Gary Evans

Case record: Gary Evans

Identifiers

• Name: Gary Evans
• Sex: M
• Race: W
• Motive: CE
• MO: Jewel thief; killed three accomplices and two robbery victims
• Disposition/Outcome: Died in leap from police van while attempting escape en route to trial, Aug. 14, 1998

Background

Gary Charles Evans (October 7, 1954–August 14, 1998) grew up in Troy, New York. He was physically and emotionally abused by both parents until they divorced in 1968. His mother attempted suicide on numerous occasions.

Evans began stealing at a young age, reportedly likely at his mother’s behest. He reportedly abused and killed neighborhood pets, which was considered an early sign of antisocial personality disorder.

His mother eventually married and divorced four times before coming out as a lesbian. She died in February 1983 from exposure after falling down unconscious in the snow outside a bar.

Soon after his parents divorced, Evans left home and was often homeless. He stole from local drug dealers to survive.

Evans spent several months in a county jail for breaking into a house in 1970.

In the mid-1970s, Evans shared an apartment with two old neighborhood friends, Michael Falco and Timothy Rysedorph. Evans stepped up his thievery by studying antiques and jewelry. He became adept at speaking with antiques dealers and pretending to be a dealer himself, while casing for ways to break into establishments unnoticed with Falco or Rysedorph assisting. On one occasion, he was stymied by a shop’s alarm system and resorted to tunneling under the outside wall to get in undetected.

Evans was convicted of 15 antiques-related felonies during his life.

The offence

Evans targeted antiques, jewelry, and burglaries, including burglaries in connection with stolen merchandise and jewel theft. His confessions later included multiple killings.

Evans killed:

• Michael Falco
• Damien Cuomo
• Timothy Rysedorph
• Douglas J. Berry
• Gregory Jouben

Investigation

Falco’s disappearance and Cuomo’s disappearance were followed by later developments during Evans’s confessions in 1998. Evans later confessed to the murders of Falco, Cuomo, and Rysedorph and aided police in recovering all three bodies, including Falco’s in Florida.

Later, Evans also admitted to the murders of Berry and Jouben.

A nationwide manhunt lasted almost eight months after Evans jumped probation and Rysedorph disappeared, with authorities suspecting Evans was involved.

Timeline

• 1970 — Evans spent several months in a county jail for breaking into a house.
• January 13, 1977 — Evans was sentenced for a burglary in Essex County, New York and sent to Clinton Correctional Facility.
• March 31, 1980 — Evans was paroled.
• June 12, 1980 — Evans escaped over the wall of the Rensselaer County jail.
• September 11, 1980 — Evans was sentenced on escape-related charges to Clinton Correctional.
• December 29, 1982 — Evans was paroled from Attica Correctional Facility.
• March 31, 1984 — Evans had an early release from county jail.
• February 16, 1985 — Evans and Falco burglarized a flea market in East Greenbush, New York.
• April 21, 1985 — Evans stole $12,000 from local drug dealers after returning from Florida.
• July 1985 — Evans was sentenced to another 2-to-4 years in Sing Sing.
• March 1, 1988 — Evans was paroled from Sing Sing.
• September 8, 1988 — Evans and Cuomo broke into a coin and jewelry store owned by Douglas J. Berry in Watertown, New York; when Berry awoke in the back room, Evans shot him to death.
• December 27, 1989 — Cuomo left his apartment with Evans and was never seen alive again.
• October 17, 1991 — Evans walked into Gregory Jouben’s shop, asked him to price a piece of merchandise, and then shot him to death.
• 1993 — Evans stole over 800 antiques from a group shop in Quechee, Vermont.
• Early 1994 — Evans agreed to assist the authorities by obtaining information on Jeffrey Williams, who was implicated in the high-profile murder of his girlfriend, Karolyn Lonczak.
• February 12, 1994 — Evans was released with police still unaware that Evans himself had killed at least four people at that point.
• March 20, 1994 — Evans stole a valuable first American edition of the Havell of London printing of John James Audubon’s Birds of America out of a library in Woodstock, Vermont.
• June 6, 1996 — Evans was released on the shortened sentence he received for returning the book.
• January 1997 — A shop in Great Barrington, Massachusetts was burglarized of $80,000 in merchandise.
• October 3, 1997 — Evans jumped probation.
• May 27, 1998 — Evans was arrested without incident near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, near where he was living in a tent as a survivalist.
• June 18, 1998 — Evans confessed to the murders of Falco, Cuomo, and Rysedorph and aided police in recovering all three bodies.
• August 12, 1998 — Evans was indicted on eight counts of murder in Rensselaer County, New York, for the deaths of Falco, Cuomo and Rysedorph.
• August 13, 1998 — Evans was arraigned on another count of murder in Little Falls for Jouben’s death.
• August 14, 1998 — While being transported from Rensselaer County to an Albany court, Evans freed his hands in the police van, kicked out the side window of the vehicle, jumped out, and leaped off the Troy-Menands Bridge; he died after plunging into the shallows of the Hudson River over 60 feet below.

Arrest and transport

Evans was apprehended in June 1980 at the Troy Public Library after escaping over the wall of the Rensselaer County jail; police apprehended him on the outside ledge while onlookers cheered.

On May 27, 1998, Evans was arrested without incident near St.

During transport after his arraignment for Jouben’s death, authorities were unaware that Evans had a handcuff key shoved deep into his sinus cavity. Evans freed his hands while in the police van, kicked out the side window when the police reached the Troy-Menands Bridge, jumped out, and started running. When police cornered him, Evans leaped off the bridge and plunged to his death into the shallows of the Hudson River over 60 feet below. When authorities retrieved his body, they found the handcuff key up his nose and a razor blade taped to his ankle.

Trial

Evans was indicted on eight counts of murder in Rensselaer County, New York on August 12, 1998 for the deaths of Falco, Cuomo and Rysedorph. He was eligible to be executed because his murder conviction involved him witnessing Falco’s murder and because it occurred after New York reinstated the death penalty in 1995.

He was arraigned on another count of murder in Little Falls for Jouben’s death on the day after his Rensselaer County indictment.

Sentencing

• On January 13, 1977, Evans was sentenced for burglary in Essex County, New York and sent to Clinton Correctional Facility.
• He was transferred to Great Meadow Correctional Facility and paroled on March 31, 1980.
• With the additional escape conviction, he was sentenced on September 11, 1980 to Clinton Correctional.
• He was paroled from Attica Correctional Facility on December 29, 1982.
• Evans had early release on March 31, 1984.
• He was sentenced to another 2-to-4 years in Sing Sing in July 1985.
• After returning a stolen book, Evans received a shortened sentence; he was released on June 6, 1996.
• Evans was released on February 12, 1994 after agreeing to assist authorities by obtaining information on Jeffrey Williams, implicated in the murder of Karolyn Lonczak.
• He jumped probation on October 3, 1997.

Appeals

No appeal information appeared.

Outcome

Evans confessed in June 1998 to multiple murders and aided recovery of bodies, including Falco’s in Florida. Evans later faced an indictment and arraignment for the murders. He died on August 14, 1998 after leaping from the Troy-Menands Bridge during transport.

Aftermath

The local news reported that their most notorious thief and burglar was actually a serial killer.

Other details

• Evans and Falco burglarized a flea market in East Greenbush, New York on February 16, 1985.
• Falco disappeared about a week later after becoming the first known associate of Evans to disappear.
• Evans convinced local criminals and law enforcement that Falco had fled to California.
• Evans later revealed that he had shot Falco to death, rolled his body in a sleeping bag, and disposed of it in a swamp near his sister’s home in Lake Worth, Florida.
• Evans returned from Florida to Troy in April and stole $12,000 from local drug dealers on April 21, 1985, which led to a high-speed police pursuit through Cohoes and landed Evans back in custody.
• During his time in Sing Sing, Evans became friends with fellow inmate David Berkowitz, lifted weights together, and exchanged letters while in solitary confinement; Evans sent the letters to acquaintances as keepsakes.
• After Evans was paroled on March 1, 1988, he started working with Damien Cuomo (born September 10, 1961).
• Evans and Cuomo targeted Douglas J. Berry’s coin and jewelry store in Watertown, New York.
• Evans convinced Cuomo’s girlfriend (and mother of his child) that Cuomo had abandoned them and fled voluntarily.
• Evans started a sexual relationship with Cuomo’s girlfriend barely a month after Cuomo disappeared and spent much of his time with her and her daughter over the next several years.
• In October 1991, Evans spent two weeks on the roof of a building in Little Falls, New York casing a coin and jewelry shop owned by Gregory Jouben (36).
• In 1993, Evans stole over 800 antiques from a group shop in Quechee, Vermont.
• Evans used an engine crane to steal a thousand-pound bench out of an Albany cemetery and was arrested when his fence became nervous and turned him in.
• Evans assisted authorities by obtaining information on Jeffrey Williams, who was implicated in the murder of his girlfriend, Karolyn Lonczak.
• Evans stole the first American edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America—the Havell of London printing—from a library in Woodstock, Vermont on March 20, 1994.
• Evans was turned in when he tried to sell the book through a prison inmate and wound up in federal prison.
• The recovered book sold for over $300,000 at an auction in 2002.
• Evans reunited with Rysedorph after his June 6, 1996 release and they continued committing burglaries.
• In January 1997, a shop in Great Barrington, Massachusetts was burglarized of $80,000 in merchandise.
• In the following July, Evans sold antique jewelry in Albany, which police later linked to the Great Barrington burglary.
• Rysedorph made a phone call to his wife after Evans jumped probation on October 3, 1997, and he was never heard from again.
• Evans shot Rysedorph to death when Rysedorph had his back turned and dismembered him with a chainsaw.
• Evans had suspected Rysedorph of stealing from him and claimed Rysedorph tricked him into thinking Falco had stolen from him 13 years earlier.
• Authorities used the aid of Damien Cuomo’s girlfriend to catch Evans after the nationwide manhunt.
• Evans was indicted in Rensselaer County, New York on August 12, 1998 on eight counts of murder for the deaths of Falco, Cuomo and Rysedorph.
• Evans was arraigned on another murder count in Little Falls on August 13, 1998 for Jouben’s death.