Letters from a new hampshire prison from the wrongfully convicted chad evans

You asked about the possibility of Kyle hitting balls with Travis that evening using a yellow bat vs. the brown one he used with me. I guess it is possible but I am pretty sure that he didn't use the yellow bat. I think the two yellow bats we had were outside. I really believe that Travis said yellow bat a year after his initial statement to the police when he was testifying because that is what most wiffle ball bats are; yellow, long and skinny. You can see Travis with the yellow bats while camping at Bruce's parents' property in July. It's what society knows. The small brown plastic bat was just something made for children.

You asked me to estimate when Amanda's third trip to Texas began and ended. Hard to say. I wrote in detail about it once. Amanda sold her car to Bruce and Michelle and left several weeks later Jeremy and I were picking her up at Logan. I'm guessing April or May. Just prior to when Mary Bullard stayed with us I believe.

Sincerely,

A "mismash" of several different weddings here in these photos.

Photos P410-P413 and P415. This is my friend from Keene, Ken Valenti Jr.'s wedding to Becky. Ken and I have been friends since grade school. It started with our dads. My dad owned big garbage removal trucks, Ken's dad was a mechanic for big trucks and tractors. Ken and I drifted apart in. Jr. High and become good friends again during the last two years of high school. Because Mary Paquette was my date, I believe it was 1995. The ceremony was held at the "Cathedral of the Pines" in Rindge. The reception was held in Keene I believe.

Photo P410 I'm dancing with Becky's veil as Cheryl, Ken's little sister, and Patrick? and another member of wedding party look on. I'm "cutting a little rug" and getting a laugh from the onlookers. Always a clown.

Photo P411 a photo of the wedding party. Hey, for a change, I'm not the shortest person.

Photo P412 Leaving the "Pines" after the ceremony. And people wonder why I like purple. Look how great it matches my mustache :)

Photo P413 is Ken and Becky. I believe Mary took all of these photos.

Photo P415 a good photo of Mary and I prior to Ken and Becky's wedding in my parents' kitchen in Keene.

Photo P414, P416-P421 I believe all belong to my cousin, Marcy Holland's, wedding. It's funny, 20 years earlier Marcy and I were ring bearer and flower girl for Shayne and Bobby Holland's wedding. Now here we are, at the age of marriage. The circle of life.

Photo P415, not sure when the wedding was I'm guessing 1994-1995. Marcy is dancing with her stepfather, Donald Lavalley. Donald is married to my mother's youngest sister, Cheryl. Cheryl had two daughters with Paul Holland, Angela and Marcy. Unfortunately, Uncle Paul passed away years earlier in a car accident.

Photo P416 Marcy and husband Ron arrive at reception.

Photo P417 Me with my aunt Jackie at the reception. Jackie is my mom's oldest living sister.

Photo P418 Nicole, Jason, and our cousin, Diane's husband watch the festivities.

Photo P419 Nicole and my girlfriend, Mary, as we are ready to leave for wedding.

Photo P420 A rare photo of the Evans family in front of our house in Keene. Mom, me, Nicole, Jason, and dad. Behind us are all the flower pots mom prepared for the pool area.

Photo P421 My beautiful cousin, Tammy, her mom, my aunt Donna, and cousin Brian at the reception. My aunt Donna is my mom's second oldest living sister. While growing up, they lived in Putney VT, and Jason and I would love going there for weeks at a time during the summer. Jason, Brian, Timmy (now deceased) and myself loved to go on hikes and sometimes get into mischief. Timmy was a hell raiser. He died when I was a freshman in high school. I miss him. I can hardly believe he has been gone nearly 24 years.

Photo P424- If I am not mistaken this is a photo of Jason and Ronny taken at the Daybreak Cafe in Rochester. It is this little restaurant that we always went to eat breakfast at when my family was up for a visit. I'm not sure what year this would have been.

Photo P427- goes with P424, the other side of the table at Daybreak Cafe. Dad, mom and Nicole. Missing is Tristan and I or Mary and I. One of us took photo.

Photo P426, P429, and P432 are photos of my parents' 25th wedding anniversary dinner at a restaurant in Keene. We kids wanted to send them on a cruise but that wouldn't have been my mom's thing so we settled on a new screen house, swing and picnic table for the pool area. I believe that I took all of these photos. I'm pretty sure Tristan and Brent were in attendance as well. I believe it is Tristan that is cut off in photo

P429, wearing the pink shirt sitting next to my mom. Brent was right beside her. Kyle wasn't born yet. I'm 99% positive this was the event. May 1996

Photo P426 Dad and Ronny deciding on what to order.

Photo P429 Mom, Gram Martin, and dad. Backs to the camera, Jason, Nicole, Gram Evans.

Photo P432 Great photo of Grampa Evans getting those last bites of fish at dinner.

Photos P422, P423, P425, P428, P430, P431, P433, and P435 all of my cousin, Angela Holland's wedding in Maine. I'm guessing Saco Bay.

Photo P422 Sister's Marcy and Angela at Angela's wedding. They were each other's Maid of Honor.

Photo P423 Nice Photo of Mary and I at Angela's wedding. I always had a blast at these things, seeing relatives and friends you hadn't seen in a while.

Photo P425 Angela being walked down the "aisle" by her stepdad, Donald Lavalley.

Photo P428 A nice photo of Gram Martin, mom, dad, and me at Angela's wedding.

Photo P430 Marcy coming down the "Aisle" I can't remember who got married first, Angela or Marcy. Both were married in that 1993-1995 time period.

Photo P431 Angela, Kevin and their wedding party.

Photo P433 My aunt Cheryl, Angela and Marcy's mom being walked down the aisle.

Photo P435 Marcy being introduced and walking toward the head table over the dance floor.

Photos P475 and P476 are of my Uncle Ritchie and Brent on Ritchie's deck in Hinsdale, NH. Brent was around 5 years old in this photo. For a number of years after his retirement from truck driving, Ritchie was a Deputy Sheriff with the Windham County VT. Sheriff's department. Ritchie was great with kids and Brent was same proud to go for a ride in Ritchie's cruiser. I believe this was a trip to Keene that I took with the boys alone because Tristan was enrolled in classes. Ritchie was the person that got me interested in guns and gun collecting as a youngster. He had a large collection and would always take me out for target practice. Uncle Ritchie was from NY City and I always got a kick out of his accent. When I was growing up and he came to the house from the "big city" he would always wink and say, "How you doing Pal?" I was always "Pal." Ritchie was cool like the Fonz. Unfortunately, Ritchie passed away.

I hope this helps some.

Sincerely,
September 15, 2010 (227)

Many photos you found of Kassidy on Ancestry.com. Likely because of the transference but many of these photos are grainy and hard to see as compared to the photos you have scanned for me. I had seen many of these photos and some of them were duplicates of what was destroyed in fire in VT. I'm glad to see that there are more photos of Kassidy than I thought. That is great for Amanda.

Still too bad that so many photos are missing from the last 6 months of her life.

J13 was taken by Amanda during their trip to Water Country with her brothers. I believe July 2000 while they were staying at our house. You sent me recent photo of Amanda going down the water slide from same trip. Developed August 2000.

J16 and J17 are Amanda, Kyle and Kassidy reaching over to do same petting during our trip to York's. I am glad to see these photos and remember them well. I had told you in an earlier letter that we took at least a roll of film that day. Many pictures are still missing. Obviously some of the photos Jackie had. Some were found at our house, I can think of several specifically that are missing. There were a couple of great ones that Amanda took. One of me was of holding Kassidy in one arm and Kyle in the other in front of the tiger enclosure. I wonder if Jackie had that one and perhaps destroyed it, because I was in it. There was also one of me bent over holding Kassidy and Kyle's hands open as little deer came up for grain. I remember that it spooked Kassidy a bit. We had several photos over by the deer enclosure. I also recall a photo in the parking lot of the park where Amanda was standing with the kids. Also, there was a photo that Amanda took of Kyle and Kassidy sleeping in the backseat as we drove down the highway after our day at the park was complete. Let me give you an idea of how happy I was with my life at that point.

As we were leaving the park I got a 911 page from Dick Bisbee at the Greenland McDonald's. He had stopped in for a surprise visit and the store was extremely busy and understaffed to handle it. This was the first time ever that I didn't drop what I was doing and go directly to the problem restaurant. I didn't panic and didn't put the job before my family. It was weird because this is not how things were done at our company. I said, "Dick, I am off today and out with my family at York's Wild Animal Kingdom. I will call one of my area restaurants and get some help sent over and start out in Greenland tomorrow morning to find out what happened." This was a huge step for me getting my priorities in order. To Dick's credit he said, "No problem Chad, your restaurants are always great, I will just help them get through the rush and go to Larry's area now that I know you are off for the day. Enjoy the time with your family." The corporation was more family oriented than our company.

J21 I always liked this photo of Amanda feeding Kassidy. I wish it was clearer here.

J27 another great photo of Kassidy and Amanda that I have seen.

J30 A great photo of Kassidy and Scotty. I've seen it. Christmas 1999 I'm sure. I wonder who that is handing a gift off in J32. Doesn't appear to be Amanda or Jen.

J10+J12 This is Paul Conley holding Kassidy.

J35-J38 of Kassidy were taken of Kassidy while living in Rochester.

J35 I believe is the photo that you and I identified as Amanda taking in our dining room. You blew up the picture frame on the wall above her head and asked me to identify the pictures in the frame.

J36 I think I identified to you as taking it at our house. I believe I indicated by Kassidy's face structure this was taken in July or August. I absolutely loved this little outfit on her and we almost always snapped photos when she was wearing it. It seems like every child has this one outfit while growing up that you love and can't get enough of.

Photo J38 was also taken by me at York's I believe in the goat petting barn area. There are several other photos from this area missing. There was a great one of both Kyle and Kassidy close up petting the same goat. There was a photo of Kyle chasing one. He wanted to ride it. There was also one each of Amanda and I in the fenced in area with the kids. I recall she and I rested, leaning over on the wooden fence talking as we watched Kyle and Kassidy here. We had such a great time here. Oh, another photo that I know was taken that day and appears to be missing. There was a spot where you could take a ride on an elephant and a camel. We had the kids lined up to ride the elephant and I snapped a photo of Amanda standing with the kids. It was close enough that you could see everyone smiling. I believe that Kyle went on the elephant but Kassidy was scared to death and immediately started crying for mama.

J41 and J42 Amanda loved this sweater on Kassidy. It brought out the color in her eyes. In that J42 photo that was taken at Nicole and Brandon's in Belmont on October 20th, Kassidy and Amanda both look pretty happy. It's hard to believe that right after this the major trouble started. Jeff spanking Kassidy so hard he left bruises, Kassidy falling out his truck window, drinking Windex at Jeff's, coming home all dehydrated, etc. I kept telling my lawyers that everything happened so fast. Jeff gave what we believed were plausible excuses, "Kassidy fell off the bed. The dog, Jake, knocked her over." etc. I guess this photo is proof that things did happen fast. 19 days from this photo and 17 days from the "shitstorm" starting where Jeff spanked Kassidy's bottom black and blue, she had died. Sad and crazy.

J44 This is the house in Auburn that Amanda lived at with her mom and stepdad, little brothers and Kassidy when I first met her. I can't make out who is standing in front door. It's very blurry but that door led right to the living room. Amanda and Kassidy's bedroom went straight back next to the living room. Looking at this photo it would be the back left room in the house. There was a good size field behind the house and this was where I camped out with Amanda and Scotty on one of the nights I stayed there. I recall when driving from Rochester I drove right by the country club where Amanda worked. Martindale?

J43 and J45 are a little confusing. They look like the front of J44 which I am sure is where I met Amanda but there is a barn attached. Which I also recall being in Auburn because they had some ducks in a barn out back that Amanda, Scotty, Kassidy and I went to feed. Not sure which of these two houses I met Amanda's family in. They both seem to have elements I recognize. We can't see a driveway view of J44, I wonder if there was a barn on backside of that as well? In any case, the description I gave for J44 is correct and I was only at one house. The only time I ever went to Springvale was to pick up or drop off Crystal once.

Thanks for the interesting articles about the West Memphis Three. They had some powerful supporters in Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and The Dixie Chicks. I am a big fan of all three. Sadly, star power and the truth have not yet set them free.

Looking at all these photos reminded me of something I wrote to you a while back. If the opportunity for dialogue with Jackie presents itself again, maybe it would be a thought starter to ask her specifically if she can recall me playing ball with Scotty in the backyard, taking him to sleep with Amanda and me in the tent? and also her inviting me to come back soon and be sure to bring Kyle next time. Ask her if she recalls me showing interest in Josh and Scotty and also picking Kassidy up and holding her when she fell in the kitchen. Somehow, some way I've just got to get her thinking. In her mind, I hope that she will compare what she witnessed of my interaction with the kids. The cops and this trial vilified me to her, but when she first walked into that Police Station in Kittery, she immediately thought it was Jeff that had hurt Kassidy. If she will somehow go back to her own thoughts and perceptions of me, I think she may be able to see me for the person I am. She is a key person, not only with Jen and Amanda, but as Kassidy's gram. I know she is hurting. I would take her pain if I could. I just need her to go back and look again at what happened.
September 16, 2010 (228)

I hope your meeting at Bridgewater State Prison went well. It always sucks to hear of other people in a similar plight.

Photo 4 is a great picture of my mom with all of her living sisters at my Aunt Donna's house in Vernon, Vermont, back in the mid 1990's. I've been identifying so many photos lately I thought you'd appreciate this. The ladies are in birth order from front to back - youngest to oldest. Cheryl, Pam, Sandy, Andrea, Donna. Jackie was not in the photo.

Photos 5-7 are of Mom's birthday at my house in May, 1998. In the photos you can see Tristan, Brent, Kyle, Mom, Liz Cox and daughter Jackie and the top of Nicole's head. Probably most interesting is the corner of photo 7 before all the troubles started. You can see my built-in liquor cabinet in the dining room. I originally bought the house to party and have a good time because of so few neighbors and location. I always had a full liquor cabinet, ready to entertain. I rarely drank alone, but was happy to have a cocktail with guests.

The last thing I'll address here is the bombshell dropped in letter #275 that I just received tonight about the fingernail clippings. I won't elaborate much here. I'm in a bit of shock, to say the least. I must have talked to Alan 20 times in person and various letters to have DNA tests done and he never mentioned that such a test had been conducted. In discovery, I was given, it only said they were clipped. No report.

You mentioned that the blood could have been Kassidy's from touching wounds I supposedly caused the previous night. (That will be the state's answer.) No only did she have a bath as you mentioned, that Travis, myself and Kyle verified, but she also had no open wounds to bleed from. All her injuries were internal, as I recall, except for the cat scratch under eye from November 6th or 7th, 2 days prior. Here is my theory, and you can check my memory against Dr. Baden's testimony. The only place Kassidy seemed to be bleeding from on Nov. 9 was her frenulum (lip area). We were told the blood on the Wendy's napkin and on the bed sheet was "purge" after death, by Dr. Greenwald, if I remember correctly. If it's her blood under her nails, it didn't get there after she died. If it's another female's blood, other than Kassidy's, that's another whole deal. The reason I was always adamant about getting these tests done was that I knew whose DNA/blood they wouldn't find under them. Poor baby. I gotta close for now.

You included a list here of people that saw myself, Amanda and Kassidy during the period of June 2 to November 9, 2000 and were never interviewed by the police. I think you did pretty well compiling the list. The only other names that I can come up with in addition to what you have at this point is, Jeff Jacobs, Glen Varney and his girlfriend at the time, Deb, and Charlene Truell (Bruce Truell' s mom) All of these people saw Kassidy with me and Amanda at some point during that 160 day period. I'm pretty certain that Glen Varney saw us at least once in that last 140 day period.

Ron Evans, Tim Goodnow, Liz Cox, Dorothy + Tom Urrutia are others I can think of. I will keep working it over in my mind. I am sure there were others. As is often the case in a new relationship, we spent a significant amount of time alone getting to know each other and with our "inner" circle of friends. If had been a longer period of time, more people would naturally have been exposed as we became more social.

You asked about the trip from Bob McDougall's office to the Kittery Police Station after I was notified of a problem on the afternoon of Nov. 9th. You again wrote about it in letter 271 for which I have not yet responded. I will attempt to give a full account here so that it makes sense. Basically I think what you were trying to get at is that someone, somewhere tried to make a claim that I wasn't in a huge hurry to get to the Kittery Police Station after I was contacted. You mentioned that this

was brought up by someone in my trial. I don't specifically recall this but have a feeling this may have been done during one of the Maine Police officer's testimony or during the opening or closing arguments by one of the NH AG's. I'm fairly sure that I addressed this once in a letter or meeting with Alan so I will include what I recall from that as well.

Yes, Bob McDougall's office at the time was in the basement of one of the Hudson McDonald's. I know you provided the Mapquest from 251 Lowell Rd. but it may have been the 75 Derry St. McDonald's. Even 10 years ago, I didn't know the address. I just knew I got there driving a bunch of back roads from Windham. We could find out easily enough by contacting Barb McKenzie. Bob's office was in the basement of the original Hudson McDonald's which happened to be in a shopping center parking lot.

Bob would hold monthly EOM (end of month) meetings with his supervisors, similar to how we would have them with our restaurant managers. We would review area goals, individual restaurant problems, upcoming promotions, the condition of restaurants, major expenditures needed, contract issues, monthly profit sheets, brainstorming, what each supervisor is doing in his area that is unique, etc.

Regarding calls from Kittery P.D., I didn't bring my cell phone into the EOM meeting. This was 10 years ago, and cell phones were in use, but not the life line of today. I was still wearing my pager at this point and I believe that I got a 911 page around 2:25, plus or minus, from a number in Kittery I didn't recognize. (Jen, Amanda, Jeff, all had my pager number) I made a quick call to the number from Bob's office and I got a voice mail at Kittery Police Dept. I figured something was up so I told Bob, "I'm getting a page from Kittery Police which is where Amanda and Kassidy are, and I may have to leave. Bob kind of "shooed" me with his hand telling me to go take care of my family. I grabbed my boxes of EOM paperwork and reloaded them into my car. I saw my phone, so I checked the messages. This is when I heard the urgent message left by Jeff around 12:35. At this point I tried calling Jeff, calling information to get Amanda and Jen's work numbers, calling Jen at work, etc. You mentioned from the Chart of Calls policeman acknowledging at 2:27 that he got my previous call. So, from Bob's office when I called the 911 page I didn't recognize and got a voice mail. I must have left a message. At this point I was preparing to drive out of the parking lot when Larry Lane I believe came running upstairs and out to my car. In my haste to leave Bob's office I forgot to leave him with my area bonus sheets which he needed. So I dug through and found them. (Remember, at this point, I had no idea what was wrong.)

I believe I arrived at my meeting in Hudson on gas fumes, so after leaving, I stopped at a local gas station to fill up. While pumping gas at the service station I was on my cell phone at 2:38 p.m. (Chart of Calls) when Jeff made his accusation about batting balls with Kyle and Kassidy the previous night. (Still nothing was clicking with me.) An officer comes on the line next and I start pressing him for more information. It's been almost 20 minutes since I have received my 911 page and I knew nothing! He tells me there was an accident. I believe he told me that it involved Kassidy and that she was not ok. (Panic sets in. I still have no idea that she is dead.) I assure the cop that I am headed in that direction from Hudson NH. I tell him that I imagine I will be there in 1 1/2 hours. I hang up and head for Kittery via Portsmouth.

In letter 271 you indicate that Mapquest says a trip from Hudson to Kittery Police Station was 58 miles or one hour 12 minutes. If I left Hudson around 2:40 PM (from the service station) and arrived at Kittery PD around 4:10 give or take, that is 1 1/2 hours which is off Mapquest estimates by 18 minutes. I would hardly call that, "dragging my feet." When you add in the fact that I stopped by my Portsmouth office store to drop off soup cooker and quickly fixed a grill that wasn't working I'd say that my time is just about right. On top of this, one thing that I just remembered, I was in contact with Tristan at this point and met and followed her to the Kittery Police Station as I wasn't sure how to get to the Kittery Police Station. As it turned out, it was quite easy to find, but as I recall, I waited for her for several minutes at a parking lot on Rte.1, just prior to the Portsmouth traffic circle so I could follow her to the Kittery Police Station. As you likely remember from an earlier letter, Tristan and I were not supposed to actually have contact, so she didn't go inside the police station with me. (Again, we had no idea that Kassidy was dead and were taking precautions for us to be seen together which would have caused problems for me. Tristan and I were getting along fine and had been seeing each other regularly for many months but the restraining order was still in effect. Once I called Tristan from the Kittery Police Station, she called her mom to pick up Kyle and Brent and she came inside.