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When 15-month-old toddler Evelyn Boswell disappeared in Tennessee, an Amber Alert was issued - a public emergency alert system designed to aid in finding missing children. The entire community was on the lookout for her.

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Evelyn was reported missing on 18 February 2020. Flyers distributed described her as wearing a pink tracksuit, pink shoes and a pink bow.

Evelyn was the child of Megan Boswell, who was only 17 when she had her with Ethan Perry in 2018, before they split up. Boswell then entered a relationship with Hunter Wood, and they had recently applied to move into a flat together.

Interestingly, it wasn't Boswell who reported Evelyn's disappearance to the police, but rather Boswell's father, Tommy Boswell Sr. He initiated the search when he contacted the Department of Children's Services. Initially, Boswell claimed she had last seen her daughter on 26 December 2019, two months prior.

She had informed others that Evelyn was with her father, and they were embroiled in a "custody" dispute, but the police swiftly established this was not the case. Ethan was serving in the military and stationed in a different state.

This marked the beginning of Boswell's ever-changing narratives.

When she spoke to a local news outlet, Boswell stunned everyone by revealing she knew who her daughter was with but hadn't contacted police because she didn't want to "tip" that person off.

"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.

"I'm just kinda worried, you know, about where they are at. What they're doing with her at this point in time."

Boswell told police that her mum, Angela Boswell, who had a criminal record, had Evelyn and was refusing to return her until Boswell repaid a debt. Boswell told police about a campsite in Virginia where she was allegedly keeping her, but when officers arrived, there was no sign of them.

Boswell then altered her account and said that her mum had actually given Evelyn to an unnamed person, and Evelyn was safe and would have a better life with them.

By then, a reward for information leading to Evelyn's return had reached more than $60,000. Investigators were sceptical of Boswell's shifting version of events and were troubled by why she hadn't reported her daughter missing earlier, as every hour counts when a child has been abducted.

The search prompted a petition for "Evelyn's Law", to make it illegal for parents to wait longer than 72 hours to report a child missing. When investigators examined the flat application Boswell had submitted with her new partner, Evelyn's name was absent.

She claimed her boyfriend was unwilling to have Evelyn residing with them.

On 25 February, Boswell was arrested and charged with false reporting, which had hindered the search for the young child. Whilst in custody, she was directed to undergo a polygraph examination, but claimed she was expecting a baby, which prevented her from taking one. But this, too, was untrue.

On 6 March, authorities searched the Boswell family residence in Blountville, Tennessee, three weeks after Evelyn was reported missing. This was where Boswell had been residing in a caravan with her daughter in December 2019.

Beyond a shed in the garden stood a brown playhouse. Within it was a white rubbish bin, and when officers examined it, they discovered Evelyn's body.

The young child had been found wrapped in a blanket, inside a bin bag with aluminium foil tightly secured around her face and had been "shoved" head first into the container. Evelyn was wearing a purple onesie featuring penguins.

Medical examiners concluded she had likely died from asphyxiation. Boswell's fingerprints were found on the bin and the foil.

She was subsequently charged with murder. As she awaited trial, Evelyn's Law was enacted in July 2021.

The toddler's death had deeply affected communities, and the allegation that her own mother was responsible made the case all the more heartbreaking.

A DNA test disclosed that Ethan Perry was not Evelyn's father as previously thought. At the 2025 trial, the prosecution argued that Boswell had fabricated numerous stories about her daughter's whereabouts, fully aware that she was deceased.

Witnesses testified to Boswell's neglect of Evelyn prior to her disappearance. One claimed the young girl had been observed with a severe nappy rash, while another stated that the home Boswell kept her daughter in was unclean.

Another witness alleged they had heard Boswell describe her daughter as "mean as f**k". The prosecution suggested that Boswell wished to start anew with her latest boyfriend, and Evelyn did not fit into this plan.

They proposed that she initially cared for Evelyn appropriately after her birth but later became neglectful. The defence countered that Evelyn had died from natural causes, such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), or Boswell had accidentally rolled onto her whilst sharing a bed.

They claimed Boswell had panicked. "She's not sophisticated. She's had a hard life. She's scared she's going to get in trouble," they argued.

They maintained she was a devoted mother who consistently attended her daughter's medical appointments. However, evidence actually demonstrated she ceased taking Evelyn from nine months onwards.

The prosecution argued that Evelyn was "in the way" of the fresh start Boswell desired, and her deception following the killing demonstrated she felt no remorse. The jury convicted Boswell of first-degree murder, alongside child abuse, neglect, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and multiple counts of making false police reports.

In September 2025, Boswell, 24, received her sentence. She delivered a statement.

"I did not kill my baby Evelyn," she said. "The state of Tennessee treated me very unfairly. If I had had a fair trial, I would have been acquitted.

"There is no doubt that this defendant had absolutely no hesitation when she killed her daughter," the judge stated, noting she poses a dangerous threat and society requires protection from her, even in advanced age. Boswell received a life sentence, plus an additional 33 years.

She will become eligible for parole after 51 years.