Haywood man admits to infant death
Green stands between his court appointed attorneys, Josh Nielsen and Mark Melrose. Donated photo
A Haywood County man confirmed on the record in Superior Court that he killed his girlfriend’s 9-month-old daughter.
Dylan Green, 25, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the July 2019 death of Chloe Evans in a case that gripped the county and rallied support throughout the community to seek justice. By accepting the plea, Green avoided the possibility of being subject to the death penalty. He was instead sentenced by Judge Bill Coward to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On July 18, 2019, Haywood County paramedics responded to a cardiac arrest call in the Jonathan Creek area. Despite being rushed to the hospital, Chloe ultimately succumbed to her injuries and passed away. The death was immediately determined to be a homicide as an autopsy determined that Chloe suffered blunt force trauma. She also had a ligature mark around her neck and had meth and alcohol in her system.
A press release issued by the district attorney’s office following the guilty plea noted that after the baby’s mother, Channing Evans, left to go to work, Green inflicted the fatal injuries on Chloe.
“He was the sole person in the home when her injuries occurred,” the release reads.
In August, as Green was already being held on charges related to methamphetamine possession, he was indicted on one felony count of child abuse causing bodily injury. That indictment describes the heinous details of the crime.
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“The injuries consisted of multiple blunt force injuries of varying ages and degrees to the child’s head, face, ears, chin, neck, torso, back, arms, and legs, as the case may be, and such injuries included rib, leg, and arm fractures of varying ages, bruises, abrasions, multiple recent skull fractures, internal bleeding of the child’s head, brain, and eyes, a burn or burns of the skin, a human bite mark, a wound consistent with strangulation by a ligature upon the neck, and the presence of isopropanol and/or methamphetamine in the child’s body,” the indictment read.
Over a year after Chloe’s tragic death, as he was still held at the Haywood County Detention Center on $250,000 bond related to the child abuse charge, Green was indicted on a first-degree murder charge. At that point, he was held without bond.
In October of 2020, immediately following the indictment, the district attorney’s office made it clear that it would seek the death penalty.
Although an investigation found that it was Green who’d murdered Chloe, Evans was still eventually convicted on charges related to the death when she pleaded guilty in October of last year to child abuse and involuntary manslaughter charges. According to the state Department of Corrections website , Evans is projected to be released from prison in August of 2026.
Often in cases like this, a tough decision is made by the prosecution in conjunction with the victims to determine whether the case should go to trial or a plea arrangement should be offered. For Green, given the fact the district attorney’s office sought the death penalty, the decision was even trickier. According to the district attorney’s press release, school records on file indicated that Green’s IQ score is in the 60 to 70 range.
“Jurors, if the case had reached the death-penalty phase, would have faced questions about his intellectual capacity,” the release reads.
North Carolina’s statute defines “significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning” as “intelligence quotient of 70 or below.” A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibits the death penalty for intellectually disabled defendants.
District Attorney Ashley Welch said Chloe’s paternal grandmother, the primary family member involved in the case, requested Green receive life in prison.
“It was a difficult decision to accept a plea,” Welch said in the release. “This was an innocent child at the beginning of her life viciously and senselessly killed.”
Chief Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones co-prosecuted the case alongside Kate Robinette.
“We think it’s a just resolution,” Jones said in the release.
