted could have been Certainly, but again we're chasing
ghosts here because police have never even suggested there was
a person of interest in this case, let alone one

(01:25:00):
that was known to and close to the victim. Some
have wondered over the years if it's possible that Loy
could have had male suitors, not necessarily men that she entertained,
but men who perhaps expressed interest that she rebuffed. Researching
this case, something you come across frequently are deep descriptions
and opinions given about Loy's physical appearance. She's described as beautiful,

(01:25:24):
eye catching, a model, all of the things you might
imagine of someone who receives a lot of compliments and
flirtation for men. This has led some to believe that
perhaps a man with an interest in Loi was frustrated
by her dismissal and decided to take matters into his
own hands. And I don't think that's something that can
be completely ruled out. Let's face it, it was nineteen

(01:25:46):
seventy seven, and while creepers existed in all places and times,
we're talking about a time where, well, I don't want
to say it was accepted, but people tended to look
the other way. It's entirely possible some guy would not
take no for an answer and probably carried a much
higher likelihood than the previously discussed theories at the time.

(01:26:08):
You'd think someone would have noticed something based on everything
we're told. Lloyd didn't complain to friends or family. She
didn't tell her husband or coworkers anything about a guy
who creeped her out. Or someone she worried about or
thought was trying to cross a line. Sure, it's possible
she didn't think it was that big of a deal,
or maybe she didn't want people to see her in

(01:26:28):
a bad light. But you'd think someone somewhere would have
had some indication At the same time. It's possible it
could have been someone who had those thoughts and motives
but did not express them, a coworker who seemed like
a nice guy, a friend who thought she was reliable
and genuine. We don't know how many people were in

(01:26:49):
or around the parking garage that day, and while we
have a delivery man who reports a van speeding out
around the time Loy is thought to have been taken,
there are no reports of screams or any signs of
a struggle. Police can find no evidence in or around
the car or the garage to show any kind of
a struggle or fight. When Loy's purse is recovered from

(01:27:09):
beneath Reinhart Road bridge, there's no damage to it, no
indication that there was a struggle or anything was stolen
from her. Her checkbooks, bill fold and other items are
recovered in the purse and in the area surrounding it.
It sounds as if it's almost possible that there wasn't
any kind of fight or struggle at all, suggesting that
perhaps Lloyd voluntarily got into a vehicle with her abductor

(01:27:32):
perhaps not knowing where that drive would lead. It was
a chilly afternoon, she had a walk to the office,
and maybe someone she knew offered to drive her to
the front door. It's as probable as anything else. However,
the absence of a struggle doesn't necessarily mean that she
went along voluntarily. It's one of the details I often
find frustrating in cases like this, as if the lack

(01:27:55):
of a struggle eliminates the concept of forcedubduction. How much
sort of struggle is someone going to put up if
an assailant sticks a knife in their face, or it
pulls a gun and tells them to be quiet and
get in the car. I don't think we can rule
out the possibility that Loy was forced to go along,
and that carries us into the other half of this

(01:28:15):
theory that maybe she was taken by someone she didn't know,
a complete stranger in what could be described as a
random crime, or may actually have involved someone who specifically
targeted her and may have tracked her for a period
of time as few as hours or as long as
weeks or months. One detail of this case that's always

(01:28:36):
bothered me is the timing of the abduction. LOI normally
took her lunch between one and two PM, but on
this day, because she's finishing up work, she doesn't leave
until after two. Her movements over the course of the
next forty five minutes or so are well established. We
know where she went and what she did during None
of her lunch activities are there reports of her being

(01:28:58):
with anyone else. Everyone seems to say that she was
her normal, quiet but polite self, and they saw no
indications that she was concerned or in any danger. Some
have theorized that someone might have executed a planned abduction
that day, and while I don't necessarily disagree, the shifting
of her lunch break had to have thrown a wrench
into any plans. Something I've always thought about a lot

(01:29:22):
is why if someone were targeting Lloyd, they would not
have grabbed her elsewhere along her lunch break, or right
when she walked into the parking garage to drive off
and do errands in the first place. Abducting her. When
she first enters the garage, you're guaranteed at least an
hour before anyone notices anything is wrong. This affords you

(01:29:44):
a pretty decent lead on your getaway. Instead, she's taken
with ten minutes of when she's supposed to be returning
to work. Now, maybe changing her lunchtime altered things, but
someone still had to be in that parking garage when
she returned to grab her lunch. But again, if you're
sitting there waiting, how do you allow her to leave
in the first place. It just doesn't make a lot

(01:30:06):
of sense to me. And maybe I'm seeking logic in
an irrational place, but this just sticks in my head
and I can't dismiss it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:13):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:30:14):
Maybe this was a planned abduction, but not one that
involved keeping track of Loi for weeks or even days.
It's entirely possible that while she was out on her
lunch break that afternoon, someone saw her and decided they
were gonna grab her. Maybe this person or person's follows her,
but everywhere she goes is a little too busy to
make the grab, so they wait, and when she drives

(01:30:36):
into the parking garage, they follow her in. We know
from police that the car was in good condition, the
umbrella she bought was sitting on the passenger seat, and
the car was unlocked. We don't know if Loy was
in the habit of leaving her car unlocked, or if
this suggests she was grabbed very quickly after getting out
of the vehicle. Given the description of the brown van,

(01:30:58):
it's not outside of possibility that one person either forces
her in, whether using a weapon or not, to keep
her quiet, or if perhaps one person is driving and
another pulls her in, at which point they speed off,
entirely plausible. There is some discussion online about a motorcycle
gang operating in the area around this time whose leader

(01:31:19):
was later executed for murder. According to an article discussing
the execution of George Tiny Mercer, he was executed for
murder but had been involved in many other crimes, most
of which involved sexual assault. According to a timeline established
by law enforcement, Mercer participated in the gang rape of

(01:31:41):
a seventeen year old in July of nineteen seventy eight.
One month later, in late August, he rapes twenty two
year old Karen Keaton, strangles her to death, and hides
her body in a wooded area. Keaton went missing after
working a shift at the Blue seven Lounge, one six
Blue Ridge Boulevard in Kansas City. This is a location

(01:32:03):
that by car, is just over ten miles from where
Loy's purse is recovered. Not only does Keaton vanish from
the parking lot of her job, but her car is
left behind in good condition unlocked. Factor in that Keaton
shares physical similarities with Loy. She is described as five seven,
one hundred and twenty pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

(01:32:27):
She disappears nineteen months after Loi, but her body would
actually be recovered. Keaton's remains were found in October of
nineteen seventy eight near the intersection of two hundred and
seventh Street and State Line Road, approximately twenty two miles
south from the office where Loi was last seen and
fifteen miles from where Keaton was last seen. Mercer was

(01:32:51):
ultimately charged with capital murder, found guilty, and executed in
nineteen eighty nine. Now, while no evidence has ever been
established connect Mercer to Loye's disappearance, there is one common
denominator which is difficult to ignore. Multiple news articles refer
to Mercer and his accomplice, Stephen Gardner as living in

(01:33:13):
grand View, Missouri. Grandview just happens to be where Richard
Lee Smith lived when he made multiple anonymous calls claiming
knowledge of Lloy's abduction and murder. Is there a solid
connection there, Not that we've ever seen or established, but
that's one hell of a coincidence. Was Richard Smith connected

(01:33:34):
to the gang? Did he have knowledge of the crime,
Did he know Mercer or Gardener? Or was he just
a prank caller who seemed really focused on delivering information
to law enforcement about where to find the body.

Speaker 1 (01:33:47):
We may never know.

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
Unfortunately that's true of all the unknown suspects in this case,
the thousands and thousands of people passing through and working
in Kansas City who could have been involved this terrible,
haunting crime. You could go on for hours or days
with different possibilities, from a serial killer living in Kansas
City at the time to the so called confession killer himself,

(01:34:12):
Henry Lee Lucas. But it is little more than speculation
without some kind of evidence or eyewitness. Someone out there
knows what happened and has kept that secret for decades.
Someone out there has information they can provide to law
enforcement to help them recover Loi's remains, make an arrest
or both. Loy's family has passed away, but Don remains

(01:34:37):
and continues to hope that someday justice will be served,
or at least he will learn the fate of his
beloved wife and be granted the ability to lay her
to rest in the very cemetery she chose. Unfortunately, unless
someone does come forward, new evidence is uncovered, or Loy's

(01:34:57):
body is found, the vanishing of if Loi Evits will
remain open, unsolved, and very cold. If you're looking for
more information about the vanishing of Loy Evids, there are

(01:35:19):
many forums of newspaper archives which have detailed the case.
For this episode, both the Kansas City Star and Kansas
City Times were the most helpful. If you have any
information about the vanishing of Loi Evits, please contact the
Kansas City Police Department at eight one six two three

(01:35:41):
four five one three six. Her case number is zero
zero dash Jay eight one one seven seven. What do
you believe happened? Tweet me at trace v Pod, email
me at trace Evidence Pod at gat com, or comment

(01:36:01):
in the Facebook group. Now, I'd like to take a
moment to thank our amazing Patreon producers, without whom Trace
Evidence would not be possible. Andrew Guarino, Ann m Bertram Brutalist,
Christine Greco, Crystal Jay, Danny Renee Dearthy, Denise Dingsdale, Desiree Laro,

(01:36:30):
Dianni Dyson, Jennifer Winkler, Justin Snyder, Karen Morland, k Y
Lars Jensen, Vangel leslie B, Lisa Hopson, Melissa Brackaisen, Nick Mohar, Schers,
Roberta Janssen, Ruth Stacy Finnegan, and Tom Radford. Thank you

(01:36:57):
all so much for your amazing support and for keeping
Trace Evidence going forward. This concludes our look into the
baffling disappearance of twenty nine year old Loy Evans. A
beautiful life needlessly ended and the pain and grief of
devastation left in the wake. Frustrating though it may be,

(01:37:17):
it appears quite clear that a sheer lack of evidence
and the silence of those with knowledge is what has
kept this the oldest unsolved missing person's case in Kansas
City history. I want to thank you all for listening,
and I hope you'll join me next time for another
unsolved case. On the next episode of Trace Evidence,

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244 - The Vanishing of Loy Evitts

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}244 - The Vanishing of Loy Evitts