WI WI - Evelyn Hartley, 15, La Crosse, 24 Oct 1953

Richard said:
I cannot say for certain whether or not flying model airplanes had come into popularity by 1953. As a kid, I recall seeing them for the first time in the late 1950's. The Boy Scouts of America "Handbook for Boys", as well as their magazine "Boys Life" used to advertise those airplanes by 1960, but I looked in a 1951 copy "Handbook for Boys", and could not find any advertisements for them. There were numerous other advertisement pages for hiking shoes, rifles, bicycles, etc.

Having flown model planes, I don't recall having any circular wear patterns on my shoes. You normally would fly the planes on a soft grass field, to avoid hard crash landings, and because there just weren't very large blacktop or paved areas to fly in. Also, you go around by stepping, not by pivoting in place on your shoe.

I would think that maybe a motorcyclist who did "donuts" might wear down his shoes in a circular pattern, or maybe someone who operates some type of machinery with his foot might wear the shoe down in such a pattern. Some tractors and heavy equipment have accellorators or brakes which had metal "teeth". Perhaps a person who had a tendency to twist his foot on such a pedal might wear a circular pattern into it.

I have never heard the term Whizzer Rider. Is that some sort of bike?
I really liked the idea you mentioned about the equipment operators. I have a relative in construction & will ask him about it.

(Rats! I just accidently lost my whole reply to your post by reloading the page. So I will now try to redo it.)

In a previous post I had a link to a webpage about model airplanes which speaks a litle of the years and the history. They waned at times in popularity.
http://www.aeromaniacs.com/historyofcl.htm

My dad was also a model airplane enthusiast even using the old control line models but I could not remember all that much about shoe wear patterns.
I do remember that sometimes people went to small airports on special prearranged days and flew their models from an unused paved runway.
But I don't remember if this held true for those older control line models for sure. So I asked if it was possible that wear pattern could result from control line model flying. Evidently the answer is that it could not. (Do you have an old pair of shoes around with wear from using old control line models that you could look at to be sure?)

About Whizzers:
I previously posted some links to info about them. I hope it helps.
[post]858219[/post]
 
In response to someone posting that the cops never considered the thing to be a botched burglary:
Actually that was my own theory as a possible explanation of the facts and which I had posted was just my own thoughts. I explained in the original post what I based the idea on.

"I watched a TV show on where they hired a burglar to test peoples home security by burgaling their home while they were away(with their permission & knowledge.) One of his favorite tactics was to look for a window that was unlatched, even if it was on an upper floor of a 2 story home. I guess I am wondering if this was done by someone with experience in home breaking."
See original post:
[post]858084[/post]

As to whatever the papers may have said:
For this post, today, I did not go back through the papers to look but I do remember one of them saying that at one time the police thought it was done by locals but I can't remember whether they also thought it was a botched burglary. As I said before, the botched burglary was my own idea. In any case I have also seen newpapaer reports which said the police think it was a transient worker so news reports which mention police theory may not be accurate or the police theories may have changed many times over the months & years.
 
joellegirl said:
I found it! I knew I had seen it but i kept missing it when going through the pagesin the book. In the book "Where' Evelyn" there is a copy of the newspaper article about "Mr X "and what he saw. This copy is from the Chicago Tribune. The title says "Here is Mr X's Story of Night Girl Vanished" and says "Saw couple stagger, was she Evelyn?" The rest is so small i can't read it, as it is a microfilm copy. Like I mentioned, he went to police on Monday, and was interviewd by two detectives, and even talked with Evelyn's parents. I'm not sure why he didn't go to police sooner than Monday but he made it sound like that is when he put 2 and 2 together. I ,too, wonder if the brother in law was ever talked to. Someday when I have the money I am going to request copies of all articles the LaCrosse Tribune about the Hartley case, maybe there is more info in these little snippets here and there.

I can make out some of the text which goes on to a different topic of the abduction and mentions "maybe Evelyn recognized her abductor and let him in the front door,she also trusted him to let him go into the basement for whatever reason he may have given her-where he could have opened the basement window from the inside, pushed out the screen and planted the stepladder under the window. "

"Some feel the abductor was familiar with the Rasmusen home and knew how to operate the front door latch,which is a difficult self locking one for getting out in a hurry.."

If the abductor did go into the basement and do all that, he must have come back up and grabbed a still trusting Evelyn at that point because of all the evidence of the struggle in the livingroom, then dragged her back down. Still very confusing.
Thanks for finding that info about Mr. X.

It sounds like this report of the incident is quite different, and more detailed, than what I've read so far. I'll have to look it up.

I've been wondering about the front door, and whether it might have locked on it's own. From this article, it appears that could be the case, since they describe a self-locking door. So Evelyn could have been taken through the front door, which locked behind them, explaining why her father found the house locked when he got there.

In that case, though, why was so much blood found near the basement window? Maybe it was at that point that Evelyn was hit with something to knock her out?

There are a lot of contradictions in the newspaper accounts of this matter. A couple of articles said there were no signs of violence, just marks on the carpet where it looks like someone was dragged. But other articles said furniture was in disarray and it looks like there was a "fierce struggle." One paper reported that Evelyn's mother visited the Rasmusen house after Evelyn disappeared, and when she saw the state the room was in, she began to cry and said that she knew Evelyn was dead. Another article refers to "bloody tracks". Joellegirl, in the book you have about this case, how is the crime scene described?

If, as the Chicago Tribune suggests, the kidnapper knew the Rasmusen home, it makes me wonder if he might have worked on a construction crew building those homes.
 
docwho3 said:
snip
As to whatever the papers may have said:
For this post, today, I did not go back through the papers to look but I do remember one of them saying that at one time the police thought it was done by locals but I can't remember whether they also thought it was a botched burglary. As I said before, the botched burglary was my own idea. In any case I have also seen newpapaer reports which said the police think it was a transient worker so news reports which mention police theory may not be accurate or the police theories may have changed many times over the months & years.
I was also speculating that it might have been a botched burglary, but now that I've read more about the case today, I tend to think Evelyn was the target, not burglary.

By the way, I just posted something about the inconsistencies in the newspaper articles about this crime.

I think the police said the kidnapper might be a transient worker because they gave lie detector tests to 1700 males who lived and/or attended school in and around the vicinity where the crime took place, and apparently all of them passed. They concluded it must have been someone passing through town. That theory changed frequently.

About a week after Evelyn's disappearance, the police chief said she had been taken by a "sex maniac". After the jacket was found, the police theorized it might have been worn by a steeplejack. At one time they thought someone from a rural area was the kidnapper, because the bloody tennis shoes showed no signs of having been worn in a gymnasium or on pavement.

I think the bottom line is, the police were stumped by this case. They had very little clues to go on, so they most likely were grasping at straws. Even when they turned up some evidence, such as the bloody clothing, it really didn't tell them much. It had to have been an extremely frustrating case for the police.
 
The book has two different pictures of the livingroom. One shows Evelyn's glasses and shoe on the carpet, the other is a wider shot of the same thing that includes blood droplets. I have also read(other articles) it was mud. It does look like blood to me. The furniture in the picture doesn't look too messed up to me. Her textbooks were also scattered about(can't see them in picture). There is also a picture of Evelyn's other shoe at the foot of the basement stairs, and another picture of the step ladder placed against the basement window. I saw some news footage once that showed the couch and other parts of livingroom and it's wasn't in too much disarray. There must be pictures of the blood outside and on the side of neighbor's house, but those aren't in the book. There are several pictures of the outside of the house and the neigborhood.

I believe it was outside where the pools of blood were where Evelyn's mother collapsed saying her Evie couldn't possibly be alive.
 
joellegirl said:
"Some feel the abductor was familiar with the Rasmusen home and knew how to operate the front door latch,which is a difficult self locking one for getting out in a hurry.."
These were new homes, possibly someone involved in their construction was involved? This might explain the condition of the jacket, and would also explain a familiarity with the layout. It is even possible that crews were finishing the "little details" after the family had moved in. If this were a bothed robbery, there may have been something specific in this home the burglars (or bunglers) were after. JMO.
 
Thoughts & questions:

We know the night the crime happened was a sort of special night when people were more likely to be elsewhere: Which means fewer likely witnesses to any crime whether you are TPing or murdering. But it also can mean you have different people coming into town with the fans of the other team.
Could someone have planned & used the cover of the game happening to slip in and commit a crime (whether burglary or kdnapping &murder)?

We know that, whether good or bad, the father probably contaminated the scene by entering the house especially if he really used the same window that the bad guys entered & exited from. I don't think that means he was possibly involved but it is just one of the many possibilities that must be weighed & either tossed out or brought in as needed.

We know that the perp/s came in through a basement window & possibly exited through same. Could it be that how we interpret this piece of info may point us in the right direction or lead us astray? Or does it matter in the end?
I think I read that the door lock was a complicated self locking affair.
Perhaps they could have went out the door leaving it locked behind them.
That is not consistent with the evidence though. So does that tell us these were pros? Does it say they were panicked? Stupid? Did exiting through the window seem sneakier to them & thus make more sense to them than taking the easier & faster way through a door exit? If so is that an immature way of thinking?

We know that a shoe print or prints was found at the crime scene and that one of the prints showed a circular wear pattern. It was speculated that this might have been caused by riding a motorbicycle (motor kit added to a bicycle) but this was never proven to be the cause so the wear pattern might have some other cause. This clue could sort of indicate an age range for one perp. or possibly could tell something of his occupation depending on how the clue is interpreted.

We know a scream or screams was heard at a particular time which may or may not fix the time of the attack.

We know that some blood was found at the crime scene in and around the house. I am unclear of the amount of blood but from the news reports it might seem to be enough to wonder if the victem was either completely incapacitated or maybe even dead.

We know there was a possible eye witness to the perps walking the victem to a car. Whether I find this credible or not does not matter as it is still something we must properly interpret and weight as to value in the case.

Shoes matching the prints at the crime scene were found miles from that scene along a road. Also a jacket was located and picked up by a farmer. He claimed he found it near where the shoes were found. Was he telling the truth? Was the jacket even a part of the case?

Also a newspaper reported a sheathed knife was found in a culvert when searchers were out looking for evidence. Was this connected to the case?

Was the direction away from town in which the shoes were found an indication of the direction of the perps flight? If so, could that lead to an idea of where one or more of them might live? Did they just continue on going & leave the whole area for parts unknown? If so who was missing from town on unexpected vacation or to see to a death in the family?

It was generally concluded that the jacket was too small to be worn by the perp that wore the shoes. Was that a correct conclusion? If there were two perps does that mean we have an item from each of them? Would the FBI consider doing a modern forensics work up on the evidence?

We know one boy from the area later ran away from home but no direct reason to think he was connected to the case. He was,I believe, questioned by the police later.

We know a large search of the area was conducted with steel rods being poked into all recent excavations, cars being checked for blood stains in them, and lie detecter tests being given to many students in the school.
Were those results accurate? Those tests were stopped when people with the power to do so objected. Were they looking out for peoples rights or was someones guilty son in a group yet to be tested?

Were all the cars really checked? I doubt it myself but I know that today people sometimes commit a murder & then drive out of state so a bunch of local car searches might not always catch them. And even locally there is always someone with pull who can get themselves declared "searched" without going through a search. Besides, the cars were not all searched within hours but over a period of many days (I think.) Even a local had time to clean their car. Without having DNA science to fear, having a clean car was all that was required to squeak by.

We also know a serial killer may have been operating in the area but have little to tie him to the case except I think someone pointed out the shoes found were on a road leading towards the area the serial killer lived in. He had worked as a baby sitter and as a handyman/carpenter.

Was there a working airport nearby at the time? If so could the perps & the body have literally flown away?

There are more facts to consider than I have room to mention here so we don't have an absence of data. We seem to almost have too much.
 
docwho3, I agree that there are numerous factors in this case that have to be taken into consideration. I wish I had access to the police records to determine what the actual facts are, since the newspaper articles I've read about this case are often conflicting.

Regarding Evelyn's father, he did climb in through the unlocked basement window. I suppose it was too dark for him to see any blood on the grass or on the house next door. From what I can gather, he entered the house around 9:30 p.m. (someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that!) You stated that he may have contaminated the crime scene, and that is possible. However, it doesn't sound like there was much evidence for him to contaminate.

The basement window is a puzzler to me. You state that the evidence doesn't support the perp(s) exiting through the front door. I'm not sure about that, as there really isn't much evidence to show how they entered/exited, is there? I've been assuming they came/went through the unlocked basement window, because when Evelyn's father came to the house, the doors were locked. But since it is possible the front door was self-latching, that makes a difference. Do we know anything that would prove that the front door wasn't used? I've never been able to come up with a scenario in which it made sense to exit through the basement window. So maybe the front door was used.

A size 36 jacket and size 12 1/2 tennis shoes were found fairly close together, and not far from where a bra and panties that MIGHT have been Evelyn's were found. I say "might have been" because although the blood type matched Evelyn's, her mother couldn't say for sure that they belonged to Evelyn. I read in one article that a slip and pantyhose were also found nearby, which didn't belong to Evelyn as she was wearing slacks that evening. So I'm wondering how much of that clothing has any bearing on this case. The tennis shoes seem to be tied to this case because they matched a footprint left at the house. As to the jacket, maybe no one was wearing it, maybe it just happened to be in the car the perp was driving and he used it to wrap a bloody weapon in, or used it to wipe blood off the car or off of his body.

One thing that interests me is that in Madison, Wisconsin around the same time as Evelyn's disappearance, someone entered two different houses through a basement window, slugging them on the back of the head with a blackjack. The attacks occurred within a week of each other. The articles I read about this didn't mention if any other crime took place (rape, burglary?) during these attacks. These assaults took place in a newly developed housing area. A black man was arrested when the police stopped his car and notices a lead pipe in the back with blood and hair on it. The man claimed he had no idea how it got there. At the time, the police seemed to think this wasn't related to Evelyn's disappearance, but I am going to do a little more research on this. The fact that he entered through the basement windows of houses in a newly developed area, and apparently knew the women were alone in the house, makes me very curious about this!
 
One thing that interests me is that in Madison, Wisconsin around the same time as Evelyn's disappearance, someone entered two different houses through a basement window, slugging them on the back of the head with a blackjack. The attacks occurred within a week of each other. The articles I read about this didn't mention if any other crime took place (rape, burglary?) during these attacks. These assaults took place in a newly developed housing area. A black man was arrested when the police stopped his car and notices a lead pipe in the back with blood and hair on it. The man claimed he had no idea how it got there. At the time, the police seemed to think this wasn't related to Evelyn's disappearance, but I am going to do a little more research on this. The fact that he entered through the basement windows of houses in a newly developed area, and apparently knew the women were alone in the house, makes me very curious about this!


I also find this very interesting. This angle definetly needs further research. I believe it is possible this person could have harmed Evelyn. He found a home with a young female and no adults and took advantage of the situaion. Perhaps he did not mean to kill her or took her with him if she claimed the parents would be returning shortly.
 
Marilynilpa said:
. . .One thing that interests me is that in Madison, Wisconsin around the same time as Evelyn's disappearance, someone entered two different houses through a basement window, slugging them on the back of the head with a blackjack. The attacks occurred within a week of each other. The articles I read about this didn't mention if any other crime took place (rape, burglary?) during these attacks. These assaults took place in a newly developed housing area. A black man was arrested when the police stopped his car and notices a lead pipe in the back with blood and hair on it. The man claimed he had no idea how it got there. At the time, the police seemed to think this wasn't related to Evelyn's disappearance, but I am going to do a little more research on this. The fact that he entered through the basement windows of houses in a newly developed area, and apparently knew the women were alone in the house, makes me very curious about this!
OOOOOOOoooo A very good find! I hope you are able to find out more.

Marilynilpa said:
. . .Regarding Evelyn's father, he did climb in through the unlocked basement window. I suppose it was too dark for him to see any blood on the grass or on the house next door. From what I can gather, he entered the house around 9:30 p.m. (someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that!) You stated that he may have contaminated the crime scene, and that is possible. However, it doesn't sound like there was much evidence for him to contaminate.
He may well have smudged or even accidently erased prints. But I was actually thinking that he has now placed his own person in the scene so now anything pointing to him (if it should turn into a relative slaying) can be explained away by his having entered through the window. Sort of-"Oh those threads from my clothes came off when I entered the window to check on my daughter."

Marilynilpa said:
. . .
The basement window is a puzzler to me. You state that the evidence doesn't support the perp(s) exiting through the front door. I'm not sure about that, as there really isn't much evidence to show how they entered/exited, is there? I've been assuming they came/went through the unlocked basement window, because when Evelyn's father came to the house, the doors were locked. But since it is possible the front door was self-latching, that makes a difference. Do we know anything that would prove that the front door wasn't used? I've never been able to come up with a scenario in which it made sense to exit through the basement window. So maybe the front door was used.
In a previous post someone pointed out how one shoe was found upstairs and the other downstairs. Also that a ladder was found at the basement window and that an unknown amount of blood was found outside the window.
So I decided to go with the flow. If sleuths seem to feel the basement was the exit point and the evidence appears to support it or at least make it possible I saw no reason to argue the point but it puzzles me somewhat.

Marilynilpa said:
. . .A size 36 jacket and size 12 1/2 tennis shoes were found fairly close together, and not far from where a bra and panties that MIGHT have been Evelyn's were found. I say "might have been" because although the blood type matched Evelyn's, her mother couldn't say for sure that they belonged to Evelyn. I read in one article that a slip and pantyhose were also found nearby, which didn't belong to Evelyn as she was wearing slacks that evening. So I'm wondering how much of that clothing has any bearing on this case. The tennis shoes seem to be tied to this case because they matched a footprint left at the house. As to the jacket, maybe no one was wearing it, maybe it just happened to be in the car the perp was driving and he used it to wrap a bloody weapon in, or used it to wipe blood off the car or off of his body.
Maybe modern tests could be run on those articles of hers?

The jacket was actually in the possesion of a farmer(I think it was a farmer) according to the newspaper report that I read. (If I remember it correctly.) So all we have is his word that he found it near where the shoes were found. The cops heard rumors that someone had a bloody jacket or something to that effect so the cops followed up on the rumor (sounds more like a tip) & found the man in possession of the jacket. I wonder if his land was searched and his young relatives (if he had any) were checked out. I would think that if that coat was involved at all that having only his unverified word of how he came to posses it makes him worthy of more investigation.
 
docwho3 said:
OOOOOOOoooo A very good find! I hope you are able to find out more.


He may well have smudged or even accidently erased prints. But I was actually thinking that he has now placed his own person in the scene so now anything pointing to him (if it should turn into a relative slaying) can be explained away by his having entered through the window. Sort of-"Oh those threads from my clothes came off when I entered the window to check on my daughter."


In a previous post someone pointed out how one shoe was found upstairs and the other downstairs. Also that a ladder was found at the basement window and that an unknown amount of blood was found outside the window.
So I decided to go with the flow. If sleuths seem to feel the basement was the exit point and the evidence appears to support it or at least make it possible I saw no reason to argue the point but it puzzles me somewhat.


Maybe modern tests could be run on those articles of hers?

The jacket was actually in the possesion of a farmer(I think it was a farmer) according to the newspaper report that I read. (If I remember it correctly.) So all we have is his word that he found it near where the shoes were found. The cops heard rumors that someone had a bloody jacket or something to that effect so the cops followed up on the rumor (sounds more like a tip) & found the man in possession of the jacket. I wonder if his land was searched and his young relatives (if he had any) were checked out. I would think that if that coat was involved at all that having only his unverified word of how he came to posses it makes him worthy of more investigation.
About Evelyn's father - apparently suspicion did fall upon him shortly after Evelyn's disappearance. He requested, and passed, a lie detector test.

I still have questions about whether or not the basement window was used as an exit. Some articles I've read state that there was blood found on the grass outside the home, but don't specifically state that it was outside the basement window. If Evelyn's father climbed through that window to enter the house, it seems he would have stepped in the blood and tracked it into the house. Yet there is no mention of bloody footprints in the basement or the house.

While it makes sense to go with the majority opinion that the basement window was used both to enter and exit the house, I'm not totally convinced yet. I know the police said the window had been used, because the doors were locked when Evelyn's father got there, and the window was unlocked. But if the door was self-latching, the perp(s) could have taken Evelyn out that way, with the door locking itself as they exited. It was dark when the crime took place (between 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. according to police), and other than Mr. X, no one else seemed to be out that evening. So I think it's possible the front door could have been used.

As to the various articles of clothing that turned up, I don't know whether any of this stuff was Evelyn's. The tennis shoes appear to be the only items that could definitely be linked to the crime scene. Today it would be easy to test the bloody clothing and use DNA analysis to prove or disprove whether it was connected to this crime. But the best the police could do at the time was ascertain the blood type - Type A, the same as Evelyn's.
 
The first pool of blood was found about 10 feet from the open basement window. It was a pool of blood about 18 inches in diameter and under the baby's room window . The father hadn't seen any blood when walking around and obviously didn't step in it, but when the police arrived they found it as they used their flashlights.

They found a bloody trail near the Rasmusen home that night, but with morning light what had happened had become gruesomely more clear.They found bloodstains on the neighbor garage about 100 feet from the Rasmusen home and on a neighbor's house.

Blood was found about four feet above the ground on the garage and extending in spots most of the side of the neighbor house. It appears they found two more pools of blood, where they theorized her captors had temporarily rested her on the ground. The blood on the garage was probably left as her hand dragged across the building as her abductor carried her away.

I was thinking about the blood that was found in the livingroom. I have also read it was mud, but it does look like blood in the picture. If she was bleeding already one would think if she had been dragged down the basement stairs there would have been a bloody trail . So maybe she was taken out the front door, yet there doesn't appear to have been any blood near the door or in the front of the house either. Of course the first wound may have not been as bad and didn't bleed as much.
 
joellegirl said:
The first pool of blood was found about 10 feet from the open basement window. It was a pool of blood about 18 inches in diameter and under the baby's room window . The father hadn't seen any blood when walking around and obviously didn't step in it, but when the police arrived they found it as they used their flashlights.

They found a bloody trail near the Rasmusen home that night, but with morning light what had happened had become gruesomely more clear.They found bloodstains on the neighbor garage about 100 feet from the Rasmusen home and on a neighbor's house.

Blood was found about four feet above the ground on the garage and extending in spots most of the side of the neighbor house. It appears they found two more pools of blood, where they theorized her captors had temporarily rested her on the ground. The blood on the garage was probably left as her hand dragged across the building as her abductor carried her away.

I was thinking about the blood that was found in the livingroom. I have also read it was mud, but it does look like blood in the picture. If she was bleeding already one would think if she had been dragged down the basement stairs there would have been a bloody trail . So maybe she was taken out the front door, yet there doesn't appear to have been any blood near the door or in the front of the house either. Of course the first wound may have not been as bad and didn't bleed as much.
So there wasn't any blood directly under the basement window. If Evelyn had been attacked in the house and dragged down the stairs, then pushed/pulled out the basement window, I would have expected there to be more blood.

Possibly when Evelyn was attacked in the house, she was knocked unconscious but was not bleeding heavily. If she came to and was attacked again outside, that could explain why there was so much blood outside, but little if any inside the house. A neighbor claimed to have heard three piercing screams that evening, with the third scream cut short, and thought it was just kids playing outside - but it could have been Evelyn.

Knowing where the blood was located outside makes me again question whether the basement window was used to enter/exit the house.
 
In the book "Where's Evelyn?" it mentions detectives found in the window well(of the open basement window) a button with red threads attached. Evelyn was wearing red pants, but unfortunately the threads blew away in the wind as they were discovering them. I wonder what became of the button. Since Evelyn's best friend had the exact same outfit and gave it to police, they could see if the button belonged to the pants. Also, the Wisconsin Crime Lab removed two cement bricks from the basement wall to test for blood. Not sure if they found anything though.

I still wonder how Evelyn's shoe wound up at the foot of the basement stairs. One's first thought is it fell off as she was dragged, but she could have thrown it down there in defense if she had heard someone in the basement.
 
joellegirl said:
In the book "Where's Evelyn?" it mentions detectives found in the window well(of the open basement window) a button with red threads attached. Evelyn was wearing red pants, but unfortunately the threads blew away in the wind as they were discovering them. I wonder what became of the button. Since Evelyn's best friend had the exact same outfit and gave it to police, they could see if the button belonged to the pants. Also, the Wisconsin Crime Lab removed two cement bricks from the basement wall to test for blood. Not sure if they found anything though.

I still wonder how Evelyn's shoe wound up at the foot of the basement stairs. One's first thought is it fell off as she was dragged, but she could have thrown it down there in defense if she had heard someone in the basement.
That is interesting, a button with red threads. I read an article that stated some pants were located during one of the searches for Evelyn, but there wasn't much detail about color, whether a button was missing, etc.

Another possibility for the shoe in the basement - Evelyn heard a noise, went down to see what it was, found someone in the basement, and tried to run back up the stairs. Her shoe could have fallen off, or the person in basement might have grabbed her foot trying to stop her, pulling the shoe off her foot.

The reason I keep questioning the basement window as an exit is that I can see no reason for it. The perp wore size 12 1/2 tennis shoes. Of course he could have been a small guy with big feet, but I am assuming this is a tall man. He went upstairs, because we know Evelyn was assaulted there in some manner (broken glasses were found there, along with one shoe). She was most likely unconscious, or at the least, stunned by the attack. So in addition to getting his large and/or tall self out that 14 inch window, he also had to get Evelyn out. It just seems so unwieldy - even if there were two perps, it seems like a very awkward way to leave the house.

I have one question that is probably way out in left field, but I'll ask it anyway. Did the Rasmusens have any money? I know he was a college professor, but what about his wife? I'm asking that because I wondered if maybe the original intent of this crime was to kidnap the baby, possibly for ransom. The stepladder found outside wasn't needed to get into the basement, so why was it there - to get into the baby's room perhaps? The perp(s) found that window locked, discovered the unlocked basement window, and went in. Maybe he/they just planned on tying up Evelyn, but she put up more of a fight than anticipated and the whole tragic chain of events began.

That is total and complete speculation on my part, and probably not supported by any of the facts!
 
Marilynilpa said:
That is interesting, a button with red threads. I read an article that stated some pants were located during one of the searches for Evelyn, but there wasn't much detail about color, whether a button was missing, etc.

Another possibility for the shoe in the basement - Evelyn heard a noise, went down to see what it was, found someone in the basement, and tried to run back up the stairs. Her shoe could have fallen off, or the person in basement might have grabbed her foot trying to stop her, pulling the shoe off her foot.

The reason I keep questioning the basement window as an exit is that I can see no reason for it. The perp wore size 12 1/2 tennis shoes. Of course he could have been a small guy with big feet, but I am assuming this is a tall man. He went upstairs, because we know Evelyn was assaulted there in some manner (broken glasses were found there, along with one shoe). She was most likely unconscious, or at the least, stunned by the attack. So in addition to getting his large and/or tall self out that 14 inch window, he also had to get Evelyn out. It just seems so unwieldy - even if there were two perps, it seems like a very awkward way to leave the house.

I have one question that is probably way out in left field, but I'll ask it anyway. Did the Rasmusens have any money? I know he was a college professor, but what about his wife? I'm asking that because I wondered if maybe the original intent of this crime was to kidnap the baby, possibly for ransom. The stepladder found outside wasn't needed to get into the basement, so why was it there - to get into the baby's room perhaps? The perp(s) found that window locked, discovered the unlocked basement window, and went in. Maybe he/they just planned on tying up Evelyn, but she put up more of a fight than anticipated and the whole tragic chain of events began.

That is total and complete speculation on my part, and probably not supported by any of the facts!

That sounds like a good scenerio of how Evelyn's shoe could have wound up in the basement. There could have been struggles in several parts of the house. I think we can know one thing for sure is Evelyn fought hard for her life.

Ironically, her best friend remembered discussing with Evelyn the case of Bobby Greenlease (child kidnapped not long before Evelyn was in Kansas City, he was the child of a weathly businessman and it was in all the papers) and this friend said she would run if something like that happened to her, and Evelyn said she would fight.

Actually, the step ladder was in the basement on the inside, up against the wall under the window. The Rasmusen's said it was down there for painting, and it appeared to have been moved over to the window.

I've never read anything about the Rasmusen's financial situation. Their brand new house was a small ranch with maybe three bedrooms. I believe I read it cost $13,000 when it was built in the spring of 1953, which is about average for the time I'm guessing.Since he was a professor I'm guessing they were doing pretty good, but not rich. Maybe middle class or upper middle class. The book mentions the Hartley's weren't wealthy, doing allright I assume but both families don't appear to have been rich.

I'm rambling here, but...

Another thing that locked the possible abduction time between 7:00- 7:15pm is when the Rasmusens left around 6:45pm the mother instructed Evelyn to check on the baby in half hour and cover her. When the Rasmusen's returned from the game and found their house and yard crawling with police, they rushed to check their daughter and found she had not been covered, the blanket was still neatly folded at the foot of the crib. Knowing Evelyn was very dependable and would have done this as instructed, it appeared she was abducted before that half hour was up.

Where did you read about the neighbor hearing the third scream cut off? That is interesting. I've been studying this case ever since I first learned about it from family (I'm thinking about 25 years ago!) and that sound's familiar (maybe a Newspaper Archives article?). I know a neighbor reported hearing screams but the fact that one was cut off makes it more interesting.
 
joellegirl said:
That sounds like a good scenerio of how Evelyn's shoe could have wound up in the basement. There could have been struggles in several parts of the house. I think we can know one thing for sure is Evelyn fought hard for her life.

Ironically, her best friend remembered discussing with Evelyn the case of Bobby Greenlease (child kidnapped not long before Evelyn was in Kansas City, he was the child of a weathly businessman and it was in all the papers) and this friend said she would run if something like that happened to her, and Evelyn said she would fight.

Actually, the step ladder was in the basement on the inside, up against the wall under the window. The Rasmusen's said it was down there for painting, and it appeared to have been moved over to the window.

I've never read anything about the Rasmusen's financial situation. Their brand new house was a small ranch with maybe three bedrooms. I believe I read it cost $13,000 when it was built in the spring of 1953, which is about average for the time I'm guessing.Since he was a professor I'm guessing they were doing pretty good, but not rich. Maybe middle class or upper middle class. The book mentions the Hartley's weren't wealthy, doing allright I assume but both families don't appear to have been rich.

I'm rambling here, but...

Another thing that locked the possible abduction time between 7:00- 7:15pm is when the Rasmusens left around 6:45pm the mother instructed Evelyn to check on the baby in half hour and cover her. When the Rasmusen's returned from the game and found their house and yard crawling with police, they rushed to check their daughter and found she had not been covered, the blanket was still neatly folded at the foot of the crib. Knowing Evelyn was very dependable and would have done this as instructed, it appeared she was abducted before that half hour was up.

Where did you read about the neighbor hearing the third scream cut off? That is interesting. I've been studying this case ever since I first learned about it from family (I'm thinking about 25 years ago!) and that sound's familiar (maybe a Newspaper Archives article?). I know a neighbor reported hearing screams but the fact that one was cut off makes it more interesting.
I'm sorry, I thought the ladder was outside the house. I was obviously mistaken about that.

Regarding the statement about the three screams, with one cut off, was in one of the articles I pulled up from Newspaper Archives. I'll go back and find the date and the paper, and will see exactly how that was worded. I'm pretty sure the neighbor said it was around 7:30 p.m.

I imagine Evelyn put up quite a struggle, but in the end a 15 year old girl is no match for an adult male.
 
joellegirl said:
The first pool of blood was found about 10 feet from the open basement window. It was a pool of blood about 18 inches in diameter and under the baby's room window . The father hadn't seen any blood when walking around and obviously didn't step in it, but when the police arrived they found it as they used their flashlights.

They found a bloody trail near the Rasmusen home that night, but with morning light what had happened had become gruesomely more clear.They found bloodstains on the neighbor garage about 100 feet from the Rasmusen home and on a neighbor's house.

Blood was found about four feet above the ground on the garage and extending in spots most of the side of the neighbor house. It appears they found two more pools of blood, where they theorized her captors had temporarily rested her on the ground. The blood on the garage was probably left as her hand dragged across the building as her abductor carried her away.

I was thinking about the blood that was found in the livingroom. I have also read it was mud, but it does look like blood in the picture. If she was bleeding already one would think if she had been dragged down the basement stairs there would have been a bloody trail . So maybe she was taken out the front door, yet there doesn't appear to have been any blood near the door or in the front of the house either. Of course the first wound may have not been as bad and didn't bleed as much.
It sounds to me as if Evelyn suffered wounds inside the house, and also after she was taken from the house. Blood "flouresces" under bright artificial lights, and that is probably why the police found it immediately, whereas Evelyn's father had not seen it.

The amount of blood sounds like a severe head cut, or possibly a cut artery. Blood which is 4 feet high on a building did not get there by gravity, it was likely pumped out at an angle. A head injury tends to bleed straight downward, soaking hair, eyes, and clothing.

As a hunter, I have trailed a number of wounded animals, and this definitely sounds like a serious injury. I wonder of the abductor(s) might have held a knife to her in attempt to scare or quiet her, but that the mutual struggling may have caused her (or one of the abductors) be get a deep cut.

With all that blood, were any fingerprints or palm prints obtained?
 
Richard said:
It sounds to me as if Evelyn suffered wounds inside the house, and also after she was taken from the house. Blood "flouresces" under bright artificial lights, and that is probably why the police found it immediately, whereas Evelyn's father had not seen it.

The amount of blood sounds like a severe head cut, or possibly a cut artery. Blood which is 4 feet high on a building did not get there by gravity, it was likely pumped out at an angle. A head injury tends to bleed straight downward, soaking hair, eyes, and clothing.

As a hunter, I have trailed a number of wounded animals, and this definitely sounds like a serious injury. I wonder of the abductor(s) might have held a knife to her in attempt to scare or quiet her, but that the mutual struggling may have caused her (or one of the abductors) be get a deep cut.

With all that blood, were any fingerprints or palm prints obtained?
I have not found anything suggesting fingerprints were found. There was mention of a bloody palmprint on the wall of the house next door, but other articles I read described it as a smear. In any event, it doesn't appear any fingerprints or palmprints were lifted.

I don't know how much of a struggle took place inside the house. We know her glasses were broken, so there had to have been some sort of struggle. Here is a quote from one article about the crime scene: "Puzzling authorities is the fact there were no signs of violence in the Rasmusen home. Two streaks across the shag rug in the living room, like someone being dragged, were the only indication that anything happened there." I'm wondering if Evelyn might have been stunned by a blow and dragged from the house.

If so, then where did all the blood come from outside the house? Your suggestion that a knife might have been used to scare Evelyn, or to keep her quiet, seems reasonable. Perhaps once outside the house, Evelyn "came to" and begin to struggle fiercely. She may even have screamed, and was stabbed/bludgeoned/whatever, leaving a pool of blood on the grass.

That same article I quoted above mentioned three screams heard by a neighbor. "[Police state that] a neighbor has said he heard 'three piercing screams about 7:15 p.m.' He tells us they were alarming in their intensity. The last one cut off abruptly. He dismissed them at the time as children screaming."

The lack of blood in the house is puzzling, but seems to indicate that the real assault against Evelyn took place outside rather than in the house.
 
Several days after Evelyn's disappearance, District Attorney John Bosshard was asked why the FBI had not been called in to help investigate her kidnapping. "There's no such evidence [of kidnapping]," Bosshard said. "This is a sex crime rather than a kidnapping."

This was reported in the Kerrville Times on 10/30/53.

What evidence could Bosshard have had to make him come to that conclusion? And how could he say there was no evidence of kidnapping?:confused:

I find his comment to be very curious.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
92
Guests online
2,213
Total visitors
2,305

Forum statistics

Threads
590,008
Messages
17,928,897
Members
228,037
Latest member
shmoozie
Back
Top