Case 224

Evelyn Hartley

*** Content Warning: child victim ***

When 15-year-old Evelyn Hartley agreed to babysit for the Rasmussen family on the evening of October 24 1953, it sounded like a relatively easy job. She made her way to the Rasmussen home in the Wisconsin neighbourhood of La Crosse, promising to call her parents at 8:30 PM to check in. 

When 8:30 came and went with no word from Evelyn, her father raced to the Rasmussen’s house to check on her. The baby that Evelyn was caring for was fast asleep in her crib, but the home was in disarray, and there was no trace of Evelyn save for some blood stains. What followed was one of Wisconsin’s most infamous cases and would change an entire community forever.

CREDITS

 

Casefile Presents

 

EPISODE:

Research & writing – Erin Munro

Creative direction – Milly Raso

Narration – Anonymous Host

 

MUSIC:

‘Flatline intro’ and ‘Come play with me’ intro and outro – www.dl-sounds.com

Audio production – Mike Migas 

Scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

 

OTHER:

Logo and website design – Paulina Szymanska

PREMIUM

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RESOURCES

 

BOOKS

Where’s Evelyn? – Susan Hessel

 

ARTICLES

Old tape gives new clues in half-century old death of former Charleston girl – Journal Gazette & Times-Courier

Release suspect in abduction find no trace of missing girl – La Crosse Tribune

Dr Hartley renews appeal to abductor – La Crosse Tribune

Need ‘break’ to solve case, police say – La Crosse Tribune

Appeal for information on Hartley girl, tennis shoes – La Crosse Tribune

Bloodstained jacket clue in Hartley case – La Crosse Tribune

Lie detector tests started here Thursday – La Crosse Tribune

Our greatest mystery – La Crosse Tribune

Mysterious hush-hush veils probe of babysitter – Chicago Tribune

3 clues to Hartley girl fizzle out – Star Tribune

Missing babysitter’s fate still mystery – The Knoxville Journal

Claims she’s missing girl; story false – Des Moines Tribune

Dead or alive? Babysitter’s fate mystery – Chicago Tribune

Police stymied in La Crosse case – The Winona Daily News

Abduction may remain unsolved – La Crosse Tribune

Hardly a trace: Whatever happened to young Evelyn Hartley – La Crosse Tribune

Stories of the Unsolved: The Disappearance of Evelyn Hartley

10 skulls found in house of horror – The Oshkosh Northwestern

Widow, 58, found slain in Wisconsin – Star Tribune

Ed Gein: The Timeline

 

VIDEOS

Whatever happened to Evelyn Hartley?

Dark La Crosse Stories, Episode 17: The disappearance of Evelyn Hartley

 

WEBSITES

Evelyn Hartley Wikipedia page

Ed Gein Wikipedia page

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