The Twisted Tale of Upstate New York’s Gary Evans: Life of Crime and Killings

Gary Charles Evans was born on October 7, 1954, in Troy, New York to Roy and Flora Mae Evans. Evans was known as a thief with a penchant for stealing antiques, and his numerous escapes from custody kept him in news headlines in the area as he committed more crimes. Evans was not just a thief but he was also a serial killer.

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Gary grew up in an unstable home with physical abuse from his father that was targeted at Gary, his mother, and his siblings. In addition to the abuse, Gary and his siblings also had to live through their mother's suicide attempts. It was an anything-but-ideal way to grow up.

Gary began to show interest in works of art and pricey items, and at the age of 8, he was caught stealing jewelry worth $1,000. During his school years, he began repeatedly stealing small items such as books and comics and occasionally shoplifting, which earned him a reputation as a thief.

After his parents divorced in 1968, Gary and his mother moved to Cohoes. After her divorce from Gary's father, his mother married and divorced four more times before coming out as a lesbian. 

In the summer of 1970, Gary was arrested for breaking and entering, for which he was sent to a juvenile detention center. After his release, Evans left his mother's home due to frequent quarreling, dropped out of school, and began living as a vagrant.

In the mid-1970s, Evans returned to Troy, where, together with his childhood friends Michael Falco and Timothy "Tim" Rysedorph, he rented an apartment and got a job. On January 13, 1977, Evans was arrested for trespassing and stealing property in Lake Placid, for which he was given a 4-year sentence in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

Gary then returned to his shared apartment in Troy, and soon after, together with Falco and Rysedorph, he began committing robberies and thefts, using the apartment as a storage space to sell the stolen goods. In June 1980, Evans was arrested for theft and imprisoned at the Old Rensselaer County Jail.

Evans and Falco robbed an antique collector's apartment in East Greenbush in February 1985, with their profit being around $15,000. By July of that year, he would commit his first murder by killing his accomplice Michael Falco at their shared apartment in Troy, dismembering the body with a chainsaw.

Gary then called Rysedorph to help him get rid of Falco's body and they buried it in the backyard. The motive for the murder was revenge, as Rysedorph had told Gary that Falco had been profiting off their loot by selling them for himself.

After years of committing more crimes, at least four more murders, and attempting to evade the law, Evans was tracked down in  St. Johnsbury, Vermont, on May 27, 1998, where he was apprehended and eventually confessed that he had committed several murders, giving details about each. 

On August 12, 1998, Evans was arraigned at the Rensselaer County District Court and charged with three of the murders. He was then transferred to the Albany County Jail, where he was charged with parole violations before the local court.

Two days later, while en route to Troy and passing through the Menands Bridge, Evans, despite being in manacles and chained, used a secret key hidden in his nose to free himself. Evans plunged from the bridge to his death.