Answers to authorities' questions about Lisk-Silva suspect Richard Marc Evonitz may still be weeks off.

By KEITH EPPS
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 7/19/2002

Results in Lisk-Silva case are weeks off, probers say

Area residents will have to continue to wait to find out if Richard Marc Evonitz killed three Spotsylvania County girls.

Investigators say it may still be several more weeks before they release their findings regarding Evonitz's possible role in the Fredericksburg area's most highly publicized crimes.

"We know that everyone is anxious, but we've determined that we're not going to release any results until we get them all," Spotsylvania sheriff's Maj. Howard Smith said yesterday. "And I honestly don't know when that is going to be."

Just before he killed himself in Sarasota, Fla., on June 27, the 38-year-old Evonitz became the prime suspect in the unsolved slayings of Sofia Silva, 16, Kristin Lisk, 15, and Kati Lisk, 12.

Police were about to arrest him for the gunpoint kidnapping and rape of a girl near Columbia, S.C., when he put a gun in his mouth and fired.

The South Carolina girl, 15, was watering a friend's lawn June 24 when she was approached by a man posing as a magazine salesman.

The man, later identified as Evonitz, forced the girl into his vehicle at gunpoint and drove to his apartment, where he held her for 18 hours, raping her repeatedly.

The victim escaped when Evonitz fell asleep. She then went to the authorities, but Evonitz was already on the run by the time police got to his home.

Inside the apartment, police found a May 2, 1997, copy of The Free Lance-Star announcing the disappearance of the Lisk sisters.

They also found detailed notes showing that Evonitz had stalked other young girls around the Fredericksburg region when he lived here from about 1993 to 1999, when he moved to his native South Carolina.

Authorities have been waiting for DNA and forensic tests that will prove whether Evonitz was the man who traumatized the Fredericksburg region in 1996 and 1997.

Members of the Lisk-Silva Task Force have been extremely tight-lipped over the past few weeks, giving no indication what, if anything, preliminary test results have shown.

Even law enforcement authorities invited to a special regional meeting Monday said they learned no details about the investigation that hadn't previously been released.

"We know how important this case is to the families and the community," Smith said. "That's why we're taking our time. We're simply not going to release things piecemeal."

Smith said the task force is still putting together a timeline on Evonitz's life, particularly his time in the Fredericksburg area.

He said investigators would like to hear from any businesses, residents or professionals who had contact with Evonitz.

Sofia Silva vanished from her front porch on Sept. 9, 1996. Her body was found in King George County the following month. Kristin and Kati Lisk were abducted from their front yard eight months later. Their bodies were found in Hanover County five days after they disappeared.

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Date published: 7/19/2002