Crime Junkie - MISSING: Trevaline Evans

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

A shopkeeper in North Wales seemingly vanishes into thin air after hanging a sign on her antique store saying she’ll be back in two minutes. Investigators search high and low for Trevaline Evans for decades, trying to track down a so-called “mystery man” in a suit who she’d been seen with in the days before she disappeared. But they find no trace of the 52-year-old grandmother. Her case becomes one police call the most confusing they’ve ever worked. And it becomes even more baffling when…nearly 40 years after Trevaline vanished…brand new tips roll in from two brothers in the UK who say they’d found her remains, and had proof. But those remains seemed to vanish too, leaving this mystery still unsolved. Head over to our Crime Junkie YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6OLTIcESY Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit:  https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/missing-trevaline-evans/Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies.Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And you guys buckle the fuck up because I'm about to take you for a ride today. But you know this. My famous last words are like, oh, you know, this case seems interesting. It could make like a quick mini episode because no one else has done anything super media. Yeah, yeah. There just might not be a lot there. Well, wrong again. This case out of North Wales is one that police have called the strangest case they've ever worked. A woman. A woman. named Trevelyne Evans, vanished into thin air in the middle of a busy town 35 years ago after being seen with a mystery man. And in 2019, two guys in North Wales got a tip about where her body might be. And for the first time ever, we're going to report on their full story. And we have the never-before published photos that they say prove they found her. Within 20 seconds, we're looking at a dead body right in front of us. is exactly the place where the bad smell was coming from. There she is.

I could see a face staring at me with what appeared to be a hole in the side of the skull. I could see the hair. And photos that show someone might still be trying to cover up a murder. They invited us back and asked us to have another look again with our camera. My blood ran cold. We were both in total dumbfound. did shock up to realisation that the body that we'd seen in that floor had been removed.

It's just before midnight on Saturday, June 16th, 1990, when the North Wales police get a call from a man named Richard Evans. He's worried about his 52-year-old wife, Trevely, because she didn't show up to their dinner date that evening. She's still not home, and he tells police that he'd already checked the little second-hand antique shop that she runs just a few blocks away in case she was burning the midnight oil.

I mean, it was tourist season after all. But even though her car was parked nearby, she didn't seem to be there. And hanging on the door was a handwritten sign that sent chills running through him. Back in two minutes, it read. Now, signs like this weren't uncommon to see on the door. Like, it was something Trevelyne often did. She would tape them up when she was just, like, stepping out really quick. But Richard had gone by the shop earlier in the day,

and that same sign was hanging there, back in two minutes. And the last time he went by late in the evening, he let himself inside through an unlocked back door and found more evidence that worried him. Her handbag, her keys, jacket, they were all there inside her shop. Things she'd normally take with her if she was going to go anywhere for more than two minutes. I mean, even her makeup compact was sitting out in the open on the counter like she had just been there. I mean, every single sign seemed to point to her coming back. So that's when he phoned police. When officers responded to Richard's call,

it seemed like they were thinking this might end like so many missing persons cases, with the person just showing back up eventually. But there's only one way to know for sure. So they start by trying to piece together Trevelyne's movements that day. Except her husband actually can't help with that. He tells them that he and Trevelyne had spent the earlier part of the week about an hour away in town called Rudlin, where they were renovating this little bungalow that they planned to live.

once they retired soon. Trevelyne headed back to their current place in Langoflin midweek to attend to her shop while Richard stayed behind to keep working on the place. Now that dinner that she missed was the first time they planned on seeing each other once like both of them had gotten back. And are we sure she ever actually made it back into town? I mean, I know her stuff's there, but did anyone lay eyes on her? Yes, which is why I think maybe for a hot second, they're like, oh, she's going to be back. I mean, her husband even makes a plea early on through the media directly to his. his wife for her to come home.

He says he doesn't understand why she would leave. They were happy. But he doesn't seem to know what else to think. I mean, maybe he's afraid of the worst. Their police officer's son who works a few towns over also named Richard, I mean, he's looking at the situation differently right from the start. Like if she's gone, in his mind, someone forced her to leave. And he tells reporters that his mom would never leave town without telling someone.

She had a business to run, an aging dad to care for, a grandchild, a ton of friends. She wasn't in any financial trouble. She wasn't having any medical problems. I mean, truly, she seemed to be looking forward to retirement. He says there is no reason she would have to leave. And what's so confounding about this case is whether she left willingly or she was abducted, neither makes complete sense to me with what they end up learning through their investigation. Physical searches for Trevelyne turn up nothing.

And, I mean, these searches were extensive. In fact, it would become one of the most extensive searches in Northern Welsh history for the time. And by the end, they searched a 12-mile radius around the town. They even dragged the river. They search a local canal. I mean, they're looking inside caves and mines. They knock on every single door in town

taking statements from hundreds of people and running down license plates on more than 650 vehicles. They also find Trevelyne's address book, and according to The Daily Post, who's reporting we relied on a lot for this episode, they call every number listed. And remember, it is tourist season in this picturesque little town, so there could be a witness out there who's already come and gone and didn't even know that they saw something important. Right. So police, thinking this, also go and collect records from every hotel and bed and breakfast in the area, and they contact more than 500 people on those lists too. And while they never find anything physical in their searches for Trevelyne, they do, over time, collect a bunch of little puzzle pieces

that when put together paint a picture of her last movements. But exactly when she put that Be Back in Two Minutes sign up, where she went after, and who she met becomes an even bigger question. Because a few people did see Trevelyne the day she vanished, and they say she wasn't alone. So let me start with the timeline from the first full day that Trevelyne was back in town. This is Thursday. At about 9.15 in the morning, a local woman says that she sees Trevelyne unloading her car near her shop on Church Street while speaking to two men.

There is a gray-haired man in a suit, someone maybe in his like 50s with a briefcase. Everyone calls this guy the smartly dressed man. Very proper. Yes. But the witness also said that there was a young man across the street who was like locking a gate at a other shop, and Trevelyne seemed to be speaking to him, too. That's really all we know from Thursday. So then fast forward to Friday, this is the day before she goes missing, there are more

sightings of her, and possibly more sightings of these two men. According to a crime watch special on the case, a couple of local shopworkers see Trevely in the morning walking down the street with this same smartly dressed man in a navy blue suit with a black briefcase having a conversation. Everything seems fine. Trevelyne's even like waving to people that she knows. At 9.30, the Daily Post has somebody putting her by this, like, tannery shop near her store with the same smartly dressed older man. Then, at 1230, she and this same guy are seen together in town on Oak Street.

And Oak Street is like a four-minute walk from her antique shop. Then we have them together again at 4 p.m. on Market Street, which is right there in town, too. Like Oak Street, where they were earlier, just, like, turns into Market Street. street when you cross Castle Street. And actually Castle Street is the next sighting of her. So at about 8.30 that evening, two locals were driving home down Castle Street, and when they stopped at a light, they saw Trevely and standing on the stoop of this shop. And they said she was, like, holding some papers and was, like, poking her head out.

She kept, like, popping in and out of this little stoop. Seems like she was waiting for someone to come walking down the sidewalk. But they didn't see anyone, even when they looked behind them. And the woman in the car said that Trevelyne normally would wave to them or something, but she never even seemed to see them, and so she didn't acknowledge them. She seemed just super preoccupied in waiting for whatever or whoever it was she kept looking for. Now that same evening, some tourists who were in town just for the weekend tell police that they see Trevelyne with the same smartly dressed man at a place called Gail's Wine Bar, which is just one street over from where they were seen together earlier in the day.

And it's just around the corner from where that couple just saw her, like, popping in and out of this stoop. I mean, it's like a two to three minute walk to Gales from there. Okay, so like all really in this, like, small local area. Very close. Now, all the sightings prior to the wine bar seemed to come from local. So I think police take those a tad more seriously. And they actually only get this wine bar siting after that Crime Watch episode airs, like weeks out from when she went missing. So I'm not saying they don't believe it.

I just don't know how much they were able to follow up on it and what people would remember even if they did all those weeks later. But, you know, like I was thinking to me, it sounds like Trevelyne was waiting for someone to pick her up in a car. Like if you look at this on a map, this corner is at this big intersection where you would stop. And the side that she is on, I mean, I guess either side you could pop in. But to me, the way she's like in and out, in and out, it's like you can't miss. the car, right? Because like if the light turns green or something, or even if it was a green light, you got like two seconds to pop in. There's something about it to me that's like, okay, was she waiting for someone to pick her up, less like meeting somebody on the sidewalk? Was it the

smartly dressed man who picked her up? I mean, if the siting at the wine bar is accurate, I would think it had to be. Also, it seems most likely, since we know she's spending so much time with this guy for like so much of Friday. Yeah, I was going to say he's in all of these sightings, But he's just known as the smartly dressed man. Like none of the witnesses. No, not even the locals. And this is still when her husband is out of town, right? Right.

So this brings me to Saturday, June 16th. Again, 1990. Sometime that morning, a woman who owned a local market told police that Trevelyne came in to buy some milk. And something small she noticed is that when Trevelyne opened her little purse. And when I say purse, think more like tiny wallet than full bag. The shop owner said that she saw a stack of cash. Now, Richard and police found her actual, like, big purse handbag in her shop. And some reports say that money she'd had earlier in the day has never been found.

But, like, don't spiral just yet, though. There might be an innocent explanation. Now, it seems Trevelyne made it to her store, opened up the shop like normal, because that morning, more than two dozen customers come in and out of the antique shop. Even a friend stops by to bring Trevelyne some fresh flowers sometime before noon. And this friend says, like, everything seemed totally normal. They chatted a little bit. They had coffee.

They even made plans to have a girl's night the next week. And it is after that friend leaves when the mystery really begins. A couple tells investigators that they were in Trevelyne's shop shortly after her friend left. And they saw Trevelyne like huddled in conversation at the back of her store with a man who matches our smartly addressed mystery man description. I don't know what they were talking about or if the couple could even hear anything, but they don't report anything else wild. They say they leave the shop, and then the next thing we know for sure is that sometime between

12 and 1, Trevelyne's brother stopped by the antique shop and found the door lock and that be back in two minutes sign on the door, the one that Richard would discover later that night. Now, one article I found mentioned that this brother made two stops at the shop, like some 20 minutes park, and the sign was up both times. And that wasn't a red flag to him? No, so, like, Trevelyne had this slogan for her store. It said, I'll buy anything, and she really meant it. So it wasn't weird for her to head out in the middle of the day multiple times a day

to go meet someone for a sale or to scout out items that she could buy or resell, whatever, or even just to leave for lunch. From what I can tell, it seems like she was the sole owner operator, so there's, like, nobody else to cover. So totally possible that he could have missed her twice. And I say this because right about the same time as the second visit, so this would have been about 1240, we get a really firm siding of Trevelyne. A passerby sees her locking up her shop key in hand. I mean, if she had anything else on her like a purse or whatever, it wasn't big enough for anyone to notice.

And they say she's heading in the direction of the town center, like where all of those sightings were the day before. And then someone in town says that right about that same time is when she stops by the local market and she buys an end. Apple and a banana. Now, there is about a two-hour window where no one reports anything, sightings or interactions in her store or out. And then at 2.30 p.m., this woman who is familiar with Trevelyne says that she spotted Trevelyne near her own house, like Trevelyne's house, which same as everything else. Like, we're still within walking distance.

I mean, if you're looking at a map, basically, you have like her shop on the right, you have the town center in the middle, and then her house is just a little to the left of town center. Now she doesn't see her go in or out of her house. She's just walking right near it, heading back in the direction of town and the direction of her shop. Alone? Yeah, she's alone at this time. So do we think she's just like in and out of her shop a ton that day? Or is this back in two minutes just like her BRB sign? Like I'll be back at some point. Two minutes doesn't really like discourage customers. Like it seems like a short amount of time. So this is what's so interesting to me, well, two things actually. So first, she had other signs that she would put up if she was going to be gone for longer, like be back in a half hour, back in two hours.

Oh, so like the two minutes is like specific for the situation. Yeah. So if she went back, she could have like quickly hung another sign to say that she was going to be out longer, but she didn't. And it's not like something happened to her in two minutes after she left because we know she's like fine and well at 2.30. So she didn't come back? Well, this brings me to my second thing. Interestingly, the police find something that maybe indicate she had made it back to the shop at some point after her 1240 trip into town to buy fruit. There is a banana peel in the store's trash can. Like a fresh banana peel? Well, it's not fresh by the time they're seeing it. Right. She's not even reported missing until like 10 hours after she purchased it.

The shop is searched after that. So was it the same banana peel? Can't tell you. I mean, people spent a lot of time pointing to this as a sign that she made it back to the shop. But I'm like, then where's the apple? Like, nobody talks about the apple. Right. Not even mentioned.

So I'm assuming it was never found, but I don't know. And, like, did they find the banana peel in her store, but the Apple or Apple Corps was in her house? Like, there's never been any reporting about them searching Trevelyne's house or what they found if they did. Yeah, and kind of like without the apple, the banana doesn't mean. mean anything? Not to me, yeah. So all that to say, a lot of people think she came back because of the banana, but I think that might just be a red her. Now, this 1230 sighting is regarded as the last confirmed sighting of traveling. So what could have happened to her in the six-minute walk between her house and her store on a bustling Saturday afternoon in a busy town center? Well, maybe some of the unconfirmed sightings can point to that. Reporting in the leader says that five minutes after she was leaving her house, walking in the direction of her shop, a woman matching her description was seen walking on the main road right off of market. It's called A5.

But this woman is walking in the opposite direction, like heading away from town. And then someone matching her description is seen again around 345, even further down A5, farther away from town. So if that sighting is true, she could have walked away. Sure, but, I mean, literally walk because she left her stuff behind, including her car, which would have gotten her a lot farther, a lot faster. And there's one more unconfirmed sighting that will probably make you realize why all these last ones are unconfirmed. A woman says that at 4 p.m. on Saturday, she might have spotted Trevelyne inside her store, possibly with a man, but she only caught a glimpse in the store so she could. can't be 100% sure of anything. So police end up not really considering this a fully credible sighting.

But if it was her, if there was a man, it actually might have been the younger man, if you remember him. Oh, the one that the gate at the other shop. Yeah. So all the sightings Friday and early Saturday were of the older, smartly dressed man. But just before 6 p.m., there was a woman driving past Trevelyne's shop, and she said that there was a younger man in a trench coat standing outside the antique shop looking suspicious and she thinks, thinks maybe that the door to Trevelyne shop was open. Now, to be clear, we never get a sketch of this

guy and nobody says that he's the same younger man as the one from two days before. Like, to me, it's just, it's odd. And you said the store was locked when our husband found it, right? Or like, the front door was locked at least. Right. And he didn't even have an extra key. He only ended up getting him because he went around to the back where that door was open. Which, by the way, that's kind of a red flag, right? It seems like it to me. Like, if you left your antique shop unattended and you're going to take the time to lock up when you leave. Like, lock up when you leave then.

Exactly. Like, I keep having this gnawing feeling that maybe she did make it back to the shop and then something happened there. Maybe the banana peel really is the one that she bought at lunch. Maybe that's why her compact was out and open, like she was touching up. Like, she got interrupted. it. Something happened and she was taken out the back. And maybe the back in two minute sign was put up because it was just the one that was sitting out and someone just like threw that sign up because it was right there in her handwriting. They were just trying to buy themselves some time. And I don't know. There's just a lot that doesn't add up if Trevelyne just walked away, which is maybe one of the many reasons why pretty early on police openly say that they suspect foul play. And they say something really. really specific to a reporter with the Daily Post in November of 1991. A senior detective says that he believes she was abducted and murdered, possibly after getting into a car with someone she knew.

I don't know where the car thing comes from. I think there's loads about this case that have never been shared. But there is one other report I can maybe tie this back to. I didn't include this in the timeline even with the other unconfirmed sightings because those at least were reported and then re-reported. a few times. This one I only found one time in an article from the Daily Telegraph date July 13, 1992. And this one says that after she was seen walking away from town, so this would have been that 230 sighting, or maybe the 345, but more likely the 230. After that, two people saw a woman who they say look like Trevelyne in the passenger seat of a car leaving town,

and at least one of the people who saw this said that the woman looked upset. So that's what we know. Okay. Let's talk theories. What happened to Trevelyne? What and who kept her from coming back in those two minutes? Well, the obvious place to start is with the mystery man. Police soon begin to wonder if Trevelyne met with Falplay at the hands of the smartly dressed man. Because try as they might. They could not identify this mystery man. So why? Why? Why wouldn't he come forward unless he had something to hide? Right. Which, by the way, it's not like this story was easy to hide from.

Local news outlets were all over this. And then you had Crime Watch come in and take the story to an even bigger stage. So in the first year, this mystery man sketch was everywhere. And still, nobody comes forward to say, like, they even know who he is. Well, he just doesn't come forward. I mean, they get plenty of calls from people who think that they might know the guy's identity. I mean, at least one person suspects that it might. might be this other antique dealer who was in town that day, which honestly would make so much

sense. Like, we know she often goes out to buy antiques. We know she had money on her that day. Yeah, like maybe she just had sold something or was about to purchase something. Yeah. It seems like the most logical solution. But all the names of antique dealers that they get put forward to them, like they're able to quickly look into and rule out. Which I kind of don't buy the dealer thing. Like, if this guy was just there to sell her something, why would he have hung around with her for like two days and like what the goal is to take that wad of money she was carrying with her on Saturday? Like, why so long? Or maybe there was like something from her store and he's trying to like get her comfortable. Maybe he was a buyer. I don't know if there was ever like

a full inventory of the items that she had in stock or like things that she was expecting. So I don't think we have specific things missing or anything. Like again, this is just a possibility. And one that police really buy into for a while. I mean, a bunch of news reports. to have them saying that they think the smartly dressed man could be in the antiques world. And they even imply that the way he was dressed had to have had him there on business because one detective told a paper like, I mean, think about it. It's Saturday. Most people have this day off.

Why is this dude still in a suit with a briefcase? Unless he's like they're conducting business. Exactly. But they go through that world pretty thoroughly and they don't find this guy. So mystery man, probably not in the antiques world after all. So call me cynical, which you do a lot. Yeah, obviously. Cynical crime juggies, like the same thing.

But isn't an affair like an equally likely possibility? Her husband's out of town. She's seen around town with this other guy who like, I don't know. He's not running to the police to give his story. It just like has me very side eye. The rumor mill in this small town is definitely churning. And it seems like there was some gossip that maybe Trevelyne was having an affair or affairs plural. But police never speak on this public.

I mean, people are actually quite careful in news reports who just say that she had a lot of friends both male and female. Like, that's it. But let's speculate for a second. What if she was having an affair? And what if she was seeing this man while her husband was away working on their retirement home? Something went south. Lord only knows what, but police keep calling this a murder investigation. So let's call it what it is.

Was he from out of town? Like, it's wild to me that nobody would have seen this man before with her. Like, just in the couple of days leading up to her disappearance. Okay, fine, maybe. But they have never tied this mystery man to a lover. And also, like, this woman is everywhere with this man. Like, if this isn't a fair, she is not hiding it. Right.

Like, she's seeing people who know her that are, like, saying, oh, she usually would have hit. Like, she waves. She usually would have waved. Like, we know this woman. They're out and about on town together. Like, something about this man being a lover just doesn't feel right to me. I mean, unless she was just totally checked out of her marriage, I mean, if she's planning on running off with this guy before Richard comes back into town,

maybe who cares who sees you? Maybe you're leaving breadcrumbs for your family. So, like, they don't have to wonder where you went or if you're by yourself or whatever. But then take your stuff with you, right? Yeah. Make a phone call when they don't get the hint and your story is national news. Yes. And for those who know her, leaving them without answers is the part that doesn't add up more than anything else.

Like I said, I mean, for the first few years, like her son Richard was adamant that his mom would not have left on her own. First few years, did he end up changing his tune? No. So tragically, like nine years after she went missing, he actually died of a heart attack. I mean, he was really young, 37. Oh, my God. But one of Trevelyne's brothers, Len, he's been really vocal in her son Richard's place.

He doesn't see a world where his sister just up and leaves without a word. And listen, I came into this case fresh off of listening to, there's this podcast called The Vanishing of Janice Rose. So, like, I had a really solid example of what leaves. a life looked like, and all the people left behind who swore, like, that you never would. But, I mean, it could be the case here. Like, what do they know? Like, I mean, might not be anything more than we do. Even though it's always a possibility that she ran off without taking anything with her. Statistically, it's not probable. Like, it's so unlikely. So then did mystery man kill

her? To me, that's the only reason that he wouldn't come forward. He's either with her or he did something to her. Or he helped her get away. Listen, this is like a little fringe. I'm literally like making up it as I go, but there are like some weird pieces to this that I don't think get enough weight. So for 10 years, they're looking for Mystery Man. They get nothing. Travely just poof, vanished into thin air. But then something weird happens. In 2001, police formed something like a little task force to re-examine this cold case. One room, 10 officers, all dedicated to tracking Trevelynes and movements in the three days before she vanished.

It kind of sounds like writing a crime junkie episode. Exactly. And from this, they drop a bombshell. They say the sketch of Mystery Man should be ignored. What? They give us nothing as to what happened, why the sketch is wrong. What about it is wrong? Just like, just kidding, disregard.

Well, yeah, here's what's so weird. Lots of people will talk about this case in a way that implies Mystery Man is no longer important. But that's not what I read. Nobody says he's not involved or he's no longer important to the case. They just say that the sketch is inaccurate. I have a list of follow-up questions because they had so many witnesses. I know.

So was the sketch just wrong? And a decade on, they don't have much hope for witnesses giving them something useful. Or did they ID him, but he turned out to not be important? And again, to be clear, that is not what they're saying. Wait, they're not saying anything. Right. But many years later, when the documentary in the footsteps of killers is produced, or they do a single episode on this case, a woman named Linda is interviewed.

And she says that shortly after Trevelyne went missing, she began dating one of Trevelyne's brothers, Phil. They were together for like five years following the time she disappeared. And when she's being interviewed, she's like, I don't know what all this mystery band talk is all about. That man, that sketch is without a doubt her brother, Phil. Wait, what? I'm confused.

Girl, me too. How would no one know it was her brother? So Trevelyne has two brothers, right? Len and Phil. Okay. Len lived in town, but Phil traveled for work a ton apparently. So locals probably wouldn't recognize him. Mystery. Got it. Yeah. But in an article I found, it says that he was in town that week from Switzerland. And listen, the side by side pictures of

them are interesting. Oh, that's the same man. Yeah. Okay. And in every picture that this ex is showing in that episode, Phil is in a dark suit jacket. I mean, honestly, this makes sense to me. She's all All over town with this guy doesn't really add up for a secret love affair. Nothing to hide with your brother? Yeah, there's nothing to hide if it's just your brother. So if it's true, she could have walked away. The problem I have, though, with this, okay, it's Phil. How is this not confirmed?

Like, Phil had to have heard about Mystery Man. He had to have mentioned to police all the times that he saw her when he was in town if that was him. Because that would be, like, very, very solidly confirmed sightings. because, like, her brother is with her the whole time. Right. Like, in my mind, I'm like, again, Linda's like, oh, this is for sure her brother. And I'm like, I feel like police would know that. So is this terrible police work and also her brother, Phil, is living under Iraq?

Or my only third option for Mystery Man, what if she didn't leave with him at all? What if he just helped her leave? And listen, I'll admit this one is the most far-fetched. But if Mystery Man is Phil, and this wasn't the most bungled investigation of all time, that is the only thing that makes sense to me. The only reason he would be the guy who's seen with her over and over for days, but then not admit it, is if he knows where she is or is hiding her or helped her or something. And is, like, protecting her by not saying anything.

Yes? Question mark? I don't, you know what I mean? It's the only thing that, like, it's the only way Phil makes sense to me. Okay. where's Phil now? Can't please just talk to him? No.

Phil's dead now. Okay. I only have more questions. I know. If it was him, if she did leave willingly, whether he helped her or not, what's the why? Like, why is she walking away from her whole life? Like, with his help or without it? There's no good explanation for that.

I mean, all of the reporting talks about her being in this happy marriage. She just opened this shop within, like, the last couple of years. She's planning for retirement. Yeah, like a new little house. New grandbaby, on paper, life is 10 out of 10. But the other bombshell that Phil's X dropped in that In the Footsteps of Killers episode is she says none of that is true, that Treveleen wasn't happy. And she says that Richard wasn't all that nice of a guy.

So, I don't know, maybe now that her son was married, had a family of his own, she wanted out while she still had some life to live. But just get divorced. I mean, it seems like a way easier solution if that's what she wanted, but maybe it wasn't an option. Or maybe she just didn't want to go that route. Barring a situation where she was afraid of Richard, I would think that she'd want to take some stuff with her to start her, like money, her car.

I mean, maybe she had someone else who was helping her, Paula Phil or a lover who is or isn't our mystery man. Or maybe she'd been preparing for this. I mean, remember, so there were those rumors of an affair, We're multiples of fares in town or whatever. Well, in the footsteps of killers episode, they actually talk of at least one affair like it is a sure thing. And they say that they learned she had actually gotten an inheritance of like 10,000 pounds from a man that she'd been having an affair with who passed away. Now, I don't know when that was or if that money was still accounted for, but like, if true, pretty interesting in my book.

Yeah, that does kind of change things. But again, I think part of the reason I'm like, was it? It's because it doesn't seem to change things for police. They say Travelyne was met with some sort of foul play at the hands of someone she knew, which makes me go back to did they do a terrible job the first time around. Either ignore this or not dig deep enough to learn this, or maybe, like I said before, maybe it's not that interesting as the documentary of the episode presents it to be. So if this inheritance thing is real, I imagine Richard had to have known about it, right?

Like, I can't imagine that went over well. He might have. I mean, maybe that's why he seems so willing to accept that she just left. I mean, Richard consistently is the one who talks to Trevelyne in early news reports, like, as though she's alive, asking her to come home, implying that she left on her own, while her son and her brother don't even seem to entertain the idea. But if you believe that, if Richard believed that she left, if he knew, like, why not allude to the fact that she had a reason to go instead of saying that you guys had like this great happy life, happy marriage or whatever?

I mean, to save face? Maybe. But there's another reason you do that too, if you want to divert attention. Which brings me to theory number three. What if Richard did something to his wife? Going back to 2001, after they brought that group of investigators to, together. This is the same time that they said the sketch is inaccurate. They also arrest Richard. Oh, I'm sorry. You could have led with that. Well, I'll tell you why I didn't. According to the BBC,

after some questioning, Richard is released that same day without facing any charges. Police never call him a suspect. They also never explicitly say that he's cleared. The only official statement we could find is that according to the BBC, they released him, quote, pending further inquiries. And if they ever questioned him again, it, again, didn't result in any charges. Now, the timing sure feels suspect to me. Yeah, I mean, you can see my face. Like, hey, this picture we said was so important for a decade. Forget about that. Probably not accurate. Husband is arrested. The timing feels calculated. Yeah. To me, at least. It feels very like, hint, hint, wink, wink. This is the direction we're looking.

without actually saying anybody is officially anything? I can't put words in police's mouth. I can only tell you what they did. Okay. Because they never say anything about Richard and I don't have access to the police file. So I can't tell you what they were thinking or even, like, I would die to know what came of the questioning

or like what questions they asked. Yeah, I mean, to be a fly on that wall. And listen, I have zero evidence backing this up, but I wonder if in 2001, like, could they have talked to Phil's X for the first? time. Like, it makes sense to me that she would have never been spoken to early on because it seems like they met right after Trevelyne. Right. She didn't know Trevelyne. Yeah. So day one, investigators miss her. Even people a couple of months on are like, oh, like, why would this new girlfriend who wasn't

even around have anything? Like, just skip her. Yeah. But if she got in touch with investigators 10, 11 years on and started telling them things, the two bombs that she drops in that episode would explain to me the exact two things that happened, right? Like, 1,000%. Bomb one. She says, I think mystery man is Phil. Picture gone. And then bomb two, I didn't tell you the whole thing. Yes, she said that their marriage wasn't great, whatever, whatever. She also said that sometime after Trevelyne disappeared, furniture and carpet were moved out of

Trevelyne Richards' home. Wait, but how does she know this? Bill told her about the carpet and furniture. And the two of them thought that it was so weird, because if you still think your wife is going to come back, you're talking to her. I was saying, you're asking her to come. back into news. Yeah, getting rid of a bunch of stuff in your house is probably going to be a shock to her. Like, is now really the time? And when was he supposed to doing this? Like, was he moving it to the retirement house, maybe? No, no, because he never ends up moving to the retirement house. He

ends up selling it and he ends up converting her antique shop to a residential housing, like rents it out. So, I mean, I guess TBD timing, maybe he was moving some of the furniture to the shop to furnish the apartment. I don't know. And I don't know exactly. when the girlfriend heard about this or like when this exactly was supposed to happen. I just know shortly after she went missing. She also says that after her and Phil were together, Richard would come by the pub that she worked at to talk to her. And looking back, she thinks that he was trying to find out what she knew

or what Trevelyne's brothers were maybe talking to her about. Like a temperature check. Yeah, but she said it was so weird because like in all the times that he did talk to her, he showed no emotion. Never asked questions. Never said that he loved his wife, missed his wife. which she found weird. But I don't know.

So here's the thing. Like, I know I teed this up being like, you know, her two things. Phil is mystery man, Richard removing carpet furniture. And like they're not being happy. Yeah. Maybe those two things explain what police did in 2001. But I also can't make those two things work together. Phil as mystery man only makes sense to me if he was like helping traveling get away.

Right. Which no one ever suggests to be true. But then if he helped her get away, why is Richard moving furniture? Then Richard has nothing to do with it. Yeah. And even if he did that, it's not suspicious. Right. It has nothing to do with why she's gone.

This case makes no sense. I mean, you see why police is calling this one of the most confusing cases. Their department has ever worked, ever seen. Yeah. So, okay, can we just, like, pause for a second and, like, go down a path with me. If Richard is involved in some way, break it down. Is his alibi of being out of town bogus? I'm not going to go down a path with you.

I'm going to take you down the rabbit hole with me. Let's go. So Richard is supposed to be in Rudlid, right, an hour away. Police had initially reported that he didn't get back until 5 p.m. And I read somewhere that workers could confirm that he was at this bungalow where the work was being done. But I only saw that in like one article. And there was some stuff even saying that Richard and Trevelyne only had one car. So he like couldn't have gotten back.

But like, in my mind I'm like, but he did. Because he got in the shop. Whether it's at five or whatever, we know he gets back. Like maybe he got a ride. I don't know. But anyways, if he's not back until five, he's in the clear since everyone believes something happened to her around 2.30 when she was last seen near her house. Well, fast freaking forward, at some point, there are changes in news reports about when Richard

gets home without any real explanation as to why all of a sudden it's changed. Sometimes people call it lunchtime that he's back. In that TV episode I was talking about, they get more specific and say that a police source told them Richard was seen at a local pub at 2.30? 2.30? Like, exactly when she goes missing? Yes. Now, a bunch of blogs that I've seen go on the other extreme, and they say that he was for sure in Rutland,

and actually he kept calling the house and shop, and when he couldn't get her, he called a neighbor to go check. And they're the first to realize that the shop is locked. They call and tell him. He calls police maybe from Ruddlin. But for the life of me, I have no idea where these blogs are getting that information because nothing even close to that is in the news reports that I have access to. But even if he was there that whole time and calling the neighbor, I'm not even sure that puts him in the clear in my mind. I mean, without knowing the timing of the calls, I can't say if he did or didn't have time to go back and forth, like between his bungalow and their home.

Did they ever do any of the searches for her up where the bungalow was? Yes, but not when or why. you might think. And really, this is when and where our case becomes active, like in present day and gets exceptionally more weird. So before I tell you what I'm about to tell you, let me set the stage a little bit. So there's this wild tip that police get in March 2019. Based on all the reporting that was out there before, it seemed like these two men got a tip given to them that led them to believe they knew where Trevelyne's body was. And a ton happens after this. Police search. They don't find anything. Then something even stranger happens. And then like a lot of

people just end up riding these guys off. Like, oh, they're just making it up. But when I was looking at this case, I'm like, why? Like they have no connection to Trevely, no reason to be doing this. They don't gain anything. And they are still so convinced that their information is right. They say they have pictures. But of course, the pictures aren't published anywhere. So, obviously, I need to get my hands on those pictures. And what I really wanted to know is where did this tip originate from? Yeah. That is never reported on.

And to me, it feels pretty important. Like, can I solve Trevelyne's case from another country? Probably not. But am I going to try? 1,000%. I couldn't call myself a crime junkie if I didn't. And this felt like the one place I knew I might actually get answers. Because unlike the rest of this story where everyone I wanted to talk to,

to has already passed and can't give me the details I need. These two brothers, Andrew Sutton, an accountant, and Lee Sutton, a carpenter. They're still alive and have connections to this little place you might have heard of for the first time today. Rudlin. So I asked our reporter, Taylor Hart, to track them down and ask them how this tip came out. And this is a story that in Andrew's own words is stranger than fiction. So get ready. Andrew Sutton told us that in 2019, his brother Lee, Lee's the carpenter, he was doing some

construction work on a bungalow in Rutland. And when Lee mentions this to Andrew, Andrew thinks of Travelyne. Her case is like local lore in North Wales. And when Andrew hears bungalow in Rutland, like to him, there is only one bungalow in Rutland. Right. Obviously, that's not true. So not surprising when Lee brings it up to the owner and he's like, no, no, no, this isn't the same bungalow that Trevelyne and Richard owned. But actually, this guy that he's talking to remembers the case well, too. And he said that Richard used to spend quite a lot of time at the same bar that this guy did at the Rudland Golf Club, which like, nothing burger to Lee, right?

Like, Lee didn't really know about this case. Like, he's like, okay, cool. He goes on with his day. But as he's packing up at the end of the day, he's making small talk with this guy asking him, like, oh, well, do you still go to that pub at the golf club? And the guy's like, no, you know, I actually stopped going to Rutland Golf Club because it started to smell inside. And Lee said in that moment, he literally dropped whatever was in his hand because he had heard that before. So he said that back in 1990, Young Buck in his 20s, he was in the construction trade then, like he is later.

But he says back then he did work for this older guy. And every day, this guy did lunch at the golf. golf club. Now this guy, again, he seems to be retired or whatever. Lee said that he used to work at the golf club back in the day. So this was like his spot. Lee knew his routine. He would leave. He'd be gone for about an hour or so for lunch. Come back. Well, one day in 1990, he leaves for his lunch at the club, but he's back within like 15 minutes. So Lee's like, why back so soon? And this guy said that there was this terrible smell in the building. He like could not take it. Now, he confirmed Guy in 1990 and Guy in 2019 did not know each other.

Like, he asked 2019 Guy. So he's got two separate people over the course of almost 30 years telling him about this horrible smell at the club in the summer of 1990. Now, his brother, Andrew Sutton, told us that 2019 guy said it wasn't just him that was bothered by the smell. A lot of people were complaining about it. So much so that they complained to staff at the golf club. And he said the golf club was adding an extension at the time. So employees reached out to the contractors. And the contractors were basically like, oh, you know, an animal must have just like gotten in under the floorboards and died.

Is that where the smell was coming from? Like, is it where the construction was? So no, that's the weird part. But like, from what they were hearing, it was just like nobody wanted to deal. They were kind of all satisfied saying, like, listen, had to be an animal that died. It's decomposing. Yes, the smell is horrible, but it's eventually just going to go away on its own. So, as you can imagine, after Lee hears this, he immediately calls his brother and is like, hey, I asked about that bungalow, not the one you're thinking of, but you're never going to believe this.

And both of them are just kind of like stunned. So they decided to go on a field trip. Like they got to see this thing for themselves, right? Like, because there's no way. Two random brothers, one who'd never even heard about the case, they're not going to find something that police haven't. But what if? Again, this is like sounding like the creation of a crime junkie episode. So in the most responsible fashion, they actually go to police first.

They make sure that they have this information to check it out. And then they wait. Surely there's going to be a search or they're going to hear something back. Hey, FYI, we looked into it. It's nothing like things for the tip. But they don't. Even when they try following up with police, police are like, listen, we may look into it. We may not.

It's like not your problem to worry about. by, which isn't enough for them. Like, they got to be in their bonnet about this thing now, because Lee has been catching up on Trevelyne's case in this time. He watched the Crime Watch special that was filmed within two months of Trevelyne going missing. And he sure didn't like how Richard, who, by the way, is already dead in 2019 when all this is happening, Lee doesn't like how Richard keeps slipping into past tense now and then,

talking about his missing wife. Which, like, we've seen before. And it always makes me side-eye because, like, you would have to consciously correct yourself if you knew something. I know. And I honestly, when I first watched it, like, and I'm like The Crime Junkie, I didn't even pick up on the past tense thing my first go around. The thing that, like, really kind of drove me up a wall is I noticed that in all of Richard's interviews, anytime he, like, talks about the police investigation, he's, like, praising them. Like, they did everything they could. Like, they're doing a great job.

And maybe they did. I'm just saying I've never seen a case where a missing person is never found over decades. And the family is like, you did all you could do. Like, there was, like, I'm not saying there's a first time for everything. But, like, there's usually, like, some hesitation, some, like, question marks. Yeah. Like, we could have done this earlier. Can we explore other options?

But, like, the. But anyways, all that to say, like, they're honing in on their own things. And the Sutton brothers are not going to let this go. I don't know if they would have called themselves crime junkies before. But Lee and Andrew, you are crime junkies. So at some point, Lee decides to go take a look at this floor for himself. Like, what's what? Could a body be down there?

Could it just be an animal? And when he does, he doesn't think that there's any way an animal could have gotten under this floor accidentally and died causing this smell. He thinks the only way something dead wound up under those floor boards would be if it was put there by someone. And they are going to figure out what it is if it is the last thing they do. And they know exactly how. So this building has an airbrick right near where this smell originated from. And I actually had to look up. I didn't know what an airbrick was.

It is exactly what it sounds. It's like shaped like a brick, but it has holes. So like it's bent. Air can go through it. Yes. Right there in the name, Ashley. Now, the holes are too small to actually see anything. And it's obviously like dark under there.

But Andrew knows a tool. that they can use. So one Saturday morning in March of 2019, they go to a hardware store and they buy a Stanley fiber optic LED inspection camera, which is basically this tiny little thing that you hold. It has a screen on the front and then it's like a little tube. Like a scope. Yeah. That's the word.

Man, today. So it has this little scope so you can put it in tiny holes. Okay. So they buy this. They go straight to the golf club, specifically the bar. And they're like sitting there inside, like putting the batteries in, playing around with it, figuring out how it worked and coming up with a little white lie because they felt like if they told the people at the club that they're going to go hunting around for a dead body like might not be

welcome at the club yeah they're not going to super into it so when the guy at the club is like oh what are you doing with that they make up a story and one of them is like oh you know my brother's going to buy this house and I want to check that the floors haven't like brought it out or whatever do you mind if I just test it out here and the guy's like sure whatever go for it Brett okay I am going to show you the pictures. These have never been published before anywhere in the world. And this is what they see seconds after putting the camera through the air vent. Oh, my God. I wish the quality was better here. The Stanley camera doesn't record it like that camera thing on it is just a viewer. Yeah. So what you're looking at is pictures that the brothers took of like the viewer.

screen or whatever. Okay. I don't need it to be any clearer. Ashley, I think I'm looking at a human skeleton. I know. And even like the printouts, I feel like don't do it justice. The second I saw it, I'm like, I mean, I feel like skull, eyes, spine. There's like maybe a hole in the skull. It actually, that's like more pronounced when you print it out. I mean, like, I don't know. I looked at this and I saw it in the same way that I think that they did. I saw it instantly. I was a little surprised that apparently our, so our reporter saw it too. So did another reporter we have, who's a former detective. But apparently everyone else in the office, like, didn't. They were like, oh, yeah, no, there's nothing there. So, like, I don't know if I'm the one who's, like,

losing it. And it's also one of those things, like, am I being biased? Like, I know what I'm looking for, so I'm seeing it, one of those things. But I mean, what, it doesn't look like anything else. At least not to me. And listen, I told you, these have never been published anywhere before, even though these men have talked to news outlets. Wait, why not? I don't know. Like, when we talked to Lee, he said that they tried to get these pictures out there. Like, they've had interviews scheduled with other reporters who just ghosted them.

And then when they did a sit-down with one journalist who actually heard them out, they never ended up publishing anything. So Lee says they feel like they just keep, like, hitting brick wall after brick wall until we called. Now, they gave the photos to us no problem. Like, they're dying for someone to take them more seriously. seriously, it makes no sense to me. And listen, I mean, like, obviously I haven't been able to authenticate these photos. I asked the brothers if any other people have tried, and they said no. Truly, when they were first just like talking about this and I hadn't seen them, I was like,

you know what, like, this is going to be so vague. You probably can't see anything. That's why everyone writes them off. Like, it's probably why everyone does want to publish them. Because they're blurry and it's like, yeah, vague. I know, but then I see them and I'm like, what are we doing here, people? So, okay, back to the story. They stick the scope down the air brick. They see this. What do they do then? Well, they're in shock for a minute, as you can imagine.

But they leave. So they said that they left. It was like a weekend. And for like the weekend, they're like staring at these pictures. Like, this can't be real. But like they really felt like it was real. So they took the pictures on March 14th. On March 19th, they come back to the golf club and they tell the people at the club what

it is they found and they need to call police. And Lee says that the guy that they were telling this to at the club just, quote, went to pieces and was like, well, how do you know? Who is it? How long has she been there? And Lee obviously said he's like, you know, I don't know. We just know what our photos show. There appears to be a body under the floor. He said at that point, there was this other woman who appeared. She seemed to be in charge at the golf club as well. And Lee said that she was asking about how this might affect their business. Now, we tried calling the golf club ourselves to ask a manager about how all of this went down. But when we did, the manager was already gone for the day or out of the office or in London and they have not called us back yet.

But we do know that staff at the golf club and the Sutton brothers called police when Andrew and Lee showed them the photos. And Andrew says that within a half hour, a large number of officers from North Carolina, Northern Wales PDs show up. They show them where they think the body is, show them the pictures, and Lee says that he followed police inside to this room right above where they spotted the body. And guess what's on the floor? This trap door, it's like two feet by three feetish, they estimate. But there's this big heavy freezer over part of it. And Lee got a chance to get on the floor and really get like a good look at it. And here's the really interesting part. He said that it looked like it had not been opened in a long time.

I think the interesting part is that police are just letting him examine this with them. I think he, like, snuck in. I guess he was wearing something that, like, maybe similar to what you might be wearing if you were actually going to go in that crawl space to collect the body. And there were, like, so many people, he kind of just, like, roops, slipped right in there. But once they realized who he was, they did kick him out. But importantly, he said that as he's leaving, he can hear them, like, prying the door open. and he could hear the nail screeching in a way that you only hear when something is, like, decades old.

And he's the carpenter brother, right? So, like, he kind of knows what he's talking about here. Yeah, and he's like, I'm walking out and I'm like, this is it. They're going to find her. But this is like when he's getting shootout. So they make him go outside where Andrew was waiting. And then they're moved even farther away from where the work is being done. And it's weird, this officer who is leading them away,

Lee says that he says the strangest thing to him. He says that their photos would never hold up in court. And Lee's like, court. Like, who's talking about court? Like, what? It's just weird. But, I don't know, in the moment, whatever. So they're in the clubhouse just waiting.

And the officer in charge comes back to Lee and Andrew and says, hey, we want you to put your camera back in. Just like, see what you can see. So they go back. They put their camera back in. And this is what they see. Where'd it go? Where'd what go?

Don't do that. Where's the skeleton? Police say there never was a skeleton. They say they found nothing. Now, that's what we get in the official reporting when police talk to news outlets. We searched, we found nothing. Andrew and Lee told us, though, that as they were pulling the camera out, I mean, confused as hell about what was going on. Yeah.

They said, like, again, as it's coming out, they spot something. a bone, maybe like 10 inches long, and Lee starts getting all excited. He's like, there, okay, do you see this? Yeah. And he shows the camera to the detective inspector. And they get no explanation. Like nothing. They are just asked to leave, go to the station for statements, which they do.

They go. They give statements. And they leave thinking that they're going to hear something about the bone that they saw all together, but they don't. The next day, they just get a call and police say there is nobody. But then what am I looking at back here? What is that? Feel crazy?

Yeah. The brothers feel crazy. Like I said before, they've met with reporters. They've met with people who, the ones who did that like episode on this case. But they feel like they're screaming into the void. Yeah, Ashley, there was a body there. According to police, there was not. But if these pictures are real, then...

Then I would think someone moved her body. And that's exactly what... The Sutton Brothers think happened. Specifically, they think someone in the police department removed it. They're pretty vocal about this theory. And Lee posts about it all the time on his social media. But of course, I mean, there's no real evidence to support this. Right.

Like, if there's nobody, there's nobody to remove. And we don't have a statement from the police department on this. So, like, why the police, though? My first thought went to someone at the golf club. I mean, there was like four or five days between. them putting the scope down, taking the pictures, and then when they go back

to call police. It seems like that's what seemed like the obvious answer to me. But I mean, talking to the brothers, like what makes them

so convinced of their theory is they always point back to the trap door. They say that there's absolutely no other way to get to that spot where they think the skeleton was other than the trap door.

And Lee is adamant that when he saw that trap door and heard it being removed, he knew that that thing had been shut tight when police opened it. And that when they're open, it. That was the first time that I had been done in like decades. But how would they remove a

skeleton with all of those people? I mean, you said there was like a crowd. Dude, with no one noticing. I don't know. And also, why? Like, a cover-up like this would take a lot of people. Why would a lot of people have a vested interest in this? I was to say, and to protect who? Like, there's a lot of question marks as like what the motive would be to do this. To me, the only person who wins, if she's not found there, is the golf club. Right. But again, the brothers don't leave a lot of room for who. They point squarely at police and they even end up filing a formal complaint against the police, criticizing their handling of the case. The independent office of police conduct reviewed the complaint and then sent the matter back to the police department

that was being, that they're making the complaint against. Like, listen, this is like an internal matter. You guys should handle it. And the police department is like, we reject this complaint. This complaint on this case that didn't happen to them. Case closed on their end. So that's it. The brothers are written off as loony randos who imagined this whole thing while I'm over here like, but did they? Yeah, I mean, let's hang out here just a minute longer. If there really was a body under the floorboards, if it really was put there the summer of 1990, if it was Trevelyne, to me that kind of points to just one person.

Mm-hmm. And Andrew and Lee have a whole theory about this. They say that they've heard Richard and Trevelyne were having problems and that she was actually on the verge of leaving him, which they think led to some sort of altercation and ultimately her death. And we know his bungalow was close by the golf club. And he, by his own omission, says he's in Rutland when she goes missing. Right. Like that was his alibi. The whole thing started because someone who used to go there says in 1990, Richard, drank at the golf club bar. And we weren't able to verify this, but Andrew and Lee say they even believe that Richard was working as a handyman at the

golf club that summer. What? I know. Wait, what did he do for a living? Like, was he always a handyman? He worked in maintenance. I think it was like at like a chemical plant. So like, it's totally plausible that he could have been doing work there. Again, we haven't heard back from anyone

at the golf club, so we haven't been able to confirm this. But anyways, the brothers are saying that they heard this from other people. Because obviously people telling them to like, shush, shoot, go away. Like, this doesn't make them less interested in this. And they have talked to a lot of people about it since. So they think Richard would have had access to a storage room off the kitchen where they say there was a trapdoor leading underneath the floor.

And they think that he could have put Trevelyne's body under there to cover up a crime. I mean, hypothetically, it could work. He gets back to Link Goughlin, scoops her up in the car. I mean, she'd get in with him. Someone she knew. Or maybe something happens in her shop. He drives her off to another town. Listen, what's so weird to me is based on everything I've read,

police never even searched the whole Rutland area back then, by the way. So, like, I mean, she totally could have been hidden away if she was there. And then he ends up selling the bungalow, so even he doesn't keep ties to that town. But when would he have put her under the floor? I mean, she went missing on a Saturday. You can't just, like, walk into a golf club on a Saturday afternoon and hide a dead body under the bar. Like, what's the timing of it then? I don't know.

Like, she would have had to have been somewhere else, at least for a little while, which, like, I don't know, whatever. That's doable. The part that's outlandish to me is how ballsy you would have to be to put anything dead under the floor and not expect someone to go looking for it. Like, who doesn't know that a body is going to start to smell, right? Especially when you, like, have this other house of theirs right? Like, the bungal was right there where, like, no one else is. Yeah. If someone would have, like, smelled this and gone looking for it and found that it was Trevelyne, like, he's right there.

There would have been no one else to blame but him. Well, yeah, and that doesn't really make sense to me either. If there was a trap door there, why didn't they go looking for the smell in the 90? Like, in 90, like, we know it was bad for business. People left. Well, the only thing I, the only thing I can think is that maybe it was already. nailed shut or then crack it open maybe you think it's a raccoon you're like what I don't know maybe maybe the smell wasn't as bad as everyone remembered I don't know I have spiraled on this I'm even like I mean I've gone

deep I'm like who own the golf club in 90 like online property records for north wales like they don't go back that far would someone have kept such a big secret for richard is everyone still keeping the secret and that's why the body was moved but like why would a whole department be hiding a secret for a dead man. Richard died in 2014. Like, dude, this is, was there no body after all? But, wait, just when you start thinking that, this happens. In 2021, this small metal plaque seems to appear mysteriously one day bolted to a bench on a walkway just outside of Rutland. No one knows when exactly it got there or who put it there. And it looks like one of those little memorial plaques that usually say like in memory of whoever.

Except this message looks handmade, like someone actually scratched a message into the metal. A message that reads, in memory of Trevelyne Evans, vanished 16-6, 1990, found Rudlin G.C. 14-3, 2019, removed. 19-3-2019, R-I-P. So the Sutton brothers put it there. That was my first thought, but they say that they're not responsible for it. They actually think that it might have been a relative of Trevelynes or maybe someone from the police department who put the plaque up, someone who maybe was there while they were excavating.

And like, I don't know, this is their way of like whistleblowing. But again, there's like no evidence to back that up. So I don't. And this is like a public bench. Like it's owned by the town. It is, but I mean, this is definitely not like a town-sanction plaque. Right. Like, the local government actually had it removed.

But then another one pops up. This time outside an old miners cottage a few minutes away from the first bench. This one's same size, same material, same, like, sketchy handwriting, it seems. But the message is longer this time. I'm going to have you take a look at this one instead of reading it. You can do it. Justice awaits those responsible for the removal and disposal of Trevelyne Evans, in this life or the next, from Redland Golf Club on March 19, 2019 at noon.

And may the Lord have mercy upon their souls. Noot is specific. I know. I can't find anything about what time of day the, like, like, search for her or whatever, took up the floor. And of course, like, no one knows who put this plaque up either. Now, it's been quiet since 2021. But maybe that's because no one was listening. If enough people talk about this case, talk about these pictures, maybe more people will feel comfortable coming forward and speaking if they know something.

There's been a fifth theory explored over the years that, you know, traveling could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten caught in the crosshairs of a stranger, perhaps a serial killer. In 2011, police explored this avenue and looked into two different serial killers in the area. Robin Ligis and Christopher Halliwell. Robin killed a few men in the area around that time, one of whom was an antiques dealer, but they couldn't find any solid connection to Trevelyne or actually any other female victims. As far as I can tell, all of his victims were male,

so it seems like he was ruled out. And then with Christopher, he did kill women, and apparently he used to work as a window cleaner who had a habit of stealing antiques. And back when Treveleen disappeared, he was apparently working in North Wales. But they've never been able to definitively tie him to Trevelyne's case either. And sure, a serial killer is possible, but is it probable?

Right. And who was the mystery man? Where does he fit into all of this? Does he exist? Or is he a fiction of everyone's imagination like police say the skeleton under the floor was for the Sutton brothers? Someone out there can answer that question. And if that's you, you can email me. Tips at AudioChuck.com.

I'll be looking for your message. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crime junkie.com. And if you want to listen to more episodes like this, and all of our episodes completely ad-free, be sure to join the fan club. You'll also get early access to new episodes every week. And you can follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast.

We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Crime Junkie is an audio chuck production. I think Chuck would approve.