NC NC - Suellen Evans, 21, Chapel Hill, 30 July 1965

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?s...gates&id=8989233&rss=rss-wtvd-article-8989233

Didn't see this one on here. From the article:

Evans was a 21-year-old student in a hurry to get home to Mooresville.

"She'd taken a shortcut through the arboretum back to her dorm to pack and get ready to come home," said Suellen's sister, Elaine Evans. "As she walked through there, someone stepped out from the bushes there."

In 1965 the arboretum wasn't open like it is now. It was overgrown with vines, and capable of hiding a killer in waiting.

"When he stepped out, she maybe even spoke to him," said Elaine. "She was just a small town girl."

Soon, that small town girl would be a tragic headline from Murphy to Manteo.

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Apparently they questioned a groundskeeper. Looking for more information.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...OEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k4oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2996,7335619

Article from 1997. Murder was July 30. Unidentified male stabbed her to death in the arboretum (think heavily wooded park in the middle of campus). Witness glimpsed "a dark-skinned arm around Evans' leg".

Several witnesses on the scene within seconds. Evans stated the man had attempted to rape her and then collapsed and died.

http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2010/10/mysterious_stories_of_chapel_hills_past_shared_on_sunday - 2010 article from the student paper.

the article indicates the perp was described as having red hair.

article from 1965 - http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=5568,4956609&dq=suellen-evans&hl=en

indicates witnesses saw a dark (skinned) arm and a janitor said he saw a man run from the area and could identify him.

aug 1965 article - http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=4672,400440&dq=suellen-evans&hl=en

indicates police were at one point looking for a black male as the perp.

july 27 1966 article - http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=7572,4442331&dq=suellen-evans&hl=en

indicates police had three suspects out of 97 that could not be eliminated as possibilities.

article from one year anniversary - http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=7363,1729840&dq=suellen-evans&hl=en

indicates the perp was a light-skinned black male wearing a blue-knit pullover.additionally indicates reports from the day before of a woman telling passersby someone had tried to grab her in the same area.

the sept 10 1966 frederick news (can't link, ancestry) page 13 has an article that a student reported finding a knife in his trunk with bloodstains and hair on it. he indicated on the day suellen was murdered his car was parked at a nearby fraternity. he reported it to police who were investigating a connection.

august 22 1970 sacramento bee (page 7) indicates a suspect was released after investigators determined he was not involved. he was working nearby on the day of her murder and had been arrested for parole violations and subsequently disappeared.

So she's not missing?

no, i asked the mods if i should move the thread to cold cases and they said it was fine here.

Oh, my! I have spent hours (months, almost two years actually) here on WS for a local case in Arkansas . . . I just found this thread for my mother's cousin in North Carolina.

got4lilgirls said:

Oh, my! I have spent hours (months, almost two years actually) here on WS for a local case in Arkansas . . . I just found this thread for my mother's cousin in North Carolina.

Click to expand...

Sorry for the shock, but interested in your input!

I was born in 1966, so I never met Suellen. I've done a lot of genealogy, so I can give narratives about North Carolina people moving to Texas. (I am actually a Moore and Gabriel from Iredell County descendant.) Any way, my mom had an early-onset form of Alzheimer's called FTLD where hallucinations became a problem during her last few months. Many times she would call out for her late mom, called Sugar, but then she also called out in "howls" for Glenda (cousin killed by drunk driver in 1964 in Texas) and what we thought was Sue Ann??? My dad put it together that my mom was in huge emotional turmoil the first year they were married with these two cousins tragically killed. He remembered they had just moved from Texas to Kentucky for Asbury seminary, and she read about Suellen's death in the newspaper and had not yet been told by telephone. We are thinking either my mom was barely crossing over and back in death seeing these cousins waiting for her, or her mind was re-activating the worst memory she ever had. My mom was gone in 18 months, but it was a fascinating observation as while she was losing her speech; she literally lost nouns, then verbs and hung onto adjectives -- when she was making sense. For her to call names was a very abrupt sound that caught our attention, and we knew she was not mentally with us by this look to the upper left. She died in 2011 after weeks of seizures. My oldest of four daughters is now studying neuroscience at Baylor in Texas.

My mom and Suellen were both born in 1944. My grandfather and Suellen's mother were Gabriels.

Suellen Evans, age 21
Murdered 30 July 1965

The serene southern college campus in Chapel Hill was green and growing on the last day of June in 1965. A picture-perfect summer day under a Carolina blue sky welcomed the few students that were attending the university for summer classes. Buses and cars still buzzed up and down the streets of the small town, but there was an emptiness in the air without the thousands of students that would flood the campus in the fall. Then, there would be a constant buzz of activity and sound all around in diners and bookshops, but that day in June was a quiet day.

Suellen Evans, a 21-year-old student from Mooresville, North Carolina walked briskly towards the entrance of the Coker Arboretum. She was in a big hurry. Her time in Chapel Hill was limited since she was only going to be there for the summer. A Home Economics major who had just completed her sophomore year at Catawba College in Salisbury, she was there trying to make up some credits towards the next step in her academic career. She had recently been accepted to the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and wanted to make sure she was on track. She was a friendly brunette that although having only come to Chapel Hill just a few short weeks before had made several friends...

... Suellen fought as hard as she could against her attacker and her screams were heard by passersby. A female student heard the screaming as did a pair of passing nuns on Raleigh Street. They could tell the sound was coming from the arboretum and bravely ran towards the screams. Suellen was winning her fight for freedom against the predator and almost broke free from him. Sensing he was losing his prey, he lashed out with a knife and slashed her neck and stabbed her in the heart. As she made her final move towards freedom, the coed that was coming for her aid saw her stumble from the bushes into the path and then collapse onto a bed of periwinkles. Her blue and white striped homemade shirt was torn and stained with blood. As Suellen fell, the student was sure she saw a dark arm grasping at her legs, but it soon disappeared back into the bramble. The nuns were right behind her and leapt towards the falling Suellen as she fell by the path as the female student peered through the green leaves and flowers of the arboretum to see if she spied the attacker, but he had vanished...

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