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Gary Evans He Killed 5 Ppl 3 Of Whom Were Accomplices David Berkowitz The Son Of Sam Had The Cell Next To Him For Awhile. He Ratted Out The Hell's Angels And Died In a Suicide Escape. A Good Looking Stud Wonder Why He Choose Crime?
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Greg Carr
Mar 21, 2023, 7:41:54 PM3/21/23
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Gary Evans: The violent life and dramatic death of a notorious serial killer
by LIZ BISHOP | WRGB StaffMon, March 13th 2023, 12:38 PM PDT
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Gary Evans, who always found it easier to walk a crooked line than a straight one, was 43 years old when he died pulling off his final escape. (WRGB FILE)
In 1985 Gary Evans shot his right-hand man Michael Falco in the head in Troy, threw him in the trunk of a car, drove to Florida and buried him in a swamp (WRGB FILE)
Damien Cuomo witnessed one of the killings and was shot to death by Evans on Christmas Eve in 1989. (WRGB FILE)
Gary Evans, who always found it easier to walk a crooked line than a straight one, was 43 years old when he died pulling off his final escape. (WRGB FILE)
ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — With a hidden key, a broken car window, and a long jump from a local bridge, the legend of escape artist and serial killer Gary Evans was sealed forever.
An eyewitness at the time recalls: "All of a sudden a guy dives out a window ... He's got an orange jumpsuit on ... It seems like he got hung up ... [He's] Just hanging there as the van was skidding. He made no qualms about it; he just jumped off headfirst and went over."
This archival footage from WRGB in 1998 features an eyewitness to Gary Evans' final escape and death at the< >Troy Menands Bridge (WRGB)
Evans, who always found it easier to walk a crooked line than a straight one, was 43 years old when he died pulling off his final escape. According to some, it was a fitting end for the thief killer.
Others, like Jim Horton – the retired state police senior investigator who followed and plotted Evans' movements for 13 years – say it was planned.
"This was an escape to commit suicide," says Horton. "I had seen him the previous Wednesday and he had wrote me a letter. It showed him – he was a pretty good artist – he showed himself flying through the air with shards of glass."
Horton says Evans was as methodical in his death as he was in his life of crimes. He had dug away at his sinuses so that he could eventually insert a handcuff key up his nose – X-rays after his death show it was still lodged there.
This guy could crawl through a straw to escape if he wanted to," the veteran investigator said.
While his death may have cemented his name in local folklore, Gary Evans' life was a sordid collection of misdeeds and murders.
Gary Charles Evans, son of an abusive father and alcoholic mother, had decided early in life if he wanted something, the best way to get it was to steal it.
As a teen he would jump on back of old Freihofer trucks while going down the road and steal cookies," Horton recalls.
For the next two decades he perfected the art of the steal.
Evans apparently never met a valuable antique he didn't want to pocket. In fact, he once stole a 1,000 pound marble bench from the Albany Rural Cemetery. It was that fascination with antiquities that led to long stretches in jail, and, ultimately, his first escape attempt.
In June of 1980 he was being held at the old Rensselaer County Jail on charges of possession of stolen property and parole violation when he jumped up on a picnic table in the rec area and provoked of a group of inmates from the Hell's Angels.
According to Horton, "He said something like 'I bet you can't throw me over that fence'. The bikers took the bait and chucked him up to the top of the fencing. "They literally threw him on top of it. ... He climbed up on the barbed wire and escaped.
All of this played out in broad daylight while TV crews captured the bizarre image of a bare-chested Evans crouched on the ledge of the Troy Library. He was eventually recaptured by police and ended up in protective custody after ratting out the Hells Angels.
JUNE 1980: Following Gary Evans' daring escape from the Rensselaer County Jail, he was found hiding on a ledge at a library near the courthouse. (WRGB)
That begat the next strange chapter of his life.
"Who do they put him next to? ... David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam!," Horton recalls.
The two shared at least one hobby: they both liked to kill (also bodybuilding, allegedly). They would become fast friends and pen pals for the rest of Evans' life.
The 1980's were a busy and violent time for Evans.
In 1985 he shot his partner-in-crime Michael Falco – who joined Evans in several thefts – in the head in Troy, dismembered him with a chainsaw, threw the pieces in the trunk of a car, drove to Florida and buried him in a swamp.
In 1985 Gary Evans shot his right-hand man Michael Falco in the head in Troy, threw him in the trunk of a car, drove to Florida and buried him in a swamp (WRGB FILE)
Another accomplice, Damien Cuomo, witnessed Evans shoot a secondhand shop owner during a robbery in 1989. Fearing Cuomo would snitch on him, Evans shot and killed Cuomo on Christmas Eve of that year. He shot and killed another secondhand shop owner during a robbery in 1991.
Damien Cuomo witnessed one of the killings and was shot to death by Evans on Christmas Eve in 1989. (WRGB FILE)
He added a fifth victim, at least, several years later when he killed his friend and on-and-off accomplice – to theft and murder – Tim Rysedorph in 1997. Similar to the case with Damien Cuomo, Evans feared that Rysedorph would rat on him and shot him in his paranoia.
Tim Rysedorph was Evans' fifth murder victim (WRGB FILE)
Shot him in the head in a self-storage unit and cut him up with a chainsaw," recalls Horton.
None of those killings would be pinned on Evans until he confessed just before his death in 1998.
"I interviewed him several times and he started giving up bodies," Horton says of that time near the end of Evans' criminal career.
The year before he died, Evans stole gold cufflinks and a $6000 gold bracelet from antique stores in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, fenced them in Albany, and went on the lam to the West Coast.
Horton learned when Evans would be back in the area and the state police set up their net in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
This archival footage from investigations into Gary Evans shows the handcuff key Evans stowed in his carved-out sinuses. (WRGB)
"We had a canine – a Vermont trooper with a canine – Gary sensed it and took off and they let the dog get him."
Once in custody, Evans wove a bloody tapestry of crime and death for investigators. He even led authorities to the badly decomposed body of Rysedorph in Brunswick. Two weeks later, they dug up Cuomo's remains in troy. Falco's remains were unearthed in Fort Worth, Florida.
On August 12, 1998, as he was being transferred to the Albany Jail for a hearing – all while bound in manacles, chains and handcuffs, surrounded by four U.S. Marshalls – Evans started his final escape plot. And no one with Evans that day knew about the key hidden in his sinuses and the straight razor in his cheek
Horton says the killer was obsessing over the confessions.
He told me more than once 'I'm not going to live in a cage for the rest of my life'.
And it was over the Troy Menands Bridge that Evans' life of crime ended.
1998: Gary Evans leapt from the Troy- Menands Bridge and was found in only 12 inches of water below. (WRGB FILE)
An eyewitness reported he "wasd expecting to see someone swim away, but he was on the ground. He didn't make the water."
Even in death Evans had a few more surprises – an apparent suicide note that ended with the words "I win" and a phone call to Horton from Evans' next door neighbor.
"She called me up and said, 'Gary had a will. ... In the will he wanted to be cremated, and he wants you to have his ashes'."
https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/gary-evans-the-violent-life-and-dramatic-death-of-a-notorious-serial-killer-robbery-theft-michael-falco-damien-cuomo-tim-rysedorph-cufflinks-jewelry-antiques-on-the-lam-second-hand-store-son-of-sam-pen-pals has videos and pictures.
Gary Evans (serial killer)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Gary Evans, see Gary Evans.
Gary Evans
Gary Charles Evans.png
Mugshot
(New York State Police)
Born Gary Charles Evans
October 7, 1954
Troy, New York, U.S.
Died August 14, 1998 (aged 43)
Menands Bridge, New York, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by jumping
Criminal penalty None (died before trial)
Details
Victims 5
Span of crimes February, 1985 – October, 1997
Country United States
State(s) New York
Date apprehended May 27, 1998
Gary Charles Evans (October 7, 1954 – August 14, 1998) was an American thief and confessed serial killer in and around the Capital District, New York. His penchant for stealing antiques and his multiple escapes from custody — including one that ended in his death — made him headline news in the area on numerous occasions.[1][2]
Early years
Gary Charles Evans was born on October 7, 1954, in Troy, New York to Roy and Flora Mae Evans (née Lee). Evans and his sister, Robbie, grew up in an unstable home with physical abuse from their father that was targeted at both the children and their mother. Amid this, the children also experienced their mother's suicide attempts.[3] Evans himself would later claim that he was raped by his father when he was eight. From an early age, Gary began to show interest in works of art and pricy items, and at the age of 8, he was caught stealing jewellery worth $1,000; later on, during his school years, he began repeatedly stealing small items such as books and comics, in addition to occasionally shoplifting, which earned him a reputation as a thief.
After his parents divorced in 1968, Evans and his mother moved to Cohoes, where he attended the local high school. In the summer of 1970, he was arrested for breaking and entering, for which he was sent to a juvenile detention center for three months. While he was imprisoned, his mother married and subsequently divorced four husbands due to her alcohol abuse, and in 1971, she unexpectedly came out as lesbian. After his release, Evans left his mother's home due to frequent quarreling, dropped out of school and began living as a vagrant. In the mid-1970s, he returned to Troy, where, together with his childhood friends Michael Falco and Timothy "Tim" Rysedorph, rented an apartment and got a job.[4]
Criminal career
On January 13, 1977, Evans was arrested for trespassing and stealing property in Lake Placid, for which he was given a 4-year sentence in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. While he was detained, his father, Roy, died of throat cancer.
In 1979, he was transferred to the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, from where he was paroled on March 21, 1980. He then returned to his shared apartment in Troy, and soon after, together with Falco and Rysedorph, he began committing robberies and thefts, using the apartment as a storage space to sell the stolen goods. In June 1980, Evans was arrested for theft and imprisoned at the Old Rensselaer County Jail, but with the help of several Hells Angels members, he managed to escape.[5] Just five hours later, however, he was recaptured, and on September 21, he was returned to the Clinton Correctional Facility to serve out his full sentence, as he had broken the conditions of his parole.
In 1982, following a brawl between inmates, Evans was transferred to the Attica Correctional Facility, where he remained until his release on December 29. The following January, Evans and Falco committed several petty thefts, after which they both moved to Florida. A month later, Evans' mother died in an accident, forcing the two men to return to New York State and resume their criminal activities together with Rysedorph. On May 10, 1983, Evans was arrested for burglary and trespassing in Saratoga County, and briefly housed in the county jail. Throughout the rest of the year, he was repeatedly transferred to various prisons, but was never brought to trial and was eventually released in March 1984. In January 1985, Rysedorph ceased all contact with Evans, who continued his criminal career only with the help of Falco.
On February 16, 1985, Evans and Falco robbed an antique collector's apartment in East Greenbush, with their profit being around $15,000.[6] In April, Evans stole the car of two drug traffickers and sold it for $12,000, but the victims were able to identify him, which resulted in his arrest in Cohoes. Evans accepted a plea deal with the prosecutors in exchange for a commutation of his sentence, admitting his guilt in the robbery and illegal possession of weaponry. He was released on probation, pledging that he would stop stealing and find himself a real job, but by July of that year, he would commit his first murder.
In the last days of July, Evans built an improvised silencer for his pistol, which he then used to kill his accomplice Michael Falco at their shared apartment in Troy, dismembering the body with a chainsaw.[4][7] He then called Rysedorph to help him get rid of the body, to which the latter agreed, stuffing it in a sleeping bag and driving it to Evans' sister's home in Lake Worth Corridor, Florida, where they buried it in the backyard.[4][7] The motive for the murder was revenge, as Rysedorph had told Gary that Falco had been profiting off their loot by selling them for themselves; in actuality, Rysedorph blamed Falco for what he himself has been doing. The two criminals remained in Lake Worth Corridor for about six weeks before returning to New York, whereupon Evans was again arrested for violating his parole and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment at Sing Sing.
While in prison, Evans became friends with infamous serial killer David Berkowitz over their mutual interest in bodybuilding. In December 1987, Evans got into a fight with another prisoner serving a sentence for child molestation, for which he was placed in solitary confinement for several months. On March 1, 1988, Evans was once again released, and shortly after, he befriended 27-year-old thief Damien Cuomo, with whom he began committing crimes.
Between March 1988 and September 1989, Evans and Cuomo pulled off many successful thefts and robberies, honing their skills in the process. The pair were arrested in March 1989, with police finding ski masks, stun guns, radio scanners and ropes in the back of their car, but due to lack of sufficient evidence, both were released. On September 8, 1989, while robbing a store in Watertown, Evans shot and killed 63-year-old secondhand shop owner Douglas Berry, before he and Cuomo stole items worth $15,000. The pair left no viable evidence behind, and the investigators were left without any possible leads.[5]
On December 29, fearing that Cuomo, who had begun to experience depressive episodes, might snitch on him, Evans shot and killed him.[7] In early 1990, he moved back to Florida, where he remained for several weeks before moving on to California, where he came across a female acquaintance he had known for 15 years. Not long after, Evans was arrested for threatening the woman and her husband after the former refused to have sex with him. Since he faced the possibility of criminal liability, Evans accepted the proposal of leaving the state in exchange for no charges being pressed against him, after which he returned to New York.
On October 17, 1991, Evans killed 36-year-old secondhand shop owner Gregory Jouben, before robbing several items and selling them for $60,000 in total. He then decided to get rid of the murder weapon, which he buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands. While there, he also dismantled a 500 kg marble tombstone, which he also successfully sold. After the murder of Jouben, Evans decided to quit his criminal career and get a job. Over the next several years, he worked as a day laborer, only occasionally committing petty thefts. In January 1994, he was arrested for looting and vandalism for stealing and selling the marble tombstone, for which he was ordered to serve a month at the Albany County Jail.[8]
After his release, he moved to Vermont, where he lived a survivalist lifestyle in a tent. In early 1993, he stole cuff links worth $1,500 from a group shop in Quechee,[9] and later broke into the Norman Williams Library in Woodstock, Vermont and stole a valuable book titled The Birds of America.[7] Over the next few months, he attempted to find a buyer, but with the help of informants, police tracked him down in June 1994 and arrested him. Evans was threatened with life imprisonment, but since he revealed where he had kept the book and returned it intact, he was given only 24 months, which he served at an undisclosed prison in Vermont.[10][11] He was paroled on June 6, 1996, and returned to New York, where he renewed his partnership with Tim Rysedorph. The criminals then rented a storage room in Colonie, where they would keep their tools and stolen goods. However, knowing that Rysedorph had been an accomplice in Falco's killing way back in 1985, Evans became paranoid that his friend would tell on him, and so, on October 3, 1997, he shot and killed Rysedorph.[4] In order to get rid of the corpse, he dismembered it and buried the remains in a wooded area, additionally disposing of the murder weapon. Shortly afterwards, he fled New York, again violating his parole, for which he was listed as a wanted fugitive.
Arrest and confessions
On May 27, 1998, Evans surrendered himself at the police station in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, confessing that he had committed several murders.[7] At his subsequent interrogation, he claimed that he was prompted to do so out of feelings of guilt, as he had watched Rysedorph's 9-year-old son become aggressive and withdrawn since his father's disappearance.[4][1] On June 24, he described in detail each of the killings, and revealed the burial sites for both Falco and Rysedorph, whose bodies were later found at the indicated locations in July.[7]
Death
On August 12, 1998, Evans was arraigned at the Rensselaer County District Court and charged with three of the murders.[5] He was then transferred to the Rensselaer County Jail, where he was charged with parole violations before the local court. Two days later, while en route to Troy and passing through the Menands Bridge, Evans, despite being in manacles and chained, used a secret key hidden in his nose to free himself.[11] He then broke the window of the transport van and jumped out. He was quickly cornered by police, but managed to run to the fence and leaped into the Hudson River, hitting the shallows below which caused him fatal head injuries. Due to the circumstances, his death was ruled a suicide.[12][1]
A number of acquaintances, including Evans' lawyer and investigator Jim Horton, who had known him since the 1970s when he investigated the robberies, later stated that Evans had planned to kill himself long before the incident, having sent them suicide notes in which he expressed remorse and his inability to deal with isolation.[12][11] According to his close friends, despite his criminal activities, they considered Evans to have a complex worldview and philosophy, a vegetarian who never drank nor smoked.[3] Some also said that in the last months of his life, Gary was paranoid of possibly getting the death penalty and was going to be executed via lethal injection, which contradicted his beliefs that one should never take drugs via injections.[12]
Media
Evans' life is dramatized in the season 1, episode 8 of I Killed My BFF titled "My Best Friend the Serial Killer". Several authors have also written books on the case.
by LIZ BISHOP | WRGB StaffMon, March 13th 2023, 12:38 PM PDT
UserWay icon for accessibility widget
Gary Evans, who always found it easier to walk a crooked line than a straight one, was 43 years old when he died pulling off his final escape. (WRGB FILE)
In 1985 Gary Evans shot his right-hand man Michael Falco in the head in Troy, threw him in the trunk of a car, drove to Florida and buried him in a swamp (WRGB FILE)
Damien Cuomo witnessed one of the killings and was shot to death by Evans on Christmas Eve in 1989. (WRGB FILE)
Gary Evans, who always found it easier to walk a crooked line than a straight one, was 43 years old when he died pulling off his final escape. (WRGB FILE)
ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — With a hidden key, a broken car window, and a long jump from a local bridge, the legend of escape artist and serial killer Gary Evans was sealed forever.
An eyewitness at the time recalls: "All of a sudden a guy dives out a window ... He's got an orange jumpsuit on ... It seems like he got hung up ... [He's] Just hanging there as the van was skidding. He made no qualms about it; he just jumped off headfirst and went over."
This archival footage from WRGB in 1998 features an eyewitness to Gary Evans' final escape and death at the< >Troy Menands Bridge (WRGB)
Evans, who always found it easier to walk a crooked line than a straight one, was 43 years old when he died pulling off his final escape. According to some, it was a fitting end for the thief killer.
Others, like Jim Horton – the retired state police senior investigator who followed and plotted Evans' movements for 13 years – say it was planned.
"This was an escape to commit suicide," says Horton. "I had seen him the previous Wednesday and he had wrote me a letter. It showed him – he was a pretty good artist – he showed himself flying through the air with shards of glass."
Horton says Evans was as methodical in his death as he was in his life of crimes. He had dug away at his sinuses so that he could eventually insert a handcuff key up his nose – X-rays after his death show it was still lodged there.
This guy could crawl through a straw to escape if he wanted to," the veteran investigator said.
While his death may have cemented his name in local folklore, Gary Evans' life was a sordid collection of misdeeds and murders.
Gary Charles Evans, son of an abusive father and alcoholic mother, had decided early in life if he wanted something, the best way to get it was to steal it.
As a teen he would jump on back of old Freihofer trucks while going down the road and steal cookies," Horton recalls.
For the next two decades he perfected the art of the steal.
Evans apparently never met a valuable antique he didn't want to pocket. In fact, he once stole a 1,000 pound marble bench from the Albany Rural Cemetery. It was that fascination with antiquities that led to long stretches in jail, and, ultimately, his first escape attempt.
In June of 1980 he was being held at the old Rensselaer County Jail on charges of possession of stolen property and parole violation when he jumped up on a picnic table in the rec area and provoked of a group of inmates from the Hell's Angels.
According to Horton, "He said something like 'I bet you can't throw me over that fence'. The bikers took the bait and chucked him up to the top of the fencing. "They literally threw him on top of it. ... He climbed up on the barbed wire and escaped.
All of this played out in broad daylight while TV crews captured the bizarre image of a bare-chested Evans crouched on the ledge of the Troy Library. He was eventually recaptured by police and ended up in protective custody after ratting out the Hells Angels.
JUNE 1980: Following Gary Evans' daring escape from the Rensselaer County Jail, he was found hiding on a ledge at a library near the courthouse. (WRGB)
That begat the next strange chapter of his life.
"Who do they put him next to? ... David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam!," Horton recalls.
The two shared at least one hobby: they both liked to kill (also bodybuilding, allegedly). They would become fast friends and pen pals for the rest of Evans' life.
The 1980's were a busy and violent time for Evans.
In 1985 he shot his partner-in-crime Michael Falco – who joined Evans in several thefts – in the head in Troy, dismembered him with a chainsaw, threw the pieces in the trunk of a car, drove to Florida and buried him in a swamp.
In 1985 Gary Evans shot his right-hand man Michael Falco in the head in Troy, threw him in the trunk of a car, drove to Florida and buried him in a swamp (WRGB FILE)
Another accomplice, Damien Cuomo, witnessed Evans shoot a secondhand shop owner during a robbery in 1989. Fearing Cuomo would snitch on him, Evans shot and killed Cuomo on Christmas Eve of that year. He shot and killed another secondhand shop owner during a robbery in 1991.
Damien Cuomo witnessed one of the killings and was shot to death by Evans on Christmas Eve in 1989. (WRGB FILE)
He added a fifth victim, at least, several years later when he killed his friend and on-and-off accomplice – to theft and murder – Tim Rysedorph in 1997. Similar to the case with Damien Cuomo, Evans feared that Rysedorph would rat on him and shot him in his paranoia.
Tim Rysedorph was Evans' fifth murder victim (WRGB FILE)
Shot him in the head in a self-storage unit and cut him up with a chainsaw," recalls Horton.
None of those killings would be pinned on Evans until he confessed just before his death in 1998.
"I interviewed him several times and he started giving up bodies," Horton says of that time near the end of Evans' criminal career.
The year before he died, Evans stole gold cufflinks and a $6000 gold bracelet from antique stores in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, fenced them in Albany, and went on the lam to the West Coast.
Horton learned when Evans would be back in the area and the state police set up their net in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
This archival footage from investigations into Gary Evans shows the handcuff key Evans stowed in his carved-out sinuses. (WRGB)
"We had a canine – a Vermont trooper with a canine – Gary sensed it and took off and they let the dog get him."
Once in custody, Evans wove a bloody tapestry of crime and death for investigators. He even led authorities to the badly decomposed body of Rysedorph in Brunswick. Two weeks later, they dug up Cuomo's remains in troy. Falco's remains were unearthed in Fort Worth, Florida.
On August 12, 1998, as he was being transferred to the Albany Jail for a hearing – all while bound in manacles, chains and handcuffs, surrounded by four U.S. Marshalls – Evans started his final escape plot. And no one with Evans that day knew about the key hidden in his sinuses and the straight razor in his cheek
Horton says the killer was obsessing over the confessions.
He told me more than once 'I'm not going to live in a cage for the rest of my life'.
And it was over the Troy Menands Bridge that Evans' life of crime ended.
1998: Gary Evans leapt from the Troy- Menands Bridge and was found in only 12 inches of water below. (WRGB FILE)
An eyewitness reported he "wasd expecting to see someone swim away, but he was on the ground. He didn't make the water."
Even in death Evans had a few more surprises – an apparent suicide note that ended with the words "I win" and a phone call to Horton from Evans' next door neighbor.
"She called me up and said, 'Gary had a will. ... In the will he wanted to be cremated, and he wants you to have his ashes'."
https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/gary-evans-the-violent-life-and-dramatic-death-of-a-notorious-serial-killer-robbery-theft-michael-falco-damien-cuomo-tim-rysedorph-cufflinks-jewelry-antiques-on-the-lam-second-hand-store-son-of-sam-pen-pals has videos and pictures.
Gary Evans (serial killer)
Article
Talk
Read
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Gary Evans, see Gary Evans.
Gary Evans
Gary Charles Evans.png
Mugshot
(New York State Police)
Born Gary Charles Evans
October 7, 1954
Troy, New York, U.S.
Died August 14, 1998 (aged 43)
Menands Bridge, New York, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by jumping
Criminal penalty None (died before trial)
Details
Victims 5
Span of crimes February, 1985 – October, 1997
Country United States
State(s) New York
Date apprehended May 27, 1998
Gary Charles Evans (October 7, 1954 – August 14, 1998) was an American thief and confessed serial killer in and around the Capital District, New York. His penchant for stealing antiques and his multiple escapes from custody — including one that ended in his death — made him headline news in the area on numerous occasions.[1][2]
Early years
Gary Charles Evans was born on October 7, 1954, in Troy, New York to Roy and Flora Mae Evans (née Lee). Evans and his sister, Robbie, grew up in an unstable home with physical abuse from their father that was targeted at both the children and their mother. Amid this, the children also experienced their mother's suicide attempts.[3] Evans himself would later claim that he was raped by his father when he was eight. From an early age, Gary began to show interest in works of art and pricy items, and at the age of 8, he was caught stealing jewellery worth $1,000; later on, during his school years, he began repeatedly stealing small items such as books and comics, in addition to occasionally shoplifting, which earned him a reputation as a thief.
After his parents divorced in 1968, Evans and his mother moved to Cohoes, where he attended the local high school. In the summer of 1970, he was arrested for breaking and entering, for which he was sent to a juvenile detention center for three months. While he was imprisoned, his mother married and subsequently divorced four husbands due to her alcohol abuse, and in 1971, she unexpectedly came out as lesbian. After his release, Evans left his mother's home due to frequent quarreling, dropped out of school and began living as a vagrant. In the mid-1970s, he returned to Troy, where, together with his childhood friends Michael Falco and Timothy "Tim" Rysedorph, rented an apartment and got a job.[4]
Criminal career
On January 13, 1977, Evans was arrested for trespassing and stealing property in Lake Placid, for which he was given a 4-year sentence in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. While he was detained, his father, Roy, died of throat cancer.
In 1979, he was transferred to the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, from where he was paroled on March 21, 1980. He then returned to his shared apartment in Troy, and soon after, together with Falco and Rysedorph, he began committing robberies and thefts, using the apartment as a storage space to sell the stolen goods. In June 1980, Evans was arrested for theft and imprisoned at the Old Rensselaer County Jail, but with the help of several Hells Angels members, he managed to escape.[5] Just five hours later, however, he was recaptured, and on September 21, he was returned to the Clinton Correctional Facility to serve out his full sentence, as he had broken the conditions of his parole.
In 1982, following a brawl between inmates, Evans was transferred to the Attica Correctional Facility, where he remained until his release on December 29. The following January, Evans and Falco committed several petty thefts, after which they both moved to Florida. A month later, Evans' mother died in an accident, forcing the two men to return to New York State and resume their criminal activities together with Rysedorph. On May 10, 1983, Evans was arrested for burglary and trespassing in Saratoga County, and briefly housed in the county jail. Throughout the rest of the year, he was repeatedly transferred to various prisons, but was never brought to trial and was eventually released in March 1984. In January 1985, Rysedorph ceased all contact with Evans, who continued his criminal career only with the help of Falco.
On February 16, 1985, Evans and Falco robbed an antique collector's apartment in East Greenbush, with their profit being around $15,000.[6] In April, Evans stole the car of two drug traffickers and sold it for $12,000, but the victims were able to identify him, which resulted in his arrest in Cohoes. Evans accepted a plea deal with the prosecutors in exchange for a commutation of his sentence, admitting his guilt in the robbery and illegal possession of weaponry. He was released on probation, pledging that he would stop stealing and find himself a real job, but by July of that year, he would commit his first murder.
In the last days of July, Evans built an improvised silencer for his pistol, which he then used to kill his accomplice Michael Falco at their shared apartment in Troy, dismembering the body with a chainsaw.[4][7] He then called Rysedorph to help him get rid of the body, to which the latter agreed, stuffing it in a sleeping bag and driving it to Evans' sister's home in Lake Worth Corridor, Florida, where they buried it in the backyard.[4][7] The motive for the murder was revenge, as Rysedorph had told Gary that Falco had been profiting off their loot by selling them for themselves; in actuality, Rysedorph blamed Falco for what he himself has been doing. The two criminals remained in Lake Worth Corridor for about six weeks before returning to New York, whereupon Evans was again arrested for violating his parole and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment at Sing Sing.
While in prison, Evans became friends with infamous serial killer David Berkowitz over their mutual interest in bodybuilding. In December 1987, Evans got into a fight with another prisoner serving a sentence for child molestation, for which he was placed in solitary confinement for several months. On March 1, 1988, Evans was once again released, and shortly after, he befriended 27-year-old thief Damien Cuomo, with whom he began committing crimes.
Between March 1988 and September 1989, Evans and Cuomo pulled off many successful thefts and robberies, honing their skills in the process. The pair were arrested in March 1989, with police finding ski masks, stun guns, radio scanners and ropes in the back of their car, but due to lack of sufficient evidence, both were released. On September 8, 1989, while robbing a store in Watertown, Evans shot and killed 63-year-old secondhand shop owner Douglas Berry, before he and Cuomo stole items worth $15,000. The pair left no viable evidence behind, and the investigators were left without any possible leads.[5]
On December 29, fearing that Cuomo, who had begun to experience depressive episodes, might snitch on him, Evans shot and killed him.[7] In early 1990, he moved back to Florida, where he remained for several weeks before moving on to California, where he came across a female acquaintance he had known for 15 years. Not long after, Evans was arrested for threatening the woman and her husband after the former refused to have sex with him. Since he faced the possibility of criminal liability, Evans accepted the proposal of leaving the state in exchange for no charges being pressed against him, after which he returned to New York.
On October 17, 1991, Evans killed 36-year-old secondhand shop owner Gregory Jouben, before robbing several items and selling them for $60,000 in total. He then decided to get rid of the murder weapon, which he buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands. While there, he also dismantled a 500 kg marble tombstone, which he also successfully sold. After the murder of Jouben, Evans decided to quit his criminal career and get a job. Over the next several years, he worked as a day laborer, only occasionally committing petty thefts. In January 1994, he was arrested for looting and vandalism for stealing and selling the marble tombstone, for which he was ordered to serve a month at the Albany County Jail.[8]
After his release, he moved to Vermont, where he lived a survivalist lifestyle in a tent. In early 1993, he stole cuff links worth $1,500 from a group shop in Quechee,[9] and later broke into the Norman Williams Library in Woodstock, Vermont and stole a valuable book titled The Birds of America.[7] Over the next few months, he attempted to find a buyer, but with the help of informants, police tracked him down in June 1994 and arrested him. Evans was threatened with life imprisonment, but since he revealed where he had kept the book and returned it intact, he was given only 24 months, which he served at an undisclosed prison in Vermont.[10][11] He was paroled on June 6, 1996, and returned to New York, where he renewed his partnership with Tim Rysedorph. The criminals then rented a storage room in Colonie, where they would keep their tools and stolen goods. However, knowing that Rysedorph had been an accomplice in Falco's killing way back in 1985, Evans became paranoid that his friend would tell on him, and so, on October 3, 1997, he shot and killed Rysedorph.[4] In order to get rid of the corpse, he dismembered it and buried the remains in a wooded area, additionally disposing of the murder weapon. Shortly afterwards, he fled New York, again violating his parole, for which he was listed as a wanted fugitive.
Arrest and confessions
On May 27, 1998, Evans surrendered himself at the police station in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, confessing that he had committed several murders.[7] At his subsequent interrogation, he claimed that he was prompted to do so out of feelings of guilt, as he had watched Rysedorph's 9-year-old son become aggressive and withdrawn since his father's disappearance.[4][1] On June 24, he described in detail each of the killings, and revealed the burial sites for both Falco and Rysedorph, whose bodies were later found at the indicated locations in July.[7]
Death
On August 12, 1998, Evans was arraigned at the Rensselaer County District Court and charged with three of the murders.[5] He was then transferred to the Rensselaer County Jail, where he was charged with parole violations before the local court. Two days later, while en route to Troy and passing through the Menands Bridge, Evans, despite being in manacles and chained, used a secret key hidden in his nose to free himself.[11] He then broke the window of the transport van and jumped out. He was quickly cornered by police, but managed to run to the fence and leaped into the Hudson River, hitting the shallows below which caused him fatal head injuries. Due to the circumstances, his death was ruled a suicide.[12][1]
A number of acquaintances, including Evans' lawyer and investigator Jim Horton, who had known him since the 1970s when he investigated the robberies, later stated that Evans had planned to kill himself long before the incident, having sent them suicide notes in which he expressed remorse and his inability to deal with isolation.[12][11] According to his close friends, despite his criminal activities, they considered Evans to have a complex worldview and philosophy, a vegetarian who never drank nor smoked.[3] Some also said that in the last months of his life, Gary was paranoid of possibly getting the death penalty and was going to be executed via lethal injection, which contradicted his beliefs that one should never take drugs via injections.[12]
Media
Evans' life is dramatized in the season 1, episode 8 of I Killed My BFF titled "My Best Friend the Serial Killer". Several authors have also written books on the case.
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