Donald Leroy Evans (July 5, 1957 – January 5, 1999) was an American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who murdered at least three people from 1985 to 1991. He was known for confessing to killing victims at parks and

rest areas A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, Limited-access road, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names i ...

across more than twenty U.S. states.

Crimes

Born in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, Evans was convicted of his first crime in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

, for the rape of a local woman in 1986. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but served only five. After his parole in 1991, he returned to Galveston and took work as a desk clerk in a motel, but was discharged after parole officials "objected to a convicted sex offender working in a motel setting." Evans was arrested while he was employed aboard a fishing boat, for the murder of the 10-year-old girl that he had raped and kidnapped. He eventually faced a new arrest warrant when a former girlfriend filed a complaint to police about threats of violence. Evans stayed ahead of law enforcement officials briefly by stealing a car and fleeing to

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. He tried to remain inconspicuous in the Gulfport area, but soon committed the crime for which he would receive the death penalty: the rape and murder of 10-year-old Beatrice Louise Routh on August 1, 1991. Evans seized the homeless girl from a Gulfport park and sexually assaulted her, before strangling her to death and dumping her corpse in a rural area. At trial, the medical examiner testified that the girl "was conscious, and could feel pain" throughout her day-long ordeal. Arrested soon afterward, Evans confessed to abducting the girl, and he was remanded to a federal prison in Colorado on kidnapping charges. On August 16, 1993, a jury trial in Mississippi convicted Evans of sexual battery and murder; three days later, the same jury refused an option to grant him life imprisonment and sentenced him to the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Incarceration and death

While in custody, Evans claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 other people in 22 states. Most of the murders and rapes were committed at rest stops and public parks. The authorities were originally skeptical of Evans's claims, but two of his descriptions were perfect matches to unsolved cases across

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 1995, Evans pleaded guilty to the 1985 strangulation death of Ira Jean Smith in exchange for a life sentence. He successfully escaped the Harrison County Jail in June 1993 but was recaptured a short time later, hiding in a shed. Evans was stabbed to death in 1999 by fellow

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

inmate Jimmie Mack at the

Mississippi State Penitentiary Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,Bolivar County Bolivar County ( ) is a County (United States), county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale, Mississippi, Roseda ...

. According to the

Mississippi Department of Corrections The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. Burl Cain is the commissioner. History In 1843 a penitentiary in four city squares in central Jackson ...

, Mack was convicted of manslaughter for the attack and received an additional 20 years. His original sentence was also commuted to life at some point.

Known victims

* Ira Jean Smith (female, 38, March 7, 1985) * Janet Movich (female, 38, April 14, 1985) * Beatrice Louise Routh (female, 10, August 1, 1991)

References

External links

"Serial Killers: Going for The Record"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. August 26, 1991.
FindLaw: "''Donald Leroy Evans v. State of Mississippi''"

"Killer Asks To Wear KKK Robes, Be Called 'Hi Hitler' At Trial"
. ''

Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

''. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. February 12, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Donald 1957 births 1985 murders in the United States 1991 murders in the United States 1999 deaths 1999 murders in the United States 20th-century American criminals American escapees American male criminals American murderers of children American people convicted of murder American people convicted of rape American people who died in prison custody American serial killers Criminals from Michigan Deaths by stabbing in Mississippi Escapees from Mississippi detention People convicted of murder by Florida People convicted of murder by Mississippi People convicted under the Federal Kidnapping Act People convicted of murder by the United States federal government Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government People from Galveston, Texas People murdered in Mississippi Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Florida Prisoners sentenced to death by Mississippi Prisoners who died in Mississippi detention Serial killers from Florida Serial killers from Mississippi Serial killers murdered in prison custody es:Donald Evans nl:Donald Evans sv:Donald Evans

Crimes

Incarceration and death

Known victims

See also

References

External links