Randi Layton Evers, 3, disappeared under suspicious circumstances in 1992 while staying with his father, Michael “Mike” Evers, then 26, and stepmother Tina Evers, then 22. Both were uncooperative with the police, did not participate in any searches, and initially refused to take polygraph tests. Still, they maintained their innocence in Randi’s disappearance. 😉
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” is a fitting phrase for what occurred in Sin City on February 15, 1992.
It was Mike’s birthday, and he and Tina hosted a birthday bash at their apartment at 313 E. Rochelle Avenue, now an empty lot. Roughly 15 guests, including Tina’s friend Tammy K. Mast, attended.
Little is known about what happened at the party, but between 11:30 p.m. on February 15 and 12:30 a.m. on February 16, Randi was supposedly sleeping on the living room floor and covered with a blanket. He vanished sometime after.
Someone called the police, and officers extensively searched for Randi. However, Mike and Tina did not participate in the searches, and the authorities had to virtually drag Mike out of bed when they told him his son was missing. The police said neither Mike nor Tina was interested in Randi’s disappearance.
The Charley Project (TCP) reports, “Tina’s alibi of her whereabouts when Randi vanished reportedly showed numerous small inconsistencies.”
According to Tina, she and her party guests left the apartment at 11:30 p.m. to go to the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino. She said they left Randi alone with another adult guest who had passed out on the couch. However, Mike claimed he slept in a bedroom with their one-year-old daughter. TCP states he might have been with the group. It is unclear whether Las Vegas police verified with the casino that the group was there.
Tina said the group returned to the apartment between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m., and Randi was gone. It was cold that night, and it was unlikely Randi would have wandered outside, although it was possible.
Investigators requested Mike and Tina take polygraph tests after noticing several inconsistencies in their statements. Tina and Mike initially refused but ultimately did so about a week after Randi vanished. However, Tina said they both failed the tests by incorrectly answering questions about Randi’s whereabouts, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Investigators presented evidence to a Clark County grand jury in March 1992 showing Randi might have been abducted, killed, or sold. Dozens of witnesses testified, but the grand jury did not indict anyone. Mike and Tina refused to appear at the hearing, allegedly at the advice of a public defender.
Alexis Maynard, Randi’s biological mother, then 24, had legal custody of the boy. Police initially thought she had driven from her Ramona, California home and took the boy. They were unable to reach her for days. She later told the Review-Journal that she did not know her son was missing until a week later when the FBI traveled to Ramona to interview her.
Authorities discovered one of Alexis’s friends was in Las Vegas when Randi vanished. The friend also lived in Ramona. Investigators thought the friend might have taken Randi, but their investigation of said friend never panned out.
Investigators later determined Alexis was not a suspect, and she testified before the grand jury. Her friend, Irene Nelson, was with her and also testified, but it is unclear whether Irene was the friend in Vegas when Randi disappeared.
In 1995, detectives followed new leads that Randi’s family was involved in his disappearance and traveled to Southern California. However, nothing came from their investigation.
Theories
There are a few theories about Randi’s disappearance. Mike and Tina harmed Randi by accident or other means. Mike and Tina sold Randi to pay off a drug debt, or someone abducted the boy.
The likely theory is that Mike and Tina or someone at the party killed Randi accidentally or intentionally during the party or afterward.
Latest
One of the detectives investigating Randi’s disappearance claimed during a 2015 media interview that he got a hit on Randi’s DNA in a database and believed Randi was still alive and living in the western U.S. However, a 2017 article in the Review-Journal states the DNA did not match.
Around this time, Tina, who has several Facebook profiles, posted a picture of a young man with her and Mike’s son, Roger Evers, on one of them. She alleges in her post that the young man is Randi and that Roger found him, not the police. Whoever this young man is, he is not Randi Evers.
You can view the picture here, as of this writing.
Randi remains missing but investigators say the case is still open.
About Randi Evers and Family
Randi was born on December 3, 1988, to Mike Evers and Alexis Maynard. It’s unclear whether the couple ever married. But Mike soon married Tina, and they had a daughter in 1991, followed by a son, Roger, after Randi disappeared.
Mike and Tina relocated to California in 1996 and divorced in 1997. After that, Tina went by Tina Logan, which she still does today. Mike died in 2014.
Alexis moved to Texas more than 20 years ago. She had a hard time after Randi vanished and turned one of her children over to her family to raise. She later raised two other children.
Tina moved back to Vegas and refuses to speak with reporters regarding her stepson’s disappearance, claiming they ruined her life and family.
TCD’s Thoughts
The following is strictly the opinion of this author. Read no further if you can’t handle it. I will delete any mean or hateful comments.
This one is obvious, right? It seems likely that Mike and/or Tina harmed Randi. If Tina had told the truth, there would never have been any inconsistencies. So, that alone is a huge red flag.
Other red flags: The CHOICE not to help search for the boy, the police had to drag Mike’s ass out of bed basically, and both initially refused to take lie detector tests.
Who does any of this when your child is missing? One who doesn’t give two shits about his kid and may be guilty.
I’m guessing there was alcohol or drugs, or both, at the party because, supposedly, the adult left with Randi had “passed out” on the couch. Tina left two children alone with two men who had allegedly passed out. Excellent parenting, lady.
Speaking of the two children brings me to my next point. It stands to reason that if one child were sleeping with Mike, Randi would have been, too. Why was the child on the FLOOR? I doubt he ever was.
I don’t know about you, but if my 3-year-old stepson was home while I had a party, I sure as hell would not leave him, let alone with a passed-out non-relative to go to a casino late at night. And I certainly would not have allowed booze or drugs, either.
I’m not convinced the group went to the casino. Even in 1992, investigators could have verified it by speaking with the casino staff or looking at security camera footage. It is my understanding there were cameras in casinos in the 1990s, although the footage was probably super grainy.
I don’t believe Mike was asleep in a bedroom when Randi vanished. He was probably with the group. I think the reason said group allegedly left to go to the casino was to allow time for the child to disappear or to come up with a story to tell the police. There’s a good chance someone at the party knows what happened but has remained silent out of loyalty to Mike and Tina.
I find Tina’s claim on FB that Roger found Randi strange, to say the least. She posted that after the detective got a hit on the DNA, but before it was public, and Roger suddenly discovered Randi’s whereabouts. The police could not find Randi, but Roger, a young kid with no investigative experience, did.
Sure, Jan.
She did not make a public post for months after that one.
Another weird thing is that Alexis and Tina are Facebook friends. I don’t think she ever believed Mike and Tina were guilty. How? If this were my son, I’d fight tooth and nail for a conviction because if Tina had told the truth, her story would never change; there would be ZERO inconsistencies. Nobody ruined her family and life except those who were a part of them. As Randi’s biological MOTHER, why would Alexis support Tina and believe she is innocent?
I don’t think Mike harmed his son, but he covered it up and kept silent until his death. Yes, there is the possibility, albeit slim, that a non-family member abducted Randi. But I don’t believe that B.S. because what are the chances a complete stranger walked into that apartment and grabbed Randi? They would have to know that most adults were gone, and two were passed out. It isn’t logical that this was a stranger abduction, but I suppose it’s possible.
I think Tina does not participate in interviews because she is worried she will not get her stories straight and will say something completely different than what she said in 1992. Lies are easily forgotten, but the truth is not.
Sources
Apgar, Blake. “Vanishing of 3-Year-Old Still Baffles Las Vegas Police 25 Years Later.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 12, 2017. https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/vanishing-of-3-year-old-still-baffles-las-vegas-police-25-years-later/ (Accessed April 16, 2022)
Good, Meaghan. “Randi Layton Ever.” The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/case/randi-layton-evers (Accessed April 16, 2024)
“Mother Testifies At Grand Jury.” Reno Gazette-Journal, March 27, 1992.
“New Leads Followed In Boy’s Disappearance.” Reno Gazette-Journal, March 5, 1995.
Wilson, David. “Police, Child Advocates Still Hopeful 30 Years After Boy’s Disappearance.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 12, 2022. https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/police-child-advocates-still-hopeful-30-years-after-boys-disappearance-2528759/ (Accessed April 16, 2022)