The Murder of Suellen Evans

The serene southern college campus in Chapel Hill was green and growing on the last day of June in 1965. A picture-perfect summer day under a Carolina blue sky welcomed the few students that were attending the university for summer classes. Buses and cars still buzzed up and down the streets of the small town, but there was an emptiness in the air without the thousands of students that would flood the campus in the fall. Then, there would be a constant buzz of activity and sound all around in diners and bookshops, but that day in June was a quiet day. 

            Suellen Evans, a 21-year-old student from Mooresville, North Carolina walked briskly towards the entrance of the Coker Arboretum. She was in a big hurry. Her time in Chapel Hill was limited since she was only going to be there for the summer. A Home Economics major who had just completed her sophomore year at Catawba College in Salisbury, she was there trying to make up some credits towards the next step in her academic career. She had recently been accepted to the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and wanted to make sure she was on track. She was a friendly brunette that although having only come to Chapel Hill just a few short weeks before had made several friends. 

            She shielded her eyes as she looked both ways down East Cameron Street before crossing over. As she reached the other side and the shade of the oaks surrounding the iconic Old Well, her vision cleared, and she saw a friend from one of her classes. They chatted for a moment there, but Suellen could not tarry. She had a bus to catch in just a few hours that would take her back home to Mooresville for the weekend. She was not antisocial and regretted not always staying with the other girls in her dorm over the weekend, but at heart she knew that there was no place like home. Even for a young lady like herself who sought more than just the standard experience of girls at the time of getting married and having kids, she still loved to get back home as often as possible. 

            She ended the conversation with her friend by letting her know that she was in a rush. She had to stop by Alumni Hall to ask one of her professors a question before the weekend and had to get back to her dorm and pack. She crossed McKorkle Place carefully dodging the squirrels who darted about and fed on the acorns as if the people were not even there. She could see the bustle of Franklin Street through the trees as she passed the Old East building and bounded up the steps of Alumni Hall. The meeting was quick with her professor, and as she exited the other side of the building, she felt content that she was doing well and that making the journey home was not going to put her behind in her studies at all. 

            She looked down at her watch, 12:30 stared back at her. She needed to make sure she packed and made it to the bus station on time. She was staying in Cobb dorm so the fastest way back was to take a short cut through the Coker Arboretum to Raleigh Street. She headed towards the entrance of the arboretum looking forward to seeing the pretty foliage that grew there and watching the birds flitter amongst the bushes and small trees. She really had never been anywhere as lovely as Chapel Hill was in the summertime, she thought, as she walked along the path. Her swift gait and determined pace moving through the overgrown arboretum was suddenly stopped as she was grabbed by an assailant that sprung from the bushes and dragged her back into the greenery. 

            Suellen fought as hard as she could against her attacker and her screams were heard by passersby. A female student heard the screaming as did a pair of passing nuns on Raleigh Street. They could tell the sound was coming from the arboretum and bravely ran towards the screams. Suellen was winning her fight for freedom against the predator and almost broke free from him. Sensing he was losing his prey, he lashed out with a knife and slashed her neck and stabbed her in the heart. As she made her final move towards freedom, the coed that was coming for her aid saw her stumble from the bushes into the path and then collapse onto a bed of periwinkles. Her blue and white striped homemade shirt was torn and stained with blood. As Suellen fell, the student was sure she saw a dark arm grasping at her legs, but it soon disappeared back into the bramble. The nuns were right behind her and leapt towards the falling Suellen as she fell by the path as the female student peered through the green leaves and flowers of the arboretum to see if she spied the attacker, but he had vanished. 

            One of the nuns knelt down beside Suellen and cradled her head. Suellen looked up at the nun and said, “He tried to rape me………I think I am going to faint.” With that, she lost consciousness and never opened her eyes to the blue sky again. An ambulance from NC Memorial Hospital arrived in just a few moments, but it was too late. She was not going to make it back home to Mooresville. She was not going to be able to see her parents again or ever attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

            The police descended on the arboretum and immediately sealed off the area. They had a few immediate leads, one being a black man working as a janitor that was walking out of Phillips Hall as the police arrived near the Arboretum. He was immediately detained but after a few questions, soon released. Another passerby said they had seen an older red-haired white man that was leaving the arboretum around the time of the murder. He had jumped into a ’61 or ’62 Rambler and drove away. The witness said he had stains on his shirt that may have been blood, but the police could find no other witness that had seen the man or any suspect that fit that description. 

            The student body at Carolina banded together and raised $1,285 as a reward. Over 200 men came to Chapel Hill to help search the area for any weapons or clues that would help solve the crime, but nothing was found. Over the next five years, the police followed 251 leads and interviewed 116 suspects from Chicago, Illinois to Odessa, Texas. All of these leads and these suspects came to dead ends. The Chapel Hill Police Department was never able to close the case or bring anyone to justice for the senseless death of Suellen Evans. She was killed just as she was beginning to spread her wings and fly. A true tragedy.