In the quiet community of Mount Vernon, Kentucky, a grim discovery was made in the early morning hours of June 8, 2017. Inside their home on North Wilderness Road, the bodies of 36-year-old William H. Bryant, a male, and his wife, Chara L. Bryant, were found. The initial call to the Mount Vernon Police Department was made by the couple's own teenage daughter, reporting that something had happened at the residence. When officers arrived, they found the couple deceased.
The case was quickly turned over to the Kentucky State Police, and the bodies were sent to the Kentucky State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies. The examinations confirmed the tragic reality that both William and Chara Bryant had been shot, and their deaths were officially ruled as homicides. Investigators began the arduous process of questioning neighbors and friends, meticulously gathering forensic evidence to piece together the events that led to the double murder.
The investigation took a shocking turn on June 29, 2017, when Kentucky State Police detectives made two arrests in the case. One of the individuals taken into custody was Christopher Evans, a 22-year-old from nearby Somerset. In a stunning development, the second person arrested was the couple's 16-year-old daughter. Both were charged with two counts of murder. Evans faced additional charges of first-degree burglary and tampering with physical evidence.
Investigators reported that Evans allegedly brought a firearm to the Bryant residence, entered unlawfully, and committed the murders. It was also alleged that he later returned to his own home and destroyed evidence that could link him to the crime. While a motive was not immediately made clear, the arrests brought a resolution to the intense investigation that had gripped the small Kentucky town, leaving a community to grapple with the disturbing nature of the crime and the alleged involvement of the victims' own child.
