Almost six years after a Wetaskiwin woman disappeared without a trace, her loved ones are still waiting for answers.
Stan Cross, 49, has been accused of first degree murder in the death of Twyla Evans, 39. He was last seen on the night of September 6, 2019, according to the information published by the RCMP at the time of his disappearance.
Evans’ remains have never been found despite what the police describe as “exhaustive” efforts.
“However, the researchers continued to chase all the available potential clients, and recent developments led to Stan Cross arrest,” said Alberta RCMP in a statement last month.
RCMP says they continue working to “bring Twyla home,” but her friend Kelly Campbell told CBC News that it has already been a long way to see the progress of the investigation.
“I don’t personally understand what he took six years,” he said.
Campbell said he has not heard the name of Cross before, and that he is not sure who he is or how he could have met Evans.
The day Evans disappeared, he went to watch a movie, but it was not clear if he really attended, according to the police.
Its Jeep green compass was found the next day, parked near a grocery store at the southern end of Wetaskiwin, about 70 kilometers south of Edmonton.
“There is a general concern for the well -being of Twyla,” RCMP said in a 2019 statement that requests advice on his whereabouts.
There were no more public updates until June 2025, when Mounties announced an arrest in the case, which was investigated by the Historical Homicide Unit.
Insp. John Spaans with the Wetaskiwin RCMP said in a statement that it was “a particularly heartbreaking case due to the significant vulnerabilities that the victim faced in his daily life.”
Campbell said it is not as he remembers her friend, who loved to drive her jeep and plan out with her son: he was a teenager when she disappeared.
Evans and Campbell were last seen about two and a half years before Evans disappeared, when Campbell took her to an offer to see the USS Canadian rock band playing a show in Edmonton.
“Although the report said ‘vulnerable person’, she is not what we would think about when you listen to those terms. He was a regular and average person who lived his life, paid his bills, doing things that he liked, how to go to concerts,” Campbell said.
“She didn’t live her life as a vulnerable person.”
Evans had been experiencing some mental health challenges he was working on, said Campbell. He added that her friend had also fought in the years before her disappearance when she unexpectedly found himself without work.
But hearing that Evans was missing was scary, said Campbell, and a shock for his community.
“I want people to know that it was a loving mother, and that Twyla cared about the people around her.”
Cross must appear before the court on Wetaskiwin on July 15.
