The Disappearance of Susan Lynn Osborne and Evan Chartrand

Author

Benjamin Hayes

Publication Date

March 21, 2026

Susan Osborne liked to fish. It was her stress reliever, the thing she turned to when life got heavy, and she passed that love straight to her son Evan, who was so obsessed with fishing that his Instagram account was dedicated to it and he had started making his own lures. In 2013, she and Evan were out on the water when she met a man named Jerry Osborne. She fell in love. She remarried. She quit her job because her new husband could provide for them. She thought her life had finally settled into something good.

On Memorial Day 2017, Susan and Evan disappeared from their home in Holtville, Alabama and were never seen again. Their belongings were gone. Their dogs had been dropped off at an animal shelter by an unknown person. The house had been gutted and remodeled. When luminol was used, investigators found what looked like blood in at least twenty places. No arrests have ever been made. No charges have ever been filed. Susan would be 50 years old now. Evan would be 22. Neither has ever been found.

Who Susan and Evan Were

Susan Lynn Osborne was born in the early 1970s and grew up with family connections across the southeastern United States. Her nickname was Susie, and by virtually every account from those who knew her, she was warm, private, and fiercely devoted to her children. She had two kids from a prior marriage that had become unsafe: her teenage son, Evan Eric Chartrand, and a younger daughter, Hanna Grace, who was ten years old in 2017. When her first marriage deteriorated to the point where she feared for her safety, Susan fled the home with help from her brother, taking the children and essentially starting over with nothing.

Evan was fourteen at the time of his disappearance and going on fifteen. He stood 5'7" and had brown hair and blue eyes. He was the kind of kid whose passions were specific and consuming: fishing, the outdoors, the Coosa River and Lake Jordan that practically bordered his backyard in Holtville. He had medical conditions that required regular prescriptions and frequent doctor visits, and he had an oral surgery appointment scheduled for just a few days after he vanished. He was about to begin his sophomore year at Holtville High School in Deatsville, Alabama that fall. The school never received a transcript request from any other institution.

Susan's best friend was a woman named Hollie Hatfield Morris. The two had met years before as neighbors in Prattville and stayed close through the shifts and separations of adult life. Susan was not a constant presence in the conventional sense, being someone who could go days without reaching out and who valued her privacy, but she and Hollie were in touch most every day by text or phone. Hollie knew Susan better than almost anyone outside the family, and she would eventually become one of the key voices pushing for answers after her friend disappeared.

The Marriage and the Secret

Susan met Jerry Marshall Osborne while fishing with Evan in 2013. Jerry was an Air Force veteran who had been medically discharged and found work as a 911 dispatcher in Elmore County. He was attentive and generous. He convinced Susan to quit her job and become a stay-at-home mother. He bought her nice clothes. He installed an elaborate security system in their home on Waterview Lane near State Highway 111 in Holtville, with cameras at every door and window. From the outside, the marriage of four years looked stable.

But sometime in early 2016, Susan discovered that the life Jerry had presented to her was not the full picture. She found him on a male escort advertising website. She knew it was him from his tattoos. The profile was not historical. She believed the escorting was ongoing and that Jerry had been conducting an affair, or affairs, with men throughout their marriage. In January 2016, she sent a screenshot of his correspondence with other men to Hollie via email, asking her not to discuss it over text. Susan told Hollie she wanted to find a job and get her children onto an insurance plan before she confronted him or left.

Jerry, meanwhile, had apparently begun monitoring Susan's phone and email accounts. He became increasingly possessive about her communications. When he discovered she had shared the information with someone, he was furious, though he did not yet know how much had been shared or with whom. Susan eventually told Hollie the situation had been addressed, that she and Jerry had reconciled, and that she still loved him. Hollie said Susan seemed to have made peace with staying. But whatever had passed between them in those months before Memorial Day 2017, something was clearly not resolved.

Memorial Day 2017

May 16, 2017, was the last time Hollie saw Susan in person. She was moving from Alabama to Florida, and the two said goodbye. They continued to text and talk by phone. May 29 was the last day Hollie received any communication from Susan. After that, her messages went unanswered. Susan's mother Linda, who lived in Texas, also began trying to reach her and got nothing back. A few weeks in, Hollie noticed that both Susan's and Evan's phone numbers had been disconnected. That, she said later, was when she knew something was deeply wrong.

Susan's family tried to reach Jerry to ask about his wife and stepson. He gave them a story. According to Jerry, Susan had decided to leave him on Memorial Day. An unidentified man had come to the house in a car and picked her and Evan up. The following day, he said, the same man had returned and helped Susan remove some furniture and personal belongings. He had not reported Susan and Evan missing because, he said, he knew they were fine. He wanted to let Susan have her space.

There was no name for the man. No description. No means of following up on any part of the story. Susan's car was still parked in the driveway of the family home.

Hollie and Susan's family contacted the Elmore County Sheriff's Office and filed a missing persons report on July 29, two full months after Susan was last heard from. When deputies arrived at the home on Waterview Lane, the door was answered by Jerry. He was in the process of cleaning.

What Police Found

When investigators looked at the house, what they saw was not a five-year-old home in normal condition. The entire interior had been gutted and rebuilt. The hardwood floors had been torn out and replaced with carpet. The walls had been repainted throughout. Jerry told police Susan had spray-painted vulgar phrases on the walls before she left, necessitating the repainting. He told police the renovations were a suggestion from his parents after Susan walked out. Neighbors told investigators something different: that over the summer of 2017, they had watched Jerry burning furniture and other items in a fire barrel on the property at all hours of the day and night. Cadaver dogs were deployed near the burn barrel and alerted to the possible scent of human remains. That lead went nowhere conclusive.

Investigators obtained a search warrant and brought in luminol. Despite the deep cleaning and the complete interior overhaul that had been done in the weeks before police arrived, luminol revealed potential blood evidence in approximately twenty locations inside the home: in the kitchen, the laundry room, and at least one of the bathrooms. Investigators who saw the luminol results described what they found as looking like a slaughter had taken place. The samples were collected and sent to a forensic lab for DNA testing. The results came back inconclusive. The cleaning agents Jerry had used on the house had degraded the biological material to the point where a DNA profile could not be established.

There was another crucial piece of evidence that was simply gone: the security footage. Jerry's elaborate camera system, with lenses at every door and window, would have captured everything that happened on and around Memorial Day. But by the time police began investigating in late July, Jerry had replaced the entire camera system. He said he had bought a new system on June 1. All footage from around the time of Susan and Evan's disappearance had not been preserved. There was nothing to retrieve.

Investigators also examined Jerry's computer and found something significant enough that they declined to discuss it publicly. They released information about the bloodstains, the burn barrel, the cameras, and the renovations. But whatever was on the computer, authorities have kept that detail sealed. The district attorney has stated publicly that the case cannot move forward to charges without bodies or a witness who can provide information about where Susan and Evan are.

A fabricated oral surgery bill was also part of Jerry's story. He had told police he knew Evan was fine because the boy had undergone oral surgery a few days after leaving. When investigators checked, the bill was for a no-show appointment without cancellation. Evan had not had the surgery. His prescriptions had not been refilled at any pharmacy since his disappearance.

The Life Susan Left Behind

Two pieces of absence say everything. Susan's daughter, Hanna Grace, was ten years old when her mother and brother disappeared. Susan left her behind. Jerry was not Hanna's father, and Susan's family does not believe she would have voluntarily abandoned her daughter under any circumstances. The second is the dogs. Susan had two dogs she loved. They were found at an area animal shelter on June 12, 2017, dropped off by an unknown person, with no note, no explanation, and no contact information left. Jerry's family has speculated they were rehomed because Susan left and could not take them. Susan's family does not believe she would have given them up.

Since May 29, 2017, there has been no activity on Susan's credit cards, bank accounts, phone, or social media. Evan's medical prescriptions have never been refilled. No school has ever requested Evan's academic transcripts from Holtville High School. The family received no calls, no letters, no contact of any kind. Nothing indicates that either of them was alive after Memorial Day weekend.

A Person of Interest, But No Charges

Jerry Osborne has been publicly identified by Elmore County law enforcement as a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife and stepson. He has maintained throughout that he is innocent, and that Susan left him voluntarily. Through his attorney, he repeatedly declined offers to publicly share his side of the story in the years following their disappearance. He sold the home on Waterview Lane in February 2020, more than two years after Susan and Evan vanished, and moved to Prattville. He became engaged to someone new.

The Elmore County Sheriff's Office has conducted multiple search warrant operations over the years. Bodies of water have been searched. Large tracts of land in the surrounding area have been examined. A private investigator was hired by Susan's family to work alongside law enforcement. The case was featured in the Paramount+ docuseries Never Seen Again in 2022, bringing renewed national attention. Cold case investigators including retired detective Paul Holes and journalist Billy Jensen examined the case for their podcast, The Murder Squad. None of it has produced the breakthrough that would allow prosecutors to act.

As of 2023, Elmore County Sheriff's Captain Troy Evans described the investigation as no longer a daily priority, though the case remains formally open. He told reporters that investigators monitor media sources for unidentified remains found anywhere in the region and reach out to relevant law enforcement agencies as needed.

Susan's family has never stopped pushing. Susan's sister-in-law Melissa Canfield, known as Missy, has given interviews, appeared on podcasts, and advocated publicly. The "Justice for Susie and Evan" Facebook page has kept the community engaged. As recently as July 2025, a WSFA News special report aired on the case, with the family still pleading for answers eight years on.

"We need closure, we need answers, we need to find them," Missy told reporters in 2023.

They are still waiting.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Susan Lynn Osborne and Evan Eric Chartrand, please contact the Elmore County Sheriff's Office at (334) 567-5546 or Crimestoppers at (334) 251-STOP. Tips can be submitted anonymously.

Sources

Benjamin Hayes

Benjamin Hayes is a blogger with a passion for true crime and unresolved mysteries. In his free time, Benjamin is an avid hiker and photographer. He finds solace and inspiration in nature, often trekking through the scenic trails of the Appalachian Mountains.