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Evelyn Hartley

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00evelyn hartley

Real Name: Evelyn Hartley
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Date: October 24, 1953
Location: LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Case[]

Details: Evelyn Hartley was a 15-year-old honor student at Central High School and the daughter of a biology professor at Wisconsin State College. Evelyn occasionally babysat for family and friends and at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday October 24, 1953, she arrived at the home of her father's colleague, Professor Vigo Rasmussen, to take care of their twenty-month-old daughter Janis as Janis’ parents attended Wisconsin State's homecoming game.
Evelyn had only been babysitting for a year, and it was her practice to check-in with her parents by phone at some point in the evening. When there was no word from her before 9PM, Richard Hartley picked up the phone and tried reaching his daughter. When she didn't answer, he became worried and quickly drove a mile and a half to the Rasmussen home and knocked on the door to no answer. Peering through a picture window, he caught sight of his daughter’s eyeglasses and one of her canvas loafers lying in the middle of the living room floor.
By now, his concern had flared into alarm, and he searched for a way inside, but the doors and first-floor windows were all locked. He spotted an open basement window, and noticed footprints underneath the window along with blood stains leading away from the house.
Hartley crawled through the window and discovered his daughter's other shoe lying on the basement floor. Upstairs in the living room, the rugs were disarranged as though they had been in a scuffle. Hartley quickly notified the police, and during the search that followed, police and Sheriff's officers discovered more blood on the lawn, as well as several bloody patches, including a palm print, on the house of a neighbor. Bloodhounds were brought in to follow the trail that led away from the basement window, but the dogs were stopped cold at a spot about two blocks away. Apparently, the girl had been forced into a car at that point.
From the slim evidence they could gather, the police theorized that Evelyn had heard a noise in the basement and went to the top of the stairs to investigate. When she saw the Intruder coming upstairs, she turned and tried to flee, managing to reach the front door when she was overtaken. Neighbors reported hearing a single scream at around 7:15, but at the time they thought nothing of it, assuming it was a sound of children playing.
No word was heard ever from the abductor. Police chief George Long told reporters that night that he assumed the girl might have been kidnapped but not for ransom.
Over the next few days, a massive search was conducted. It was the most intense combing of the region that had ever taken place, according to Chief Long. At least 1,000 volunteers consisting of farmers, members of the veterans organizations, Boy Scouts, church groups, students and faculty from Wisconsin State College, joined law enforcement officers in a five-mile hunt that extended into Minnesota. River patrols dredged the waterways, and Air Force helicopters searched the bluffs and woodlands. Every swamp and cave was explored.
By Tuesday, Evelyn's whereabouts remained a mystery. Researchers located several pieces of evidence that seemed to confirm the police chief's suspicions. Two blood smeared items of girls under clothing, a white pair of panties and a brassiere, identical of the kind worn by the victim, were discovered just off Highway 14 about two miles southeast of Lacrosse. About four miles further south near a place called The Sportsview, police found a bloodstained pair of men's trousers.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Hartley issued an emotional appeal for the return of his daughter. His wife, tight-lipped and cheerful, refused to speak to any more officers. She told them, "I've answered all the questions I can. I don't want to think about it anymore. It's terrible. It's almost beyond bearing."
Meanwhile, searchers began using long poles to explore the mounds of soft earth in the fields around the Rasmussen home. By that time, every indication was that the search was directed towards finding a corpse which was never found.
Suspects: Four years after Evelyn's disappearance, Wisconsin State Police officers trying to solve several unsolved crimes approached Edward Gein, the Plainfield farmer responsible for the local murders of Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. The authorities found extra human remains on his farm which made him a suspect in several other crimes in the area. La Crosse was 110 miles west of Plainfield, and Gein even had relatives who lived there. However, many experts believed Gein only attacked women similar to his mother while mostly focusing on robbing graves. No evidence was found to link the cases; yet, several individuals keep him a suspect in her disappearance.
Extra Notes:

  • This case has not featured on Unsolved Mysteries. It was profiled on The Trail Went Cold podcast.
  • This case was one of several cases linked to Ed Gein in the book, "Deranged," by Harold Shechter.

Results: Unsolved
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