As someone who grew up in Arlington and lived there for over 20 years, I have a really good idea about the areas of the two cities mentioned in this case. First off, the area where Mr. Lacey lived and apparently was found in southeast Arlington is a bit on the lower income side and semi-sketchy in some parts. It’s not the ghetto by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly there are some really great people (like Mr. Lacey, by all accounts) living there. But there is some violent crime in that part of town for sure. Further west towards Fort Worth you have southwestern Arlington. That area is much more affluent and in general safer. HOWEVER... and I put this in capital letters because I speak from experience on this... there is a highway (287) which runs diagonal through southwest Arlington toward the northeast and into a very, very, very bad part of east Fort Worth. This is the area where they found Mr. Lacey’s abandoned car on December 22nd. As soon as I heard where they found that car, my heart sank for that family because I knew robbery was very likely involved.
You see, when I was in my 20’s, I was hanging out with friends at night time in what I thought to be a very safe part of southwest Arlington. When my friends and I left the house and were walking to our cars, we were immediately descended upon by armed robbers who had driven up on us so fast we didn’t even have time to react. They shoved guns in our faces, took everything we had, and quickly sped off into the night. The policeman who came out to take our report told us then it was very likely that the thieves lived in that SAME part of east Fort Worth where Mr. Lacey’s car was ultimately found. He said that they robbed people all along highway 287, even as far away from their home as Arlington (15-20 minutes) because 287 gave them a quick route back to their neighborhood. Sure enough, a few days later, a lot of our empty wallets and purses were found in a ditch in that same east Fort Worth neighborhood.
Since that day, I’ve seen too many stories in the local news to count about armed robberies and driveway murders that have occurred in that same exact area. It is one of the absolute worst areas in the entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. A great young man like Evan Lacey would never go to that area, especially by himself.
My best guess about this case, based on the facts that: a) he was reportedly trying to sell his car, b) he lied to his family about going to work that day, c) there was a significant amount of blood found in his car, and d) his body was found close to home but his car was found 30 minutes away in a horrible area, is that the murderer or murderers contacted him either online or through another 3rd party under the pretense of wanting to buy his car. He probably had some misgivings about the situation or something concerned him enough that he lied to his parents about where he was going so as not to worry them. He probably thought there was some risk but that the sale would likely be ok in the end. I feel like he met up with his killer(s) somewhere not too far from where he lived and somewhere he was familiar with. That is where the murder took place. The killer(s) got into his car, pretending to want to check it out or maybe go for a ride. There they pulled a weapon or weapons, perhaps a struggle ensued, and they killed him. There’s even the possibility that it was originally not meant to be a murder but instead a straight carjacking, but because he put up a fight for his beloved car (which the reports did say he loved), they had to kill him. Then they dumped his body in the closest secluded area they could find and, unbelievably, drove the car back to their part of town where they eventually abandoned it.
This poor kid had such a great life ahead of him and by all accounts a wonderful family who so obviously loved him. I hope the culprits get caught soon and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
. RIP Evan. Prayers to his family and friends.
