The Young and the Restless spoilers: Phyllis' key witness found DEAD?

For a while now, The Young and the Restless viewers have been patiently waiting to see how Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) will avoid going to prison after her latest messy escapade.

Her blind hatred for Diane (Susan Walters) caused her to partner with villainous Jeremy Stark (James Hyde), only for their plan to frame Diane to disastrously implode.

Not only that, but Phyllis wound up having to kill Stark in self-defense in the process, and now she’s living her life on the run trying to not get arrested for murder, among other possible crimes.

It’s been weeks since word went around town that Phyllis is alive and responsible for Stark’s death, and not much headway has been made to resolve this storyline. In fact, the only progress in the matter has seemingly been the effect it's having on Summer’s (Allison Lanier) marriage to Kyle (Michael Mealor).

With that said, during the week of June 26, Phyllis makes an appearance in Genoa City to talk to Michael (Christian LeBlanc). As seen in the following clip, the two longtime friends secretly meet to figure out how Phyllis can safely return to Genoa City on a more permanent basis. Michael points out the necessity of finding Carson (Walter Belenky), the EMT Stark was working with and who can testify to the cruel nature Stark exhibited toward Phyllis.

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Again as shown in the clip, Carson has yet to be found, and not even Victor’s (Eric Braeden) team has been able to locate him. That’s got us thinking, is there a possibility that Carson can’t be found because he’s dead and buried? Certainly.

Stark was a dangerous man who went to great lengths to both set Diane up for murder and also prevent Phyllis from ruining his plans. Stark could have definitely killed Carson to keep him quiet.

Should this ring true, Phyllis is in deep trouble as far as her pending legal trouble is concerned.

Now since we don’t imagine Phyllis heading to the slammer anytime soon, if Caron is dead, she’ll need another ace up her sleeve to help her, and that ironically could be Diane. After all, Diane is the only other person on the soap canvas who could really speak to the dangerous qualities of Stark given her own past with him.

Knowing Diane though, she’d rather eat lead paint than give her mortal enemy an assist. However, since Michael is defending Phyllis and is also really good friends with Diane, perhaps he could convince the soon-to-be Mrs. Jack Abbott to testify on Phyllis’ behalf.

If Carson turns out to be alive, it looks like Summer and Chance (Conner Floyd) are most likely to be the ones that find him. The two share a conversation during the week of June 26 that seemingly solidifies their working partnership to put an end to this latest Phyllis saga.

By the way, make sure you're paying close attention in the coming weeks. With the two working so closely together, and Kyle having an affair with Audra (Zuleyka Silver), you may want to be on the lookout for a Summer/Chance romance.

New episodes of The Young and the Restless air live on weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.