The 911 Call That Followed a Family Tragedy

On October 4, 2012, a quiet Texas neighborhood was shaken by a horrifying double killing.

Seventeen-year-old Jake Evans called 911 from his family’s home in Annetta South and told the dispatcher that he had killed his mother, 48-year-old Jami Evans, and his 15-year-old sister, Mallory. Deputies remained on the phone with him for roughly 20 minutes before arriving, and Evans surrendered without a struggle.

What made the case particularly disturbing was the calmness of the call.

Evans told the dispatcher that he had been thinking about killing someone for some time. He also said he wasn’t particularly angry with his mother or sister and described feeling as though his family was “suffocating” him.

A disturbing confession

Investigators later obtained a written statement from Evans that shed more light on his thinking before the killings.

According to reporting from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Evans wrote that he had been influenced by Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Halloween. He described being struck by how calmly the fictional killer carried out violence and said he imagined himself behaving similarly.

Authorities also said Evans had considered killing additional relatives, including his grandparents and two other sisters, although those killings never occurred. The firearm used was reportedly taken from his grandfather.

The aftermath

Rather than flee, Evans placed the gun down and called 911 himself. He remained at the home until deputies arrived and arrested him.

The case was initially prosecuted as capital murder. Court proceedings were delayed after Evans was found incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state mental-health facility. He was later determined competent to proceed.

On April 30, 2015, Evans pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. He received 45 years for each killing, with the sentences running concurrently. A capital-murder charge was waived as part of the plea agreement.

The case left a family and community struggling with a question that had no simple answer: How could such a devastating act happen inside a home where a mother and her teenage daughter should have been safe?

For Jami and Mallory’s loved ones, the legal proceedings could never undo the loss.

Their deaths remain the central tragedy of a case remembered not only for the killings, but for the chilling 911 call that followed them.