A Tennessee mother who suffocated her 15-month-old daughter and left her decaying in a trash can inside a child’s playhouse has been ordered to spend the rest of her life behind bars, after a judge tacked on an additional 33 years to her existing life sentence on Friday.
Megan Boswell, now 23, was convicted earlier this year of murdering her daughter, Evelyn Mae Boswell, in a case that shocked with its disturbing details and trail of lies.
Despite a jury sentencing her to life in prison with the possibility of parole in February, Judge Jim Goodwin ruled Boswell must also serve decades more on a slate of felony charges – a move that all but ensures she will die behind bars.
‘Society does need to be protected from the evil that lurks in her heart,’ Judge Goodwin declared, referencing gruesome crime scene photos showing Evelyn’s tiny body, wrapped in blankets and aluminum foil, stuffed headfirst in a trash can.
Goodwin called Boswell a ‘dangerous offender’ with no remorse, no empathy, and said she killed her own child ‘without hesitation.’
The disappearance of Evelyn Boswell in late 2019Â launched one of Tennessee’s most intense missing-child investigations.
Megan, then just 18, told lie after lie to investigators: first claiming Evelyn was with her Army father in Louisiana, then saying her mother had taken the child to a Virginia campground – but neither explanation was true.
An Amber Alert was issued in February 2020, months after Evelyn was last seen alive.
Megan Boswell, now 23, gets emotional as she states she is innocent and claims she was treated unfairly by the state of the Tennessee and did not have an impartial jury during her trial
Boswell was convicted earlier this year of murdering her daughter, Evelyn Mae Boswell, pictured, in a case that shocked with its disturbing details and trail of lies
Investigators worked around the clock. Sheriff Jeff Cassidy testified that his team logged over 740 hours on the case, aided by state and federal agencies.
Finally, acting on a tip from Megan’s own father, agents searched a playhouse on the family’s property in Blountville.
Inside a trash can, beneath recently placed garbage bags, they discovered Evelyn’s partially decomposed body alongside her clothing, toys, and diapers.
During Friday’s sentencing, Judge Goodwin laid out the full scope of Boswell’s crimes. She had been found guilty on 19 charges in February including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, failure to report a death and eleven counts of filing false reports.
The judge merged the three murder convictions into one, but imposed maximum sentences on the remaining charges.
Her 25-year sentence for child abuse and neglect must be served after her life sentence.
Additional time for tampering with evidence, filing false reports, and abuse of a corpse will follow, making her eligible for parole only after 51 years.
‘There can be no more cruel act than to stuff a 13- to 15-month-old baby into a trash can – especially when that baby is your baby,’ Goodwin said.
Megan Boswell is seen entering the courtroom during a sentencing hearing in Sullivan County court in Blountville, Tennessee on Friday
Evelyn Mae Boswell is seen alongside her killer mother, Megan. Evelyn’s tiny body was found wrapped in blankets and aluminum foil, stuffed headfirst in a trash can
Evelyn’s mother, Megan, suggested her daughter may have died accidentally while co-sleeping. During the trial her lawyer said Boswell only lied because she feared prosecution
Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that Boswell suffocated Evelyn, then dumped her body in the trash and resumed her life as if nothing had happened.
She took trips to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, moved in with a boyfriend, and never reported Evelyn missing until February 18, 2020.
‘She was gifted with a beautiful child – a healthy, vibrant little girl,’ prosecutor Amber Massengill told jurors. ‘Today is Evelyn’s chance. Today is our chance to get it right, not Megan’s.’
Boswell’s attorney Gene Scott insisted that the young mother was overwhelmed and afraid – and not a murderer.
He argued Evelyn may have died accidentally while co-sleeping, and said Boswell only lied because she feared prosecution.
But jurors, and ultimately the judge, rejected that theory.
‘This court never once saw remorse,’ Judge Goodwin said. ‘Never once saw empathy.’
The February trial included devastating testimony from Megan’s former friend, Katelyn Carter, who described meeting Evelyn just weeks before her death.
‘She was dirty and I could smell her across the table,’ Carter said, recalling a lunch at Chili’s in December 2019. Evelyn’s hands, face, and clothes were soiled. Soon after, Boswell began dating Hunter Wood, spending more time with him than with her own daughter.
Megan Boswell was sentenced on Friday to serve an additional 33 years after her life sentence
Boswell was found guilty in February 2025 of all charges relating to the death of her daughter Evelyn Boswell
Evelyn’s remains were surrounded by discarded diapers and children’s clothes
When asked where Evelyn was, Boswell told Carter she was with her father – a lie that later unraveled in court.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Fraley, who discovered the body, described the harrowing scene inside the playhouse: a child’s leg protruding from a trash can, her body wrapped in foil and hidden under fresh bags of garbage.
Photos shown to jurors were so graphic, several in the courtroom wept.
Evelyn’s remains were surrounded by discarded diapers and children’s clothes.
One of the final images shown to the jury was a photo of Evelyn alive, smiling, taken just weeks before her death.
In a brief, defiant statement before her sentence was handed down, Boswell made a statement.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that Boswell suffocated Evelyn, then dumped her body in the trash and resumed her life as if nothing had happened
One of the final images shown to the jury was a photo of Evelyn alive, smiling, taken just weeks before her death
Evelyn’s body was found surrounded by toys at the home of a relative. Clothing, diapers and toys that belonged to the child were also found
‘I would just like to say that the State of Tennessee treated me very unfair during this whole investigation, and if I had a fair trial and an impartial jury, I would have been acquitted of the murder charges. I would have never hurt my baby, and I did not kill Evelyn.’
But the judge was unmoved.
Boswell, now 23, will be 74 years old before she is even eligible for parole.
A status hearing is set for January 16, 2026, but Boswell is expected to appear virtually from prison.
‘She saw a chance to live a different life without Evelyn,’ Judge Goodwin said on Friday. ‘And she removed her.’