Mom accused of putting body of daughter in trash can gets life sentence
A Tennessee mother was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole Thursday after a jury found Megan Boswell guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her 15-month-old daughter Evelyn Boswell.
A jury also found Boswell guilty on other charges including child abuse, neglect, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and several counts of making false police reports. Sullivan County jurors deliberated for just a few hours before reaching a verdict.
Afterward, jurors deliberated again and decided to sentence Boswell to life in prison. The 23-year-old will be eligible for parole after 51 years on the murder charge, though the judge will sentence her on the other charges at a future date.
During the weeklong trial, prosecutors argued Boswell killed Evelyn, put her body in a trash can and hid the body in a playhouse on her father's property.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
The Blountville, Tennessee, case garnered national attention in 2020 after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert for Evelyn, and Megan Boswell gave TV interviews even as police said she was changing her story about the baby's whereabouts.
"She told story after story for two-and-a-half months, and maybe the worst part is that she just went on with her life as if Evelyn had never even existed,” Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Amber Massengill said during the trial's closing statements Feb. 12. "Evelyn did exist. Evelyn was a real person, and Megan Boswell should not be able to go on as if Evelyn did not exist."
A grand jury indicted Boswell in August 2020 on 19 charges, including murder and aggravated child abuse.
Massengill said evidence showed Boswell was the only person responsible for Evelyn's death, though the prosecutor told the jury there are certain aspects of the case that no one but Boswell knows. Medical examiners testified the toddler likely died of suffocation and was found in a trash bag with aluminum foil tightly wrapped around her face.
Boswell's defense attorneys countered Evelyn could have died of natural causes and that the toddler was never abused by her mother. They called witnesses who testified Boswell was a good mother and took her daughter to regular medical checkups.
"She's 17 years old. She's not sophisticated. She's had a hard life. She's scared she's going to get in trouble," defense attorney Gene G. Scott Jr. said during closing statements. He argued the child's death was accidental, Boswell panicked and Boswell's boyfriend hid the child's body in the trash.
Boswell was 17 at the time of the child's death in late 2019 and 18 when she was arrested several months later.
"Have they proved that she's a liar over and over? They have. We don't deny that. They haven't proved she's a murderer," Scott said.
Witnesses included former babysitters, Boswell's foster mother, medical professionals, police, and Boswell's friends and family members.
Babysitter Sue Whitson testified she was concerned about Evelyn's condition before the toddler went missing.
“I’d never seen a diaper rash that bad,” Whitson said.
Boswell’s palm prints and fingerprints were found on the trash can where Evelyn’s body was found and on the aluminum foil wrapped around the body, according TBI tests.
Scott said that didn't show she was responsible. Prints could have been there from everyday use before Evelyn died, he argued. Prosecutors disagreed.
“Whose fingerprints were on that trash bag? Megan Boswell’s fingerprints, and you heard (forensic expert Dr. Darinka Mileusnic) say, you can see for yourself, that trash bag is not just gently placed inside the trash can, it has been forcefully … push down compressed and that's how Megan Boswell’s fingerprints were placed on that trash bag.
"More damning than that, Megan Boswell’s fingerprints were found on the tinfoil wrapped around Evelyn’s head,” Massengill told jurors.
Boswell, now 23, did not testify at the trial.
Background on the Megan Boswell murder trial
Evelyn Mae Boswell was last seen in December 2019 and was reported missing by Tommy Boswell Sr., Megan Boswell's father, on Feb. 19, 2020.
The TBI issued an Amber Alert and the case captured the nation's attention after 18-year-old Megan Boswell gave TV interviews, while police said she changed her story about the baby's whereabouts.
First, Boswell told investigators Evelyn was with her father. Later she told investigators Evelyn's grandmother had the child and was refusing to return her. Then she said the grandmother gave Evelyn to an unnamed person, and Evelyn was safe and would have a better life with that person.
Evelyn's body was found March 7, 2020, on the Boswell family's property in the East Tennessee town of Blountville, according to court documents. Boswell was first arrested on a charge of making a false police report, then murder charges were added.