Norris Evans, a 27-year-old Black woman known to loved ones as “Snookie,” was a sweet and devoted mother to her four young children. In the spring of 1975, she was living in Rochester, New York, with her husband, Lewis Evans, and their family. Her sister, Ellen Evans, remembered her as a calming presence who kept her grounded; they did everything together. Norris was excited about having a daughter, Tamara, who was just a few months old. Her cousin-in-law, Gina Alves, recalled Norris's joy, saying, "She was just so excited, you know, ‘Oh, I got a girl! I got a girl!’" But beneath the surface of family life, friends and relatives said Norris was growing afraid of her husband and wanted to leave the relationship.
On the evening of May 23, 1975, Norris called Gina and asked if she wanted to come over to play cards. Gina declined, a decision she would later replay in her mind.
“I always wonder, maybe if we would’ve went over there, maybe that wouldn’t have happened to her,” she later said. At 11:24 p.m., Rochester police dispatch received a call from an unidentified man reporting "family trouble" at the Evans home at 5 Kron Street. An officer was sent to the house, but after knocking repeatedly and receiving no answer, he found the home dark and quiet and left. Just over an hour later, at 12:33 a.m. on May 24, police received a second call, this time from Lewis Evans. He had returned home from his job at Rochester Products, a local manufacturing company, and found his wife.
Police arrived to find Lewis outside in what they described as an "incoherent condition." Inside the home, they discovered Norris in the living room, lying face down. Her ankles were bound with a white cloth. An autopsy would later determine she had been stabbed multiple times and was nearly decapitated. The estimated time of death was placed between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Upstairs, her four children, ranging in age from three months to six years, were found physically unharmed.
The living room appeared to have been ransacked, with a cast-iron frying pan and a kitchen knife on the floor, and the television still on. The telephone had been pulled from the wall. Lewis Evans told investigators that $1,100 in cash was missing from a metal box. However, police noted there were no signs of forced entry, leading them to suspect the scene may have been staged to look like a burglary gone wrong. The Rochester Police Department launched an extensive investigation, initially looking into local individuals with histories of violent burglaries. They investigated at least 10 people, using fingerprinting and polygraph exams, but made no arrests.
The focus of the investigation soon shifted closer to home. Family members told police that Norris had become fearful of her husband. Her sister, Ellen, said that while the couple was happy at first, Lewis had become jealous. On the very day she was killed, Norris had called her cousin, Ronald Purdue, telling him she was depressed and wanted to get away from her husband but was afraid to leave. Two days later, Ronald and his wife provided police with more information. They said Norris’s grandmother had asked her two-year-old son, Daryl, if he knew who hurt his mommy, and the toddler allegedly replied, “Daddy hurt Mommy.” The couple also told police they didn't believe money was stolen, as Lewis never kept that much cash in the house, and that if Norris had known it was there, she would have taken it and left him.
Investigators learned Lewis Evans was also involved with another woman at the time of his wife's murder. They also examined a life insurance policy taken out shortly before the killing and questioned the authenticity of Norris's signature on the document. Despite these suspicions, Lewis denied any involvement in his wife's death, and police were never able to gather enough evidence to charge him or anyone else in the crime.
For decades, the case grew cold. Norris’s children grew up without their mother, the younger ones with no memory of her at all. As adults, they began to seek answers. In 2021, her daughter, Tamara Sinclair, posted on a Rochester-area Facebook page, asking if anyone remembered her mother's murder. The post reignited interest in the case, leading to new media coverage and a modern review of the evidence by the Rochester Police Department. According to reports from August 2026, some of the physical evidence from the original investigation could not be subjected to modern forensic testing due to how it was handled decades ago.
As of September 2026, the murder of Norris "Snookie" Evans remains unsolved. Her son Daryl has spoken about the profound impact of losing his mother, saying, "It affects me. Oh my goodness, I can’t even explain it. I would be a totally different person." The family and investigators believe someone in the community may hold the key to finally closing this case after more than 50 years. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Rochester Police Department Major Crimes Unit at 585-428-7157 or by email at [email protected]. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Rochester Area Crime Stoppers at 585-423-9300.
