NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A northeast Tennessee sheriff's office that confirmed authorities searched a pond in North Carolina in connection to the case of Evelyn Mae Boswell, a missing 15-month-old girl. However, the office that searched the pond said the investigation was inconclusive.
Evelyn has been missing since mid-December, but an Amber Alert for the child was not issued until earlier this month.
"I hope and pray, and my staff hopes and prays she is alive, and we'll continue to work like she is alive," Sullivan County (Tennessee) Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said.
According to WJHL-TV in Johnson City, Tennessee, the pond sits on the property of a family member of William McCloud — the man arrested alongside Evelyn's grandmother, Angela Boswell.
Angela Boswell and McCloud were arrested earlier this week when they were found driving a 2007 BMW that had been reported stolen.
Angela Boswell has been extradited back to Tennessee. Cassidy said she has been questioned by investigators but did not elaborate.
The Sullivan County (Tennessee) Sheriff's Office came the same day that Evelyn's mother, Maggie Boswell, was arrested for false reporting.
Maggie Boswell said she had someone whom she trusted watching Evelyn while she was at work on the day the child disappeared. She said she didn't call the police when that person never returned.
Cassidy said not only was some of the information Maggie Boswell provided inaccurate, but it also delayed and impeded the investigation.
"Every time we talk to her, her story changes," Cassidy said, "I'm serious when I say every single time."
According to court documents, a Child Protective Services caseworker spoke with Maggie Boswell on Feb. 18 about her 15-month-old daughter. The mother told the caseworker her daughter was with the child's father, Ethan Perry, and that she would meet up with Perry the following day to exchange custody.
Detectives learned Perry, who is actively enlisted in the Army and stationed in Fort Polk, Louisiana, did not have Evelyn.
Before Maggie Boswell was arrested on Tuesday, she spoke with WJHL and said that she is pregnant and unable to take a polygraph test — even though Sullivan County authorities say they haven't asked her to take one.
Maggie Boswell also says her mother took Evelyn to a campground in Virginia and that if the Tennessee Bureau didn't go to the campground, she will. However, investigators say they did search the area and came up with nothing.
She recently posted on her personal Facebook page, asking for help finding her daughter.
"She is the sweetest baby you will ever meet and will smile and want to hug you when you see her," the post read.
The TBI says they've received more than 500 tips in the case, but there's still no sign of Evelyn.
A $59,850 reward is being offered in the case. Anyone with information on where she might be is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
This story was originally published by Blayke Roznowski on
WTVF
in Nashville.
