Loy Evitts, 1977, Kansas

[Starless]

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_sc...ons/index.html


One of the most baffling disappearances in Kansas City history was that of Loy Evitts, 29, a legal secretary on the Plaza, who vanished during her lunch hour Feb. 28, 1977.
Three kids looking for their lost dog found her purse 10 days later under a bridge in southeast KC near Unity Village.
Evitts, a former KSU queen nominee, was happily married in Overland Park and had no romantic or financial entanglement, police said.
"This is the first saint I've ever seen," said Sgt. John Wilson, missing-persons supervisor at the time. "Everybody says she's perfect and I haven't hardly been able to disprove it."
Two months later, police said they weren't "completely convinced" Evitts was dead. But no new leads ever developed, and Evitts' husband moved to have her declared legally dead seven years later.
Here's The Star's 10-years-after article.
KC Public Library has a compendium of photocopied articles of murders 1981-1984 from The Star and The Kansas City Times, including the Loy Evitts case.

[Texaskowgirl]

She's on Doe now...... http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/497dfmo.html

Missing since February 28, 1977 from Kansas City, Missouri
Classification: Involuntary

Age at Time of Disappearance: 29 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'5"; 126 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Long blonde or strawberry hair; hazel eyes.
Marks, Scars: Scar on abdomen.
Clothing: A three-quarter length blue knit sweater with a maroon turtle neck and maroon slacks, she was carrying a leather shoulder bag and a black and white pocket-book.

Loy Evitts vanished during her lunch hour February 28, 1977. She drove her car from its cosumary spot in the garage, had a watch adjusted. then drove to a drugstore, where she had coffee and bought an umbrella. The car was back in its space later that afternoon, but Evitts was never seen again.
She was a legal secretary at a lawfirm.
Her purse was found 10 days later, under a bridge in southeast KC near Unity Village.
Evitts, a former KSU queen nominee, was happily married in Overland Park and had no romantic or financial entanglement, police said. The couple had no children.

[Texaskowgirl]

Loy's yearbook picture at KSU (bottom right)

http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/...0/Page_64.html

[Texaskowgirl]

3/1/78 article

Hope abandoned for woman
KANSAS CITY (AP) - A year ago Tuesday, Loy
Evitts, a 29-year-old legal secretary, went to lunch.
She never came back.
Despite exhaustive searches and hundreds of police
interviews, no trace has been found of Mrs. Evitts
since two weeks after her disappearance when some
children found her purse and some belongings under a
bridge.
Her husband, Don, and police believe she will never
be found aliIe. "I have prepared myself mentally and
accept that I will never see her again," Evitts said.
Sgt. John Wilson has helped supervise the police
investigation into Mrs. Evitts' disappearance.
"We know within an hour where she was when she
disappeared from the parking lot on the Country Club
Plaza and we know where her purse was found, and
that's about all the hard evidence we have," Wilson
said. "I suspect she is buried in a shallow grave
somewhere in the area where her purse was found, but
if you don't have a body, you don't have a homicide."
Wilson said huge files containing information about
the disappearance continue to grow, but the results
are always the same. Authorities say the purse is the
only evidence found that indicates Mrs. Evitts was
abducted.

[Texaskowgirl]

ATCHISON GLOBE
Monday, March 21, 1977

Police Hold
Man In Case
Of Loy Evitts

KANSAS CITY ( AP) — Police
today resumed a widespread
Investigation into the disappearance
of a legal secretary,
with a primary figure behind
bars in the Jackson County Jail.
Charges wore expected to be
filed today against a 34-3'ear-old
Grandview man
arrested Friday night in
connection with a search for
Ley Evitts, a 23-year-old
Overland Park, Kan., woman
who vanished Feb. 28.
The man, who was not
Identified, was taken inlo
custody after authorities traced
an anonymous telephone call
they believe he made concerning
the investigation.
He was being held on a
fugitive warrant for passing
bad checks in Kansas.
Authorities said that charge and
possibly others would be filed
against him today in magistrate
court.
Mrs. Evitts disappeared
while on a lunch break from
work. Her purse was found
March 11- under a bridge in
southeast Kansas City and
officials have searched the area
periodically since then.
Authorities said a search
Friday in Lee's Summit apparently
was prompted by the
phone call. Police were trying to
determine whether the man was
a prankster or actually connected
to Mrs. Evitts' disappearance
A police spokesman said the man's
house was searched, but he declined
to say whether any evidence was found.

[Texaskowgirl]

7/26/1977 article

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. UPI
Police
believe part of a body found floating
in the Arkansas River may be that of Loy
C. Evitts, a Kansas City Legal secretary
who disappeared Feb. 28.
The lower torso of the body and clothing
were found last Thursday on the river,
which separates North Little Rock from
Little Rock. An examination by the
Arkansas medical examiner's office has
determined age, height, weight and
coloring that parallel descriptions of Mrs.
Evitts.
"I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying it
could be," said North Little Rock Police
Sgt. Bobby Ward. "There are a lot of
similarities."
Capl Robert Pattiso of the Kansas City,
Mo., police said the discovery is "the first
good lead that we've had" in the case.
Mrs. Evitts, 29, was last seen going to
lunch Feb. 28 on the Country Club Plaza in
Kansas City, where she worked. The only
clue police have had in the case since then
was the discovery of her purse two weeks
later in a remote area of southeast Kansas
City.
The Overland Park, Kan, woman was
wearing a three-quarter-length blue knit
sweater with a maroon design, a maroon
turtleneck sweater and maroon slacks
when last seen.
Clothing found with the remains was
"some type of pullover maroon blouse and
a pair of maroon pants. It looked like it
may have been part of a winter pantsult,"
Ward said.
Ward said the medical examiner
estimated the remains had been in the
water seven to 10 months. Mrs. Evitts has
been missing almost five months. He said
examiners could not determine a cause of
death or whether the body had been
deliberately mutilated.
Kansas City police said they were unsure
how to make a positive identification
of the body. They said they might ask
Donald Evitts, the missing woman's
husband, to help.
In late March a 34-year-old Grandview,
Mo., man was arrested but was released
after questinging. Police also dug near a
highway construction project in southeast
Kansas City after a telephone tip that the
woman was buried there, but they found
nothing.

[Texaskowgirl]

7/30/77 article.... First time I've seen her middle initial mentioned, it's "C".

Click on link to enlarge image.

[Texaskowgirl]

3/18/77 article

Clothing not that
of missing woman
KANSAS CITY (AP) -

Items of women's clothing
discovered Wednesday in an
eastern Kansas City suburban
area apparently did not
belong to a missing law firm
secretary.
Police originally thought
the clothing might have
belonged to Mrs. Loy C.
Evitts, 29, who vanished
from work Feb. 28.
But after talking to Evitts,
detectives said the torn and
stained garments found near
Lee's Summit were apparently
a false lead, even
though they were Mrs.
Evitts' size. Evitts said he
did not think the clothing
belonged to his wife.
Last Thursday, .the missing
woman's purse and some
loose papers bearing her
name were uncovered under
a bridge in southeast Kansas
City.
Mrs. Evitts, a secretary;
has not been seen since leaving
her job in the Country
Club Plaza on a lunch break
the afternoon of Feb. 28.

[Texaskowgirl]

7/28/77 article

Photos, Hair Samples
Used to ID Remains

Photographs and hair samples of an Overland Park, Kan., legal
secretary missing
since February are being studied here in an attempt to identify
the remains of a woman recovered from the Arkansas River
Kansas City police detective William Livingston brought the
evidence to North Little Rock Wednesday. The evidence will be
studied by the state medical examiner's office
Mrs. Loy C Evilts, 29, has been missing since leaving her
Kansas City office for a late lunch Feb. 28
Livingston said the chance of positive identification was "a
real slim thing."
The lower trunk and most of the legs of a body were recovered
from the river July 28. The clothing on the remains was similar
to that worn by Mrs. Evitts on the day she disappeared and the
estimated physical description of the woman whose 'remains
were found were similar to that of Mrs. Evitts.

[Starless]

7/28/77 article

Photos, Hair Samples
Used to ID Remains

Photographs and hair samples of an Overland Park, Kan., legal
secretary missing
since February are being studied here in an attempt to identify
the remains of a woman recovered from the Arkansas River
Kansas City police detective William Livingston brought the
evidence to North Little Rock Wednesday. The evidence will be
studied by the state medical examiner's office
Mrs. Loy C Evilts, 29, has been missing since leaving her
Kansas City office for a late lunch Feb. 28
Livingston said the chance of positive identification was "a
real slim thing."
The lower trunk and most of the legs of a body were recovered
from the river July 28. The clothing on the remains was similar
to that worn by Mrs. Evitts on the day she disappeared and the
estimated physical description of the woman whose 'remains
were found were similar to that of Mrs. Evitts.

So, I wonder what happened with this ??