When Sindee and I went to Richmond Dale we interviewed several people in reference to Stephanie's case. This was within days of her murder so the case was fresh on everyone's minds. One person that I spoke with {and yes, I do have his name....rank and serial number!}.... was very knowledgeable about the case and gave me many details that were first hand information. I have not printed many of those details because even today they are not public knowledge. But I will say that the person, a man, that I spoke with was among the first to see Stephanie and her child. This man told me about a "suspect" in the case that very day.

The suspect was a drifter, although native to the Richmond Dale area. He spent a lot of time in the woods around the area and would come in to town occasionally and have a few drinks, raise a little hell, maybe even do a little shop lifting or an occasional breaking and entering into a house where no one was home.

He said the suspect was a "petty thief" and it was not common for a petty thief to turn killer. He was correct. It is not common, however it has happened a time or two before. The Washington case of George Russell and Mercer Island is such an example.

But beyond the "doubtful possibility" of a petty thief turning killer looms an even greater doubt....

Stephanie Evans was murdered sometime around midnight on the night of April 1st. Sindee and I were told very plainly that Stephanie Evans' body was "covered up with rocks / that no portion of her body was visible / that her clothing was strewn around the river bank, and that her killer had to have spent an enormous amount of time gathering rocks from the river bank and covering her body. This task alone would have taken at least an hour if not longer ..... especially since it was well after dark, and I doubt the killer carried a flash light in one hand and a rock in the other. Her van was driven to Columbus, Ohio sometime that night and (*set on fire.) This too would have taken some time. Columbus is at least an hours drive from Richmond Dale. This puts the time frame up to approximately 2 or possibly 3 o'clock in the morning. (*remember, Brian Bock's vehicle was also set on fire on April 2nd.)

Next, the theory is that the killer walked away from the vehicle and went down to the railroad yards, which is a pretty good walk ..... and I wondered why he didn't just drive the van there and then set it on fire!!.....dumb criminals anyhow!

After arriving at the train station, he hopped a freight train out of town. Sounds okay ..... except I keep thinking of poor old murdered Marie Blough and how rumor had it that she had hopped a freight train and ran away! That was well before her totally decomposed skeleton was found, at the river's edge, about 2 blocks from her Belpre home!

But, let's assume that the man in question did in fact kill Stephanie around midnight; spent an hour covering her body with rocks; drove to Columbus and hopped a train. And let's assume he did all this by 3 o'clock in the morning. Train schedules could be (should have already been!) checked to determine what time freight trains left Columbus that night and the next morning.

Now, is there anyone on earth who can explain to me how this same man was arrested in the state of Maine, while trying to steal a car, in the early morning hours of April 2nd, 2001??? He'd already been processed and let go by 8:00 that morning!

That freight train must have been movin' like a bat out of hell with the killer chanting.....faster, faster, faster......to the tune of her wheels on the hot rails beneath! What a ride! My daddy would have been impressed .... and so would the B&O Railroad Company! Wait until they find out that pack of roughnecks is super charging their freight trains! Wonder what they do about "pick up's and drop off's?" Figure Wild Bill could answer that question better than me, since he's an expert at both!

All jokes aside .... because murder is not amusing and neither is locking up someone who didn't commit the murder ..... I did a map search to determine the approximate distance between Columbus, Ohio and Bangor, Maine. It was over 1000 miles. Not knowing for certain what portion of Maine the man was arrested in, I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and assume he was arrested as soon as he hit the state line. That didn't make a whole lot of difference. Driving at normal speed limits it would take at least 13 hours to go from Ohio to Maine, and there is absolutely no way a freight train travels at the speed of an automobile.

Short of catching a plane .... which should be easy enough to verify .... there is absolutely no way that anyone could have been in Columbus, Ohio at (giving some more time) midnight, and be anywhere in Maine by (giving more time) 10 o'clock the next morning! Virtually impossible.

So I have this to say .... If T.J. McCray is the "suspect" that I was told about ... and of course this would be easy enough to deny since I was not given the suspects name .... and if in fact he was sitting in a Maine jail on the morning of April 2nd, 2001, then T.J. McCray is not the killer of Stephanie Evans. He absolutely could not be her killer if this information is correct. And I think whether a person was in jail in Maine on April 2nd, 2001 would be pretty easy for just about any attorney to verify .... or any honest cop for that matter.

I am hoping that the "evidence that I was told about" { and I won't discuss that at this time} is not the only evidence the state has against T.J. McCray, because if it is, and if he's the man that was sitting in jail in Maine, then the killer of Stephanie Evans continues to walk our streets. And he will kill again. Perhaps not in Richmond Dale for awhile, but he will kill again .... if in fact he hasn't already.

[[ 2007 Note: That 'evidence' was one hand print on the outside of Stephanie's van! ]]

{Please read the Tonya Trio}.

New Info 6/27/03: