UK UK - Trevaline Evans, 52, Llangollen, Wales, 16 June 1990

[wfgodot]

Daily Mail:

Back in 2 minutes ... but 25 years after antiques dealer
left enigmatic note in her shop window she's STILL missing

⁍ Trevaline Evans vanished from her antiques shop on June 16, 1990
⁍ Brother says he has never given up hope that his sister will be found
⁍ Police case remains open, but the investigation is not currently active

---
On the day she went missing, Trevaline left her shop, Attic Antiques, on Church Street, at about
12.40pm, leaving the note -- reading 'Back in 2 Minutes' -- on the door.

At about 1pm, Trevaline bought an apple and a banana and was seen crossing Castle Street.

It is thought she may have returned to her shop at this point as a banana skin was found in a
waste bin there, though it was impossible to know whether it was the one bought that day.

The last confirmed sighting of Trevaline was near her home on Market Street at 2.30pm.

There were two more suspected sightings of Trevaline later on the day of her disappearance,
although both are unconfirmed.

Five minutes after Trevaline was seen on Market Street, a woman matching her description
was seen walking out of town - along the A5 towards Corwen, beside the riverside park.

A further one hour and 10 minutes later, at 3.45pm, there was another sighting, this
time of her walking into Park Avenue from the direction of the River Dee - and then
she vanished.
---

more, with pictures, at link

 

[CoverMeCagney]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Trevaline_Evans

 

[wfgodot]

---
There have been numerous twists over the years, including an apparent sighting in a remote town in Australia.

Trevaline was also reportedly spotted in London and Interpol was called in to look at possible sightings in France.

One of the strangest lines of inquiry was in 1993 when sniffer dogs scoured a canal bank near Llangollen.

A woman had told police she was “overwhelmed” by a feeling that Trevaline was there. The previous year, woodland had been searched after a spiritualist medium said she was convinced police would find the antiques dealer at that location.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/180631/20-years-ago-she-put-up-a-note-Back-in-two-minutes

Missing shopkeeper's husband released (BBC, 2001)

 

[shadowdancer]

I think perhaps too much is being made of that note. There seems to be no evidence to prove that Trevaline was the one who put it on the door.

I believe that it was her writing, but many shop owners will keep and reuse such a sign rather than create a new one each day or each time they need to pop out.

It may have been placed there to make it look like Trevaline went missing later than she actually did and/or from a different place than she actually did.

 

[emmet]

“Back In 2 Minutes….” True Crime Enthusiast, text + podcast 10 October 2016

“It is without doubt the strangest inquiry I have ever been involved with. How a happily married woman could vanish without trace on a sunny Saturday morning in a busy town centre is totally baffling.” – Detective Chief Inspector Colin Edwards (speaking in 1992)​

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

This case is local to me, and periodically crops up. The theory I have heard expressed locally is that she is somewhere on the Horseshoe Pass which is close by, and nice and remote. It has a sad history of death in recent times at least. Four small boys were killed up there by their father a few years ago, while the author Alexander Cordell also died in the area. (It looked as if he had gone up there to end his life, but died before he could)
I know the two afternoon sightings of her are disputed, but I had always imagined she was walking the other way out of town, towards Chirk. There were witnesses who had seen her in the company of an unknown man in the days leading up to her disappearance (mentioned briefly in the DM article) A real puzzler.

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

An old article from a local paper at the time of Trevaline's husband's death. Sadly their son predeceased him
'He has died not knowing what happened to his wife'

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

I lnow elsewhere on WS a link has been suggested to Christopher Halliwell, but at one point the police investigated the possibility of Trevaline being another victim of serial killer Robin Ligus
Serial killer is ruled out of link with missing Trevaline

 

[Al Ka]

Just adding her photo and note

Her husband passed away in 2014.

Lost in the Grey

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

A post about this case popped up on Llangollen and District Noticeboard on facebook last night, from a gentleman named James Pepper

Prynhawn da to all you lovely Llangollens! My name is James and I am working on a documentary about Trevaline Evans for a TV company in Manchester. I am trying to track down Trevaline's remaining relatives and anyone who knew her. Does anyone know Arwen Evans, who I think is Trevaline's daughter in law? Or grandson's Owen or Huw? Or Trevaline's good friend Christine Burdett? Feel free to message me with any suggestions. Many thanks for your time. x

(He has added it the comments it is Anwen not Arwen - think he got a bit Tolkien-esque there)
Good to see this case getting some attention

 

[Al Ka]

A post about this case popped up on Llangollen and District Noticeboard on facebook last night, from a gentleman named James Pepper

Prynhawn da to all you lovely Llangollens! My name is James and I am working on a documentary about Trevaline Evans for a TV company in Manchester. I am trying to track down Trevaline's remaining relatives and anyone who knew her. Does anyone know Arwen Evans, who I think is Trevaline's daughter in law? Or grandson's Owen or Huw? Or Trevaline's good friend Christine Burdett? Feel free to message me with any suggestions. Many thanks for your time. x

(He has added it the comments it is Anwen not Arwen - think he got a bit Tolkien-esque there)
Good to see this case getting some attention

That is really good news that someone is looking into her case. Many older cases are dormant and need any help they can get. Can't wait to see doc once it is finished.

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

Recent article about Trevaline. Nothing new, but a good summation
The Lunch Break That Never Ended - Of Misdeeds and Mysteries - Medium

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

The above article was probably triggered by this recent local news story
Almost 30 years on and the case, which was treated as a murder investigation, remains as much a mystery now as it did then.

However Trevaline's name hit the headlines for the first time in a long time earlier this week when two brothers claimed they found evidence to suggest her body was dumped under Rhuddlan golf club's bar.

The unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Trevaline Evans

 

[missstery]

It's strange how her husband was away at the time of her disappearance, renovating their holiday bungalow near Rhuddlan and then 2 brothers claimed they found evidence of her body dumped under a golf club in Rhuddlan. I looked on google maps and Llangollen is quite far away from Rhuddlan so it's odd that where their holiday home was / where her husband was at the time is where they thought her body was several years later. Although as her husband was away at the time she went missing, she couldn't have died at the hands of her husband unless he came back to Llangollen but the police weren't aware.

It's a mystery re the banana skin in the bin unless it was there from a day or 2 beforehand. But the banana skin to me does say she came back so could something have happened out the back of the shop. I just wondered if the sign could have been placed there on the front door of the shop whilst they disappeared out the back of the shop where there might not have been as many people about as there perhaps was on the street outside the front of the shop

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

I just wondered if the sign could have been placed there on the front door of the shop whilst they disappeared out the back of the shop where there might not have been as many people about as there perhaps was on the street outside the front of the shop

I live locally, and don't think that there is any back access to a street. I attach a link to the last sale details of Trevaline's shop, now a house, which seems to show a shared and enclosed rear yard. You can see on the photo that the shop is in a residential area. Although quite close to the town centre most shops are further down. It's a pretty narrow street, and fairly quiet. I don't think it would be hard to park outside and avoid being seen.
The street does lead to busier shopping areas one way and the busy A5 the other, but even if not outside it would be possible to park in the church carpark, or the Hand Hotel. A short walk, through the church yard into either car park would avoid shops/A5 and potentially be discreet.
http://www.expertagent.co.uk/in4gle...b85-dacf-4bd8-94a9-d5bbc2f022a2}/external.pdf

 

[CastlesBurning]

Six cases police in Wales desperately need your help in solving

 

[?unknown?]

Were the 2 sightings of her heading out of town and by the river confirmed? I think those could be inaccurate and it was someone else the people saw. She had a pretty common looking appearance. I believe she was picked up in a car after leaving the shop and driven away. Why would she leave her keys, jacket, and bag behind? That’s something you do if you know you are going 5 mins then back. Maybe someone told her to come and value an antique for him and it was in his house a short drive around the corner or maybe told her he wanted assistance in carrying some stuff from his car to her shop. Usually in missing persons cases the police are always doing things incompetently and are (rightly) blamed for botching investigations. However from what I read on this it seems they have done absolutely everything possible to locate her, even following up hunches from psychics. Continually re-examining it every 10 years or so yet they never release anything new or helpful that we don’t know already. Is there a reason the police seem so heavily invested in this case compared to other ones considering it happened so long ago? It seems like they do at least have a clue what might have happened

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

The police have previously stated that "cases like these are never closed."
(Superintendent Steve Gould HERE)
Trevaline's son, Richard, was a Police Sergeant, but I don't think that is a factor in the re-investigations.
From what I can see the Police have re-opened the case a couple of times, which is as you might expect as new techniques become available, and the other investigations have been prompted either by the family or by someone coming up with some possibility, included the psychics, probably taken seriously as there was so little to go on.
This article written last year states that the last confirmed sighting of Trevaline was in Market Street around 2.30. The other two sightings you mention, heading out of town, and by the river, were after this, so are obviously not confirmed, although still possible.
I don't think there is anything odd about the continuing interest in the case. Wales has quite a small population, around 3 million, and this was a huge deal, as well as one of the biggest investigations ever undertaken here.

 

[?unknown?]

The police have previously stated that "cases like these are never closed."
(Superintendent Steve Gould HERE)
Trevaline's son, Richard, was a Police Sergeant, but I don't think that is a factor in the re-investigations.
From what I can see the Police have re-opened the case a couple of times, which is as you might expect as new techniques become available, and the other investigations have been prompted either by the family or by someone coming up with some possibility, included the psychics, probably taken seriously as there was so little to go on.
This article written last year states that the last confirmed sighting of Trevaline was in Market Street around 2.30. The other two sightings you mention, heading out of town, and by the river, were after this, so are obviously not confirmed, although still possible.
I don't think there is anything odd about the continuing interest in the case. Wales has quite a small population, around 3 million, and this was a huge deal, as well as one of the biggest investigations ever undertaken here.

I didn’t know it was such a huge deal at the time she disappeared, I always thought this was one of the lesser known cases from the U.K..even this thread is barely active and when I searched for information about it last year not much came up as opposed to say cases like Claudia Lawrence or Andrew Gosden which has thousands of pages of discussion around the Internet. I’ve been fascinated by Trevaline’s disappearance since I found out about it. I’m glad the police seem to be proactive in pursuing everything and keeping her case current. I hope one day we get some breakthrough in finding out what happened.

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

I didn’t know it was such a huge deal at the time she disappeared, I always thought this was one of the lesser known cases from the U.K..even this thread is barely active and when I searched for information about it last year not much came up as opposed to say cases like Claudia Lawrence or Andrew Gosden which has thousands of pages of discussion around the Internet. I’ve been fascinated by Trevaline’s disappearance since I found out about it. I’m glad the police seem to be proactive in pursuing everything and keeping her case current. I hope one day we get some breakthrough in finding out what happened.

I don't think it was a huge deal in the UK per se, but it was a massive deal for North Wales. Internet wise it probably suffers from happening before the internet was a thing.
Somewhere above I posted about a request for help from a TV producer hoping to make a documentary. I haven't heard any more about it, but it would be great to get it back in the public eye .