On June 24, 2002, 15-year-old Kara Robinson was watering flowers in the front yard of her best friend’s home in West Columbia, South Carolina, when a Pontiac Trans Am came out of nowhere and pulled into the driveway.
A middle-aged man stepped out of the car, pretending to be distributing magazine pamphlets. When Kara said her parents were not at home, he pulled out a handgun and pressed it against her cheek.
The man, who was later identified as 38-year-old Richard Evonitz, threatened to kill her if she screamed and told Kara to get into the backseat of his car. There, he had stowed a large plastic storage container, and Evonitz told her to get in it.
Kara was forced into the fetal position in the container, and Evonitz loosely closed the lid. Inside the container, the teen suppressed her panic and counted every turn and acceleration.
She also tracked all of the radio stations he put on as they drove to guess their location. After Evonitz got onto the highway, he pulled over and placed a ball gag in her mouth.
He also tightly bound Kara’s wrists and shackled her ankles, then he snapped the container shut. Evonitz drove Kara to his apartment complex in Columbia, South Carolina, and carried the plastic container past unsuspecting neighbours into his apartment.
Once they were safely inside the apartment, Evonitz ordered Kara to get out. She immediately noticed the apartment was very messy and cluttered.
She also noted cages containing small animals, including a guinea pig and a lizard. Unfortunately, this would only be the beginning of her trauma at the hands of a depraved man.
Dealing with Captivity and Abuse
Evonitz forced Kara into the bedroom and ordered her to take her clothes off. He also had a pair of handcuffs to secure her hands and leather leg restraints to secure her ankles to the foot of the bed.
Kara was forced to take valium to sedate her, and Evonitz repeatedly sexually assaulted her over the next several hours. That evening, he turned on the Columbia news to see if the police were looking for him, considering the abduction had happened in broad daylight.
The news anchor did mention Kara was missing, but they categorised her disappearance as a runaway case. This relaxed Evonitz as he deduced the authorities were not looking for a kidnapper.
Recognising that he had let his guard down a bit, Kara made a conscious decision to act as compliantly as possible to keep him calm. She also began to casually engage in conversation with Evonitz, talking about his pets to build a rapport.
She also offered to help him clean the apartment. This was a tactical move to appeal to Evonitz’s masculinity, and it would allow her to get out of bed and move around to gather information.
Evonitz agreed, and while she was walking through the apartment, under the guise of being helpful, Kara memorised everything. She read the envelopes on the counter, taking names and addresses.
She also memorised the names of doctors printed on the fridge magnets. Kara also noted some prescription bottles and Evonitz’s preferred brand of cigarettes.
Later in the evening of the second day, Evonitz forced her back into bed. He put the handcuffs on and locked her legs back into the restraints at the foot of the bed.
Since she had spent hours being friendly and cooperative, Evonitz did not clamp the restraints or the handcuffs too tightly. He then lay down next to Kara and fell asleep.
At dawn, Kara heard Evonitz snoring deeply and set out to free herself. She manoeuvred her teeth around the quick link mechanism, attaching the handcuffs to the bed, and managed to free one hand, then the other.
She then slowly and silently reached down to the foot of the bed and managed to unclip the leg restraints that were holding her ankles. Barefoot and virtually unclothed, Kara tiptoed past Evonitz.
To get out the door, she had to open the front door while also moving an accordion-style closet door that Evonitz had set there to block the exit. Kara knew the noise created by the closet door would be enough to wake him.
So she decided to chance it and flung both doors open at once, sprinting down the stairs barefoot. Kara spotted a parked car with two men inside and ran straight for the driver’s side window.
She frantically screamed that she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted, while pointing back at Evonitz’s window. Before getting into the car, she emphatically told them to memorise which direction she had come from for later reference to the police.
Panic at Home
The day Kara got abducted, she was spending the day at her best friend’s home in West Columbia, South Carolina. Her friend, Jess, called her mother to see if there were any chores to do, and she was told to water the plants in the yard.
Kara volunteered to do the watering, and while she was in front, Jess stepped inside the house for a moment. In that window of time, Evonitz had pulled up, taken Kara, and disappeared.
There were no witnesses. Jess called out for Kara but got no response. When she couldn’t find her anywhere, she called her mother and Kara’s parents, telling them she had vanished in broad daylight.
Kara’s parents rushed over, and they began combing the area, looking for leads from the neighbours. Realising that Kara would not just walk away without telling anyone, her parents called the police and reported it as a potential kidnapping.
However, law enforcement was highly sceptical of these cases at the time. They also determined there was no broken glass or signs of a struggle on the grass.
No one also witnessed her getting taken. So, the police officially classified Kara as a runaway. Her parents spent the night in agony, knowing their reliable daughter would not run.
The next morning, they got a call from the Richland County Sheriff’s Office notifying them that Kara was alive and safe at their station. They rushed to the police station and reunited with Kara.
She was entirely composed, sitting with profilers and sketch artists, telling them everything that she remembered from the previous day.
Tracking Down Richard Evonitz
Kara happily gave the exact names of a doctor and a dentist who had been seen on Evonitz’s refrigerator. Officers also started running the names through their databases and with the registered addresses within the Columbia area.
She also gave the exact make, model, and colour of the Pontiac that took her. Though a problem arose.
The two men who drove Kara to the police station dropped her off without realising they had to leave an address for the apartment complex from which they had taken her. Based on Kara’s description of the drive time and turns, investigators concluded it was near the Crossroads Apartments complex.
Deputies took Kara and her parents in an unmarked police vehicle toward the suspected apartment block. When they got there, the police asked a maintenance worker if he knew anyone who matched the provided sketch and lived there and drove a Pontiac Trans Am.
The worker immediately confirmed that it was Richard Evonitz and pointed to the second-story apartment.
Officers staged around the building, and a SWAT team breached the door. It was empty, though, as Evonitz had woken up, realised Kara was gone, and fled just minutes before the police arrived.
Inside, the forensic teams confirmed everything that Kara had told them, from the messy kitchen to the animal cages and handcuffs on the bed frame.
They also found a heavy locked footlocker in the apartment. After opening it, police discovered maps, newspaper clippings, and trophies detailing unsolved cold cases from 1996 and 1997.
The moment the Virginia clippings were found, the Richland County sheriff’s office realised they were dealing with an active serial killer.
An active federal task force was formed with investigators from South Carolina and Virginia. The FBI also initiated a manhunt for Richard Evonitz.
Considering Evonitz had several kills and was armed, Kara and her family were taken into immediate protective custody. They were moved to a hotel safehouse under 24/7 armed police guard as the manhunt for Evonitz unfolded.
Short Flight and a Violent End
Interestingly, Evonitz was not woken up by the closet and door banging as Kara fled. But when he woke up and found Kara missing, he panicked.
Knowing the police would be on the lookout for a dark Pontiac Trans Am, he abandoned the vehicle and fled South Carolina using his second vehicle, a much less conspicuous Ford Escort.
He chose to run to Florida, which he was more familiar with, considering his prior time in the U.S Navy as a Sonar Technician. He checked into a motel in Jacksonville and holed up for two days.
Afterwards, Evonitz began placing desperate calls to his family seeking assistance. During a call to his sister, he started to spiral and gave a vague confession, “I’ve committed more crimes than I can remember.”
They arranged a meeting on June 27th at an IHOP restaurant in Bradenton, Florida. Evonitiz’s sister was terrified of her brother’s admissions and realised he was a wanted man.
She contacted the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department and provided them with the exact time and place where they would meet. Undercover deputies then staked out the IHOP.
When Evonitz pulled into the parking lot at 10 pm and spotted the police closing in, he stepped on the gas, tearing out and initiating a high-speed chase. He sped onto U.S. Route 41, heading south towards Sarasota.
The pursuit escalated as he reached speeds ranging from 100 to 120 miles an hour. In a desperate attempt to lose the cruisers, Evonitz turned off his headlights and turned onto the wrong side of the highway into oncoming highway traffic.
As the chase crossed into the city limits of Sarasota, the police deployed their stop sticks. Evonitz ran over them, shredding his tyres. Refusing to be deterred, he continued driving at high speeds on rims.
Evonitz was finally boxed in by 15 police cruisers on Bayfront Drive just outside the Marina Jack restaurant in downtown Sarasota. Surrounded on every side, Evonitz pulled out his .25 calibre semi-automatic handgun and refused to drop the weapon.
Officers then released a police K-9 unit through the car window, which latched onto Evonitz’s weapon hand. Rather than be captured alive, Evonitz turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger, dying by suicide.
Aftermath and Resolution
Because Evonitz was dead, investigators went back to his apartment to analyse the evidence. Inside his footlocker, FBI agents uncovered trophies that belonged to missing children from Virginia.
This included jewellery and clothing belonging to Sofia Silva, Kristin, and Kati Lik. Police also found a well-maintained diary with a list of names and vehicle descriptions, as well as the schedules of other teen girls living in Virginia.
Police quietly contacted the families and informed them they were being stalked by a serial killer. Forensic evidence from his home computer also revealed a significant archive of child exploitation media.
On July, 1, 2002, the FBI and the Virginia State Police held a press conference stating that the three cold cases had officially been solved. It did bring answers to the Silva and Lisk families, but provided no closure through legal channels.
Once Kara Robinson learned that Evonitz had killed himself during the police chase, her first reaction was anger. She had outsmarted him to survive and wanted to sit across from him in court as he faced a jury.
After the forensic confirmations, Kara went to Virginia to privately meet the families of Kati, Kristin, and Sofia. She shared that surviving for them and bringing the families the truth provided immense purpose.
Law Enforcement Career and Advocacy
After she escaped from her captor, Kara retained ties with the Richland County sheriff’s department. Sheriff Leon Lott recognised her analytical mind and encouraged her to serve if she desired.
While she was still in high school, Kara took a part-time summer job at the sheriff’s department. Over the years, even when doing her college degree, she rotated through administrative units.
She also worked directly in the Victim Services sector, assisting technicians in the department’s DNA crime lab.
In 2010, she formally enrolled in the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. She purposefully hid her past as a kidnapping and abuse survivor from her classmates and later graduated as the only woman in her class.
Kara’s first assignment was as a School Resource Officer for Richland County. This position was used to monitor student safety and to educate teens on physical security and situational awareness.
His skills and work earned her a promotion to the rank of investigator. Kara spent years investigating sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic abuse cases as a liaison between the victims and the court system.
After getting married and giving birth to her sons with her husband, Joe Chamberlain, she realised that working on child abuse cases, all the while raising small children, had an impact on her mental health. Kara chose to retire in 2019 to focus on her family and advocacy initiatives.
In 2019, she also made a television debut on the Lifetime special, Smart Justice: The Jayme Closs Case. There, she gave emotional advice to Jayme, another teen abduction survivor.
Kara has since been active in the initiative space and insists on creative control over her own story. She still regularly coordinates with the local sheriff’s office in supplying hand-packed care packages tailored for victims of sexual assault.
If you would like to read more about creepy shared phenomena or unique minds, check out our articles on the 2016 Creepy Clown phenomenon and Kim Ung-Yong, the child prodigy.
