A lack of curiosity

April 16, 1957
Los Angeles

Everyone seems to be wondering what became of Evelyn--everyone except her husband, Leonard. The way he tells it, on May 8, 1955, they took a car for a test drive along Mulholland, came back to their home at 217 N. Bentley Ave. in Bel-Air and she asked him to go to the store and get some tooth powder.

When he got back, she was gone. He found her car a few days later and decided he might as well sell it. He also figured that since Evelyn, at least in his version, used to disappear frequently on drinking binges, there was no point in filing a missing persons report.

Her friends and her brother, E. Raymond Throsby, began asking questions about where Evelyn might be, but never got any answers. Finally, they went to the district attorney's office with a complaint.

The questions became more awkward, and eventually the police were asking what had become of Leonard, who was released from custody even though he was under indictment for murder. His car, a 1948 maroon coupe, was found May 5, 1956, at 2214 Washington Ave., with a bullet hole in the windshield in front of the driver's seat and another in the interior.

At first, it seemed that Leonard had met an unfortunate fate. Police were unconvinced, however, since it was clear that the bullets had been fired from inside the car, and the search for L. Ewing Scott was on.

Scott remained a fugitive until April 15, 1957, when he was arrested in Windsor, Canada, while returning from Detroit with a new car. He had been passing himself off as Lewis E. Stewart and a customs agent noted that he had the same initials as the fugitive. Under Canadian law, an individual doesn't have to give fingerprints unless he is charged with a crime, so Scott refused and his identification was delayed briefly.

He hadn't been idle while he was on the run. As Leonard Spencer, he had been courting a teacher in Barrie, north of Toronto, police said. He had also been living in Ontario, Montreal and Oakville, sometimes using the name R.E. Scott.

To be continued...