I wonder if the parents did a ancestry/dna test and see if anything comes up.
It is very possible the mother was followed. It is also possible that the mother did something. It also could be a stranger happened on the vehicle, since the mother’s purse was gone, and saw the child.
The mother seems to be pretty involved in finding the child. Just because she got upset about a polygraph does not insinuate anything nefarious. She lost her baby.
I am curious as to why both adults decided to leave the child unattended in the vehicle. I’m assuming it was unlocked. And she left her purse in there?
We all know that even in 1974, it was not safe to leave an infant alone for any amount of time. The article talked a lot about Mrs. Evan’s leaving the car to use the restroom, but what about the boyfriend? Where was he? Did they both go to the restroom together at the same time? Was he in the store paying for gas or buying things? The article completely left any info out on him.
I understand the mother being upset and distorted at the time of the incident, and was vividly upset about taking a polygraph test, but after a few days of somewhat calming down I don’t understand why the mother didn’t comply later to clear herself so they could focus clearly in other directions.
Was the infant really stolen? Was the stop planned ahead of time and someone they knew was already there waiting for them? Was the child possibly sold for money to start a new beginning with her new man?
Even though they didn’t have the technology we have today, security cameras and such, they did have one thing they could work with and build on from 1974, Alexander Graham Bell! All the FBI has to do is follow the paper trail and paperwork, and let your fingers do the walking.
There definitely should have been more investigation into the boyfriend, the mother and the family.
Did the couple have a history of drug use?
Why did they immediately think that it was just an abduction? Especially with her having to give up custody. Did they search that area for the baby? The trash cans, dumpsters, areas behind the business? Did they search family members residences?
This is one of those cases that have too many gaps, and missing pieces that were NEVER worked on thoroughly.
1: Did the police run thoroughly fingerprints on the car door handle to the backseat where the infant was supposedly been laying?
2: If the fingerprints came back “Zip” did they try to rerun those prints again and again, especially now that they have CODIS Worldwide?
3: Did the police cast tire tracks, all footprint tracks around that car to rule family in or out?
4: Did the police do a thorough background check into the boyfriend?
5: In the 60’s, hospitals started taking infants footprints upon birth. Footprints are used for identification, especially in combination with the mother’s fingerprints and security bracelets, to prevent baby mix-ups and to create a keepsake for the parents. Some hospitals are also now using electronic methods to capture these prints and store them digitally for added security.
Now, if this wasn’t murdered (we pray), and was kidnapped, then this child would have had to have seen a pediatric doctor at some point, and in those days they kept thorough records of everything and did things more conventional as well as traditional than they do today. Who knows, it’s a LONG SHOT a pediatric doctor has a file out there in the system with this info on this infant. Its not much, but a lead anyway.
Also, the article said the two were traveling from Chicago, Illinois to Columbia, Tennessee with Judith’s boyfriend, Jerry Hart. The two stated they stopped at a restaurant on Interstate 65 at 2:30 am on August 4th 1974 so Judith could use the restroom.
1: Notice the article stated it was 2:30am in the middle of the night when they stopped, right?
2: Noticed, it says “so Judith could use the restroom,” right? Okay, so if they STOPPED FOR JUDITH, why did the boyfriend get out too?
3: What was his alibi, and did it check out with the restaurant staff and customers who remembered seeing within just a few minutes ago, if so what was he doing?
4: Was Judith only in the bathroom for 5 minutes as she stated?
5: Did either one of them use the pay phone, or sit down and meet briefly with anyone, or was even seen talking to someone?
6: It’s the middle of the pitch black dark night, who could possibly see a baby laying down in dark by themselves unless someone told them that baby was there. In with the lights in a restaurant on Interstate in the middle of the night, you still couldn’t see that baby very well to make a decision to snatch them without worrying about being caught because people were slowly coming and going, and the all around glass windows of these restaurants back then would have exposed you. No, this was a planned abduction. The kidnappers were probably following them all along, waiting for them to stop, swoop the child out the backseat and kept going. With both of them unfortunately out of the car gave them an alibi from the law.