The confounding case of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell, who vanished at least two months ago, has captivated social media and confused several law enforcement agencies.
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An Amber Alert was issued Feb. 19 for the Tennessee toddler, who was reported missing the previous day by her maternal grandfather. He had contacted child welfare authorities, who in turn notified the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's deputies, FBI agents and officers from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have been looking for the child ever since.
Little Evelyn's disappearance is a strange saga. Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Andy Seabolt initially announced she was last seen on Dec. 26. He said investigators had no idea why it took two months for her family to report her missing.
Days later, Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said "conflicting information and inaccuracies" from Evelyn's mother, Megan "Maggie" Boswell, were hampering efforts to find the baby. He also said it was actually likely the child had not been seen since Dec. 11, based on a statement from Evelyn's babysitter.
Here's what is known about the disturbing case and the missing baby.
What does Evelyn Mae Boswell look like?
She is 2 feet tall and weighs about 28 pounds. Evelyn has wispy, dirty-blond hair and big blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink track suit and pink shoes with a pink bow in her hair.
When did she go missing?
That is one of biggest issues in an already incongruous investigation.
In an interview with a local TV station, grandfather Tommy Boswell Sr. said he called children's services officials on Feb. 18 because he hadn't seen Evelyn in many weeks.
"I don't know what happened, but I'm the one who called DCS and got this started," he said. "I ain't slept nights. I've cried like a baby. I just want my grandbaby to come home."
Who are Evelyn's parents?
Mother Maggie Boswell and father Ethan Perry are "involved" in the investigation, said Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy on Feb. 21. Perry, who is an Army soldier, is stationed in Louisiana. The parents are not married. Maggie has full custody of little Evelyn.
In a brief interview with station WCYB-TV, Evelyn's mother said she was afraid to report her missing, and that she knew who had Evelyn.
"Well the reason I didn't report it or anything was I knew the person who had her, and I didn't want them to run away with her," Maggie said. "And as soon as they thought anything was going on they just kinda vanished. So I'm just kinda worried, you know, about where they are at. What they're doing with her at this point in time."
Maggie said she would not identify that person.
"In a way I knew that as soon as anything went down this person was going to disappear and they have," she said. "And they have tried to find them... They won't answer phone calls. They just kinda disappeared."
On Feb. 24, Maggie Boswell gave another TV interview, this time saying her mother, Angela Boswell, 42, had been taking care of Evelyn. Angela had taken her grandchild to a campground in Mendota, Virginia, and left the baby with someone, according to Maggie. Maggie said she had initially withheld that information from law enforcement in the hopes her mother would get Evelyn.
“Whenever the Amber Alert went out, I think that was … I mean, she was just going off on me, and wanting to go to Mendota and I kept telling her if Evelyn’s in Mendota, just take me to her, I will take her up there, we can just end this right now," Maggie said.
"And she would never be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m taking you,’ she would just be like, ‘you don’t need to talk to them, I don’t want you going up there,’ and like stuff like that and I was like okay well if you’re not gonna take me to her, pull over and I will have like somebody on Sullivan County’s end come get me to go up there and talk to them,” Maggie said.
But Sullivan County officials later said the campground had been searched, and no evidence in connection to the disappearance of Evelyn was found.
Has anyone been arrested?
No one has been arrested for taking Evelyn. Her grandmother, Angela Boswell, and Angela's boyfriend William McCloud, 33, were taken into custody on fugitive warrants on Feb. 21 in Wilkes County, North Carolina. The pair was apprehended in a 2007 BMW that Tennessee authorities were searching for as part of Evelyn's investigation. The child was not with them.
At a Feb. 24 court hearing, McCloud told the judge the BMW he and Angela were riding in had been a gift from Maggie, and the couple did not know there was any kind of problem with it.
Authorities said the owner of the car said she didn't receive payment for the vehicle and so reported it as stolen.
"I had no idea anything had went wrong with the car," McCloud said. "Apparently [Maggie] hadn't paid for the car. Neither of us was aware of anything about that."
both agreed to be extradited to Tennessee. "I'd like to get back there and get this situation with my granddaughter resolved," Angela Boswell told Wilkes County District Court Judge David Byrd.
Have you seen anything?
Authorities are asking for the public's help in finding the toddler. Anyone with information is urged to call the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office at 423-279-7330 or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
A reward currently topping $56,000 has been raised for tips that lead to the girl's whereabouts.
State investigators have also released home video of the baby. See it here.
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