The mother of missing toddler Evelyn Boswell has been arrested and charged with making false reports in relation to the disappearance of her daughter in Tennessee.
Megan Boswell, 18, is said by police to have changed her story ‘multiple times’ during the investigation.
Evelyn, aged 15 months, was last seen in December but wasn’t reported missing until February 18.
It follows the arrests in North Carolina last week of the child’s grandmother Angela Boswell, 42, and her boyfriend William McCloud, 33, in a reportedly stolen BMW they said had been given to them by Megan, who allegedly hadn’t paid for it.
They have been charged with theft of property over $2,500 and remain in custody.
Megan Boswell was visibly emotional as she described her daughter and her disappearance
Evelyn Boswell (pictured) is the 15-month-old toddler whose been missing since early December 2019, but only became the focus of an Amber Alert on February 18
The child’s grandmother Angela Boswell, 42,(left) and her boyfriend William McCloud, 33, (right) were arrested Friday in a reportedly stolen BMW
Evelyn vanished from Blountville, Tennessee, in a confusing case that has been bogged down by misinformation and conflicting accounts.
It was initially reported that Evelyn hadn’t been seen since December 26, but it’s now thought she was last seen by a babysitter on December 10 or 11.
The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Evelyn’s mother was being held on a $25,000 bond.
The statement said: ‘Charges have now been placed against the mother of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell, who is the subject of a statewide AMBER Alert.
‘During the course of the investigation, Megan ‘Maggie’ Boswell provided detectives and agents with a number of conflicting statements.
Evelyn Boswell is still missing and there is a $56,000 reward for her safe return
Megan Boswell, left, has been charged with making false reports over the disappearance of her daughter Evelyn, (right)
Evelyn’s parents are Maggie Boswell (left) and Ethan Perry (right), who is an active-duty US Army soldier stationed in Louisiana. Boswell has not spoken to Perry about their missing child
‘Further investigation revealed that some of the information provided by Megan Boswell was false.’
On Friday, Boswell spoke out for the first time about her daughter’s disappearance claiming she knew who has the toddler.
Speaking to WCYB, Boswell said she last saw Evelyn in December but didn’t report her missing until Tuesday because she was afraid the people who had her would disappear.
‘Well the reason I didn’t report it or anything was I knew the person who had her, and I didn’t want them to run away with her,’ Boswell said.
‘And as soon as they thought anything was going on they just kinda vanished. So I’m just kinda worried, you know, about where they are at. What they’re doing with her at this point in time.’
Boswell added that she left her daughter with a person she thought she could trust while she was at work but that she would do things differently if she had a second chance.
Authorities say Evelyn (pictured) was officially reported missing on February 18, but that she was last seen two months earlier around December 10 or 11
Where is Evelyn? An AMBER Alert was issued on Wednesday in Tennessee for 15-month-old Evelyn Mae Boswell, who has not been seen since last December but was just reported missing
‘In a way I knew that as soon as anything went down this person was going to disappear and they have. And they have tried to find them… They won’t answer phone calls. They just kinda disappeared,’ she continued.
‘Yeah I probably would have called the first day. I should have. But I just didn’t want them to run with her, like they have now.’
Boswell was speaking as she emerged from court in Bristol but was is not clear why she was there.
She refused to name who she believes to have her daughter but says that she is cooperating with the police and can not share further information on the case.
In an interview on Monday with WJHL, Boswell claimed that her mother took Evelyn to Mendota, Virginia.
‘I told TBI (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) where to find her in Mendota. My mom took her to a campground in a silver camper and if they don’t go tonight, I’m going to go find her myself, because I’ve told them and they’re not really like taking it seriously,’ Boswell said.
She added that TBI isn’t taking her seriously because ‘I’ve not fully told them I’ve been like “hey, like my mom camped out in Mendota, you know, to go check them out,” but I’ve never been like, “hey, she’s like in a silver camper” because my mom did threaten me like you know if I told anybody – I’m not gonna get into that – but she did.’
Evelyn’s father, 20-year-old Ethan Perry, is on active duty in the military stationed in Louisiana and was said by Boswell to be seeking leave to return home.
Perry posted a brief Facebook update addressing his daughter’s disappearance last week saying: ‘I’m currently working with authorities trying to find Evelyn. I can’t say much more than that at the moment.’
Meanwhile, Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said he believes Evelyn is alive and everything possible is being done to bring her home.
Officials in Tennessee found the gray 2007 BMW (stock image), which may be linked to the baby’s disappearance, in North Carolina on Friday and two people were arrested
Angela Boswell (left) and boyfriend William McCloud (right) waived extradition on Monday and will be transferred from North Carolina to Tennessee
During a press conference Friday afternoon, the sheriff said while Boswell has been cooperating with the investigation, the information she has been providing has proven to be inaccurate.
Cassidy elaborated that some of Boswell’s ‘stories’ that emerged during police interviews have not been corroborated by surveillance video and witness accounts.
Boswell claimed she went to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday for a lie-detector test but was turned away because she is pregnant.
Authorities said they have received more than 500 tips from the public, but ‘there have been no credible sightings’.
People and businesses in the community are offering reward money for Evelyn’s safe return. The total has now reached nearly $59,000.
Sullivan County detectives traveled to Wilkes County over the weekend to interview Angela Boswell and her boyfriend McCloud while they were in custody. Details regarding those conversations have not been disclosed.
The pair will remain in custody without bond in North Carolina until they can be extradited to Tennessee.
Authorities are urging anyone with information that could lead to Evelyn’s whereabouts to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.