Deliberately Botched Murder Probe May Yet Be Solved

I am grieving over the death last week of John Evans, one of my clients. More importantly, he was one of my best friends.

John no longer suffers the insurmountable grief that was caused largely by the incompetence and inaction of the Spokane Police Department. He is now at peace. The constant frustration of trying to obtain justice in his son’s death is gone for him, but for us left behind, it continues.

In June 1989, 13-year-old Russ Evans was found dying in the middle of South Ray near 13th Avenue. His body was broken and bleeding from multiple injuries and he died the next morning at the hospital. Police assumed it was only a hit-and-run. On the morning Russ died, John and Sue Evans both received phone calls from Russ’ friends, naming individuals who they said had threatened to kill Russ the evening before he was found.

The teenager’s grieving parents were encouraged that the people responsible for Russ’s death would be arrested based on information they passed on to police. But it seemed they were stonewalled from one detective to another.

The same suspects’ names came up beginning the day after the killing and throughout the investigation. Witnesses called to say these people were bragging about the murder. Police interviewed the suspects but did not follow up on their alibis, which didn’t check out with witnesses I interviewed.

After the suspects passed an unreliable polygraph exam, the detectives went to the school Russ attended and had the principal announce that they wouldn’t take any more information about the suspects.

Because police couldn’t decide if this was a murder or a vehicular homicide, there were many errors in the immediate investigation. Sue and John Evans were told by the police chief that if they thought this was anything but a car-pedestrian accident, they were mistaken and should just go home. Sue and John did everything they humanly could, including contacting the television show, “Unsolved Mysteries,” which produced a segment concerning their son’s death.

Several people called after the show aired, again naming the original suspects.

In 1992, my investigative firm was contacted by Spokane County Coroner Graham McConnell to investigate. Dr. McConnell had been contacted by the Evans family, and felt the case was solvable.

When I reviewed the evidence and the testimony, I found witnesses who had not been interviewed and evidence that had not been collected at the scene. When I saw the autopsy pictures of a battered and broken 13-year-old, I knew I would see this case through until justice was done.

After several meetings with some members of the police administration, we created a joint effort to work on this case. Cpl. Harry Kennedy was assigned to work with us.

While working with Kennedy, new evidence was uncovered that pointed to the same suspects and to other individuals possibly involved in the murder.

Evidence regarding the new suspects was followed up on immediately, but some witnesses with firsthand information about the three original suspects have never been contacted by police.

After McConnell was replaced as coroner by Dexter Amend, Amend refused to have us work on this case through the coroner’s office. He told Sue and John Evans to just “forget your son is dead.”

As I continued working on the case, I became very good friends with Sue and John.

We requested that the Police Department interview out-of-state witnesses. One witness said he was with the suspects the night of the killing and talked to them before the incident. They admitted to him that they killed Russ.

Kennedy wanted to go interview these witnesses, but his request was turned down. His supervisor told me, “If you think we will ever send someone out of state to interview witnesses on the Evans case, you are crazy.”

I cannot solve John Evans’ son’s death without the assistance of the police. I have begged them to ask for information from the public through Secret Witness. The Evans family has already posted a $5,000 reward for information.

Why doesn’t the Police Department want to pursue this case? Would something we uncover show incompetency or a cover-up? Or is it just a coincidence that the original suspects in this case were informants for the Police Department on a large theft investigation at the time of Russ’ murder?

During the investigation, I was in constant contact with John Evans. My heart broke as I observed his struggles over the last several years. I watched helplessly as he spiraled down in deep depression.

We made a deal that he would stay alive to see justice, and I would never quit pushing for arrests and charges in Russ’s death. He broke our deal and I’m mad as hell, but I understand the great pain and frustration he could not handle.

Most of all, I’m angry at the administration of the Police Department, people who decided that a 13-year-old boy’s death was not worth a few extra dollars and time to bring his killers to justice.

I hope and pray that the Police Department’s new administration will care enough to follow up on this case. John Evans won’t be there to ask about his son’s death but I will be here no matter how long it takes.

To those witnesses who refuse to tell what they know about Russ Evans’ murder, and to the killers, you now have another death on your conscience.

(People with information about Russ Evans’ death may call Brewer at 891-1266.)