Going West: True Crime - The Spotsylvania Killer // 422

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

If you asked his coworkers, his family, or his wife, they would have told you that Richard Evonitz was a stand-up guy; a Navy veteran, a hard worker, and a devoted husband who was known by friends and neighbors to lend a hand when something needed to be fixed. Only a few young women knew the truth about him, but sadly found out after it was already too late. That is, until his last victim used her cunning survival skills to stop him from ever committing his heinous acts of depravity against anyone else. These are the crimes of Richard Evonitz, also known as the Spotsylvania Killer, and the stories of Sofia Silva, Kristin Link, Kati Link, and Kara Robinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host, T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. This case came to us kind of interestingly. So basically the ex wife of the man in question today came out on Tik Tok recently and we're going to discuss that a little bit later, kind of about how this whole situation with her ex husband unfolded.

It was one of those like, you know, those put a finger down videos. Yes, I do know some people make them really long and then you're like, oh shit, that's crazy. Right. Um, so it was one of those, my cousin sent it to me. Thank you so much. And looking into it further, the details were just awful and so shocking, but it does in part have a cheer worthy ending. And we have covered so many different serial killer cases on this show, but today's case is a more recent serial killer case that actually sees its resolution in the 2000s.

Yeah, like in the age of serial killers, it does feel weirdly newer. Yeah. Which is so weird to think about that there really was that era for serial killers. And although we've seen them since, luckily they're just not as common. But thank you guys so much for tuning in. Without further ado, let's dive into this one. Alright guys, this is episode 422 of Going West, so let's get into it. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation.

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$49 annual fee applies. See Home Club for details. If you asked his co-workers, his family, or his wife, they would have told you that Richard Yvonnec was a stand-up guy, a Navy veteran, a hard worker, and a devoted husband who is known by friends and neighbors to lend a hand when something needed to be fixed. Only a few young women knew the truth about him, but sadly found out after it was already too late. That is, until his last victim used her cunning survival skills to stop him from ever committing his heinous acts of depravity against anyone else. These are the crimes of Richard Avonitz, also known as the Spotsylvania Killer, and the stories of Sofia Silva, Kristin Link, Katie Link, and Kara Robinson.

Richard Mark Edward Avonitz was born on July 29, 1963 in Columbia, South Carolina as the oldest child and only son born to parents Tess and Joe, later joined by sisters Kristen and Jennifer. Now, Richard is remembered by peers as quiet and intellectual. He was always a gifted student, with his father Joe remembering, quote, He had linear thinking even when he was a baby. When he made up his mind he wanted to do something, he worked at it until he did it. But his sister Jennifer claims that this is actually because their father would accept nothing less. I mean, he was beyond hard on them, and she has spoken very openly about their dad's violent

and abusive nature, calling their upbringing a prison, and describing their father Joe as sadistic and controlling. He's remembered as an alcoholic prone to violent outbursts and little animal abuse warning. I'm not going to give graphic details of course, but he even apparently killed their family dog in front of Richard when he was young. And this information is all over the internet and newspapers. But Joe of course, completely denies killing the dog

and completely denies being abusive, even though all the kids say it's true. Yeah, I don't really know why you're trying to claim that this isn't true when all of your kids are saying that this is true. Maybe in his mind, he wasn't abusive. Well, I feel like that kind of makes sense, you know, him not wanting to own up to the horrible things he did, maybe a little bit of narcissism in there, you know what I mean?

And also just with this abuse in general, this is something that we have seen a lot in serial killers, even though it's weirdly been a while since we've done a serial killer case, but abuse from a parent is such a common trait amongst them. And there are so many examples of fatherly abuse from the siblings mouths that I'm not going to get into. But even for little things like Richard spilling dog food, he would get beaten. You know, the kids would suffer severe consequences and beatings from their dad just for smaller things like that. And none of them knew what to do about it. You know, they're kids. And Jennifer later said, quote,

"'We lived in a prison. "'Joe was a very controlling person. "'He wanted us to make straight A's. "'If we didn't, we were stupid. "'It was all about power and control. "'You'll get an A or you'll get a beating. "'I see him as a sadistic man. "'I know I saw the pleasure in his face

"'out of making us miserable. And I kind of feel like that says a lot that she's not calling him dad. She's referring to him as Joe. Which fair, you know. He was, he, by all accounts, this man was awful to them growing up. And by the way, he was frequently out of work and the family were constantly moving around because of this. They were being evicted left and right, running out of money, forced to cover for Joe's drinking and overall lack of responsibility. And because of this, you guys are probably wondering where their mom is in all of this.

Well Tess claims that she was away from home for many of these abusive instances and didn't learn about the depths of her children's abuse until after her son was found to be a murderer. So overall, really devastating home situation. And even though she wasn't home for some of the kids' upbringing, Tess and Joe stayed together until 1985, so when Richard was 22 and his sisters were about 17 and 15 Well after their divorce both of Richard's parents remarried and actually while Tess and Joe's marriage was falling apart Tess began having a long-distance love affair with a prison inmate through pen pal letters and disturbingly the inmate whose name was Perry Devo was imprisoned for the brutal rape and murder of a young wife and school teacher

24 year old Kathleen Sanderlin and Charleston, South Carolina Who he encountered and attacked while she was out riding her horse in November of 1975 so Inexplicably Tess had become infatuated with this monster and believed that he was innocent So after she and Joe divorced she married Perry in a prison ceremony. But later claims that she watched as he flew into a rage in the visitor's room of the prison and finally became convinced that her husband was capable of murder. So maybe not making the best decisions in finding love in this guy, but he did eventually break down and admit his guilt to her and thus she divorced him in 1998. Meanwhile, her ex-husband Joe moved to Northern Virginia with his new wife and started working for a cab service.

Yeah, I mean just such a messed up situation all around like so much abuse and evil surrounding this family. Yeah I mean I actually do feel really bad for the kids. I don't really feel bad for Richard because we're gonna get into why he's such a monster but I do think that it's terrible the way that they grew up. Well that's why it's so hard because again we see this abuse in so many serial killers childhoods that it's so horrible that they had to go through this. Obviously his sisters didn't go off and start killing people and assaulting people. So it just, I feel like, I don't know, this is a whole psychology rabbit hole.

Yeah, we could get real deep into this, but we won't do that. Yeah. Of like, you know, if they were born that way or what but but yeah, it's definitely Devastating that all three of the kids as children before any intentions became ill had to go through such abuse So we're gonna go back just a little bit to before Richard became an adult Because despite everything that was going on in that house Richard was a diligent student and he enrolled in summer classes so that he could finish high school early. He graduated from Irmo High School in 1980 at just 16 years old but he didn't go to college and this is likely so he

could just escape his home life as quickly as possible even though he didn't by the way I think he was just probably trying to save up money, get his own place, become an adult, you know, because he did immediately join the workforce with a job at the car maintenance shop Jiffy Lube, eventually working his way up to being a manager. And it was there that he met a friend named Billy. Now we're not really going to talk about Billy at all, but Billy was not a good influence. He wasn't a great guy. And Richard's dad, Joe blames Billy for being a bad influence on Richard because Billy was basically an ex-con and he worked under Richard when he managed this South Carolina Jiffy loop. South Carolina Jiffy Lube. Maybe Joe needs to take a quick look in the mirror, look at himself and say, maybe I'm

the reason my kid got into all these bad things. If only he would. I think that, I feel like this isn't, Billy is kind of an easy scapegoat because it was around this kind of early 20s age that Richard began committing crimes as we're going to unravel here. But Jennifer, you know, Richard's sister thought this was ridiculous and she explained quote, dad rants and raves about Billy because he does not want to take personal responsibility for the fact that Richard was into drugs, into alcohol and breaking into houses.

So Richard's known crimes began, like I said, at the age of 20 when he was still living at home. Richard had broken into the house of the family's neighbor who had been a collector of these rare vintage coins and he stole a very expensive collection of them. Now when accused of doing such, Richard denied it, of course, and his mother Tess totally backed up her son to the neighbor, who eventually dropped the issue. But Jennifer and Tess later found the coins in Richard's possession, confirming that he did indeed steal them. He was also caught writing bad checks to either Kmart or Walmart, depending on the source

that you look at, and he was threatened with illegal action for this, but his mom Tess apparently came to her son's rescue once again and was able to talk the manager out of filing charges. But Joe, being that strict disciplinarian that he was, if you can even call him that, had had enough of this and told Richard that he needed to move out or join the armed forces. And Richard chose the latter. So in his early 20s, he enrolled in the Navy and left home for the first time. He spent eight years there total before being honorably discharged

and was twice awarded the Navy Good Conduct Medal. But sometime after leaving, he was placed in rehab for alcohol addiction. So he was still experiencing troubles after the military. But by the time he was out, he had reconnected with a friend of his sister Jennifer's named Bonnie Lou Gower, and he was quite taken with her. By the way, Bonnie is the woman that I mentioned in the intro who had made that TikTok, which we'll talk about a little bit later.

But the time that they got together is pretty disturbing because basically Richard was 24 years old when he asked Bonnie out and she was only 16 and still in high school. Well, this is going to be a theme that we see a lot from Richard because this man is definitely a pedophile. Yeah, disturbingly so. It is not shocking at all that he is going after a 16 year old girl. Because yeah, like you said, he's gonna pretty much keep doing that. So even so, the following year, Richard proposed to his 17 year old girlfriend and she accepted.

Now to be fair on Bonnie's part, she recalls that her home life was pretty chaotic. You know, she was very young and she jumped onto the opportunity to leave her old life behind and kind of start anew. So in August of 1988, Richard and Bonnie married and they moved to Maine because that's where Richard was being stationed, and he would remain in the armed forces for a few more years. Well, strangely it was around the time that Richard began dating Bonnie that he committed his first heinous crime, or at least the first that authorities are aware of. It was also the only crime that he was ever convicted of committing. And sorry to keep jumping around here, but on January 3rd, 1987, so the year before he and Bonnie's wedding,

Richard was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and he was caught by a 15-year-old girl watching her walk through her neighborhood as he masturbated in his vehicle. And this girl is a year younger than his current girlfriend. Exactly. So this guy is just totally disgusting. Well, obviously this young girl was very disturbed by this, so she ran to her house and reported what she had seen to her mom, who then called the police. Well the next day, the girl was able to identify him when she and her mom saw him out running errands in that same 1974 Dodge with South Carolina plates that she had seen the day

before. So they again reported him to the police, but they weren't able to get there in time to catch him. But the store that he was at at the time captured him on surveillance footage and they were able to identify this young Navy man Who was wanted for sexual misconduct? When he attempted to return to his station on the ship in early February He was apprehended and arrested and while Richard was being questioned He broke down and admitted that he had a quote, problem with masturbating in front of girls.

What a weird thing to admit to. Eww, sick freak. And I gotta say, just before we move on here, like when you go look at pictures of this guy, he looks, in my opinion, he looks like a pedophile, like just from his face. Like I don't know why I think that I just like You know some people you look at and you're like that guy look guys off. Yeah, he's off like when you look He's got beady little eyes. I think it's the eyes. Yeah. Yeah, he's got these weird beady little eyes Yeah, his eyes are like black anyway gross, man Yes

So Richard pleaded no contest to the crime and he was ordered to pay court costs for the family, as well as to seek mental health evaluation. And because he decided to cooperate with investigators, he was given just three years probation instead of being forced to register as a sex offender, which is complete bullshit. And because of this, he was able to hide his wrongdoing from his family and even his now wife Bonnie. Yeah, if he had to go to court, he would lie and say that he was there for a different reason, so nobody in his life knew that he had done this disgusting thing. So after he was discharged from the Navy in 1992,

Richard and Bonnie settled into Spotsylvania County just outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia. With only about 60,000 residents in the entire county, it was quaint, lush, and safe. You know, the perfect place to settle down after having traveled and moved so much for Richard's career in the Navy. Now there, Bonnie was interested in becoming a cosmetologist, but Richard was extremely controlling of everything she did. So although he allowed her to get a cosmetology license, he wouldn't let her pursue a college education.

Meanwhile, Richard could do whatever he wanted, even starting what would become a list of violent acts against young girls behind his wife's back. A few years into their Virginia life in June of 1995, 32 year old Richard committed his first known violent crime when he broke into a home and raped a 13 year old girl at gunpoint. On an otherwise quiet and uneventful afternoon that summer, Richard stealthily crept into a home where two sisters, just 11 and 13 years old, were home alone.

Wielding a gun, he ordered the 11-year-old girl into the bathroom and sexually assaulting her sister, fleeing before they could call for help. Now the girls were able to give a fairly detailed account of what this guy looked like, but even a description and the DNA that he had left behind were not yet enough to tie him to the assault, or at least until years later. But police noted the attacker's use of fuzzy blue handcuffs to restrain the girls and a 25 caliber semi-automatic gun. And this is going to come in later, so remember those couple details.

Less than a year after committing this second egregious sex crime, Richard's marriage was deteriorating. He and Bonnie's connection was no longer there, with Richard complaining that he wasn't attracted to her, likely because she no longer looked like a teenager, by the way. Ugh, god, it's so gross just thinking about that. The fact that he's like, oh yeah, like now I'm not attracted to my wife because she's not- She's a woman. She's not 16 anymore. It's so gross. And then of course, on the other end, Bonnie was absolutely sick of Richard's controlling behavior. So around this time, Bonnie actually met a

man online back in California and quickly fell in love with him. So in September of 1996, she left to visit him for a week, of course, in secret. And it was during this time that Richard committed his first murder, though his identity as the killer would remain a mystery for years to come. Sophia Marlene Silva was born on July 1, 1980 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Phyllis and Umberto Silva, and she's remembered as responsible and an excellent student. and she's remembered as responsible and an excellent student. On September 9th of 1996, 16-year-old Sophia returned home from school and went inside to greet her older sister Pam. She made a snack, grabbed a can of grape soda, and then retreated to the front porch to do her homework.

The next time her sister checked, Sophia was gone. She had left her homework behind and seemed to vanish from the front porch without a trace. Like there was no sign of a struggle, and left behind was an open notebook, her backpack, and that can of grape soda. Oddly, there had been multiple people outside when Sofia went missing. Kids were down the street playing, and neighbors were tending to their lawns. But no one had seen or heard a single thing. So of course at first, you know, you don't imagine something nefarious happened. And Sophia's parents called around to her friends houses wondering if perhaps she had spontaneously popped over to one of them.

But with no sign of her anywhere, they were beginning to panic and decided to report their daughter missing. Now, Sofia was a rule follower and not one to, you know, sneak off or run off without notifying her parents first. So it seemed as if she had gone willingly, perhaps even with someone that she knew. But as night fell, her family started to believe that something was very, very wrong. By the following day, Spotsylvania was being turned upside down. Helicopters roamed overhead, divers submerged themselves in nearby bodies of water, and police scoured the open land and roadways looking for any sign of Sofia. It wasn't until over a month later, on October 14, 1996, that state employees working in an area stream that had overflowed discovered what looked like a bundle of blankets, tied

up tightly, and discarded just steps from the road. But upon further inspection, there were feet with painted toenails sticking out from one end. So the men notified the police who were fairly certain that they had found Sophia because during this time, there had been no one else reported missing from the area. Her body was wrapped in a blue moving blanket

and secured with rope and they could actually tell from how she was found that her killer had dressed her posthumously which led investigators to believe that she had been sexually assaulted. Now something crucial that was uncovered were blue fibers found on her wrists which we will circle back to. And we did mention them just a minute ago. Well, I mean, I guess we didn't really mention them. You can say it. You can say it.

Yeah, those blue fuzzy handcuffs, we're going to get into those. So remember that there's blue fibers on Sophia's wrists, and they are taking note. They're taking the samples. But due to the amount of decomposition, a cause of death could not be determined, but dental records confirm that the remains belong to Sophia Silva.

Now police actually initially suspected their neighbor, who was a guy named Carl Rausch. Now he had a bit of a criminal history and he was kind of known for leering at neighborhood kids. So definitely a creepy piece of shit. Absolutely, and guess what? He lived just a few doors down from the Silvas. So when they spoke to him, when the police spoke to him, he denied knowing or ever having seen Sofia, but he also declined to take a polygraph examination, which really raised

eyebrows among the authorities. Interestingly, a search of his car revealed remnants of something purple ground into the carpet, which they initially believed was Sofia's purple toenail polish. And inside his home, they found moving blankets and rope. So, Carl was arrested on an outstanding shoplifting charge while they built their case against him. Until, during the months that he was in jail, the same murderer struck the area again. Now, Richard's wife Bonnie moved to California

permanently in November of that year, again 1996, so two months after Sophia went missing. And they filed for divorce, which hit Richard pretty hard financially, and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. Richard stayed in Virginia and began working in sales, selling parts for machinery and equipment, and while there, female employees complained of his misogyny, his quick temper, and his offensive jokes. So it's safe to say that he wasn't well-liked, and his degrading behavior continued and even

exacerbated. On the morning of May 1, 1997, he met with his creditors in court in Richmond, Virginia to deal with the whole bankruptcy situation. And that afternoon, around 3 p.m., he pulled his car into the driveway of his next victim's house. Oh Kristen Lisk was born on January 1st, 1982, and her younger sister Catherine, or Katie, joined her on October 12th, 1984 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Their mom Patty fondly remembers the closeness that her daughters shared, and that both girls were honor students and very active in their respective schools and their family church. Around 4pm on May 1, 1997, their father Ron returned home from work, having not heard

from his daughters when he called home around 3.10pm. As he pulled up to the house, he noticed that the contents of Katie's backpack were strewn across the front yard, and when he entered the home, it was silent and static. But Kristen's backpack had made it inside, so the girls had clearly arrived home from school. inside, so the girls had clearly arrived home from school. Now, neighbors reported seeing them in the yard around 3 p.m., but just like the day that Sofia disappeared, no one noticed anything suspicious. In the kitchen, there was a fresh glass of chocolate milk in the sink, and Ron noted that Kristen had an affinity for this drink. She had also cast aside the shirt that she had worn to

school that day and changed into something new. The hose was still running in the backyard filling up the pool, and just like in Sophia's abduction, there was no sign of a struggle and no indication that the sisters had been taken against their will. The alarm for the house had been turned off, so basically it seemed as if the girls had made it inside without an issue. But still, something seemed very off. So Ron called the police to report his daughters missing just after 4pm. Now, the search began immediately, as Kristen and Katie were just 15 and 12, employing the same tactics that had been used to search for Sophia,

who had disappeared eight miles or 13 kilometers away eight months earlier. Five days later, employees of the Virginia Department of Transportation spied what looked like two mannequins floating in a stream below them. About 40 miles or 64 kilometers from where the girls had disappeared, floating in the South Anna River were the bodies of Kristen and Katie Lisk. Now there were foreign hairs on both girls bodies which were saved for DNA comparison and on July 31st 1997 authorities announced that the hairs

found on the Lisk sisters were a match for the hairs found on Sophia Silva so now at this point they know that they have a serial killer on their hands Yeah, they know that these cases are connected because not only did these hairs match But both sisters also had trace amounts of blue fibers on their wrists remember how Sophia had the same So yeah, this is really all connecting the blue fuzzy handcuffs also had trace amounts of blue fibers on their wrists. Remember how Sophia had the same? So this is really all connecting. The blue fuzzy handcuffs. Exactly, which of course they didn't know quite yet.

But by now, investigators realized that they had mistakenly detained Karl Rausch, and a serial killer was still loose and stalking the area. So Karl was released on October 20th, 1997 after serving a year for his shoplifting charge. Still a creep, just not the creep that they're looking for. But crazy that he had those moving blankets, that he had the rope, that there was that purple, purple nail polish. Yeah, or whatever it ended up being.

Obviously not nail polish, but yeah, like there were so many connections that it seemed like, oh, this is totally our guy. And it makes you wonder how many other times this has happened in history where somebody else just happens to kind of coincide with the facts of the investigation and it's not them. Yeah, it is honestly insane.

Well, following Richard's not them. Yeah, it is honestly insane. Well following Richard's second and third murders, things continued to get worse for him in his personal life. His house was foreclosed upon after a failed business venture with his father into the cab industry where he was left penniless. But the same year as his house was foreclosed upon he found love again With someone that was about the same age that his first wife had been when they met in case you guys thought he was done praying on minors 17 year old hope Marie Crowley was working as a server at a pancake restaurant in Massaponics, Virginia

When 36 year old Richard met her he is 19 years older than her. He was instantly smitten. Again, ew. Yeah. So after just months of dating, the couple married in 1999 and moved into a small apartment, actually back in Richard's hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. In the summer of 2002, Richard was looking forward to being alone during a trip that Hope was going on with his mom, sister, and nephew.

So the group headed to Disney World in Florida, but Richard, wonder why, had opted to stay back on his own, giving him the chance to strike for a fourth time. And without realizing it, he kind of picked the wrong victim because she would ultimately lead to his undoing and apprehension. On Monday, June 24, 2002, 15-year-old Kara Robinson was on summer break and spent the previous night at her friend Heather's house in Lexington, South Carolina, which is just about 20 minutes away from Columbia. The girls were planning on heading to a friend's lake house and would be meeting Kara's boyfriend there, but before they went, Heather's parents wanted her to complete this

chore at home, and that was to water the plants in the garden out front before she left. But Heather was taking some time to get ready. She was upstairs taking a shower. So Kara decided that she was going to do this chore for her while her friend finished getting ready so they could just split over to the lake house. Yeah, makes sense. It's just a simple thing, you know, very easy to do. She's like, I'll do this for my friends so that we can cut out of here, you know, sooner.

Exactly. So while she was still barefoot and in her pajamas, she went down and completed the task. At this exact same time, Richard Ivanovich drove by, and a few minutes later drove up again, this time pulling right into the driveway in his green Pontiac Firebird that was apparently loaned to him by his mother. And this car really stuck out to Kara because she was almost of driving age.

She remembers thinking that she would love to drive a car like that when she got her license. So this very much stood out to her. Now Richard asked her if her parents were home and if she wanted to buy some magazines. But Kara replied that it was her friend's house and that her friend's parents were not home, but she offered to leave the magazines behind for them. Kara remembers him looking average and approachable and that he kept a safe distance until he offered her the binder, supposedly filled with these magazines.

He stepped closely to her pressing the cold metal of what she believed was a gun against her neck and told her quote come with me. So obviously terrified but trying to stay level-headed, Kara walked to the car with him. He opened the car door to reveal a plastic storage tub and told her to get in, to which she obliged. In her account of the morning, Kara later described what was going through her head at the time, saying, quote, I memorized the songs playing on the radio and the serial number of the container that I was in. I repeated what became a mantra for me. Stay calm, gather information, escape. It kept me calm and focused. So Richard drove for a while and then pulled over into a wooded

area, covering her mouth with a paper towel and then a ball gag without speaking a word to her. He handcuffed her and snapped the top of the container closed before Richard drove her to his apartment and brought her into his apartment while she was still in that container. So horrifying. Yeah, so crazy. I can't even imagine what she would be thinking in that moment. Well, and because he has neighbors, because he's in an apartment building, he is just carrying this tub unbeknownst to everybody else. There's a teenage girl in it, alive. Absolutely, and you know, and frustratingly, she could hear chatter and roadside noise outside, and she knew that she was within earshot of somebody who could help her if she was able to scream.

But she couldn't make a sound because of what was covering her mouth. Kara claims now that she had a gut feeling that she was going to make it out alive, but she knew that she needed to learn as much about him as she could in order to catch him later. Like his other victims, Kara was sexually assaulted by Richard. At one point, Richard took a phone call with a woman Kara would later come to learn was his wife, who again was away on this short trip. Throughout the 18 hours that she was held captive, she was compliant and helpful, even

tidying up the small apartment that she described as incredibly cluttered. She learned that he had served time in the Navy, and she studied his mail and magnets on his fridge to remember details that could identify him later. Eventually, Richard handcuffed her to his bed and fell asleep beside her, where she eventually nodded off as well. Well, when she woke up next to him with morning streaming in through the windows and Richard still asleep, Kara knew she had her chance. So using her teeth, she managed to remove these handcuffs from the bedpost and then release her legs from their restraints. As quietly as she could, she slipped into one of Richard's t-shirts and her shorts, which

had been discarded on the floor, and barefoot with the handcuffs still dangling from her wrist, she carefully tiptoed out of the bedroom and towards the front door. So the door was in this alcove and it was barricaded by the plastic bin that had held her prisoner, as well as different household items like a vacuum. So she knew that she had one chance to break free,

given how loud it would be, to push these items out of the way and unlock the door. But she did so as swiftly as she could and sprinted toward the first car she saw. Two men were driving away from the apartment building and she flagged them down telling them her name and that she had been kidnapped, pointing to the apartment in which she had been held, which she would later come to learn was apartment 301 in the Crossroads apartment building. They took her to a local South Carolina police station

where she was able to report her abduction and reunite with her parents. They released her from her handcuffs and took her back to the building she'd been held in, just hoping that she could pinpoint which apartment she had been held in. Now, she knew that it was apartment on the left side of the ground floor, but she couldn't identify which exact unit. So police flagged down an employee of the building and Kara gave

her account of what she knew about Richard's apartment. She knew that he had a wife with red hair and that the two lived in a cluttered ground floor unit and owned multiple animals, including a bird and a guinea pig. So now able to identify which apartment their perpetrator lived in, the police swept in to make an arrest and Cara was taken for a medical evaluation. But here's the thing, by the time police arrived at his apartment to arrest him, Richard had fled in a hurry, knowing that he was in big trouble, allegedly calling his sister Kristen and asking for help.

The same day that Cara escaped, Tuesday, June 25th, 2002, Richard sped away in his silver 1996 Ford Escort, bringing his gun along with him. When he reached his sister, Kristin, who lived in Irmo, South Carolina, he begged for her help. They met at a McDonald's, and she booked him a room at a nearby Days Inn, paying in cash for four nights. And it's unknown what she knew at that time like I don't believe that she knew everything he had done

I feel like he probably just said I'm in trouble. I did some bad things. Can you help me? Yeah, because I can't imagine he would say I have been assaulting kidnapping murdering girls help me And she would be like okay Yeah I don't think so either and as we're gonna get into, his other sister is actually the person who turned his ass in. True. So, he hid out at this Days Inn for nearly two days, leaving around 10am on Thursday, June 27th with most of his belongings left behind.

But police were tracking his cell phone, which he was using on this escape mission. He stopped in Hardyville, South Carolina to withdraw cash at an ATM, and sensing that there was no escape, he began calling his relatives to make cryptic confessions. According to one of the books written about his case, The Spotsylvania Killer, Richard's sister Kristen was actually the one who tipped police off to his location at this day's inn, but in other accounts she's the one who helped him hide. When he reached Florida near Jacksonville, he called his sister Jennifer and they arranged to meet at an IHOP near Bradenton. She agreed, but when she hung up with him, she instead phoned the police.

She later recounted that he told her that he had committed quote, more crimes than he can remember. So when Richard arrived at that IHOP, he was swarmed by officers, but he was able to flee the scene, driving as fast as 120 miles an hour the wrong way through traffic with his headlights turned off. So dangerous. Yeah, he's doing everything he can at this point to escape. Well, he made it to Sarasota before the police finally caught up with him.

And frustratingly, knowing that he was cornered and there was no way out, Richard got out of his vehicle, pressed his 25 caliber handgun against his head, and took his own life, unable to hurt anybody else again. He was declared dead at 10 52 p.m. on June 27th, 2002. Just insane, right in front of them. Yep, he took the coward's way out. I mean, it's in a way you're like, I don't want this guy on earth, but it's just like, ah, you know, he could have had

more answers. He could have given the family some more clarity and closure. Yeah, yeah, and of course, as we're going to get into, police believe that he could have been connected to other crimes, and the fact that he is now deceased, they don't have his help in finding out if that's true or not. Very, very true. Well, Richard's DNA linked him to all three of his murder victims that, again, police were investigating that we know about for sure, and that was Sophia Silva, Kristin Lisk,

and Katie Lisk, as well as the rape that he committed in 1995 and the abduction and rape of Kara Robinson. And those blue fibers found on their wrists were confirmed to be from the fuzzy handcuffs that he used to restrain them. In a press conference held by the task force assembled to work on the murders of Sofia, Kristen, and Katie in Virginia, investigators announced that they had confirmed the link between Richard and the girls. Their grieving families addressed the public with Kristen and Katie's dad Ron Lisk saying sadly,

Patty and I were robbed of our children and all of you in our community were robbed of your trust in our fellow man. Please hang on tight to your children. Tell them you love them every day. Treasure each moment with them. Give them a hug every day." Now, as Heath hinted at, authorities do believe that it's possible

that he was responsible for more crimes that have yet to be linked back to him, like the murders associated with the Route 29 killer. There's a couple of murders there that they think he maybe did commit. And Richard was even investigated in connection to the murder of 12-year-old Jennifer Odom, whose case we actually covered in episode 280 of Going West.

However, one year ago this month, Jennifer's suspected killer killer who we discussed, Jeffrey Norman Crum, was arrested after 30 years. Richard has also been investigated in connection with the murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry, who was abducted, sexually assaulted, and killed in Maine in 1988, which, as you can remember, is when Richard and Bonnie were stationed there for his position in the Navy. So is it possible he committed that?

Sure. Because when investigators scoured his apartment for evidence, they discovered a lock box in which Richard kept newspaper articles about the unsolved murders of his victims and the daily routes and activities of other teenage girls in the community that he had been tracking. Yeah, so, you know, he was stalking his prey looking out for his next victim. And he's keeping physical proof. So along these items, they allegedly found a map of the general vicinity in which Sarah Cherry's body was discovered, which was in Bowdoin, Maine

But another man was convicted for her murder and remains incarcerated for the crime to this day But he maintains that he had nothing to do with it and his DNA was not found on the body So it's always possible. It was actually Richard. It absolutely could have been It's always possible it was actually Richard. It absolutely could have been. So Richard's wife at the time, 19 year old Hope, said in August of 2002 in an interview, so over a month after his death, quote, he was my husband. He is still my husband and I love him dearly. I don't really understand how she still loves this monster, but okay.

It's called denial. Yeah, absolutely. So Hope stayed in South Carolina, remaining close with Richard's family, and has kept a low profile since his death. But Richard's former wife Bonnie, however, has taken to TikTok to speak about him, like Daphne mentioned in the intro, and has been very open about the trauma of discovering that the man she spent eight years of her life with was murdering young girls while they were still together.

She was married with two young children when he was apprehended for his crimes, but developed PTSD from the aftermath and has spoken out a lot about the harrowing experience that she endured with Richard, including even having written a book about it, which is yet to be published. And you can follow her on TikTok at Bonnie Lou Ryder. Kara Robinson is also taken to TikTok to share her terrifying account of the day that changed her life and how her bravery was what caught Richard and ended his reign of terror for good. Her abduction actually inspired her to pursue a career in law enforcement. And in 2010, she graduated

from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. She's now a wife and mother, as well as a content creator, keynote speaker, and writer. And she served as an executive producer for one of the multiple TV specials and movies made about her story called Escaping Captivity, the Kara Robinson story. She is also a victims advocate on TikTok at Kara Robinson Chamberlain and a proponent for more ethical practices within the field of true crime,

guided by the voices of the victims. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And if you'd like a little bit more detail on the experiences that Bonnie and Kara went through, remember to go check out those TikToks. Yes, and I'll post one of each of those on our Instagram stories for easy viewing and easy clicking for you guys, along with all the photos associated with this case, which you can find on our Instagram at going west podcast. And we are on Facebook. We have two groups, a private discussion group and a public page.

You can find photos on either one of those What an amazing story about survival with Kara escaping this monster this pedophile piece of shit So glad that he is no longer on this earth But yeah, thank you again for listening to this episode Please share this episode and we'll see you guys on Friday. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger! I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp

I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp you