Kara Robinson’s Kidnapper: Abduction, Escape, and Cold Cases

Kara Robinson’s kidnapper was Richard Marc Evonitz, a 38-year-old former Navy sonar technician who abducted the 15-year-old at gunpoint in West Columbia, South Carolina, on June 24, 2002, and held her captive for 18 hours before she escaped. Evonitz turned out to be a serial killer responsible for at least three murders of girls in Virginia during the 1990s. He shot himself three days after Robinson’s escape, during a police chase in Sarasota, Florida.

Who Richard Marc Evonitz Was

Evonitz grew up in a household his sister Jennifer later described as defined by power, control, and physical abuse from their father. He enlisted in the United States Navy in February 1984, served as a sonar technician aboard the U.S.S. Koelch, and received an honorable discharge in November 1992.¹

His criminal history stretched back well before Robinson. In 1983, he broke into a neighbor’s home to steal coins. In January 1987, while stationed at Naval Station Mayport near Jacksonville, Florida, he exposed himself to a 15-year-old girl and her toddler sister. He was arrested, pleaded no contest, and received three years of probation along with a requirement to undergo psychosexual counseling.² He told police at the time that he “had a problem masturbating in front of girls.”¹ His Navy rank was demoted after the conviction.

In August 1988 he married Bonnie Lou Gower, who was 17 and a friend of his younger sister.³ Gower later called the marriage a “sham” marked by controlling behavior. Evonitz did not allow her to attend college, work, or make friends, controlled her weight, and limited her contact with family.⁴ They lived in San Diego, South Carolina, and eventually Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and divorced in 1996, the same year the first known murder occurred.

At Kaeser Compressors, where he began working in 1993, colleagues reported that Evonitz made degrading remarks about women and had anger management problems. In June 1995, according to investigation records, he broke into a home, locked an 11-year-old in a bathroom, and raped her 13-year-old sister. He was never identified as a suspect in that case at the time.¹

The Abduction of Kara Robinson

On the morning of June 24, 2002, Robinson was watering plants in the front yard of a friend’s home in West Columbia when Evonitz approached her under the pretense of handing out pamphlets. He pulled a gun, forced her into a plastic storage container inside his Pontiac Trans-Am, and drove her to his apartment in Columbia.⁵

Robinson decided during the drive to focus on gathering information and wait for her captor to become complacent. She memorized the serial number on the plastic bin, counted the turns Evonitz made, noted the radio station, and recorded his clothing and vehicle.⁵ At the apartment, Evonitz held her for 18 hours, sexually assaulted her repeatedly, and kept her restrained with handcuffs and a leather leg restraint attached to the foot of the bed.⁶

How She Escaped

When Evonitz fell asleep, Robinson used her teeth to work one hand free from the handcuffs, unclipped the leather restraint on her leg, and crept to the front door. She quietly unbolted two locks and ran barefoot into the parking lot. “I just ran. I didn’t look back for a second,” she later said.⁶ Two men she encountered helped her reach a police station, and using the details she had memorized, she guided officers back to the apartment.⁵

The Florida Chase and Suicide

Evonitz fled South Carolina after Robinson’s escape. His sister Jennifer Harris, who lived in Bradenton, Florida, learned from another family member that he was wanted for the sexual assault of a teenage girl. She called 911, and authorities began tracking him through his cell phone.²

On June 27, 2002, Manatee County sheriff’s deputies located Evonitz in a 1996 silver Ford Escort. He led authorities on a chase along US 41 in Sarasota, reaching speeds of 100 mph. The pursuit ended when 15 deputies surrounded his vehicle. According to Sarasota Police Department spokesman Jay Frank, Evonitz refused to put down a gun he was holding. When officers sent in a police dog, which attacked his arm, Evonitz shot himself in the head with a .45-caliber weapon.⁷

The Virginia Cold Cases He Was Tied To

Evonitz’s death closed the door on a trial but opened cold cases that had haunted Spotsylvania County, Virginia, for years. On September 9, 1996, 16-year-old Sofia Silva was abducted from the front steps of her home in Spotsylvania. Her body was found five weeks later in a swamp in nearby King George County.⁸ In May 1997, sisters Kristin Lisk, 15, and Kati Lisk, 12, disappeared after getting off their school buses near their home on Blockhouse Road. Their bodies were found five days later in the South Anna River, roughly 40 miles away.⁹

A joint task force of the FBI, Spotsylvania County police, and Virginia State Police pursued nearly 10,000 tips. At its peak, the FBI assigned 20 agents full-time to the cases.⁹ Police had suspected Evonitz at some point, but existing forensic evidence was not enough to compel a DNA test, and the cases went cold for five years.

Inside Evonitz’s Columbia apartment, investigators found evidence tying him to all three Virginia victims. A pink bath rug in his linen closet matched pink fibers recovered from Kati Lisk’s body, and blue acrylic fibers from a pair of “furry” handcuffs matched blue fibers collected from all three victims.⁸ Kristin Lisk’s palm print and fingerprints were recovered from the inside of a trunk lid of one of Evonitz’s cars; a forensic scientist called the five-year-old prints a “miracle” find.¹⁰ His DNA matched a head hair in Kati Lisk’s sock and two additional hairs from the other victims. Police also found handwritten notes with a map and directions to Blockhouse Road, descriptions of two females matching the Lisk sisters, and an original newspaper clipping about their disappearance.⁹

In mid-August 2002, the FBI and Spotsylvania County police formally announced that the Silva and Lisk murders were solved and named Evonitz as the killer.⁸

Other Possible Victims

Because Evonitz killed himself before he could be questioned, authorities have never been certain his known victims were his only ones. In 2008, the FBI issued a ViCAP alert to law enforcement agencies across the country, asking them to review unsolved abductions, sexual assaults, and murders between 1980 and 2002 in the 22 states where Evonitz had lived or traveled.¹¹ The alert described his patterns: targeting victims under 18, conducting surveillance before abducting them, forcing victims to wash, binding their hands and feet, transporting them in plastic containers or metal bins, and disposing of bodies near water.

One case that has drawn renewed attention is the 1989 murder of five-year-old Justin Lee Turner in Berkeley County, South Carolina. University of Virginia law professor Deirdre Enright has argued Evonitz is a viable suspect, noting that his Navy ship was docked in Charleston on the day Turner disappeared and that Evonitz is known to have abducted children, followed school buses, and committed sexual assault, matching the autopsy findings. Enright also disputed the assumption that Evonitz only targeted teenage girls, saying his pornography collection encompassed a wider range of victims. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has said there is no indication Evonitz was attracted to boys and that he only kidnapped and raped girls.¹²

In January 2024, Turner’s father and stepmother were charged with the boy’s murder. On June 7, 2024, a judge dismissed those charges with prejudice after Enright’s research about Evonitz was introduced through the defense, and prosecutors called the evidence “explosive.”¹³ The Turner case remains unsolved. Evonitz was cremated after his death, which defense attorney Shaun Kent has said prevented further DNA analysis that could have resolved lingering questions.¹⁴

1
Radford University. Richard Marc Evonitz Serial Killer Profile
2
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Suicide Victim Linked to Felonies in Five States
3
HuffPost. TikTok Serial Killer Wife
4
New York Post. Bonnie Lou Gower Recalls Being Married to Serial Killer Richard Evonitz
5
People. Inside Kara Robinson’s Life Now
6
Oxygen. Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story
7
WIS-TV. Chase for Evonitz Over; Accused Rapist Commits Suicide After Florida Chase
8
ABC News. Evonitz Linked to Virginia Murders
9
Daily Press. Suicide Victim Linked to Four Virginia Murders
10
Washington Post. Slain Girls’ Cases Closed
11
FBI. FBI ViCAP Alert: Evonitz
12
Post and Courier. Justin Turner Serial Killer Richard Evonitz
13
University of Virginia School of Law. Clinic’s Evidence Plays Role in Dismissal of SC Murder Charges
14
Live 5 News. FBI Warned of Potential Link Between Serial Killer and Unsolved Cases 16 Years Ago