After 67 years, Evelyn Hartley's disappearance still unsolved

In October 1953, Evelyn Hartley was a 15-year-old high school girl in La Crosse, Wisconsin. On the evening of Saturday, October 24th, the big homecoming game was held in town. Evelyn agreed to babysit the Rasmussen family's 20-month year old daughter that night, so they could attend the game.

Their regular babysitter wasn't available because she was also attending the game. Evelyn brought her school books so that she could study after the baby went to bed. Evelyn had an agreement with her father that she would call home to check in at 8:30 PM. He became concerned and called the Rasmussen home, but there was no answer. After calling several more times and still not getting an answer, he decided to drive over there. No one came to the door, which was locked.

All the lights and the radio were on inside, greatly alarmed by this point, Evelyn's father managed to force his way inside. Evelyn was nowhere to be found. Her school books were scattered across the living room floor and the furniture appeared to have been moved around. One of her shoes and her eyeglasses, which were broken, were found upstairs.

He found the baby sound asleep in her crib and unharmed, but still no sign of Evelyn. All the other rooms in the house were locked except the basement. He went down there and discovered Evelyn's other shoe, a small stepladder positioned in front of an opened window and the screen from the window leaning against the outside of the house.

Evelyn father notified the police, who came right away. They found blood near the basement window and in the yard, as well as a bloody hand print on a nearby garage. The blood was later determined to be of the same blood type as Evelyn's. They found sneaker footprints near the basement window, as well as the living room and pry marks on three other windows of the house.

A pair of bloody sneakers were later found in an area Southeast of town. The pattern of the soles matches the pattern of the sneaker footprints in the house. Police spoke to neighbors, some of who reported hearing screams around 7:00 PM. The neighbors had dismissed the screams, believing it was just the sound of children playing.

Another neighbor claimed to have seen a car circling the neighborhood repeatedly. A man named Ed Hofer told police he was almost hit by a Buick that passed by him heading West. He said a man was driving, and another man was in the backseat with a girl. Despite a massive search and investigation, the killer was never found.

Evelyn's body was never found either. Years later, Evelyn's parents moved away. They died years later, never knowing what happened to their daughter. In 2004, there was an unexpected break in the case. A man, named Mel Williams, went to police with a tape recording of a conversation that took place at a bar years earlier.

On the tape, a man named Clyde Peterson claimed that he and two other men had been the ones who kidnapped and murdered Evelyn. Unfortunately, by the time the tape was given to police, Clyde Peterson, and the other men mentioned on the tape were deceased. There have been no further leads in the case.