NY NY - Sean Wayne Evans, 2, Watertown, 17 May 1984

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The Doe Network:
Case File 171DMNY

SEvans.jpg
SEvans3.jpg
SEvans2.jpg

Left: Evans, circa 1984; Right: Age-progressed image of Evans at age 20 (circa 2002)

Sean Wayne Evans
Missing since May 17, 1984 from Watertown, Jefferson County, New York.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction


Vital Statistics Date Of Birth: November 25, 1981
Age at Time of Disappearance: 2 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 3'0; 40 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Blonde hair; green eyes.
Marks, Scars: One-inch long birthmark between his shoulder blades; scar on forehead.
Clothing: A yellow jacket, red pants and blue sneakers with white stripes.


Circumstances of Disappearance
Evans was last seen playing with a ball outside of his home on May 17, 1984 in Watertown, New York. His mother went inside the house for a moment to answer a phone ; when she returned, Evans has disappeared. Extensive searches of the area were futile. Police believe Sean may have fallen into the swift waters of the Black River behind his home, his ball was found on the river bank.


Investigators
If you have any information concerning Evans' whereabouts, please contact:
Watertown Police Department
Detective John E. Montrois
315-782-2233
You may remain anonymous when submitting information to any agency.

Agency Case Number: 05568-84

NCIC Number: M-123042171
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information related to this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children

 
From The Charley Project, http://charleyproject.org/cases/e/evans_sean.html:

"Evans was last seen playing with his ball outside of his family's residence in the 300 block of Water Street in Watertown, New York on May 17, 1984. His baby brother was also outside. His mother went inside their house to answer the phone at approximately 5:30 p.m.; when she returned less than two minutes later, Evans had disappeared, but the baby was still in his playpen. He has never been seen again.

The Black River runs behind the child's home. The ball Evans was playing with when he disappeared was found on the driveway of his house, near the river's bank. Police believe he may have fallen into the river and drowned, but if so, his body was never found. Due to the unclear factors in his disappearance, his case is classified as a non-family abduction.

The house Evans disappeared from has since been demolished. His case remains unsolved."

I wonder how far the house was from the river and if a toddler could get down there and fall in in two minutes or less. If the bank was steep he could have slipped and fallen, but wouldn't there be signs of that? It is also odd that not only was his body never recovered, but none of his clothing was ever found. From what I read, the river seems pretty fast-moving, and wouldn't that make it more likely to work off one of Sean's socks, shoes, or jacket?
 
it seems that if someone wanted to adbuct the child, then throwing the ball on the river bank is good cover. does anyone know who called? maybe a ploy to get her inside to take the child? Of course im not saying he didnt fall in, im just throwing some questions and senerios out there.
 
That's a good point. I never considered that the ball could have been a cover-up by a kidnapper. I wonder how extensively the friends/acquaintances of Sean's family were investigated. Did any of them drop out of their life after the abduction?

A lot of times in these sorts of abductions police get focused on one answer and block out all the other options. A great example of this is the Anna Waters's case. It's only years later, when their bodies still haven't shown up in the river or the woods or what have you, that everyone begins to rethink.
 
agreed i mean if the mother was only talking on the telephone for 2 minutes then i bet someone did santch him away from his home. also the ball theory is a good one they looked in that river i think and found no body
 
Bump
What a cute little boy. So sad ;(

My family is from Watertown area. Nice quiet place to live, not much crime other then your typical egg throwing kids and lots of drunken domestics.
What bothers me though is that you would think that they would have found some of his clothing or something in the river.
 
The Black River is very unforgiving - even for an adult falling in. I can easily believe that Sean fell in and was never found. Just in the last couple of years there have been at least three or four deaths. It is easy to get to the river's edge now, so I am sure it was even easier back in the early 80s. Sad story but I think the simplest answer is the most likely.
 
Thank you for keeping Seans memory alive. My family knows in our hearts that he did not drown. He was taken. The person who made the phone call to my aunt was my father. He was calling to ask about a car part she needed. It was a 2 minute conversation. Sean was very fearful of water, he never would have chased a ball down the bank. Someday, the right person will talk. Recently, Seans mom passed away, after over 30 years of never giving up hope. She now has closure. The person responsible will have to answer to a higher power for his crimes.
 
Melissa1121 said:
Thank you for keeping Seans memory alive. My family knows in our hearts that he did not drown. He was taken. The person who made the phone call to my aunt was my father. He was calling to ask about a car part she needed. It was a 2 minute conversation. Sean was very fearful of water, he never would have chased a ball down the bank. Someday, the right person will talk. Recently, Seans mom passed away, after over 30 years of never giving up hope. She now has closure. The person responsible will have to answer to a higher power for his crimes.
Click to expand...
I understand that you believe Sean was abducted,
Do you have phone records proving that the call was only two minutes, or is that your father's estimate? A five minute call might seem like two in retrospect. People's estimates of elapsed time are notoriously unreliable.
If the call was two minutes, then Sean's mom was probably away from him for at least three minutes: it would take some time to walk into the house, walk to the phone, take the phone off the receiver, hang it back up, walk out of the house, etc. She likely convinced herself that she was only away for two minutes because she wanted to believe that she was blameless for Sean's disappearance. The point may be moot because two minutes would have been plenty of time for Sean to have run to the bank and fallen in.
As far as Sean's being afraid of the water, no one can state, with certainty, "[Sean] never would have chased a ball down the bank." Children who are afraid of water are usually afraid to go in; that doesn't mean that they're afraid to approach the water. Children are also curious; at some point curiosity will win out over fear.
I believe the simple explanation is the most likely one here: Sean fell into the water and drowned. There is simply no evidence pointing to an abduction.
 
The fbi got the phone records. It was a 2 min 17 second phone call. There are many extenuating circumstances that we all know about, but cannot prove. Such as, his shoes were way too big and he would walk right out of them, so they would have been found in the water within the last 30 years. Also, not in the reports that were released, his clothes that he was wearing that day was found folded on the train tracks near his home, by a couple walking their dog. And his dad was at work that day, but he was standing out leaning on his truck in the parking lot of the business that was next door as my aunt was on the phone with 911. The phone records prove that no other cslls were made until police were on scene. When my aunt asked why he was home so early, he said to help find Sean. Theres no watmy he could have known.Then my grandma, dad, aunts, uncles and family friends were called. When his baby brother (Steven) was around 4, he went with his dad to visit his dads side of the family. (Nobody had yet told him about Sean) He came home and told his mom, my dad, my grandmother and other family that he saw a boy that looked just like him in an upstairs room (where he was not allowed to go) and his dad and family told him that he never saw anything, he was making it up. Police cheked the house but found nothing. A psychic was also called in and she believed that he was well, not being hurt or in any danger. Our family gathered lead after lead, got all of the reported sightings, leads,etc. My aunts house was also broken into a week later and the only things missing were a case of special food that he could eat as he had severe digestive issues since birth and a box that had some of his clothes in it. These records were only released to my aunt after she hired her own private investigator. My aunt was never the same after that. Could you imagine going through life not knowing? It literally deteriorated her mental state until she finally passed away. Btw, their family dog was distressed and barking by the river because thats thr first place my aunt and uncle looked, and the k9 were taken right to tge river as well. Sorry, but there is no way that his body would not have washed up somewhere after 30 years, especially when you look at the whole picture...One more thing, if the police actually believe that he drowned, the case would be closed. However it remains open as a non family member abduction. They know a lot more about this case, but cannot do anything with circumstantial evidence.
 
Has Steven the little brother been to any other family events of his father where there was someone that may look like his brother? Where exactly was this house located at that he thought he saw him? Why would they have him hidden?
 
I'm really interested in this case, have been for years. Personally, I believe Sean drowned in the Black River. As someone stated above, that river is very unforgiving. Whenever I pass it on the way to visit relatives, I shudder. I doesn't even look nice.

That said, I've been trying to fit Arthur Shawcross (murdered 2 children in Watertown in the 70s) into this, but the timing is off by a couple of years, or so it seems. I've also heard of records being off, but from the dates I've read, it seems he isn't the perp.

Melissa, is there any other info available on the net? The Charley Project states "non-family" abduction. Are there any police reports available stating this?

Edited to Add: Are there any links or other places we can find info about the folded clothes on the railroad tracks? I wonder if Paulides has listed this case in one of his Missing 411 books.
 
Melissa1121 said:
The fbi got the phone records. It was a 2 min 17 second phone call. There are many extenuating circumstances that we all know about, but cannot prove. Such as, his shoes were way too big and he would walk right out of them, so they would have been found in the water within the last 30 years. Also, not in the reports that were released, his clothes that he was wearing that day was found folded on the train tracks near his home, by a couple walking their dog. And his dad was at work that day, but he was standing out leaning on his truck in the parking lot of the business that was next door as my aunt was on the phone with 911. The phone records prove that no other cslls were made until police were on scene. When my aunt asked why he was home so early, he said to help find Sean. Theres no watmy he could have known.Then my grandma, dad, aunts, uncles and family friends were called. When his baby brother (Steven) was around 4, he went with his dad to visit his dads side of the family. (Nobody had yet told him about Sean) He came home and told his mom, my dad, my grandmother and other family that he saw a boy that looked just like him in an upstairs room (where he was not allowed to go) and his dad and family told him that he never saw anything, he was making it up. Police cheked the house but found nothing. A psychic was also called in and she believed that he was well, not being hurt or in any danger. Our family gathered lead after lead, got all of the reported sightings, leads,etc. My aunts house was also broken into a week later and the only things missing were a case of special food that he could eat as he had severe digestive issues since birth and a box that had some of his clothes in it. These records were only released to my aunt after she hired her own private investigator. My aunt was never the same after that. Could you imagine going through life not knowing? It literally deteriorated her mental state until she finally passed away. Btw, their family dog was distressed and barking by the river because thats thr first place my aunt and uncle looked, and the k9 were taken right to tge river as well. Sorry, but there is no way that his body would not have washed up somewhere after 30 years, especially when you look at the whole picture...One more thing, if the police actually believe that he drowned, the case would be closed. However it remains open as a non family member abduction. They know a lot more about this case, but cannot do anything with circumstantial evidence.
Click to expand...
I take it that you suspect Sean's father. Were Sean's parents separated at the time?

It isn't true that the boy's body would necessarily have washed up. Most drowning victims are found, but many never are. Did divers search the river?

Why would a family member abduct Sean but leave his clothes on a railroad track? That seems odd.
 
There are some similarities between this case and that of Russell John Mort - he disappeared in May of 1982 from Wheatfield, NY. He left alone in the backyard while his mom ran into the house for a couple of minutes, and it's unclear if he was abducted or climbed over the fence and made it down to the Niagara River. Very sad for both families...I hope they can get some closure.

Here's some info on Russell's case - http://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/investigators-continue-to-search-for-russell-mort/414542264
 
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