In 1994, James Evans (15) had murdered the abusive grandmother of his then-girlfriend, Wendy Gardner (13). The grandmother disapproved of the trouble-maker around her granddaughter. He had strangled the elderly woman with kite string, spent her money on crap and drove her car with her corpse in the trunk.  He was a known sociopath, and was even known to be abusive to Wendy. She had friends and good grades. A fluffy, fantasy book was written about this, but turns reality into a mushy love story that it really wasn't.  In 1997, they were both sentenced for murder 2nd. Wendy took blame for a crime Evans committed. She had earned her parole in 2004, and is now my girlfriend. On October 18th, Evans was denied parole. I am pleased with the decision, as Evans has no remorse for the crime. It's important for people to see this was done out of anger, not love.

I remember that case.  You say this young woman who is now out of prison is your girlfriend?  Thirteen years old is practically a child.  Easy to get in over one's head.  Sounds to me like she got a raw deal because of her involvement with that psycho boyfriend.  I hope she's able to go on with her life after so much trauma.

Interesting you should post this just now, as the latest news item is the the murder of a fourteen year old PA girl's parents by her eighteen year old boyfriend.  It's still "alleged" of course, but everyone knows who did it!
http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-55/113201516528170.xml&storylist=national

;)Yes, Wendy and I have tied the knot in 2006 and she is doing everything she can to get on with her life.  She is not the manipulative monster the press had made her out to be.  She is a very giving person who is loving, intelligent , funny and faithful.  I try helping her through hard times because she has been through a lot at a very young age.  She has suffered a lot of loss.  Wendy accepts her involvement in the crime and people need to understand that she was doing as she was told by James.  Imaging being 13 and dating a violent, street-wise punk who turns out to be capable of murder.  Wendy was not allowed out of James' sight.  He kept Wendy and her sister there, and he ordered Wendy to assist him after he killed her grandmother.  James was not forced against his will to commit murder - James didn't let people push him into doing things.  He did what he chose to do, and without remorse.  Wendy admits being too young to really know what death or love was when she was 13.  Her involvement with James was also not a big romance, but it seemed so at that age.  Reality has hit Wendy and she's done a lot of growing up.  James is in the past and Wendy has now found true love.  But the crime itself is something she won't forget.  James Evans is the one who took Betty Gardner's life and he belongs in prison.  Wendy is quite a lady and despite even being in prison, she's very sweet and not at all scary. 

Maybe I'm a tad sociopathic myself, but honestly, if the grandmother was abusive, I'm not sure how much of a problem I have with her being dead.

Granted, it seems quite apparent that James is too dangerous to allow out of prison.

Good luck with your marriage to Wendy.  I'm guessing she's about 26 now?

;)Yes, Wendy and I have tied the knot in 2006 and she is doing everything she can to get on with her life.  She is not the manipulative monster the press had made her out to be.  She is a very giving person who is loving, intelligent , funny and faithful.  I try helping her through hard times because she has been through a lot at a very young age.  She has suffered a lot of loss.  Wendy accepts her involvement in the crime and people need to understand that she was doing as she was told by James.  Imaging being 13 and dating a violent, street-wise punk who turns out to be capable of murder.  Wendy was not allowed out of James' sight.  He kept Wendy and her sister there, and he ordered Wendy to assist him after he killed her grandmother.  James was not forced against his will to commit murder - James didn't let people push him into doing things.  He did what he chose to do, and without remorse.  Wendy admits being too young to really know what death or love was when she was 13.  Her involvement with James was also not a big romance, but it seemed so at that age.  Reality has hit Wendy and she's done a lot of growing up.  James is in the past and Wendy has now found true love.  But the crime itself is something she won't forget.  James Evans is the one who took Betty Gardner's life and he belongs in prison.  Wendy is quite a lady and despite even being in prison, she's very sweet and not at all scary. 


It just goes to show you how we think that person we find when we are young is the only person we will ever love. You said it yourself. 13 year-old Wendy romanticized the relationship in her diary. Adult Wendy is able to separate the "fairy tale" from the very real horror of that fateful relationship. 


Maybe I'm a tad sociopathic myself, but honestly, if the grandmother was abusive, I'm not sure how much of a problem I have with her being dead.

Granted, it seems quite apparent that James is too dangerous to allow out of prison.

Good luck with your marriage to Wendy.  I'm guessing she's about 26 now?



I wonder tho- if the grandmother was actually abusive. I mean at 13 we think people who love us and are trying to do what's best for us are doing it only to be mean. 

I don't know. Snafu said she was abusive but Wendy thought at the time her boyfriend was the one. It seems like the grandmother was obviously right about not wanting them to see one another. 

So I wonder if the abuse was physical or emotional or and mis-perception from a 13yr old's POV.  You don't have to share if its too personal I was just curious.


I have a friend who has a son and the running joke (although it really isn't funny) is that this kid is going to grow up to be a serial killer. He shows some of those pervasive signs.  I'm kinda scarred for him but his mother doesn't see what I see so I guess we just wait?

I wonder tho- if the grandmother was actually abusive. I mean at 13 we think people who love us and are trying to do what's best for us are doing it only to be mean. 

I don't know. Snafu said she was abusive but Wendy thought at the time her boyfriend was the one. It seems like the grandmother was obviously right about not wanting them to see one another. 

So I wonder if the abuse was physical or emotional or and mis-perception from a 13yr old's POV.  You don't have to share if its too personal I was just curious.


I have a friend who has a son and the running joke (although it really isn't funny) is that this kid is going to grow up to be a serial killer. He shows some of those pervasive signs.  I'm kinda scarred for him but his mother doesn't see what I see so I guess we just wait?


Good points...  I didn't think of the perception part.  You could very well be right....

As for the last part...  is the kid's name Dexter?  j/k

As for the last part...  is the kid's name Dexter?  j/k


;D  Yeah I wish I'd thought about writing that show

In 1994, James Evans (15) had murdered the abusive grandmother of his then-girlfriend, Wendy Gardner (13). The grandmother disapproved of the trouble-maker around her granddaughter. He had strangled the elderly woman with kite string, spent her money on crap and drove her car with her corpse in the trunk.  He was a known sociopath, and was even known to be abusive to Wendy. She had friends and good grades. A fluffy, fantasy book was written about this, but turns reality into a mushy love story that it really wasn't.  In 1997, they were both sentenced for murder 2nd. Wendy took blame for a crime Evans committed.


She couldn't have been too innocent if she was convicted.  Was Wendy Gardner around when the murder took place?  Did she know of it before it happened and do nothing about it?  Was she in the car knowing the body of her grandmother was in the trunk?  Did she know of the crime and never tell the police?

She couldn't have been too innocent if she was convicted.  Was Wendy Gardner around when the murder took place?  Did she know of it before it happened and do nothing about it?  Was she in the car knowing the body of her grandmother was in the trunk?  Did she know of the crime and never tell the police?


She was 13 and impressionable. You've got to take that into consideration. At 13 we're not really thinking beyond what's going on now. Not a whole lot of consequential thought processes going on here. Sure you know the difference between right and wrong but we've all done stupid stuff as teens without thinking of the consequences only to look back as a adults and say "DAMN! I was kinda stupid as a kid!!!"

She was 13 and impressionable. You've got to take that into consideration. At 13 we're not really thinking beyond what's going on now. Not a whole lot of consequential thought processes going on here. Sure you know the difference between right and wrong but we've all done stupid stuff as teens without thinking of the consequences only to look back as a adults and say "DAMN! I was kinda stupid as a kid!!!"

Good point.

She was 13 and impressionable. You've got to take that into consideration. At 13 we're not really thinking beyond what's going on now. Not a whole lot of consequential thought processes going on here. Sure you know the difference between right and wrong but we've all done stupid stuff as teens without thinking of the consequences only to look back as a adults and say "DAMN! I was kinda stupid as a kid!!!"



She was thirteen, not five.  There is precedent for this.  A twelve year old boy in Florida got life in prison for murdering his little sister.  A thirteen year old boy in the state of Georgia got life in prison for shooting and killing a man in front of his two young kids.  What makes this girl so special?  I know she didn't directly kill the grandmother, but she likely knew of it and did nothing.  Thirteen is more than old enough to know better.

I'm not familiar with the details of this case, and frankly, have better things to do, but it seems to me that 13 year old kids are very short of good judgment (I've had 4 of them so I speak from a bit of experience), and I find it a bit arrogant that anyone not closely involved with this would offer a condemnation of anyone (well, except the actual perp).

I wish you and Wendy many years of matrimonial bliss  ;) and as much happiness as Cat and I give each other.  Good luck.

She was thirteen, not five.  There is precedent for this.  A twelve year old boy in Florida got life in prison for murdering his little sister.  A thirteen year old boy in the state of Georgia got life in prison for shooting and killing a man in front of his two young kids.  What makes this girl so special?  I know she didn't directly kill the grandmother, but she likely knew of it and did nothing.  Thirteen is more than old enough to know better.


I still think it depends on the 13 year old. I work on a college campus with 18 year olds who don't know how to think for themselves. I think yeah  she is supposed to know better but that doesn't mean she's thinking long term.  Plus, if snafu really is married to the now adult woman I think its kinda harsh to say your wife was stupid. I have done some dumb things when I was young. none of them resulted in murder but when I look back at when I was young I'm surprised I made it to adult hood. We just aren't using the same logic and reasoning skills at 13 that we use as adults.

BTW I don't condone the murder of the grandmother but I don't that the 13 yr old really thought that was what was going to happen.I its like snafu said about the diary... she wasn't thinking about the reality of the situation she saw it dreamily as a romantic love story. How many adult women have this same problem?

Maybe I'm a tad sociopathic myself, but honestly, if the grandmother was abusive, I'm not sure how much of a problem I have with her being dead.

Granted, it seems quite apparent that James is too dangerous to allow out of prison.

Good luck with your marriage to Wendy.  I'm guessing she's about 26 now?


Hello, yes Wendy and I are happy and doing well.  She never claimed to be "innocent" but it is important to know that she did not commit the murder and she did not make James Evans do it, either. But Wendy was charged as an accomplice, charged as an adult, which was wrong.  James Evans wasn't forced against his will, he did what he did and he had no remorse afterwards.  Wendy is not the same kind of person as James and for those who wonder - YES her grandmother WAS abusive.  My family knew hers and I had heard all about how her grandmother was towards Wendy. And NO, that doesn't mean she deserved to die.  James himself was not a prince and he was also abusive to Wendy at times.  He had threatened her and manipulated her every time she tried dumping him.  Please don't believe what the papers and books have to say because they're not accurate.  Wendy did not actually believe James would kill her because Wendy didn't really know James. Wendy didn't force her sister to watch the murder, either - they were upstairs.  Wendy was not allowed out of James' sight any more than her sister was.  There was no "plan" to run off after the murder, and that is obvious.  Wendy was too young to really know what love or death was at 13 and her life has been hard.  Thank you to everyone who tries to be understanding about something like this.  She's a very intelligent, faithful, loving, committed, person.  Thank you for the well-wishing on our relationship, too.  Just remember that "true crime" is not 100% truth.