I got married at 17 but left as he was a fat-shaming bully – police came to my door & I realised I had a lucky escape
THE EX-wife of American serial killer Richard Evonitz has opened up about being married to the monster.
Bonnie Lou Gower wed Richard Evonitz when she was just 17 years old - but after they divorced she learned through the FBI he had killed at least three teenage girls.
Evidence found by police in his apartment linked Navy veteran Evonitz to the abductions and murders of three girls, Kati Lisk, 12, Kristin Lisk, 15, and 16-year-old Sofia Silva.
He was eventually caught after he kidnapped 15-year-old Kara Robinson, who bravely managed to escape and helped police track him down.
In a clip which has garnered over 10million views, ex-wife Bonnie has bravely revealed details about her nightmare.
NIGHTMARE KNOCK
On her @bonnielouwriter account she shared how they had divorced when she was 25 and she had gone on to remarry and have two children.
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Five years later, the FBI had showed up at her door and told her that first husband Evonitz was a serial killer.
Bonnie shockingly learned that he’d even killed one girl while she had been married to him - and it didn’t end there.
She added of her story: “20 years later, you found out that he had been killing people even before you were married and continued throughout your entire marriage.”
In a follow up clip, she shared how they tied the knot in August 1988 after being introduced through his sister, who she was friends with, and they had moved to Maine.
Bonnie revealed: “Everything was fine at first. Honestly, I was happy to be married.
“I had this, you know, probably immature fantasy about what married life meant, but I was happy to be there with him.”
Bonnie shared how Evonitz had quickly taken charge and let her know what her responsibilities were supposed to be “as his wife.”
She continued: “I was expected to clean the house, take care of all the cooking, and handle all the domestic duties.
“Since he was in the military, he also taught me how to properly launder his uniforms and get all the creases just right.
“I took all of this in and worked really hard to please him because, you know, I loved him and wanted to make him happy.
“But things began to shift.”
FAT-SHAMING BULLY
Bonnie shared how he had started picking on her about her weight after she gained 10 pounds, and had cruelly called her “fat” and told her to “join Weight Watchers.”
She said: “If I cheated on my diet, he would tell me I was going to end up fat like my mother and that I needed to get back on my program.
“Up until this point, I felt pretty good about things overall.
20 years later, you found out that he had been killing people even before you were married and continued throughout your entire marriage
Bonnie Lou Gower
“But as time went on, I began regretting my choice of getting married.
“Despite this, I had made a commitment, and I believed in that commitment. I believed in marriage, that it’s forever, and that you have to work on it.
Who were Richard Evonitz's victims?
EVIDENCE found by police in his apartment linked Evonitz to the abductions and murders of three girls aside from Kara — Kati Lisk, 12, Kristin Lisk, 15, and 16-year-old Sofia Silva.
Sofia Silva
Sofia Silva, whose ambition was to attend cosmetology school, was sat on her family's doorstep doing homework when Evonitz kidnapped her on September 9, 1996.
Her older sister was inside the house but didn't hear anything, according to the New York Daily News.
Police initially treated it as a missing persons case, until Silva was found dead in a swamp around five weeks later.
Kati Lisk & Kirsten Lisk
The Lisk sisters were abducted by Evonitz from their garden on May 1, 1997.
Kirstin was finishing up her first year of high school and enjoyed playing football, while Kati liked drawing and playing the clarinet.
Their dead bodies were found a few days later dumped in a nearby river, with investigators suspecting the murders were linked to Silva's.
Kara Robinson
On June 24, 2002, Kara Robinson was abducted by Evonitz from her friend's front yard in broad daylight.
But she heroically escaped while the killer was asleep the following morning, going on to lead police to the murderer.
“A lot of people had told me I was too young to get married at the time, and I was determined to prove them wrong.
“Marriage was definitely not what I thought it would be.”
Bonnie described the first year as “rocky” and Evonitz forbade her from sharing their troubles with other people.
She added: “At this point, I was 18, out there without any friends or family around.
“This was before cell phones, the internet, or email, and long-distance phone calls were expensive.
“He really limited the amount of money I was allowed to spend on phone calls to my family. “Not having friends or anyone to talk to about my relationship, I didn't know how different it was from the average marriage.
“I had no one to bounce things off of and find out what was normal, which I think was probably exactly what he wanted.”
Bonnie is now an author and claims to have written a book about her marriage and is seeking a publisher.
OUT-SMARTED BY A TEEN
Evonitz’s chilling tale features in the true crime thriller The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story.
It details how, in 2002, Kara had been watering flowers by herself in her friend's front yard in the middle of the day when a man pulled up into the driveway.
The strange man asked then 15-year-old Kara if he could give her some magazines.
"He leaned in to hand them to me," she recalled in the two-hour documentary.
"As he was leaning in, I felt a red flag somewhere in my head, and the same time I felt that red flag, I felt a gun pressed to the side of my neck.
If I cheated on my diet, he would tell me I was going to end up fat like my mother and that I needed to get back on my program
Bonnie Lou Gower
Kara recalled how she studied everything about her abductor and his belongings as she lay in his room with her hands and ankles bound.
"I can't explain where it came from, there was just this voice that said my options were to do as I was told and to escape and to survive or to panic, to fight, and maybe die," she said.
"So I strong-willed myself into remaining as calm as I could for as long as I could."
At one point, Kara remembered that there was a gun nearby, but she thought twice before trying to grab it — realising that "there was little chance I was going to win that fight".
The next morning, as her abductor slept in a bed beside her, Kara managed to free herself from the restraints and ran out of the house.
Outside she managed to flag down a car and had the two men in the vehicle drive her to Richland County Sheriff's Department.
Kara was held captive by the killer for a total of 18 hours.
Looking back, the mum-of-two said her story was one of hope.
"Even the negative things that happen to us, we get to choose if that’s something that’s going to define us, or if it’s something that’s going to refine us," she said.
"It’s about choosing your path forward, taking that power back into your own hands, and taking your life back."
Evonitz fled to Florida after realising Kara had escaped his clutches.
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But her testimony meant that police were able to track him down.
After he was surrounded by the law during a chase, Evonitz took his life at the age of 38 on June 27, 2002.