So this is not only a true story, but one from my city.
Evelyn Grace Hartley was an honour student at her college back in 1953, which is when our story takes place. As you might imagine, Evelyn was a model of kindness and good-being. In other words, she was the kid parents would point to and whisper in their childrens’ ear, “See her? She’s the kind of person you want to be.”
Regardless of her face value popularity, everyone, peers included, loved Evelyn quite genuinely. She was the kind of person who would babysit her professor’s infant child during the homecoming game, which is exactly what she did on the evening of 24 October, 1953.
Evelyn was a frequent and skilled babysitter, so no one was too worried. She was to call them to check in at 8:30, and since she was so well known for being responsible, her parents began to worry when she didn’t.
At first, they thought nothing of it. Maybe she had fallen asleep, forgotten, or was trying to get the baby to sleep. After a while, however, Evelyn’s father became increasingly nervous. He called her multiple times, never to any avail. Finally, he went with the professor over to the house to see what was wrong.
When they got there, the doors were locked, and they could here the television and radio on inside. After entering, they saw the baby asleep in its crib. All good things.
Upon further inspection, not-so-good things came to light. Such as the window in the basement shattered and blood-soaked. Blood, later confirmed to be Evelyn’s, soaking nearly everything, complete with a bloodied hand print smeared on an unbroken window.
Never confirmed dead, Evelyn Hartley remains a missing case to this day, as does the identity of her assaulter.
