warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Megan Boswell’s ever-changing stories only deepened the mystery after her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn Boswell, was reported missing in February 2020. An Amber Alert was issued, but a shocking discovery—and shocking new details from the recent trial—revealed the awful truth.
this is tommy boswell senior of sullivan county tenessee.on february 18th 2020 he called the departement of children services to report that his granddaughter evelyn was missing under suspicious circumstances.
he hadn’t seen or heard from her in months.and every time he asked his daughter 18 year old megan boswell where evelyn was, he felt like he was getting the rundaround.
megan initially claimed that the toddler was with her biological father ethan perry. a US army serviceman with whom she was no longer in a relationship.
but mr boswell wasn’t buying it.in court testimony he later describe how megan dodged his question never giving a straight answer about where evelyn was or who had her.
mr boswell’s call to children’s services set offa chain reaction ,launching authorities into a case filled with lies misdirection and tragedy.
that call would set off a massive investigation.but before we dive into the details let’s take a step back to understand the key players in this case.
tommy boswell and angela boswell were married for about 17 years before divorcing in 2016.
angela gave birth to their first child a son at age 15. 8 years later their daughter megan was born.by february 2020 mr boswell lived on a 10 acre property in bluntville.
a small rural community of about 3,120 people.
his property had two residences once for him and his family ,the other for his parents.
megan who also goes by maggie mostly lived with her paternal granparents as her parents struggled with substance abuse and various legal issues.
by 17 ,problems at home led to megan being placed in foster care.according to mr boswell, children services became involved after her mother failed to send her to school.
while still in the system megan gave birth to evelyn in november 2018.
after four months in foster care mr boswell took megan and evelyn back in.he covered all expenses,including buying her a$ 220,000 car in cash.
but tension soon grew and after repeatedly refusing to clean her room ,he asked megan to leave.mr boswell set her up in a trailer owned by a relative at the lakeshore RV park.
by december 2019,she left the trailer to move in with her new boyfriend hunter wood.in the following months mr boswell saw megan and evelyn only occasionally.
taken us to februry 18th 2020.
frustrated by megan’s evasiveness toquestion about evelyn’s whereabouts he contacted children’s services to report that hisgranddaughter was missing.he explained that megan had full custody ,yet she never reported her daughter gone for reason still unclear .
the tenessee bureau of investigation quickly joined local police in the search .
on february 19th a statewide Amber Alert genereted over 870 tips.despite massive search efforts there was no sign of evelyn.
meanwhile, investigators from the sullivan county sheriff’s office needed answers from megan. police were not buying what megan was selling.
her inconsistencies and shifting details only made them more suspicious. but with no solid evidence to hold her ,they had to led her go.for now…
yet, instead of laying low ,megan did the opposit, soon after the police interview she was in front of TV cameras, she switched gears from evasive suspect to concerned mother as she pleaded for baby evelyn’s safe return.
while megan was giving her TV interview sheriff jeff cassidy held a press conference.
he told media members his office had received conflicting reports on whe evelyn was last seen. one account suggested december 26th 2019, while a babysitter placed the last sighting around around december 10th or 11th.
when asked about megan’s version of events cassidy explained.
” i’m not gonna go with what the mother stated because some of the conflicting stries are inaccurate.”
investigators had already confirmed with evelyn’s father ethan perry that he was stationed in louisiana with the army and had no involvement in her daily care.
after hours of questioning,police ruled him out as a person of interest.
meanwhile investigators followed a lead and issued a bolo for a silver BMW suspected to be connected to the case.they believe two individuls in the vehicle might have information about evelyn’s whereabouts.
the car was later found in Wilkes County north carolina with a familiar occupant inside.
megan’s mother ,angela boswell and her boyfriend william mccloud were arrested on outstanding theft warrants after authorities discovered the 2007 BMW had been reported stolen in Tenessee.
but when questioned ,neither could offer any useful information about evelyn’s whereabouts and detectives ruled out any direct connection between them and the missing child.
then just 3 days later , things got even messier.
megan initially told police that evelyn had been picked up by ethan who was refusing to return her, she then told the news reporter that some unnamed person had her.
yet in a second televised interview megan dropped the bombshell allegation.
acting on the information that angela had taken the toddler to a campground in Mantua virginia.the sullivan county sheriff’s office and virginia law enforcement extensivley searched three campground but came up empty.
investigators grew increasingly skeptical of megan’s credibility when asked to take a polygraph test she claimed she was pregnant and therefore unable to comply.
a statement officials later debunked.
around the same time her former boyfriend hunter wood spoke with the local TV news station.
after being relentlessly harassed on social media and falsely accused of involvement in evelyn’s disappearance,hunter woods mental health began to decline.
his father later testified about the impact the online abuse had on his son.
hunter wood was never implicated or charged by police in any wrongdoing associated with the disappearance of evelyn boswell.
based on what megan told him,hunter believed evelyn was with her biological father , ethan perry.but in later court testimony, ethan told a different story.
ethan perry had his doubts early on but the official paternity test still confirmed what hehad feared.he was not evelyn’s biological father.in an instant the child he thought was his was suddenly a stranger a devestating revelation he did not see coming.
megan’s fals statements wasted valuable time and resources sending investigators on wild goose chases instead of helping to find evelyn.
in missing child cases every seconds counts and her deception only made things worse.
by february 25th 2020 megan was under arrest, she was initially charged with false reporting and bond was set at$ 25,000 when she was booked into sullivan county jail records listed her as pregnant a claim that was later disproven.
with megan behind bars,investigators turned up the heat on the search for evelyn.
on february 27th they executed a search warrant at the RV park where megan and evelyn once had lived.forensic teams scoured the property using luminol testing and ground penetrating radar to detect any hidden evidence.
8 days later ,investigators executed a search warrant at tommy boswell’s property 3 miles from the trailer home.
inside a child’s playhouse ,they made a gruesome discovery.
evelyn’s remains hidden in a trash can ,wrapped in tin foil ,a blanket and a garbage bag.
discarded as if they were ordinary wast,the medical examiner found evelyn postion upside down a clear sign of intentional concealment.
her cause of death was determined to be asphixiation with the manner ruled homicidal violence evidence that she wasdeliberately smothered.
for those who had spent weeks hoping to find evelyn alive,this discovery was devastating.what was once a desperate search for a missing child had now become a murder investigation.
that summer ,megan was formally charged with two counts of felony murder. she pleaded not guilty and the case was bound over for trial.
as for ethan perry,he had long believed he was evelyn’s biological father,however since evelyn is deceased dtermining paternity is no longer a priority and as of the date of his upload no other individual has been publicly identified.
in their opening statement prosecutors painted megan as a manipulativ liar who deliberately misled investigators to cover up her daughter’s murder.
megan’s attorneys pushed back ,claiming she was a young overwhelmed mother who panicked when she discovered her daughter unresponsive.
they argued that her inconsistent stories weren’t evidence of guilt ,but the result of fear and confusion.
during the trial, the prosecution called more than 30 witnesses including law enforcement officers, forensic experts,medical examiners and people who knew the accused.
many delivered emotional testimony.
caitlyn carter ,a former friend of megan’s testified about her interactions with megan and evelyn.she claimed that after megan started dating hunter wood in december, she no longer saw evelyn around.caitlyn describes the moment she realized something was off.
she said that it was strange that megan boswell was not with evelyn because she was always with evelyn up to until this point.
throughout the trial the state focused on megan boswell’s pattern of deception and the overwhelming evidence pointing to her guilt.
they told the jury that in order to believe megan’s version of events ,that evelyn’s death was accidental, they would have to ignore the mountain of evidence against her.
something that simply wasn’t possible.the prosecution reminded the jury that megan once described her own child as “mean as f***”.
they argued that in megan’s mind there was one obstacle standing between her and her new boyfriend-baby evelyn.
according to them,megan deliberately smothered her daughter wrapped her in foil sealed her in a garbage bag and dumped her in a trash can actions that pointed to clear and intent and premeditation.
to back this up they pointed directly to the the forensic eidence.
megan’s fingerprints were found on the very materials used to conseal evelyn’s body.
the prosecution also tore apart the defense’s attempt to implicate hunter wood,emphasizing that there was zero evidence connecting him to evelyn’s death while every critical piece of evidence pointed straight at megan.
the prosecution closed by urging the jury to use common sense, arguing that megan’s sudden shift in behavior, her web of lies, and her failure to report child missing, were all proof of her guilt in evelyn’s murder.
they asked the jury to hold megan accountable for her choices and deliver a guilty verdict on all charges.
after the prosecution laid out their final argument it was the defense’s turn to make their case.
attorney scott would go on to push back against the state’s theory,suggesting that megan’s actions while deceptive didn’t mean she was a murderer,.
they argued that evelyn’s death could have been accidental that megan had panicked and then law enforcement had focused on her while ignoring other possibilities.
the defense urged the jury to set aside emotion and focus solely on the facts,they argued that the state had failed to meet its burden of proving megan’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
after roughly 4 and 1 half hours of deliberation spread over 2 days the jury returned a verdict.
megan boswell was found guilty on all charges including three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect.
with the verdict delivered ,the proceedings shifted to the sentencing phase.
before the jury determined megan’s fate,her mother angela boswell took the stand making a final plea for leniency in hopes of securing her daughter a chance at parole.
the aggravated assault charge against tommy boswell senior mentioned by angela boswell was ultimately dismissed.
as far as megan boswell the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 51 years.a formal sentencing hearing is scheduled for may 22nd 2025 to adress the ramaining charges.
for evelyn’s family and the community the verdict brought long awaited justice.
the case had been a heartbreaking journey but in the end the system held megan accountable for her daughter’s tragic death.
however ,megan’s actions left behind more than just a legal outcome,they caused a ripple effect of pain that extended far beyond the courtroom.
friends and family members were left to grapple with the emotional devastation of losing evelyn and the betrayal of megan’s deceptions.
even those who once stood by her were forced to confront the reality of what she had done.
the case also burdened law enforcement,investigators and legal system , all of whom dedicated countless hours to unraveling the truth.
in the end ,justice was served but damage megan inflicted on those around her will last a lifetime.
Boswell was originally set to be sentenced on May 22, but it was rescheduled.
In February, a jury found Boswell guilty on all 19 charges she faced, including three counts of first-degree murder in her daughter Evelyn’s death.
The same jury sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole on the murder charges. Her sentencing hearing will determine if the other charges, which include aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect and abuse of a corpse, will be merged and how they will be served.
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – Megan Boswell, the Sullivan County mother convicted of killing her toddler daughter, will not have a sentencing hearing Thursday, according to Court Clerk Bobby Russell.
Boswell was set to be sentenced on all of her other charges in relation to Evelyn’s death, besides first-degree murder. The hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
A new sentencing date has not been set.