An East Tennessee judge on Friday denied a request to lower the bond for a mother charged in the death of her daughter, who was found dead on family property after an extensive search in 2020.
Megan “Maggie” Boswell faces 19 charges related to the death of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell, who was initially reported missing in February 2020 — almost two months after family members had last seen the little girl, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Boswell reportedly told authorities several different stories about the whereabouts of the toddler during the two-week search after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an AMBER Alert — that the baby’s father had her, that the little girl’s grandmother had taken her somewhere, and mores — but Evelyn was finally found in March in a shed on property belonging to Megan Boswell’s father, Tommy Boswell Sr., who said he was the person who reported his granddaughter missing in February.
Sullivan County Judge Jim Goodwin listened to arguments by defense attorney Brad Sproles and District Attorney Barry Staubus on Friday, ultimately deciding against Sproles’ assertions that Boswell wasn’t a flight risk and that she’d been in jail for nearly two years, WJHL reported.
The next hearing in the case is set for April 7, when Goodwin will hear arguments about a defense request for a change of venue because of the intense publicity of the case. The prosecution has asked for a decision on another option, the Kingsport Times-News reported — pulling jurors from another part of the state and bringing them to Sullivan County for the trial.
Goodwin also set a deadline of May 1 for Sproles to notify the court if it intends to use Boswell’s mental health in his defense.
Boswell has been indicted on two counts of felony murder; single counts each of aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and failure to report a death under suspicious, unusual, or unnatural circumstances; and 12 counts of false reports.
The trial has been set to begin on September 26.
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