Spotsylvania, VA: Notes Link Dead Suspect To Lisk' Case...
Slimpickins
Notes link suspect to Lisk case
Tie to 2 other slayings examined
BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 30, 2002
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vametro/MGBY4R6A23D.html
SPOTSYLVANIA - Handwritten notes found by investigators suggest that Richard
Mark Evonitz mapped his way to Kristin and Kati Lisk's house, noting a Food
Lion on the way and a left turn onto the road where the girls lived.
Evonitz, 38, had been wanted for questioning in the Spotsylvania County
slayings of the Lisk sisters and Sofia Silva when he shot himself Thursday.
Florida police were trying to arrest him in connection with the abduction
and rape of a South Carolina teen-ager.
The notes found in Evonitz's Columbia, S.C., apartment were "pretty
meticulous . . . personal notes describing certain aspects of the girls and
locations," James Metts, sheriff of Lexington County, S.C., said yesterday.
Mentioned by name in the notes was Block House Road, where the Lisk family
lives, according to law enforcement sources.
The notes also mentioned "29 north," taking a "right onto 663" and crossing
a "highway" beginning with the letter "G." In May 1996, authorities found
the remains of 25-year-old Alicia Showalter Reynolds near the Culpeper
County hamlet of Lignum, which is within a few miles of U.S. 29 and state
Routes 663 and 3, the latter of which is also called Germanna Highway.
Last night, a state police agent handling the Reynolds slaying declined to
say whether state police, who also are involved with the Silva and Lisk
cases, are looking at Evonitz in connection with Reynolds' March 1996
abduction and death. Culpeper Sheriff H. Lee Hart said he had not been in
contact with anyone in recent days about the possibility.
Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney Gary L. Close said, "There certainly was
some speculation among some law enforce- ment officers that Silva, Lisk and
Reynolds were related."
Former neighbors said Evonitz lived in Spotsylvania at the time Sofia Silva,
16, was abducted and killed in September 1996 and when Kristin and Kati
Lisk, 15 and 12, respectively, were abducted and killed in May 1997.
Some of his relatives, former neighbors and co-workers described Evonitz as
an intelligent and boastful man, twice married, who never raised their
suspicions.
"Shocking," said his aunt, Barbara Evonitz, who lives in the Fredericksburg
area, of her nephew's death and allegations against him.
Investigators yesterday were still gathering Evonitz's DNA and other
evidence to compare against DNA and other forensic evidence in the
Spotsylvania slayings.
The FBI probably will conduct the laboratory tests, but the DNA had not been
submitted as of yesterday afternoon, said Leon Lott, sheriff of Richland
County, S.C. Authorities said preliminary DNA test results can be available
within 24 hours of a sample being submitted.
Along with the handwritten notes found in Evonitz's Columbia apartment,
investigators found Fredericksburg newspaper clippings about the Lisk girls'
disappearance, sex toys, pornographic movies and bondage devices, according
to law enforcement sources. A newspaper clipping was dated May, 2, 1997, the
day after the Lisk sisters were abducted.
Spotsylvania Sheriff Ronald T. Knight could not be reached for comment
yesterday. Knight had described the abduction in South Carolina as simply a
lead on Friday, but South Carolina authorities yesterday termed Evonitz a
suspect in the Spotsylvania slayings.
Retired FBI profiler Gregg McCrary, who lives in the county, said the case
against Evonitz is building. "These are pretty strong indicators," said
McCrary, who is not directly involved in the case.
In early 1996, Evonitz moved to a cul-de-sac on South Fork Court, in the
South Oaks subdivision just off U.S. 1 in the Massaponax area of
Spotsylvania. The subdivision is about seven miles south of the Silva home
and about eight miles east of the Lisk home.
Catina Graham, who lived on the same cul-de-sac, said he often was gruff
with her. "He didn't have respect for the kids. He'd drive through here 60
mph," said Graham, who has three young daughters.
Her husband, William, remembers a red Pontiac Fiero parked in Evonitz's
driveway. Spotsylvania authorities earlier had been looking for a small red
sports car or a white pickup truck or van.
Barbara Evonitz said she and her husband had not spoken with her nephew
since 1998. "He moved out of town, and we never heard from him again," she
said.
Before that, the only contact she had with him was at family functions and
during the holidays. "He certainly was intelligent, and he had good jobs,"
she said.
Barbara Evonitz's husband and son are both named Richard, but neither is the
subject of the investigation.
Richard Mark Evonitz's former neighbors and a co-worker said he had worked
at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren in King George County.
Silva's body, bound in a blanket, was found in a King George creek off state
Route 3 in October 1996.
Evonitz later worked at a machinery shop within sight of his white
three-story home in the South Oaks subdivision, neighbors said.
After divorcing his first wife around 1999, he rented a home in Spotsylvania
near Lake Anna and worked at a machinery shop in neighboring Louisa County,
a former co-worker said. The Lisk home is off state Route 208, which leads
to the lake.
Authorities have not said how the Lisk girls and Silva died, although
sources have confirmed the two sisters were asphyxiated. The Lisk sisters'
bodies were found in the South Anna River in Hanover County five days after
their disappearance.
Authorities in South Carolina and Florida provided this description of the
events leading to Evonitz's death:
Evonitz's current wife, who is about 20, and his mother, who lives in
Columbia, were on vacation in Florida last week.
On Monday, Evonitz approached the South Carolina girl as she was helping a
friend water grass in a Lexington County neighborhood. He stopped his car,
got out and told her he was selling magazines. While she was perusing
magazines, he pulled a gun, which he had been hiding in a magazine, and put
it to her neck.
He forced her into a plastic container in the trunk of the green Pontiac
Firebird he was driving, then fled with her.
He took her to his apartment in Columbia in adjoining Richland County, where
he repeatedly raped her and made her watch pornographic videos. She was
bound in handcuffs on her hands and ankles. On Tuesday morning, she wriggled
free while he was sleeping - police said he had been smoking marijuana - and
ran from the apartment, where two men helped her get to safety.
"This was a very brave, very smart young lady," said Lott, the Richland
sheriff.
Notes found in his apartment indicated Evonitz also had stalked another
South Carolina girl, though she was unharmed, law enforcement sources said.
Evonitz had escaped when authorities arrived at his apartment. But one of
his sisters tipped police to his whereabouts at an International House of
Pancakes restaurant in Bradenton, Fla.
Police found him in a silver Ford Escort about a block away from the
restaurant. He led police on a chase that reached speeds of at least 90 mph,
turning off his headlights as he raced on a highway and driving on flat
tires after police placed devices in the road to puncture his tires.
Police cornered him in his car, where he shot himself once in the head.
Investigators also are checking Evonitz's movements in the Navy against the
times and locations of similar crimes in Florida, Georgia and Texas, The
State newspaper in Columbia reported.
Evonitz was convicted of child molestation in Florida in the late 1980s,
according to media reports.
Contact Kiran Krishnamurthy at (540) 371-4792 or
kkrishn...@timesdispatch.com
Times-Dispatch staff writer Paige Akin contributed to this report.
More News Top of page
Jane Cactus
"Slimpickins" <Sl...@work.com> wrote in message
news:2vKT8.61914$LC3.4...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
What sort of plastic container could a person have on the back of a truck
which would not generally look suspicious? I can't picture it.
This guy was very good at what he was doing wasn't he? Until the last victim
escaped. I'm so glad that guy killed himself - yet I do wish he'd have been
forced to face the humiliation of knowing his family and friends (if he had
any) had found him out. Eventually he'd have probably found a way to
rationalize his acts, claiming to be mad or something I suppose though.
JC
Patty
> Tie to 2 other slayings examined
>
> BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
> TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 30, 2002
>
> http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vametro/MGBY4R6A23D.html
>
>
> SPOTSYLVANIA - Handwritten notes found by investigators suggest that Richard
> Mark Evonitz mapped his way to Kristin and Kati Lisk's house, noting a Food
> Lion on the way and a left turn onto the road where the girls lived.
>
Thanks for posting this Slim. Almost missed it with all the posts on
the Smart case and Martha Stewart. So glad that the girl got out when
he was sleeping. I posted one case back some time ago where LE got a
guy's DNA when he spit on the ground. Why couldn't they have followed
this guy and gotten his like that?
Here's more from the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5625-2002Jun30.html
S.C. Man Killed 3 Va. Girls and Md. Woman, Police Believe
Rape Suspect Who Shot Self Had Incriminating Notes, Map
By Lisa Rein and Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 1, 2002; Page A01
Law enforcement officials said yesterday they are confident that
Richard M. Evonitz, who shot himself to death as police surrounded him
in Florida last week, killed three Spotsylvania girls and a Baltimore
woman whose unsolved murders have baffled Virginia authorities for six
years.
Among the items recovered from Evonitz's Columbia, S.C., apartment
were handwritten notes with a map and directions to Blockhouse Road in
Spotsylvania, where Kati Lisk, 12, and Kristin Lisk, 15, lived when
they were abducted in May 1997. The notes described two white females,
one "11 or 12, the other 14 or 15," next to the words "brunettes" and
"very cute," said Sheriff James R. Metts of Lexington County, S.C.
"The directions were pretty explicit. I think he was stalking them,"
Metts said.
Also recovered from a locked storage container in the apartment was an
original newspaper clipping of a story from the day after the Lisks'
abduction, authorities said.
Another note was directions to where Alicia Showalter Reynolds's body
was found in 1996, two months after she was seen getting into a pickup
truck with a man along Route 29 in Culpeper County.
The notes mentioned "29 north," taking a "right onto 663" and crossing
a "highway" beginning with the letter "G." Police found Showalter's
remains near Lignum, a hamlet 15 miles from where she was last seen.
Lignum is near Route 3, also called Germanna Highway.
Metts also disclosed that Evonitz, 38, who is suspected of kidnapping
and raping a 15-year-old girl in South Carolina last week, was on a
list of suspects Spotsylvania police had linked to the slayings of the
Lisk sisters and Sofia Silva, 16, who was abducted from her
Spotsylvania home in September 1996.
But the evidence -- forensic material found on the girls' bodies --
was not strong enough at the time to force him to submit to a DNA test
that could link him to the crimes, authorities said yesterday.
"Right now, we have a lot of evidence pointed toward him," said Leon
Lott, sheriff of Richland County, S.C., where the girl disappeared
from outside a friend's home last Monday. "He's looking real good."
South Carolina authorities searched the apartment where Evonitz lived
with his wife after the Lexington girl told authorities Evonitz had
repeatedly raped her there. She was able to escape when he fell
asleep.
Metts said the other notes recovered from the apartment appeared to be
more random and described women Evonitz had apparently stalked.
Evonitz, who grew up in the Columbia area, returned there in the
spring, taking a job selling purification systems for air
conditioners, authorities said. But at the time of the four killings,
he was living in Spotsylvania County. FBI analysts have concluded from
DNA evidence that the person who killed the Lisk sisters also killed
Silva, who was abducted from the front steps of her family home.
A team of FBI officials and state and local police returned from South
Carolina over the weekend and is awaiting DNA tests on blood and
saliva samples that will show conclusively whether Evonitz was
responsible for the Virginia killings, authorities said. Results could
be available early this week.
Spotsylvania Commonwealth's Attorney William Neely said yesterday that
the evidence makes it increasingly likely that Evonitz killed the Lisk
girls. "The M.O. seems consistent," he said. "No one is going to know
for sure until the forensic comparison is done."
Although a number of people have been investigated in the Lisk and
Silva slayings -- and one man was jailed for months in Silva's death
-- the evidence against Evonitz seems the most convincing.
If forensic tests link Evonitz to the Lisk case, "the community would
be greatly relieved, the case would be closed," Neely said.
The Lisk sisters vanished after getting off separate school buses in
front of their home. After an intense, five-day manhunt by volunteers
and police from across the region, the girls' bodies were found in the
South Anna River, about 40 miles away. Authorities soon suspected the
case was linked to the abduction and slaying of Silva, whose body was
found in a swamp in King George County about a month after her
disappearance.
Authorities have chased close to 10,000 tips, conducted thousands of
interviews and dedicated tens of thousands of hours to solving the
slayings, which tormented the rural community 70 miles south of
Washington. At one point, the FBI had 20 people working full time on
the case. The difficulties faced by any law enforcement agency in
finding a child abductor were compounded by a botched forensic
analysis, the erroneous indictment of a man in Silva's slaying and a
delay in connecting the three girls' slayings.
The trail grew cold until the abduction last Monday. South Carolina
authorities said Evonitz approached the girl outside a friend's house
in Lexington County, pretending to be a magazine salesman, and forced
her into the trunk of his car at gunpoint. After he raped her
repeatedly, Evonitz fell asleep, high on drugs, and the girl escaped
from his apartment, authorities said. Police tracked him to Sarasota,
Fla., where he had gone to meet a sister, and later cornered him after
a high-speed chase. He put a gun to his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Patti Lisk, the girls' mother, declined to comment yesterday.
Spotsylvania County Sheriff Ronald L. Knight did not return telephone
calls to his home and office.
Harley Showalter, Reynolds's father, said authorities have not
contacted his family about the Evonitz case. He has not heard from
investigators for several months. "I continue to have hope in the work
the authorities are doing," he said. "It's tough work, tedious work."
Lawrence Barry, a spokesman for the FBI's Richmond office, said it was
premature to say whether Evonitz is responsible for the killings.
"Obviously, we're looking at this guy." Evonitz, known to his family
by his middle name, Marc, was raised in South Carolina. His parents
divorced, and his father moved to Arlington. Evonitz joined the Navy
and was stationed in the Spotsylvania area in 1996, authorities said.
Evonitz's father, Joseph, reached at his Arlington home yesterday,
said he and his family were "overwhelmed" by his son's death. "We did
not know this person you are talking about. We only knew the boy we
knew and loved."
Evonitz's uncle Richard D. Evonitz of Fredericksburg, said he and his
wife had not spoken with their nephew since 1998. "I'm shattered about
all of this," he said.
Danny Minter knew Evonitz when both men worked at Walter Grinders in
Fredericksburg about four years ago. Evonitz sold the
computer-operated grinding machines; Minter was a machinist.
"He was a normal guy; his mind was always going," Minter said of the
friend he called Marc. "He was one of the more intelligent people I've
met down here."
Evonitz quit the job after a dispute with management over a new
grinding wheel that Evonitz wanted to develop, Minter said. "He had a
prototype made -- it would have revolutionized grinding -- but there
was a lot of haggling with Walter Grinders and he just left."
Staff researcher Don Pohlman contributed to this report.
Patty
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/3573928.htm
Posted on Sun, Jun. 30, 2002
Proof sought to link rape, killings
By JEFF STENSLAND
The State (Columbia SC)
Excerpt:
Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said evidence implicating Evonitz
in those murders is mounting. He described the notes found in
Evonitz's apartment about the Lisks as "meticulous." He declined to
discuss the precise content.
Metts, a trained criminal profiler, said other details of the
Lexington County abduction suggest Evonitz is not only likely
responsible for the Virginia murders, but possibly many others.
"He's a serial abductor," Metts said. "This wasn't his first by any
stretch of the imagination. He was way too organized."
He was convicted of sexual offenses involving minors in Florida in
1988.
Evonitz, whose 19-year-old wife was on vacation with his mother at the
time of the abduction last week, had staked out another teen-age
Lexington County girl to abduct, Metts said.
Investigators believe Evonitz planned to kill the 15-year-old and
abduct the second girl before his wife returned later in the week.
The girl told police Evonitz forced her to watch the television news
on Monday night to see if there was a report on her disappearance.
"Thank God there wasn't," Metts said. "If there was, I'm sure he would
have disposed of her then."
She also told investigators Evonitz tried to calm her with repeated
promises that he wouldn't harm her, even as he sexually assaulted her.
Meanwhile, police are cross-checking Evonitz's movements over the
years with murders in Georgia, Texas and Florida. He reportedly spent
some time working as a traveling salesman.
Some of his relatives and former neighbors and co-workers in Virginia
described Evonitz as an intelligent and boastful man, twice married,
who never raised their suspicions.
"Shocking," said his aunt, Barbara Evonitz, who lives in the
Fredericksburg area, of her nephew's death and allegations against
him.
Evonitz moved to a cul-de-sac in the Massaponax area of Spotsylvania
in early 1996. The subdivision is about seven miles south of the Silva
home and about eight miles east of the Lisk home.
Catina Graham, who lived on the same cul-de-sac as Evonitz, said he
was often gruff with her. "He didn't have respect for the kids. He'd
drive through here 60 mph," said Graham, who has three young
daughters.
Barbara Evonitz said she and her husband had not spoken with her
nephew since 1998. "He moved out of town, and we never heard from him
again," she said.
Before that, the only contact she had with him was at family functions
and during the holidays. "He certainly was intelligent and he had good
jobs," she said.
Richard Evonitz's former neighbors and a co-worker said he had worked
at the Naval Station Warfare Center at Dahlgren in King George County,
Va.
Evonitz later worked at a machinery shop within sight of his white
three-story home in the South Oaks subdivision, neighbors said.
After divorcing his first wife around 1999, he rented a home in
Spotsylvania near Lake Anna and worked at a machinery shop in
neighboring Louisa County, a former co-worker said.
Evonitz, a graduate of a Columbia-area high school, moved back to the
Midlands in April.
His mother and a sister live in the Midlands. Both refused to comment
Saturday.
Evonitz called his sister on a cellphone as he fled police last week.
Metts said he wanted to contact his wife so they could arrange to flee
the country.
He later left messages that indicated he would commit suicide or have
a shootout with police, Metts said.
"He had said his goodbyes," Metts said.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch contributed to this article.
Patty
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=SH&Date=20020630&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=206300356&Ref=AR
Suicide victim linked to felonies in 5 states
By HOWARD M. UNGER
SARASOTA Herald Tribune
posted 06/30/02
SARASOTA -- Richard Evonitz was a serial rapist and murderer wanted
for questioning in connection with sex crimes in five states when his
run from the law ended along Sarasota's bayfront, authorities said
Saturday.
FBI agents and police had been chasing Evonitz since Tuesday, at times
missing him by minutes as they pieced together a disturbing pattern of
sex crimes involving young girls that ended in murder at least three
times.
"We had just missed him in a motel room in Georgia the night before,"
said Lexington County, S.C., Sheriff James R. Metts. "He was a real
serial kidnapper-killer. We knew where he was headed."
Newspaper clippings and meticulous notes found in Evonitz's apartment
in Columbia, S.C., led authorities to match his crimes to
kidnapping-murders of young girls in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina,
Virginia and Florida.
The 38-year-old was headed to Bradenton for a meeting with his younger
sister. Evonitz hadn't seen her in years.
Police said Evonitz had known since a 15-year-old girl escaped after
being raped and locked in a plastic container that his time might be
short.
Evonitz needed his sister Jennifer Harris to give him money after
tapping out his own in visits to out-of-the-way ATMs. Evonitz didn't
know detectives had been tracking him through those transactions and
through his cell phone calls.
Evonitz arranged to meet his sister at an International House of
Pancakes in Bradenton on Thursday night, but Harris never showed. She
backed out of the meeting after calling her sister in South Carolina,
and learning that Evonitz was wanted for the attack on the
15-year-old. The sister called 911.
Authorities in South Carolina called the Manatee County Sheriff's
Office, and within minutes deputies were chasing Evonitz's silver Ford
Escort down U.S. 41 toward Sarasota County.
The chase topped speeds of 100 mph. Evonitz drove south, weaving in
and out of traffic with his headlights turned off.
Sarasota police picked up the pursuit near University Parkway, and
then used Teflon-coated nails to puncture the Ford's tires. Evonitz's
car stopped in front of Marina Jack on the bayfront.
Evonitz held a gun pointed into his mouth. Deputies released a police
dog to snatch the arm holding the .45-caliber weapon, but Evonitz
fired as the dog attacked. Evonitz died instantly.
At the same time, a four-person squad from Virginia, investigating
three murders there, was in South Carolina rummaging through Evonitz's
apartment for evidence.
"He had made up his mind that it was all over for him," Metts said.
"Once the girl in Columbia got out of his apartment, he knew these
other cases would all be connected. He's done this before."
A man who answered the door at Harris' Bradenton home said she was not
available for comment.
FBI profilers in Quantico, Va., are researching kidnapping-murders
near where Evonitz was stationed while in the Navy, authorities said.
"This appears to involve many states," said FBI Special Agent Lawrence
Barry.
Richland County, S.C., Sheriff Leon Lott said detectives are still
collecting evidence from Evonitz's apartment.
"Now that Evonitz is dead, we're moving slowly," Lott said. "It's a
matter of forensics and tracking where he's been."
As evidence teams search the apartment for the DNA from other victims,
authorities are focusing on trying to tie Evonitz to the unsolved
murders of three Virginia girls in 1996 and 1997.
Like the teen in South Carolina who escaped Evonitz's apartment while
he was sleeping, the girls killed in Virginia were white, about the
same age and were abducted in the afternoon. Records show Evonitz was
living within 10 miles of Sofia Silva, 16, when she was kidnapped from
her Spotsylvania, Va., home in September 1996. Her body was discovered
one month later.
In May 1997, near where Silva was abducted, sisters Kristin and Kati
Lisk, ages 15 and 12, were kidnapped. Five days later, their bodies
were found floating in a river. The case had baffled detectives, who
posted a $150,000 reward in the case.
Evonitz was convicted of a 1987 rape in Clay County, south of
Jacksonville. He pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a minor and
was sentenced to three years' probation.
Authorities confirmed they were looking at Evonitz for similar crimes
in Texas and Georgia but wouldn't provide details Saturday.
It is known, however, that Evonitz was hunting another victim.
"He already had notes on what he described as a 'good looking young
blonde girl' that he was stalking," Metts said.
Herald-Tribune News Research Coordinator Cindy Allegretto and reporter
Erin Bryce contributed to this report.
Patty
Investigators find newspaper reports, "meticulous" notes on Lisk-Silva
case in suspect's South Carolina home.
By KEITH EPPS
The Free Lance-Star
Date published: Sun, 06/30/2002
Newspaper clippings and notes found in the home of a suspected serial
killer have further convinced Spotsylvania County authorities that
they may finally be close to solving the slayings of three county
girls.
Authorities found a May 2, 1997, Free Lance-Star article about the
disappearance of sisters Kristin and Kati Lisk when they searched the
Columbia, S.C., home of 38-year-old Richard Marc Evonitz last week,
police said.
Evonitz shot himself to death Thursday in Sarasota, Fla., following a
high-speed chase. Police had tracked him down after he allegedly
abducted a 15-year-old South Carolina girl at gunpoint from a front
yard in Richland County Monday evening while posing as a magazine
salesman.
Police said he took the girl to his home and raped her repeatedly. She
escaped Tuesday morning after Evonitz fell asleep.
In Evonitz's apartment, police also found other news clippings and
"meticulous" notes about the Lisk sisters, Richland County authorities
told The State newspaper in Columbia.
Spotsylvania Sheriff's Capt. Mike Timm said yesterday he was aware of
the clippings but did not have details about them.
"It's obviously yet another reason that he's attracted so much
attention from us," Timm said.
Evonitz is also a suspect in the September 1996 slaying of
Spotsylvania resident Sofia Silva. DNA evidence shows the same person
killed Sofia, 16, Kristin, 15, and Kati, 12.
DNA tests will prove conclusively whether Evonitz was responsible for
the Spotsylvania slayings, police said. Timm estimated that the
testing will take at least several days.
Evonitz lived and worked in Spotsylvania during the time the highly
publicized slayings occurred.
Timm said Evonitz moved into a home on South Fork Court in South Oak
subdivision in Massaponax sometime around June 1996. He had lived in
the Woodlyn Apartment complex in Fredericksburg prior to that.
It is not clear exactly when he left South Oaks, but Timm said the
home was foreclosed on in 1999.
Evonitz worked at Walter Grinders, a high-tech machinery supplier on
Ladland Drive near Massaponax Church Road and U.S. 1, Timm said.
Dietmar Weselin, president of the company, said Evonitz came to his
company from another business in the county, Kaeser Compressors Inc.
Weselin declined to make any other comment.
Danny Minter of Spotsylvania said he became friends with Evonitz while
working with him at Walter Grinders. Minter said he knew Evonitz for
three to four years and had him in his home a number of times.
Minter said he knew Evonitz by his middle name, Marc.
He said the ex-Navy man was very intelligent and knew a lot about
weapons and machinery. But Minter said he saw nothing that would have
made him suspect Evonitz of the crimes he's being investigated for
now.
"He kind of reminded us of a used-car salesman, so no one really
trusted him," Minter said. "But all in all, he seemed like a pretty
normal guy."
Minter and Internet records said Evonitz was also involved in a
private business, KMK Associates. His partner in that venture, Kenneth
Beck, declined to discuss Evonitz.
"If it was him, I hope they find out quickly," Minter said. "Those
families and the community need the closure."
Gregg McCrary, a former FBI profiler, said it was a no-brainer for
authorities here to head south to check out Evonitz in light of the
attack in South Carolina.
The fact that Evonitz was in the Fredericksburg area during the
Lisk-Silva slayings made the potential connection even more obvious,
he said.
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who molest kids," McCrary
said. "But those who would abduct, rape and murder young girls are
relatively few."
The newspaper clippings reportedly found in Evonitz's home could mean
a couple of things, McCrary said. Some serial killers collect clips
about crimes they've been involved in, while others also collect clips
about crimes similar to the ones they've committed.
"I'm sure [Lisk-Silva Task Force members] don't want to get overly
optimistic. But boy, you've got to take a really hard, hard look at
this guy."
Spotsylvania's Capt. Timm said authorities searched Evonitz's car and
home in South Carolina yesterday. Task-force members were supposed to
interview his family members before heading back to Virginia yesterday
or early today, he said.
Timm said the DNA testing would most likely be done at the FBI lab in
Washington.
Police in South Carolina have not yet said how the girl there, who had
been tied up, got away from the suspect Tuesday. Police told The State
that Evonitz may have fallen asleep because he was using drugs.
Once free, the girl ran screaming for help to two men in the parking
lot. They drove her to a nearby police station, where she reported the
incident.
By the time police got to the apartment, Evonitz was gone. A national
lookout was broadcast naming Evonitz as a suspect in the South
Carolina abduction and in the Spotsylvania cases.
On Thursday, police received a tip from Evonitz's sister that he was
at an IHOP restaurant in Manatee County, Fla. After a high-speed chase
into Sarasota, police disabled his car.
Surrounded by officers and with a police dog biting his leg, Evonitz
put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Another sister, Jennifer Harris of Bradenton, Fla., told the Bradenton
Herald the family learned from television news that Evonitz was
wanted. She said he had called another sister from the road and
expressed remorse for what he'd done in South Carolina, the paper
reported.
Police said Evonitz had left messages with family members indicating
that he would either commit suicide or have a shootout with police if
cornered.
The State reported today that police said Evonitz forced the victim
there to watch the news Monday night to see if her disappearance was
reported. He also repeatedly told her he wouldn't harm her, even as he
sexually assaulted her, the paper said.
Police also told The State that Evonitz had begun to stalk a second
Lexington County, S.C., girl. Notes found in his apartment describe
her home and jogging habits.
Evonitz, who reportedly had once worked as a traveling salesman, also
is being investigated in slayings in Georgia, Texas and Florida,
police said. He was convicted in 1987 of sexually assaulting a girl in
Florida.
Patty
Here's a map: where three victims were abducted and where bodies found
and where suspect lived.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2002/062002/06302002/654631/0730homicides.jpg/photo_view
Jane Cactus
"Patty" <eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f0e77308.02063...@posting.google.com...
> "
>
> Here's a map: where three victims were abducted and where bodies found
> and where suspect lived.
>
>
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2002/062002/06302002/654631/0730homicides
.jpg/photo_view
Thx, Patty. IYO, do you think there's a remote possibility he could be the
one who took the two girls in OR, a couple of months apart. This is the one
happened several months ago at a large apt complex, the daughters of single
mothers, girls were dancers, knew one another. (Don't know why I'm reminding
you-with-the-phenom-memory.)
JC
Patty
I don't think so, but I wonder if the perp follows a similar scenario,
first stalking his victims and then abducting them in broad daylight
in front of their apartment. Evonitz kidnapped the Lisk sisters right
in front of their house after each got off a different school bus, and
Silva was last seen doing homework on her front porch. And the last
girl was taken from a friend's front lawn as they washed a car. Seems
like part of his thrill was kidnapping victims from a safe and
familiar place. From what I read yesterday, it seems like there had
to be more victims before Silva and more after the Lisk sisters. He
doesn't sound just like a serial abductor but a serial killer.
Doesn't seem like the item/service he sold would take him to the west
coast.
I'd like to know more about his 19-year-old wife and if it was his
plan she go on vacation with his mother.
Patty
Jane Cactus
I'm curious about that vacation as well (and I wonder if the 19 y.o. wife
has the physique of a younger teen, btw?). I wonder how frequently he
managed to schedule vacations for his wife to be away.
Evonitz's MO of taking the girls from their homes - I think that's because
it was easiest that way, logistically. He knew where he could find them,
could plan out exactly what he would do, where to wait, etc, and they'd feel
somewhat secure, think nothing could happen to them, and they'd have their
guards down. And now that I think about it, the perp in OR taking those
girls from an apt complex, or near it, that's a bit different from Evonitz's
MO, really, isn't it? The OR girls were *in transit*, while Evonitz's
victims were not. (I knew OR was a bit far, too, but he'd been in the Navy
at some point, might have been familiar with the area, flown there when the
wife was away at some point? Okay, it's a stretch.)
JC
Patty
I'm curious about that vacation as well (and I wonder if the 19 y.o.
wife
has the physique of a younger teen, btw?). I wonder how frequently he
managed to schedule vacations for his wife to be away.
Evonitz's MO of taking the girls from their homes - I think that's
because
it was easiest that way, logistically. He knew where he could find
them,
could plan out exactly what he would do, where to wait, etc, and
they'd feel
somewhat secure, think nothing could happen to them, and they'd have
their
guards down. And now that I think about it, the perp in OR taking
those
girls from an apt complex, or near it, that's a bit different from
Evonitz's
MO, really, isn't it? The OR girls were *in transit*, while Evonitz's
victims were not. (I knew OR was a bit far, too, but he'd been in the
Navy
at some point, might have been familiar with the area, flown there
when the
wife was away at some point? Okay, it's a stretch.)
JC
One article I read said that he lived in San Diego with his first wife
for a time, probably when he was in the Navy. I think that must be
before or around 1996.
Patty