Call for mistrial, information about Boswell's ex-boyfriends come out in court

Yahoo

08-02-2025

SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Jurors learned several new details about the men who had been in Megan Boswell's life during the third day of her murder trial.
Boswell faces 19 charges, including first-degree murder and two counts of felony murder, in the death of her baby daughter Evelyn Boswell, whose remains were found on March 6, 2020 after an AMBER Alert.
Father of ex, former alleged father of Evelyn testify in Boswell trial
News Channel 11 streamed the court proceedings and provided in-depth descriptions of each testimony.
Court resumed with testimonies from friends of Boswell's, an employee of a hotel that she stayed at in 2019 and 2020, her foster mother and a woman who babysat Evelyn for Boswell on some occasions.
The mother of one of Boswell's ex-boyfriends, a man named Caleb she dated in the spring of 2019, also took the stand. Erica Stacy became emotional when handling evidence that included a shirt and blanket she had made for Evelyn.
Complete Coverage of the Megan Boswell Trial
Stacy's testimony resulted in a challenge by Boswell's defense team after prosecutors showed the jury text messages between Stacy and Boswell. One of the messages contained an error, which prompted attorneys to approach Judge Jim Goodwin. The jury was excused while Goodwin and the attorneys discussed it.
Before the jury returned, Boswell's defense attorney, Gene Scott, said he had been under the assumption that prosecutors were using screenshots of text conversations. Instead, the district attorney's office said while some evidence did include actual screenshots, other parts of conversations had been extracted and placed into an easier-to-read format for the jury.
Scott called for a mistrial because of the error, but Goodwin decided against it. Goodwin did warn the prosecution against further errors and chose to inform the jury about the nature of the evidence. He instructed them not to consider the flawed message as evidence.
After that matter was settled, Stacy completed her testimony.
Following Stacy, prosecutors called Randy Wood, the father of Boswell's ex-boyfriend Hunter Wood, to the stand.
Randy Wood recalled hiring Boswell and noted that despite her having a child, she told him she could work as many hours as needed at his Blountville restaurant, Hunter T's Chicken Shack. He told the court about how she and his son began to spend time together and how she spent a few nights at his home. Randy Wood was adamant, however, that he never saw Evelyn, nor was she ever at his home.
When questions turned to his son, Randy Wood informed jurors that Hunter Wood was in a mental health facility in Marion, Virginia in a state that would not allow him to participate in the court proceedings. He said Hunter Wood would not make sense when he talked and at times did not recognize his family.
Deputy District Attorney William Harper asked when Hunter Wood's mental health began deteriorating.
'When he got accused of being a baby killer,' Randy Wood answered.
While cross-examining Randy Wood, Scott asked about any violent tendencies his son may experience, which the father said he did not know about. Scott also posed questions about Hunter Wood's condition and diagnosis, as well as if he ever talked about people stealing his thoughts.
Randy Wood said he was not familiar with anything of the sort. Scott also asked if Hunter Wood ever mentioned aluminum foil or talked about Boswell or Evelyn. Randy Wood said he did not.
After the court learned about the state of Hunter Wood, Ethan Perry was called as a witness. Perry was at one time believed to be the biological father of Evelyn; however, it was revealed on Friday that he found out he was not.
Perry was another ex-boyfriend of Boswell's. The two met in high school and dated for years, even for some time after graduation when Perry enlisted in the U.S. Army. After his training and assignment to Fort Polk in Louisiana, Perry described their relationship as unhealthy.
Perry told the court that after Boswell informed him she was pregnant in spring 2018, he was skeptical it was his child. In his testimony, Perry described a time in 2019, after Evelyn's birth, when Boswell and the child came and visited him unexpectedly in El Paso, Texas while he was on assignment with his unit.
Boswell and Evelyn stayed with Perry for a few days, and Perry said that was the only time he ever saw Evelyn. He claimed to still doubt Evelyn was his child.
When Evelyn was reported missing, Perry stated he was contacted by the Tennessee Department of Children's Services and was investigated by the Army as well. He insisted that Evelyn had never been to the fort in Louisiana, nor had he seen her except for the El Paso visit.
Perry confirmed that through a DNA submission, he learned he was not Evelyn's father.
Perry's grandfather, whom he lived with, also testified and said Boswell had not been to his property since she and Perry were in high school and that Evelyn had never been there.
The final witness called was Michelle Gilliam, a lieutenant with the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office who was a detective at the time Evelyn was considered missing. She was part of the investigation into Evelyn's disappearance and was on-scene the night Evelyn's remains were recovered at Tommy Boswell's property in Blountville.
Gilliam commented on a February 2020 interview she had with Boswell after the DCS report was filed, and that interview was played for jurors. In it, Boswell claims she left Evelyn with Perry and had not seen her child since Christmas 2019. Gilliam encourages Boswell be honest with investigators and tells her point-blank she does not think things are adding up.
After the video was shown, prosecutors began providing Gilliam with dozens of photos, which she identified as being the shed on Tommy Boswell's property where investigators found several baby items, many of which were stained or dirty, scattered about.
Scott had few questions for Gilliam, and court ended for the day. The trial will continue Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
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