Tennessee mother charged with murder in death of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell
Megan Boswell is currently in jail on charges of lying to investigators.
Megan Boswell has been charged with murder in the death of her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn, who was reported missing in February and found dead more than two weeks later.
After a five-month investigation into Evelyn's death, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday alleged Boswell, 19, killed her child and disposed of her body. A grand jury returned several indictments against the teen mom, including two counts of murder, a count of child abuse and 16 other charges, TBI said.
Boswell has been in jail since February, for allegedly lying to investigators during the investigation into Evelyn's disappearance, and Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said she also spread misinformation to the public.
"As a result of false information given by the defendant along with misinformation circulated in the community, there has been a lot of confusion in the case," he said during a news conference. "I want to be clear when I say that after an extensive and thorough investigation, other individuals were eliminated as suspects and Megan Boswell became the sole suspect in this case."
Evelyn was last seen with her mother in December, but she was only reported missing by a family member on Feb. 18, the TBI said. An Amber Alert was issued on Feb. 19 and investigators searched extensively for the child.
Over 16 days, authorities received and followed up on more than 1,000 tips, TBI said. During the investigation, Evelyn’s grandmother, Angela Boswell, and another man, William McCloud, were arrested and charged with possession of stolen property when they were found on Feb. 20 with a car connected to the Amber Alert.
Megan Boswell was arrested five days later for allegedly lying to investigators.
On March 6, officials searched the Blountville, Tennessee, property owned by Megan Boswell and found Evelyn's remains.
"She didn’t deserve this, no child does," Cassidy said.
Megan Boswell is due back in court on Aug. 28 and her bond has been set at $1 million, the TBI said. Her attorney, Brad Sproles, told ABC News he couldn't comment on the charges, because as of Wednesday evening he had not spoken to his client.
"Our jail is dealing with COVID issues and pretty much locked down and I haven’t been able to talk to her," Sproles told ABC News. "We're trying to get something set up soon."