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The Murders of Jami and Mallory Evans · Gone in a Blink

0:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I just killed my mom and my sister.
0:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You just killed your mother and your sister.
0:16
[SPEAKER_02]: How did you do that?
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I shot him with a 22 revolver.
0:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And what is your name?
0:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you sure they're dead?
0:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
0:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I then passed, planning on killing for a while now.
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I told my sister that my mom needed her.
0:48
[SPEAKER_01]: She was in a room, and she came out of a room, and I shot her, and she moved on the stairs.
1:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I shot her again and then I went down and I shot my mom about maybe three or four times.
1:10
[SPEAKER_00]: On the night of October 4, 2012, a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Parker County, Texas received a call from a home in the small community of a net-a-south, located about 20 miles west of Fort Worth.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a quiet, affluent residential area where families lived in spacious homes along peaceful
1:38
[SPEAKER_00]: had taken place.
1:39
[SPEAKER_00]: The person on the other end of the phone spoke in a remarkably calm voice.
1:45
[SPEAKER_00]: There was no frantic plea for help.
1:47
[SPEAKER_00]: No apparent panic.
1:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, the caller began describing something that had unfolded inside the house that evening.
1:57
[SPEAKER_00]: As the conversation continued, the details became increasingly disturbing.
2:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet the caller's voice remained strangely
2:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The conversation lasted approximately 20 minutes, and by the time it ended, authorities have been given an account of a tragedy that would leave an entire family devastated.
2:20
[SPEAKER_00]: But understanding what had happened inside that house would prove far easier than understanding why.
2:28
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the story of the murders of Jamie and Mallory Evans,
2:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, true crime fans, I'm your host Heather and welcome to episode 83 of Gone In A Blink.
2:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to thank you all for being here today, so today's case is one out of Alito, Texas.
2:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one that happened around this time of year, 14 years ago, and it's one that will forever haunt the community of Alito.
3:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Today we are talking about the horrific murders of Jamie and Mallory Evans, and you just heard a portion of the 911 call that Jake made after he killed his mother and his sister.
3:20
[SPEAKER_00]: is pretty eerie, and I will post the full 911 call or more of the 911 call on our Facebook page.
3:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So, if you're ready, let's jump right in.
3:32
[SPEAKER_00]: The Evans family lived in Anetta South, which is a small affluent community near Alito, Texas, which is approximately 20 miles or 32 kilometers west of Fort Worth.
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Their home was in a comfortable residential neighborhood with Jake Evans' grandparents living directly across the street.
3:51
[SPEAKER_00]: The family included Jake, his mother Jamie, his father, and his younger sister Mallory.
3:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake also had two older sisters who weren't living at home full-time.
4:02
[SPEAKER_00]: One was a way attending college.
4:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie Evans was 48 years old.
4:07
[SPEAKER_00]: She had spent much of her professional life working in education.
4:11
[SPEAKER_00]: From 1989 until 2004, Jamie worked as a teacher and assistant principal in the Alito independent school district.
4:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Education was something she understood well.
4:23
[SPEAKER_00]: both as a parent and as someone who had spent years working with children.
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: By 2012, Jamie was home schooling to a vroom.
4:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Her 17-year-old son, Jake, and her 15-year-old daughter, Mallory.
4:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The decision to home school had come earlier that year.
4:40
[SPEAKER_00]: In January 2012, both Jake and Mallory withdrew from the public school system.
4:46
[SPEAKER_00]: For Jake, the change meant leaving behind the daily routines and social interactions
4:51
[SPEAKER_00]: he had known for years.
4:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Before that, he attended Alito High School.
4:57
[SPEAKER_00]: People who knew Jake growing up described him as quiet, shy and somewhat reserved.
5:03
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't particularly outgoing, but he wasn't considered an outcast either.
5:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Classmates who had known him since kindergarten remembered him as someone who generally kept to himself, but was friendly and kind to others.
5:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Some described him as humble, he wasn't the type of person who demanded attention or tried to make himself the center of a conversation.
5:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, Jake seemed most comfortable pursuing his own interests, and one interest in particular had become a significant part of his life.
5:34
[SPEAKER_00]: That interest was golf.
5:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake was an avid golfer and had played competitively on Alito High School's golf team.
5:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It was something that he enjoyed and took very seriously.
5:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But when he left public school in January, he also stepped away from the regular interaction with classmates that came with attending school and participating on the team.
5:55
[SPEAKER_00]: For much of 2012, Jake spent considerably more time at home.
6:01
[SPEAKER_00]: His mother was now responsible for overseeing his education along with malories.
6:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The family continued living in the same neighborhood, surrounded by familiar people and with relatives close by.
6:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Those who remember Jake from school spoke of a quiet young man who had generally been pleasant to be around, but little did anyone know that quiet, soft spoken young man was about to become what many now refer to as a monster.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: On the night of October 4th, 2012, 17-year-old Jake Evans picked up the phone and called 911.
6:38
[SPEAKER_00]: At the family home in a net-a-south, where Jake, his 48-year-old mother Jamie, and his 15-year-old sister Mallory.
6:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake's father was away at the time in Washington, D.C. By the time Jake made the call both women were dead, and Jake was calling to confess that
7:00
[SPEAKER_00]: For approximately 20 minutes, he spoke with a Parker County emergency dispatcher explaining what had happened inside that house.
7:08
[SPEAKER_00]: What made the call particularly disturbing was the way Jake spoke.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: His voice was calm, at times almost monotone.
7:17
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't screaming, he wasn't crying hysterically.
7:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, he described shooting his mother and his sister with a 22 caliber revolver.
7:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And as the dispatcher questioned him, Jake struggled to explain why he had done it.
7:35
[SPEAKER_00]: He stated, quote, it's weird.
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't even really angry with them.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It just kind of happened.
7:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been kind of planning on killing for a while now, unquote.
7:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The admission suggested the violence hadn't been the result of an argument that suddenly escalated.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake had been thinking about killing someone before that night.
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But even as he acknowledged this, he offered little explanation for why his mother and sister had become his victims.
8:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He told the dispatcher that he disliked the way people treated one another.
8:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He believed people were often verbally cruel and unnecessarily rude.
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But he also acknowledged that he hadn't been particularly angry with Jamie or Mallory when he shocked them.
8:21
[SPEAKER_00]: As a call continued, Jake began describing the killings themselves.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: He said he had approached Mallory's bedroom and told her
8:33
[SPEAKER_00]: When Mallory came out, Jake was waiting with the revolver.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He shot her at close range.
8:39
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Jake's account Mallory fell down the stairs, but she was still alive.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: She was screaming, and Jake continued firing.
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: He described the moment to the dispatcher stating, quote, I'll never forget this.
8:55
[SPEAKER_00]: My sister, she came down the stairs and she was screaming, and I was telling her that I'm sorry, but to just hold still that, you know, I was just going to make it go away.
9:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Unquote.
9:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake told the dispatcher that Mallory continued struggling.
9:12
[SPEAKER_00]: After initially shooting Mallory, Jake had gone to find his mother.
9:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie was in her home office.
9:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake entered the room and shot her three or four times.
9:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He then returned to Mallory who was still alive and he shot her again.
9:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Both women suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
9:32
[SPEAKER_00]: For the dispatcher, there was little opportunity
9:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The immediate concern was establishing what had happened, whether anyone was still alive and making sure responding officers could safely approach the home.
9:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jake continued offering observations about his actions.
9:52
[SPEAKER_00]: At one point, he explained why he had chosen to use a gun.
9:56
[SPEAKER_00]: He stated, quote, I just thought it would be quick, you know?
9:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want them to feel any pain.
10:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I used a gun, but it was like everything went wrong.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: The statement stood in dark contrast to the account he had just given.
10:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Both Jamie and Mallory had been shot repeatedly.
10:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Mallory had survived the initial gunshots long enough for Jake to return and shoot her again.
10:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet Jake spoke as though the violence had unfolded differently from what he had expected.
10:29
[SPEAKER_00]: During the call,
10:30
[SPEAKER_00]: The dispatcher also asked questions about Jake's mental state.
10:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake said he wasn't taking any medication that could be affecting him.
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: When asked whether he had been angry with his mother or sister, he again indicated that anger had not been the driving factor.
10:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He seemed unable to provide a clear answer about why he had killed them.
10:52
[SPEAKER_00]: and as the conversation continued, his attention sometimes shifted toward what the experience would mean for him.
11:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake told the dispatcher that he expected to be deeply affected by what he had just done.
11:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He worried about the nightmares he might experience afterward.
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He also referred to himself
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: evil.
11:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you can see, he's only thinking about himself.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no remorse whatsoever.
11:21
[SPEAKER_00]: His only concern was whether or not he would have nightmares and how it would affect him.
11:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He's completely detached.
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no way for the dispatcher to resolve the questions surrounding a state of mind during that call.
11:35
[SPEAKER_00]: What mattered immediately was that two people had been killed and the person responsible was still in the house.
11:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Officers were dispatched to the Evans residents.
11:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He had his hands raised in the air when they arrived.
11:50
[SPEAKER_00]: He surrendered without resistance and was taken into custody.
11:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Inside the house, investigators found Jamie and Mallory Evans.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: A mother and daughter whose lives had ended in the place they called home.
12:03
[SPEAKER_00]: For the surviving members of the Evans family, the tragedy was almost impossible to comprehend.
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake had been remembered by former classmates as quiet, reserved, and generally kind.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, he admitted to killing two members of his own family.
12:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And the recorded 911 call provided investigators with a detailed account of his actions.
12:27
[SPEAKER_00]: but it wasn't the only account Jake would give.
12:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Following his arrest, he wrote a four-page confession.
12:34
[SPEAKER_00]: In it, he described what he had been doing before the murders, how he had prepared, and what he originally intended to do after killing Jamie and Mallory.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The document would reveal that the violence inside the Evan's home had been part of a much, much larger plan.
12:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Following his arrest, Jake Evans provided investigators with another account of the murders.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: This time, it wasn't a recorded conversation with an emergency dispatcher.
13:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It was everything he was feeling and everything he intended on doing after his mother and sister were murdered.
13:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And while the 911 call had described what happened inside the Evan's home, the written statement provided a more detailed picture of what Jake had been thinking and doing before the violence began.
13:26
[SPEAKER_00]: According to his account, the killings were not something he had decided to do in a sudden moment of anger.
13:33
[SPEAKER_00]: He had spent much of the previous day considering it.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: On October 3, 2012, Jake describes spending time watching a movie, playing golf, and thinking about killing members of his family.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: His thoughts went well beyond Jamie and Mallory.
13:49
[SPEAKER_00]: He considered killing his grandparents and his other sisters as well.
13:53
[SPEAKER_00]: By the following evening, those thoughts had developed into a plan.
13:57
[SPEAKER_00]: and Jake had access to a firearm.
14:01
[SPEAKER_00]: In his confession, he explained that he had initially considered using his father's folding knife, but he began thinking about how painful that would be for the people he intended to kill.
14:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He ultimately decided to use a 22 caliber revolver that he had stolen from his grandfather.
14:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the same weapon he would later describe to the
14:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake struggled with whether he could actually carry out what he was contemplating.
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He wrote that he spent approximately an hour and a half pacing around the house.
14:35
[SPEAKER_00]: During that time, he thought about what his life would look like afterward.
14:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He understood that if he went through with the plan, he would never see his mother and sister again, and yet he continued preparing.
14:48
[SPEAKER_00]: According to his statement, it was approximately 11.15pm when he finally decided to act.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake approached Mallory's bedroom.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: He knocked on the door and told her that their mother needed her.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: When Mallory stepped out, she noticed the gun.
15:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake wrote that she initially believed he was joking.
15:07
[SPEAKER_00]: She told him he was frightening her.
15:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he fired.
15:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The account that followed closely resembled what he had already told the dispatcher, he shot Mallory went to his mother's office and shot Jamie.
15:21
[SPEAKER_00]: afterward, Jake retreated to his bedroom.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: There, he began to confront what he had just done.
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He described screaming in his room, overwhelmed by the realization that he had just killed his mother and sister.
15:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But then, he heard noises elsewhere in the house.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Mallory was still alive.
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: In his written confession, Jake described reloading the revolver before returning to his sister.
15:46
[SPEAKER_00]: He apologized.
15:48
[SPEAKER_00]: as he went back toward her.
15:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, he shot her again.
15:52
[SPEAKER_00]: He also returned to Jamie to make certain she was dead.
15:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, this shows no regret for what he had just done.
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: By going into his room and screaming with the realization that he had just killed his mother and sister,
16:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that he had those moments while in his room to let what he had just done sink in and there was no regret because he heard a sister struggling and went after her again.
16:23
[SPEAKER_00]: The written confession left little doubt that Jake understood the violence he had inflicted overall.
16:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But it also revealed something investigators had not heard in such detail during the 911 call.
16:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Damian Mallory were not supposed to be his only victims.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake had originally planned to continue across the street to his grandparents' home.
16:44
[SPEAKER_00]: There he intended to kill his grandparents and his older sister Emily.
16:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Another sister, Audrey, was expected to visit the following day,
16:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake had planned to kill her as well.
16:57
[SPEAKER_00]: If he had followed through, the violence would have extended across multiple generations of the Evans family.
17:04
[SPEAKER_00]: But after killing Jamie and Mallory, something changed.
17:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake later wrote that the experience was nothing like what he had imagined.
17:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever expectations he had developed about taking another person's life, the reality had frightened him.
17:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He described feeling shocked and scared, and rather than continuing to his grandparents
17:27
[SPEAKER_00]: In his confession, Jake wrote, quote, very shocked and scared.
17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I placed the gun on the kitchen counter and walked into the living room to down 911, unquote.
17:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That decision brought the planned violence to an end, but it did nothing to change what had already happened.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie and Mallory were dead, and the rest of the Evans family had narrowly escaped becoming victims themselves.
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: For investigators, the written confession established that Jake had been contemplating the killings well before he picked up the revolver that night.
18:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He considered different weapons.
18:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He had thought about which family members he intended to kill, and he had spent considerable time deciding whether to go through with it at all.
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: But even with that level of detail, the confession left one central question unresolved.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake had acknowledged that he wasn't particularly angry with Malorie or Jamie when he killed them.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, but he had spent hours contemplating their deaths.
18:32
[SPEAKER_00]: His written statement offered some insight into the resentment that he had developed toward the people around him.
18:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It also revealed that in the days leading up to the murders,
18:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He had become preoccupied with a particular horror movie, and Jake himself would suggest that what he saw on screen had shaped his expectations about what killing someone would feel like.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Even with Jake Evans' detailed confession, investigators were left trying to understand what had driven a 17-year-old to murder his mother and younger sister.
19:04
[SPEAKER_00]: But when it came to explaining why he wanted them dead, his answers were far less straightforward.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: In his written confession, Jake described a growing frustration with the way people treated one another.
19:16
[SPEAKER_00]: He believed cruelty had become increasingly common, particularly among teenagers.
19:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Bullying, racism, and the tendency to ridicule others were things he said he despised.
19:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And over time, he began to believe that some members of his own family were displaying the very behaviors he hated.
19:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake wrote, quote, when I look at people, especially teenagers, I see them as being very cruel to one another emotionally.
19:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems that their favorite hobby is picking on someone else, unquote.
19:49
[SPEAKER_00]: He went on to describe people who were racist, bullies, or excessively self-important as particularly troubling.
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he made a statement that offered some insight into how he had come to view his family.
20:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He stated, quote, I was very sad because I felt like my own family were becoming the people I hate."
20:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake specifically accused his younger sister Mallory of being racist.
20:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He also described feeling increasingly suffocated by his family, suggesting that his frustration and resentment had been building.
20:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But these were Jake's perceptions, and nothing he described could explain or excuse the decision to take their lives.
20:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Still investigators had another unusual detail to consider.
20:35
[SPEAKER_00]: In the days leading up to the murders, J.K. had repeatedly watched a horror movie.
20:40
[SPEAKER_00]: The film was Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween.
20:44
[SPEAKER_00]: For anyone unfamiliar with the Halloween movies, Halloween centers on Michael Myers, a fictional killer who's story begins with the murder of his older sister.
20:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The original film was released in 1978 and was directed by John Carpenter.
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Rob Zombie's 2007 version reimagined the story and spent considerably more time exploring Michael Myers' childhood and the events that preceded his later murders.
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: The film depicted a young Michael, killing members of his family and others before eventually becoming the masked killer associated with the series.
21:20
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Jake, he had watched the movie three times during the week before the murders, and one aspect of the character had made a particular impression on him.
21:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael Myers appeared emotionally detached from the violence he committed.
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake was struck by how calm the fictional killer seemed and by his apparent lack of remorse.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He began imagining that killing someone in real life might feel the same way.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: That expectation became part of the way he thought about carrying out his own plan.
21:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But after killing Jamie and Mallory, Jake said the experience was entirely different from what he had imagined.
21:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than feeling detached, he described being overwhelmed by shock and fear.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: The contrast was something he returned to in his confession.
22:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He wrote, quote, I know now that I'm done with killing.
22:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the most dreadful and terrifying thing I will ever experience and what happened last night will haunt me forever, unquote.
22:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Though you'd never guess that's how I felt when hearing the 911 call.
22:27
[SPEAKER_00]: There was also a revealing detail about what Jake did with the movie before the murders.
22:32
[SPEAKER_00]: After watching it, he removed the disc from his collection and threw it in the trash.
22:37
[SPEAKER_00]: In his written confession, he explained why.
22:40
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, quote, after I watched the movie, I put it back in the case and threw it in the trash can so that people wouldn't think that it influenced me in any way."
22:51
[SPEAKER_00]: The state misogested, Jake was aware that investigators might draw a connection between the film and his actions.
22:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It also raised questions about how much influence he himself believed the movie head exerted over his overall thinking.
23:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But watching a violent film, even repeatedly, doesn't establish that it caused someone to commit murder.
23:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jake's account didn't provide a clear answer as why he had developed the desire to kill members of his family in the first place.
23:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The case would eventually attract discussion about violent entertainment and whether repeated exposure to disturbing material could influence vulnerable adolescents.
23:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But there was no established conclusion that Halloween had caused Jake to murder Jamie and Mallory.
23:40
[SPEAKER_00]: At most, his confession suggested that the fictional character had shaped some of his expectations about what taking a life would
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: behind Jake's thinking remained uncertain.
23:54
[SPEAKER_00]: His references to cruelty, resentment, and feeling suffocated by his family offered glimpses into his state of mind, but they didn't amount to a clearer or complete motive.
24:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And as a criminal case moved forward, another question became increasingly important.
24:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Not simply why Jake had committed the murders, but whether he was mentally capable of standing trial for them.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: What followed would delay the legal proceedings for more than two years, as the courts confronted serious questions about Jake Evans' mental health.
24:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Following his arrest in October 2012, Jake Evans was charged with murdering his mother Jamie and his younger sister Mallory.
24:36
[SPEAKER_00]: His confession had been extensive.
24:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He had admitted to the killings during a recorded 911 call.
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He had also provided investigators with a four-page written statement describing preparations, his actions, and the additional family members he
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: but despite those admissions, the case would not proceed directly to trial.
24:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, serious questions emerged about Jake's mental health.
25:03
[SPEAKER_00]: At the time of the murders, there had been no known history of mental illness that would have suggested he was capable of such violence.
25:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet as behavior during the 911 call, his written confession and the nature of the killings raised concerns about his psychological condition.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And as the legal proceedings began, those concerns became central to the case.
25:26
[SPEAKER_00]: A judge eventually determined that Jake was mentally incompetent to stand trial.
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: That didn't mean he had been found innocent, and it wasn't a determination that he had been legally insane when he killed Jamie and Mallory.
25:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Competency to stand trial concerns a defendant's mental condition during the legal proceedings.
25:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The court needed to determine whether Jake could understand the charges against him and meaningfully participate in his own defense.
25:55
[SPEAKER_00]: At that point, he could not.
25:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than moving forward with a trial, Jake was transferred to North Texas State Hospital for psychiatric treatment.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He would remain there for more than two years.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: During that time, the criminal case was effectively on hold, and Jake's bond had been set at $750,000.
26:16
[SPEAKER_00]: But his father made it clear that he had no intention of paying it.
26:20
[SPEAKER_00]: For the surviving Evans family, the legal process continued while they were still living with the consequences of losing Jamie and Mallory.
26:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And as Jake received treatment, another question remained unsolved.
26:33
[SPEAKER_00]: what had his mental state been on the night of October 4, 2012?
26:39
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a separate issue from whether he was capable of standing trial.
26:43
[SPEAKER_00]: His defense attorneys had previously filed a motion indicating that they intended to pursue an insanity defense.
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Such a defense would focus on Jake's mental condition at the time of the murders and whether an illness had affected his ability
27:03
[SPEAKER_00]: The distinction mattered.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Jay kept admitted to planning the killings.
27:08
[SPEAKER_00]: He had described carefully considering the consequences, and afterward he had explained that he felt shock and fear over what he had just done.
27:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But his ability to describe those events didn't necessarily resolve the legal questions surrounding his mental illness.
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The circumstances were complicated, and prosecutors faced uncertainty about how his condition might affect the outcome of a trial.
27:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, in the spring of 2015, the case began moving forward again.
27:39
[SPEAKER_00]: On April 27, Jake was released from the psychiatric hospital after being determined competent to stand trial now.
27:47
[SPEAKER_00]: More than two and a half years had passed since the murders.
27:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake was now an adult, and just over a week later he appeared in court to resolve the charges against him.
27:57
[SPEAKER_00]: reports from the courtroom described him as looking frail.
28:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He still offered little explanation for why he had killed his mother and sister.
28:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, Jake entered a guilty plea as part of an agreement reached between prosecutors and the defense.
28:13
[SPEAKER_00]: His surviving family supported the resolution.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: The agreement avoided a trial in which his mental health and the possibility of an insanity defense could have played a significant role.
28:25
[SPEAKER_00]: There were also legal complications surrounding his age when the murders occurred.
28:30
[SPEAKER_00]: had been just 17 years old.
28:33
[SPEAKER_00]: At the time, Texas law generally provided two possible punishments for capital murder, the death penalty, or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
28:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But decisions by the United States Supreme Court had placed constitutional restrictions on imposing those punishments on offenders who were younger than 18 when they committed their crimes.
28:58
[SPEAKER_00]: As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to a resolution that would allow Jake to receive a lengthy prison sentence rather than proceed to trial on the original capital murder allegations.
29:10
[SPEAKER_00]: In May 2015, Jake Evans was sentenced to two consecutive 45-year prison terms.
29:17
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a total of 90 years.
29:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He was sent to the Derrington Prison Facility in Texas.
29:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Under the terms described at sentencing, Jake would have to serve at least 22 years before becoming eligible for parole.
29:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Eligibility, however, does not guarantee release.
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The sentence brought the criminal proceedings to a close without a jury having to determine whether Jake was legally insane at the time of the killings.
29:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It also meant there would be no trial in which the full circumstances of the murders might be explored through testimony and cross-examination.
29:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake's statements have provided extensive details about what he did.
29:58
[SPEAKER_00]: His confession had revealed that he contemplated killing additional relatives, and his writings had offered glimpses into the resentment and distorted thinking he said preceded the violence.
30:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But a clear explanation for why Jamie and Mallory became his victims never emerged.
30:16
[SPEAKER_00]: The courts had determined what punishment
30:21
[SPEAKER_00]: What they could not provide was an answer that made the loss of a mother and her 15-year-old daughter any easier to understand.
30:29
[SPEAKER_00]: For the Evans family, the sentence marked the end of a lengthy legal process, but it could not undo what had happened inside their home on October 4, 2012, and it could not restore the lives of Jamie and Mallory Evans.
30:56
[SPEAKER_00]: On October 4, 2012, the Evans family lost a mother and a daughter.
31:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie Evans was 48 years old.
31:05
[SPEAKER_00]: She had spent years working in education, serving as both teacher and assistant principal in the Alito Independent School District.
31:14
[SPEAKER_00]: She was also a mother of four raising a family in the community where she had built much of her professional life.
31:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Her youngest daughter Mallory was just 15.
31:25
[SPEAKER_00]: She was still in school, still growing up, and had an entire future ahead of her.
31:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Neither would have the opportunity to experience the years that should have followed.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: For the surviving members of the Evans family, the tragedy was made even more devastating by the identity of the person responsible.
31:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie and Mallory have been killed by someone who lived alongside them.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone who was part of their own family.
31:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake's father returned to a family that had been permanently changed.
31:59
[SPEAKER_00]: His surviving sisters had lost their mother and younger sister.
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And the grandparents who lived across the street had lost a daughter and a granddaughter.
32:10
[SPEAKER_00]: The criminal proceedings eventually brought a sentence.
32:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Two consecutive 45-year prison terms, but even with Jake's guilty plea, the question
32:25
[SPEAKER_00]: His confessions describe what he had done and offered fragments of his thinking.
32:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He spoke about cruelty, resentment, and feeling increasingly disconnected from the people around him.
32:39
[SPEAKER_00]: But none of those explanations could account for the lives he had taken, and none could make sense of the decision to kill his own mother and 15-year-old sister.
32:51
[SPEAKER_00]: In the years that followed, much of the public attention surrounding the case focused on Jake.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: His remarkably calm 911 call, his written confession
33:01
[SPEAKER_00]: The horror movie, he said, had influenced his expectations, and the questions surrounding his mental health.
33:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Those details helped investigators understand the circumstances of the crime, but they were never the entire story.
33:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Before October 4, 2012, Jamie and Mallory Evans were more than the victims of a tragedy that would make national headlines.
33:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie was an educator and a mother whose work had been part of the Alito community for years.
33:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Mallory was a teenage girl whose life had barely begun.
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Their deaths left a family grieving two people that could never be replaced.
33:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And while the legal system ultimately determined Jake's punishment, it could not restore what had been lost.
33:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Jamie and Mallory Evans should be remembered not simply for the circumstances of their deaths, but for the lives they were never given the chance to finish.
34:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another edition of Gone Weekly.
34:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Be on the lookout.
34:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Anna Sophia Kissler has been missing from Charlotte'sville Virginia since August 24th, 2026.
34:18
[SPEAKER_00]: She is five foot six inches tall and weighs approximately 140 pounds with brown hair, hazel eyes,
34:26
[SPEAKER_00]: and she has a small black bear tattoo on her left shoulder.
34:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Anna's family is asking for the public's help after learning that she had been discharged from a behavioral health facility in Petersburg, Virginia, weeks before they reported her missing.
34:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Anna entered the facility in August free evaluation and treatment.
34:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Her family believed she remained in care and was waiting to hear from her case manager
34:50
[SPEAKER_00]: about bringing her belongings to her.
34:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Anna's phone, identification, and debit card were still at home with her family.
34:58
[SPEAKER_00]: The family has since learned that on August 24th, Anna was discharged and transported by Medicaid transportation to the Salvation Army in Charlottesville.
35:09
[SPEAKER_00]: A city where her family says she has no known ties.
35:12
[SPEAKER_00]: She arrived without her phone, her ID,
35:16
[SPEAKER_00]: her debit card or access to her money.
35:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Anna's family did not learn what had happened until weeks later and she was reported missing on September 28th.
35:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you have any information on the whereabouts of Anna Sophia Kisler, please, please call CPD at Area Code 434-977-9041.
35:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Next up, we have 13-year-old Selena offered.
35:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Selena was last seen her Coleman place off Oklahoma Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia.
35:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Her family says they have not seen or heard from her sense.
35:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Every hour without answers brings more fear for the people who love her and desperately need to know where she is and that she's safe.
36:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Selena was last seen wearing black pajama pants with skeleton designs and a black zip-up hoodie.
36:07
[SPEAKER_00]: She was reportedly with someone who may have been driving a black Nissan.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: If you saw Selena, remember that vehicle or know anything about where she might be.
36:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Please speak up.
36:19
[SPEAKER_00]: A detail that seems small to you could help bring this child home.
36:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone with information should contact the Norfolk Police Department.
36:27
[SPEAKER_00]: The anonym urgency line is 757-441-5610, or you could call 911.
36:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And last, but certainly not least, we have 17-year-old Summer Brown.
36:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Summer has been missing since October 6, 2026 in Norton, Ohio.
36:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Her whereabouts remain unknown according to the shared report and public awareness may help bring forward information.
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: If you know anything that could help bring summer brown home, please contact 911 immediately.
37:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's bring these kids home.
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to another episode of Gone and a Blink.
37:18
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37:24
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37:31
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37:35
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37:41
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37:48
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37:53
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37:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And as always, please remember, be safe, be smart, and try not to blink.