Two Culpeper girls learn he watched them

Five years ago, terrified parents in the Fredericksburg area wouldn't let their teenage daughters out of their sight, but Culpeper resident Henry Howard had few worries about his little girl.

"We were aware of what was happening in Spotsylvania, but we thought, well, that's Spotsylvania," Howard said yesterday.

He didn't know a suspected serial killer was watching his 11-year-old daughter--and taking notes.

A Culpeper detective knocked on their door Wednesday night to tell the family that Richard Marc Evonitz had been stalking their daughter, Katherine, who is now 16.

"We were so shocked," Howard said.

Evonitz, 38, shot himself to death June 27 in Sarasota, Fla., after a high-speed chase with police.

He was wanted for the gunpoint kidnapping and rape of a 15-year-old girl in Richland County, S.C. The victim escaped after being held captive in his apartment near Columbia for 18 hours.

Detectives found several notes in the former Spotsylvania County man's apartment indicating he had stalked at least four girls in the Fredericksburg region while he lived here. They also found a May 2, 1997, copy of The Free-Lance Star with the lead story about the disappearance of 15-year-old Kristin Lisk and her 12-year-old sister, Kati.

One of the notes in the apartment gave detailed directions to Henry Howard's home in the town of Culpeper. Evonitz scribbled that Katherine was blonde and "10, 11, 12 max," Richland County, S.C., Sheriff Leon Lott said.

Another note referred to a girl who lived in a farmhouse in the Lignum area, Culpeper County Sheriff Lee Hart said yesterday.

Detectives talked to both girls this week. Neither had any idea they were being stalked.

In the note about Katherine, Evonitz wrote that her older brother, John, was often outside with her.

"We know those type of things go on, we're just surprised it happened to us, to my daughter," Howard said. "The note said her brother was outside with her. Just him being there was probably the deterrent."

The only thing keeping Katherine Howard from feeling too vulnerable is knowing Evonitz is dead, her father said.