Authorities Identify Man Who Killed 3 Virginia Girls in 1990s

Overwhelming evidence proves that a South Carolina man abducted and killed three girls here in the mid-1990s, authorities announced Tuesday, ending a frustrating criminal investigation and bringing some peace to a community that had lived in fear of a serial killer.

The families of Sofia Silva, 16, and Kristin and Kati Lisk, 15 and 12, looked on tearfully as members of a task force on the case described how DNA analysis showed that hair from Richard Marc Evonitz matched hairs found on the bodies of all three girls, and how blue acrylic fibers from a pair of “furry” handcuffs he owned were gathered from the three. Evonitz killed himself in June. Perhaps the most damning evidence, authorities said--a palm print and fingerprints matching Kristin Lisk’s from the inside of the trunk of Evonitz’s car--was described by one forensic scientist as a “miracle” because they were found five years after the abduction.

The families said there is some comfort in knowing that the man is dead.