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Police say they found clippings from the May 2, 1997, Free Lance-Star and notes about the Lisk sisters in suspect Richard M. Evonitz's home. |
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.
EXTERNAL LINKS TO THIS CASE:
Florida's heraldtribune.com coverage
Coverage from Richmond's timesdispatch.com
South Carolina's thestate.com coverage
