Richard Evonitz
Richard Marc Edward Evonitz was responsible for the deaths of multiple girls in Virginia, along with the abduction and rape of 15-year-old Kara Robinson Chamberlain in South Carolina. Evonitz confessed a number of crimes to his sister shortly before committing suicide, and has long been suspected of other murders.
Evonitz was born on July 29, 1963 at Providence Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the first of three children born to Joseph and Tess Ragin Evonitz; a sister, Kristen, followed him in 1968, followed by another sister, Jennifer, in 1971. He graduated from Irmo High School 1980 at the age of 16. After high school, Evonitz worked briefly as the manager of a Jiffy Lube, before deciding to join the United States Navy. He served as a sonar technician before being honorably discharged after eight years of service. He also received a Good Conduct Medal. Following his stint in the Navy, Evonitz worked selling compressors and industrial grinding equipment.
Evonitz married twice, first to Bonnie Lou Gower from 1988 to 1996, then to Hope Marie Crowley from 1999 until his death. Unable to keep up with his bills following the divorce, he filed for bankruptcy in 1997, and had a house foreclosed in 1999 after a failed business venture. At the time of his death, Evonitz had been working at an air-compressor company since moving to South Carolina a few years earlier.
In January 1987, Evonitz masturbated in a park in Orange Park, Florida, exposing himself in front of a 15-year-old girl. He was arrested a month later when his ship returned to port, entered a plea of no contest, and was sentenced to three years' probation.
On September 9, 1996, shortly before his marriage to Bonnie Lou Gower, Evonitz abducted 16-year-old Sofia Silva from her front yard near Loriella Park in Spotsylvania County. Her body was found a month later in a creek off State Route 3 in King George County, badly decomposed.
On May 1, 1997, Evonitz abducted sisters Kristin, 15, and Kati Lisk, 12, from their front lawn after school. After sexually assaulting them, he strangled the sisters and dumped their bodies in the South Anna River. Their bodies were found five days later.
Evonitz is also suspected of a 1994 abduction and rape and a 1995 rape in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
On June 24, 2002, Evonitz abducted 15-year-old Kara Robinson Chamberlain from a friend's yard in Columbia, South Carolina. A Trans Am pulled into the driveway and a guy wearing jeans, a button-down shirt and a baseball cap, got out.
"He said, ‘Are your parent's home?’” and she told him, “Well, this isn't my house. This is my friend's house,” Kara, told People Magazine.
"And he said, 'OK, well what about her parents, are her parent's home?'“ and she told him, “No, her mom's not home right now."
"I'll just leave these with you," he told her.
Then he lunged forward suddenly, pulling out a gun and pressing it to her neck. He forced her into a large storage bin that was stowed on the back seat of the car. As he drove towards his apartment, Kara tried counting the turns he made, and noticed other details, like the classic rock station he was listening to, and the Marlboro red cigarettes he was smoking. She even memorized the serial number on the inside of the plastic container that he had forced her to kneel inside.
"My survival mechanism said, 'All right, let's gather as much information as we can,'" she told People. "Fear barely even kicked in… the human will to survive and the survival mechanism really just can't be underestimated."
On the way to his apartment, he pulled over to put a gag in her mouth and bound her using handcuffs. Then took her to his apartment — also home to a guinea pig, a lizard and several other small animals — where he assaulted her for 18 hours
Despite her terror, she tried to memorize identifying information — the names of his doctor and dentist were on his fridge — and to keep Evonitz as calm as possible. When he wanted her to eat, she told him that she wasn’t hungry, and asked “…but is there anything I can do for you?” She says she “actually ended up sweeping his kitchen."
Robinson was was able to free one hand from a pair of handcuffs and unclip a leg restraint while Evonitz slept. She tiptoed slowly to the front door, opened it, and bolted towards a car in the parking lot, where she asked the two people inside to take her to the police station. She was asked by police if she knew the location of Evonitz's apartment, and because of her keen eye they were able to figure out who he was, and where he lived.
Kara was able to identify her abductor to the police using information she remembered from Evonitz's fridge. A search of his apartment turned up newspaper clippings about the unsolved murders of Sofia Silva and sisters Kati and Kristin Lisk.
Evonitz fled after discovering Kara gone from his apartment. He was tracked by the police to Sarasota, Florida, where a high speed chase ended in Evonitz driving over spike strips on the highway and being attacked by a police dog. As they surrounded his car, Evonitz killed himself with his gun.
For her help in solving the murders of Sofia and sisters Kati and Kristin Lisk, Kara was able to meet their families, and received $150,000 in reward money.
"It was one of the most important things that's ever happened to me," she says. "Because it brought home the importance of what I did. Because I felt like, 'Wow, I'm actually giving these families something that they never would've gotten without me.' Just the closure of knowing that the person responsible for their daughters' death is no longer here."
Encouraged by local Richland County, S.C., Sheriff Leon Lott, Kara took a part-time job doing administrative work with the sheriff's department, and later became a school resource officer and an investigator on child abuse and sexual assault cases. She left her job in law enforcement after her two boys were born.
Kara Robinson Chamberlain has gone on to build a career as a true crime influencer and public speaker, using her experiences to help educate the people who work with victims and empower individuals to be the best version of themselves they can be, regardless of their past.
You can learn more about the work Kara Robinson Chamberlain does on her website at www.kararobinsonchamberlain.com
