William Sterling Evans

Case report

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William Evans was a prominent Mormon church member in Salt Lake City, Utah who died in 1991.

He was bishop twice of the Grant 6th ward, and a counselor in the Grant Stake presidency.

Evan’s son was a lobbyist who represented the LDS church’s interests on Utah’s Capitol Hill for many years, from the 1980s to the 2010s

From 1957 to 1962, Evans was in the Utah State Legislature. He then served as Salt Lake County Clerk from 1968 to 1983. Before that, he worked for Safeway Stores for 35 years.

John, a relative of Evans, told FLOODLIT that Evans raped another relative in Salt Lake City in the early 1980s. John is a pseudonym; the source requested to remain anonymous.

The victim lived with John’s family for a time. John said he confirmed that the abuse happened with the victim’s father and older sibling.

LDS church leaders were told about the sexual abuse, according to John. Two adults in the victim’s extended family reported the abuse to Evans’s bishop. The bishop called Evans in, and John believes Evans lied to the bishop about the abuse.

After that interview, Evans excoriated the victim and blamed them for almost ruining his life, John said. The victim then allegedly told their father, older sibling and another adult relative who knew of the abuse never to speak about it again.

After Evans suffered a debilitating stroke and was confined to a nursing home, the same two adult relatives from before allegedly reported Evans’s abuse to a neighbor, Glen Elden VanWagenen (d. 2002). VanWagenen, a former bishop, worked for the LDS Church Welfare and Missionary Departments. Glen allegedly said that the two relatives should just let the matter lie, that they shouldn’t report the abuse to authorities, and that God would take care of Evans in the next life.

When Evans died, the family of one of his children received a letter of condolence from the Church’s First Presidency, stating that Evans was a great man who’d given much to the Church, John said, even though Evans was reportedly a “noxious, unpleasant person […] always rushed [and] had an explosive temper.”

Whenever Evans visited John’s family, he rarely stayed more than 10 minutes. John remembers as a child seeing Evans outside his home calling John’s mother a “goddamn bitch.”

FLOODLIT is seeking more information about William Sterling Evans and his alleged sexual abuse. If you have any information, please contact us. You can also report anonymously.