Full Transcript for Serial Killer Documentary - The Casanova Killer called 'more brutal than Bundy'

--> 00:03:02.840 he was just a loser. guy that can't stay out 38 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:03.300 of jail. 39 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:11.430 Paul John Knowles wanted infamy, but notoriety never followed. PJK failed. 40 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:14.729 No one talks about PJK when they mention Ted Bundy, 41 00:03:15.009 --> 00:03:18.569 John Wayne Gacy, or the son of Sam. But this 42 00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:22.330 serial killer knew his fate, and he planned for it 43 00:03:22.849 --> 00:03:24.930 by recording confessions of his killings. 44 00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:28.219 He was coming back from Key West, or somewhere in 45 00:03:28.259 --> 00:03:31.060 the Keys, and he calls me when he gets to Miami, 46 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:33.389 and he says he's got to talk to me. It's 47 00:03:34.090 --> 00:03:36.009 important he's got to talk to me. And I met 48 00:03:36.050 --> 00:03:40.650 him sometime around 9 o'clock at night at a bar, 49 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:43.930 and that's where he tells me he's a mass murderer. 50 00:03:45.849 --> 00:03:49.500 Right away. I said, okay. He said, I'm a mass murderer. 51 00:03:50.819 --> 00:03:55.740 Brace yourself. And I said, okay. And I laughed at him, 52 00:03:55.780 --> 00:03:58.939 I think. He had nothing in his background that would, 53 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:02.539 you know, reflect a person who would go around killing people. 54 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:04.080 I said, what do you want to do with this? 55 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:06.340 You want to surrender, go to jail? I'll help you get, 56 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:08.930 you know, turn you in. No, no, I don't want 57 00:04:08.969 --> 00:04:12.370 to do that. I want to have it documented. I 58 00:04:12.409 --> 00:04:15.409 want a book. I want some record made. 59 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:20.129 After five months on the run, the alleged Casanova was 60 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:24.319 shot and killed by police. But PJK kept a log. 61 00:04:24.939 --> 00:04:28.430 recording the details of his murders on secret tapes left 62 00:04:28.490 --> 00:04:33.230 to his lawyer. He claimed to take 35 lives. But 63 00:04:33.269 --> 00:04:37.750 here's the thing. Investigators can only account for 18 deaths. 64 00:04:38.569 --> 00:04:40.980 And at least one victim got away. 65 00:04:42.660 --> 00:04:47.360 My name is Barbara Maybe Abel. My maiden name was Maybe, 66 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:48.920 and I married an Abel. 67 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:56.220 Barbara's twin sister, Beverly, suffered from cerebral palsy. The two 68 00:04:56.259 --> 00:04:59.579 women were living together when a serial killer showed up 69 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:01.069 in their West Palm Beach home. 70 00:05:02.009 --> 00:05:04.889 If I would have met Paul John Knowles at a nightclub, 71 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:13.019 I would have gone out with him. He was very good-looking. 72 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.120 For an instance, I thought it was my ex-husband. I 73 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:21.149 only marry good-looking guys. And

here I am in the 74 00:05:21.250 --> 00:05:29.040 same house that the kidnapping happened. So in 1974, on 75 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.480 November the 14th, the day I'm never going to forget 76 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:38.319 as long as I live, I knew something was wrong. 77 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.100 And he said, don't turn around or I'll shoot you. 78 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:50.899 And of course, I decided I'd turn around And I 79 00:05:50.939 --> 00:05:55.500 couldn't believe what I did next. Walked him all the 80 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:58.519 way through the house, this little cute house. 81 00:05:58.560 --> 00:05:58.800 And. 82 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:04.199 Something made me go into the bedroom where Beverly was. 83 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:09.120 She was tied up with a sheet, and she had 84 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:13.660 a gag over her face, and blood was coming out 85 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:15.040 of the gag. 86 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:18.600 I'm sorry. 87 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:24.339 This maniac's in the bedroom with me, and he just 88 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:26.959 finished tying up my son in the other bedroom. And 89 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:29.000 I said, get the gag from out of her mouth. 90 00:06:29.019 --> 00:06:33.160 My God, she's got cerebral palsy. She's handicapped. What did 91 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:35.480 you do to my sister? I said, did you rape her? 92 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:37.769 And he says, I didn't do anything. I didn't hurt her. 93 00:06:37.779 --> 00:06:39.819 And I said, if you raped her, I said, I'm 94 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.560 going to kill you. He said, that's my sister. And 95 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.160 I knelt down beside the bed and talked to her. 96 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:50.790 And I said, we're OK. I said, I'll give him 97 00:06:50.810 --> 00:06:52.370 the money and the keys to the car, and then 98 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:56.050 he can go, okay? So she just nodded her head yes, 99 00:06:56.149 --> 00:07:03.910 and I kissed her. And he wanted to take me 100 00:07:04.069 --> 00:07:08.269 on I-95 or the turnpike or wherever he wanted to 101 00:07:08.310 --> 00:07:10.350 take me. We went from West Palm Beach all the 102 00:07:10.389 --> 00:07:13.050 way up to Fort Pierce, which is at least 60, 103 00:07:13.050 --> 00:07:17.500 70 miles up north. He gives some hotel room, and 104 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.259 we go, and he said, just pretend like we're married. 105 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:22.500 It didn't even cross my mind that I would be raped. 106 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:27.439 He had raped me repeatedly over and over, but it 107 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.740 wasn't rape in my mind because the man wasn't normal. 108 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:40.810 He was not normal that way, sexually. It wasn't like 109 00:07:40.850 --> 00:07:44.899 a real man. He wasn't like a real man. He 110 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:46.329 was trying, but couldn't do anything. 111 00:07:48.529 --> 00:07:48.949 Impotent. 112 00:07:50.970 --> 00:07:53.689 When he tied me up, he always made it real loose. 113 00:07:55.350 --> 00:07:57.769 And then the last time, he didn't know that he 114 00:07:57.810 --> 00:08:00.550 left the keys on the nightstand. He didn't know that 115 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:02.569 he did that. He just locked the door and went 116 00:08:02.620 --> 00:08:06.740 his way. So I started sawing my sheet thing off, 117 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:11.139 and I got myself loose. It wasn't even 15 minutes later, 118 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.420 and the whole world was right there by my side. 119 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.980 God bless them. I know what the paparazzi is now 120 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:20.600 for all these stars. It's like, it was that bad. 121 00:08:22.379 --> 00:08:24.329 Then they take me like I'm a criminal and I 122 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:28.759 go to the Fort Pierce police station. I'm thinking, oh, 123 00:08:28.810 --> 00:08:31.230 I need to save him because he's really, really sick. 124 00:08:32.009 --> 00:08:36.659 Thinking he only killed like one person. So, whoa, did 125 00:08:36.779 --> 00:08:37.179 I even? 126 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:38.860 I didn't know. 127 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:42.179 I was a copywriter. I know that's what saved my life. 128 00:08:42.700 --> 00:08:46.440 I had no idea how many he had murdered. He 129 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:49.750 tried to keep telling me and I wasn't listening. I mean, 130 00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:52.230 who wants to hear that? And I was telling him, 131 00:08:52.370 --> 00:08:56.610 why do you want to write a book? He wanted 132 00:08:56.629 --> 00:09:00.269 to be famous. Famous for what? Murdering a person? I 133 00:09:00.330 --> 00:09:08.820 fell in love with him for maybe an instant. I 134 00:09:08.860 --> 00:09:09.899 did whatever I had to do. 135 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:20.350 Barbara gave PJK an eight-hour head start. He took off 136 00:09:20.549 --> 00:09:27.950 in her car. What Barbara experienced was PJK's signature brutality, kidnapping, rape, torture, 137 00:09:28.269 --> 00:09:33.169 and then stealing her possessions. The only difference? Barbara lived. 138 00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:39.120 PJK's first known murder was 65-year-old Alice Curtis in Jacksonville. 139 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.740 He forced his way in her home and gagged her, 140 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:45.960 just like he'd done to Barbara. but Alice choked to death. 141 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:49.740 He killed twice more near Jacksonville, strangled a woman in 142 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:53.899 Atlantic Beach, killed a teenager in Bibb County, Georgia, and 143 00:09:53.990 --> 00:09:58.850 strangled a 24-year-old in Moosella with a telephone cord. One 144 00:09:58.889 --> 00:10:03.379 of his most merciless acts of rage happened in Milledgeville, Georgia. 145 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:07.240 A father and daughter in an absolute nightmare. 146 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.820 Worked a lot of murders, but that was the bloodiest 147 00:10:13.639 -->

00:10:17.919 crime scene I'd ever seen. I can still see the blood. 148 00:10:17.980 --> 00:10:20.059 I can see it in the bed. I can see 149 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:23.600 him with all his stab wounds. And I was asking 150 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:28.070 the coroner when we were at the funeral home during 151 00:10:28.090 --> 00:10:32.409 the autopsy what were all those marks. Come to find 152 00:10:32.509 --> 00:10:34.690 out he had stabbed him so many times that he 153 00:10:34.730 --> 00:10:38.450 broke the tips off the scissors. And those were the 154 00:10:38.889 --> 00:10:43.059 stab marks from where the tips were broken on the scissors. 155 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:46.179 He was stabbed so many times he bled through the mattress. 156 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:50.860 He strangled the daughter and I believe they said that 157 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:53.320 he tried to have sex with the body after she 158 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:57.299 was killed. It was a gruesome thing. 159 00:10:57.559 --> 00:10:57.840 Mr. 160 00:10:57.899 --> 00:11:01.059 Carr and Mr. Knowles met at a bar here in Macon, 161 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.500 and they went to his home in Milliesville. And nobody 162 00:11:05.539 --> 00:11:11.990 knows the real reason. There's some speculation, but nobody knows 163 00:11:12.029 --> 00:11:14.149 the speculation. It might have been a gay encounter. 164 00:11:14.789 --> 00:11:17.970 But he didn't want to admit that he was gay. 165 00:11:18.009 --> 00:11:22.250 That's right, he killed her. It's just like committing a burglary. 166 00:11:22.269 --> 00:11:25.730 He commits a burglary, and therefore, when he commits the burglary, 167 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:27.549 he has to kill the witness. So if you have 168 00:11:27.590 --> 00:11:30.649 a homosexual act, then he has to kill the homosexual. 169 00:11:30.769 --> 00:11:34.330 One thing the women said, he was a dud. A 170 00:11:34.389 --> 00:11:38.279 big handsome guy, one could wine and dine you, he 171 00:11:38.289 --> 00:11:40.740 could get you to the bedroom, but then he couldn't perform. 172 00:11:40.940 --> 00:11:43.039 I didn't think he was a Casanova killer, I just 173 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:45.360 thought he was a murderer. 174 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:53.450 But the name, Casanova Killer, stuck anyway. After the car murders, 175 00:11:53.509 --> 00:11:56.570 PJK would slip up. He had ditched a car from 176 00:11:56.629 --> 00:12:00.940 one of his previous victims, a Chevy. When investigators found it, 177 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:04.809 they learned the Casanova Killer had not covered his tracks. 178 00:12:05.370 --> 00:12:07.730 He left a paper trail of his deadly path. 179 00:12:08.649 --> 00:12:16.789 He killed people all over the country. California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama. Connecticut. 180 00:12:16.970 --> 00:12:19.309 What he would do is, when he would kill somebody, 181 00:12:19.350 --> 00:12:22.210 he would take their vehicle, along with their credit cards 182

00:12:22.269 --> 00:12:25.409 and things like that. He would use their credit cards 183 00:12:25.450 --> 00:12:28.100 for a while, and then he'd kill somebody else and 184 00:12:28.139 --> 00:12:29.720 get their credit cards and their car. 185 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:33.679 It was mid-November when a state trooper pulled Knowles over. 186 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:37.759 Not wasting any time, Knowles took the trooper hostage. He 187 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:41.350 flagged down another driver, James Meyer, and then he took 188 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:44.929 off with both men, using Meyer's Ford as a getaway car. 189 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:48.899 This was the beginning of the end for PJK. 190 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:53.330 They stop at a gas station. Knowles gets out, and 191 00:12:53.350 --> 00:12:58.070 the police officer, Campbell, and the other victim are sitting 192 00:12:58.110 --> 00:13:00.509 in the car and don't do anything. It's a four-door sedan. 193 00:13:00.570 --> 00:13:02.450 They don't make any effort. They make no effort to 194 00:13:02.490 --> 00:13:03.690 get out. They just call for help. 195 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:04.490 They do nothing. 196 00:13:04.509 --> 00:13:07.490 The next day, Knowles is driving the car himself. There's 197 00:13:07.509 --> 00:13:10.789 nobody else in the car. A police officer spots the car. 198 00:13:10.950 --> 00:13:13.330 They set up a roadblock. When they try to stop him, 199 00:13:14.169 --> 00:13:16.929 Knowles smashes into the roadblock but he's able to get 200 00:13:16.990 --> 00:13:19.009 out of the car, and he runs into the woods 201 00:13:19.389 --> 00:13:21.970 and knows he's uncapable. He said, I'm too tired to fight. 202 00:13:22.690 --> 00:13:26.370 And he gives up. He's bleeding. He's upset. He's injured. 203 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:29.649 He's got a scratch on his leg, and his face 204 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:35.220 is cut, and he's beat. So the murderer gives up. 205 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:40.519 Police had their mass murderer, but not his final victims. 206 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:46.120 Still missing, Trooper Campbell and James Meyer. PJK wasn't talking 207 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:52.840 But he recorded confessions. Now, only one man controlled PJK's diary. 208 00:13:53.340 --> 00:13:56.899 And that man, Attorney Sheldon Yavitz, was keeping those tapes 209 00:13:57.019 --> 00:13:57.620 locked away. 210 00:13:58.740 --> 00:14:04.259 He made tape recordings of his killings. And the reason 211 00:14:04.299 --> 00:14:06.279 it was given that he did that is that he 212 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:09.210 wanted to be the most famous mass murderer in history. 213 00:14:09.929 --> 00:14:12.529 and he wanted to have a recording device of it. Apparently, 214 00:14:12.549 --> 00:14:16.509 he described in great detail how he killed different people. 215 00:14:16.669 --> 00:14:16.929 Mr. 216 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:21.659 Yavitz was refusing to turn over the tapes because he 217 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:23.320 said it was attorney-client privilege. 218 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:25.000 And they said, well, you've got to tell us where 219 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:26.960 he is. You've got to know where the bodies are. 220 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:30.100 I said, I can't tell you. So they were very 221 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.580 upset about that. They assumed they were dead already. There 222 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:34.940 was no issue in anybody's mind that they were alive. 223 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:38.509 But we don't want them out there decaying. woods. I said, 224 00:14:38.529 --> 00:14:40.710 I don't represent the dead. My wife said I was nasty. 225 00:14:41.690 --> 00:14:43.389 I said, I don't represent the dead. They were very 226 00:14:43.450 --> 00:14:45.629 upset about that. And they bring me before the judge 227 00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:48.909 and they say, we want the tape. And I said, 228 00:14:48.990 --> 00:14:51.779 I can't produce the tape. So they threw me in jail. 229 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:56.100 I was in contempt of court. My wife had gone 230 00:14:56.139 --> 00:14:59.019 up with me to Georgia and she's in jail. She 231 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.419 invokes the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, but she didn't know anything. 232 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.769 And now she's in jail. And with your wife in jail, 233 00:15:06.909 --> 00:15:09.360 it's a real hassle. I mean, she wasn't very happy. 234 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.840 She was pretty upset. So under those circumstances, I said, 235 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:17.879 and I looked at it this way. If I'm turning 236 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:21.789 over a tape to free my wife, then they can't 237 00:15:21.830 --> 00:15:24.429 complain that I've done anything. They're extorting me. 238 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:30.509 It turns out investigators didn't need those tapes to find 239 00:15:30.570 --> 00:15:35.529 more victims. A hunter stumbled upon PJK's last conquest, and 240 00:15:35.549 --> 00:15:40.080 it was horrific. The missing trooper and businessman were left 241 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:45.080 for dead in the woods. What investigators didn't know is 242 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.440 that the end was near for PJK. 243 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:50.159 They have one cuff on each hand, and they're tied 244 00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:53.649 to him around the tree, and they're dead. He shot 245 00:15:53.690 --> 00:15:57.389 them in the head, top of the head. Knowles says 246 00:15:57.450 --> 00:16:00.350 that Myers said to him, that's the other victim, make 247 00:16:00.389 --> 00:16:04.950 your own luck. That was his last words. Knowles always 248 00:16:04.990 --> 00:16:05.590 remembered that. 249 00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:11.009 After they captured him, everywhere he went, they had a driver, 250 00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:16.000 law enforcement riding shotgun, two law enforcement guys in the back, 251 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:19.779 Knowles in the middle, handcuffed and shackled. Ronnie Angel was 252

00:16:19.820 --> 00:16:24.419 a GBI in the car. Knowles had agreed to take 253 00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:27.200 him to where the pistol was that he used to 254 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:31.480 kill the businessman and the Florida trooper. Knowles was in 255 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:33.100 the back seat, handcuffed. 256 00:16:33.460 --> 00:16:38.419 He got the handcuffs loose, reached over the seat, grabbed 257 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:40.840 Earl Lee's gun, tried to get it out of the holster, 258 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:44.970 shot a hole through the seat. Ron Angel pulled his weapon. 259 00:16:46.190 --> 00:16:46.669 And shot him. 260 00:16:49.309 --> 00:16:55.309 Good riddance. I mean, it's a bad thing to say 261 00:16:55.350 --> 00:17:01.500 about somebody, but evil people, good riddance. He won't ever 262 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:02.360 kill anybody else. 263 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:08.400 And just like that, PJK went from being held captive 264 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:13.650 to dead, his murder spree finally ending with his own death. 265 00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:17.410 But his story didn't die with him, at least not 266 00:17:17.490 --> 00:17:21.710 right away. Police had his kill tapes, and they'd started 267 00:17:21.789 --> 00:17:25.779 combing across the country counting victims. He'd murdered and raped 268 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:31.200 both men and women in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, 269 00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:35.750 and Connecticut. And he'd talked about it all on tape. 270 00:17:36.390 --> 00:17:41.910 Knowles contended that he killed 33 or 35 people, and 271 00:17:41.930 --> 00:17:45.990 he didn't know for sure which. We were able to 272 00:17:46.170 --> 00:17:48.259 document 18. 273 00:17:48.259 --> 00:17:51.880 He wanted, when he died, that his crimes be made 274 00:17:51.940 --> 00:17:55.059 known and the proceeds would go to his mother. It's 275 00:17:55.099 --> 00:17:58.599 his confession. He's describing what he did, who he killed, 276 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:01.480 where he killed him. There's 14 on the tape. There's 277 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:06.200 two in Milledgeville, Georgia, and the civilian with the police officer. 278 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:09.750 That's what makes the 18. And it became evidence of 279 00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:12.769 the grand jury. And it never left the grand jury. 280 00:18:12.970 --> 00:18:15.549 But no one ever got to hear the tape. It 281 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:19.089 doesn't exist. It may physically exist, but it's not playable. 282 00:18:19.369 --> 00:18:23.740 The court had him, and... Seems like to me they 283 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:27.119 had a flood in the basement somewhere or water got 284 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:29.589 in there and damaged it. I would love to have 285 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:34.750 listened to them to try to understand why he did 286 00:18:34.809 --> 00:18:42.819 what he did. You don't kill 16, 17, 18, 29, 30, 287 00:18:42.819 --> 00:18:48.950 35 people. You just don't do it. I'm almost certain 288 00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:51.750 there are other victims out there that are related to 289 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:53.180 his activity. 290 00:19:03.009 --> 00:19:07.849 Now that I know that he killed over 35 people, men, women, 291 00:19:07.890 --> 00:19:12.319 and children, I was thinking, you know, like, what made 292 00:19:12.420 --> 00:19:18.200 that person become a murderer, a serial killer? What on 293 00:19:18.259 --> 00:19:22.369 God's earth? I researched his background and stuff later on. 294 00:19:22.569 --> 00:19:25.460 It took me years to do that. What would make 295 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:31.960 him turn into a murderer? What would happen in somebody's 296 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:37.660 life that was so horrible that would make them turn 297 00:19:37.769 --> 00:19:45.250 into crime? What would make him go berserk and start murdering? 298 00:19:46.210 --> 00:19:49.329 What could be so horrific in your life that somebody 299 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:49.970 would do that? 300 00:19:50.950 --> 00:19:55.609 The original confession tapes vanished, but hearing from the Casanova 301 00:19:55.650 --> 00:19:59.990 killer himself may be the only way to know. A 302 00:20:00.089 --> 00:20:05.640 court-appointed psychologist spoke with Knowles, revealing what goes on inside 303 00:20:05.700 --> 00:20:07.059 the mind of a killer. 304 00:20:11.019 --> 00:20:15.039 Paul John Knowles made kill tapes. He recorded the details 305 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:15.579 of his murders. 306 00:20:17.859 --> 00:20:19.200 The tapes were handed. 307 00:20:21.339 --> 00:20:22.240 Over to the court. 308 00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:44.259 And locked away in Macon. According to investigators, both fire 309 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:49.049 and a flood damaged countless court records. PJK's kill tapes 310 00:20:49.420 --> 00:20:53.970 are presumed to be lost forever. But there's a second 311 00:20:54.049 --> 00:20:57.910 set of tapes, and for the first time ever, they 312 00:20:57.950 --> 00:21:00.829 provided a telling look into the mind of a serial 313 00:21:00.869 --> 00:21:02.650 killer in his own words. 314 00:21:04.059 --> 00:21:05.980 What's the worst thing that ever happened to you in 315 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:06.180 your life? 316 00:21:13.970 --> 00:21:16.289 The tapes are not the only way to get inside 317 00:21:16.309 --> 00:21:21.200 the mind of this serial killer. PJK left behind letters, notes, drawings, 318 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:24.759 and accounts from the women he loved. Among those women 319 00:21:24.859 --> 00:21:28.000 he let inside his mind was a British journalist who 320 00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:31.539 he picked up in an Atlanta hotel bar. Sandy Fox 321 00:21:31.660 --> 00:21:35.390 was a different kind of prey for PJK, the kind 322 00:21:35.450 --> 00:21:38.009 who might be able to offer the one thing he 323 00:21:38.069 --> 00:21:42.880 desired more than all the others— In her book, Natural 324 00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:46.700 Born

Killer, she writes about life on the road with PJK. 325 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:52.220 Sandy Fox passed away in 2005, but through narration, her 326 00:21:52.259 --> 00:21:53.960 journey is brought back to life. 327 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:58.049 I will never know for certain whether he would have 328 00:21:58.109 --> 00:22:01.250 killed me that last night, the one when I said 329 00:22:01.269 --> 00:22:06.529 goodbye so determinedly. His pattern was to kill approximately every 330 00:22:06.529 --> 00:22:10.309 10 days, and he fulfilled it at the weekend. I 331 00:22:10.329 --> 00:22:14.910 learned a little of Knowles' life. He had been institutionalized 332 00:22:15.250 --> 00:22:18.589 from the age of eight. A stolen bicycle had led 333 00:22:18.650 --> 00:22:23.250 him to a lifetime of foster homes, reformatories and prison. 334 00:22:23.990 --> 00:22:26.910 A great life for a child, a life of uniforms, 335 00:22:27.490 --> 00:22:31.630 discipline and few possessions. And like many others going through 336 00:22:31.670 --> 00:22:35.089 the system, he learned to live the harsh way, to 337 00:22:35.150 --> 00:22:39.420 life cheat and steal. and all the while to dream 338 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:42.259 of glory, easy money, and escape. 339 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:48.160 What's the best thing that ever happened to me in 340 00:22:48.180 --> 00:23:14.150 my life? Nothing good's happened to me. 341 00:23:14.150 --> 00:23:14.650 I'm a criminal. 342 00:23:21.390 --> 00:23:24.230 I've been a criminal since I was a kid. 343 00:23:24.269 --> 00:23:27.380 You really are saying that you believe you have a 344 00:23:27.390 --> 00:23:34.980 criminal right? Well, it's been through the roof. My life 345 00:23:35.019 --> 00:23:40.240 has been more involved in the criminal sense than we'll 346 00:23:40.259 --> 00:23:40.819 see it happen. 347 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:47.299 I realized there was a lack of, maybe not a 348 00:23:47.299 --> 00:23:53.200 lack of love, but a lack of caring. So I 349 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:55.670 had no doubt that they loved me, but they just. 350 00:23:55.549 --> 00:23:56.089 Didn't give a damn. 351 00:23:57.430 --> 00:24:00.430 Well, if you love somebody, how can you. 352 00:24:01.029 --> 00:24:06.890 Not give a damn? Well, perhaps they did give a damn, 353 00:24:06.910 --> 00:24:11.940 but they just didn't... know how to show it. 354 00:24:13.740 --> 00:24:17.039 Most of PJK's family passed away a long time ago, 355 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:20.509 but his brother Clifton is willing to provide a look 356 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:22.609 into the childhood of a serial killer. 357 00:24:23.130 --> 00:24:23.910 We were so poor. 358 00:24:23.930 --> 00:24:29.890 There was seven of us living in three rooms. It 359 00:24:29.910 --> 00:24:31.970 was like a great room where Mom and Dad slept in. 360 00:24:31.970 --> 00:24:34.690 A little bedroom and a kitchen. 361 00:24:35.910 --> 00:24:37.029 We had an outhouse. 362 00:24:37.490 --> 00:24:42.250 You know, when you're a child, And certain horrendous things 363 00:24:42.309 --> 00:24:45.339 happen to you. You tend to block them out. In 364 00:24:45.380 --> 00:24:48.660 today's climate, today's climate, we would all be taken out 365 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:52.000 of the home. We would all be taken out of 366 00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:54.930 the home and probably fostered out. There was a lot 367 00:24:54.950 --> 00:24:59.950 of physical abuse. My father would call them, he'd call 368 00:24:59.970 --> 00:25:04.920 them whipping. I called them beatings myself. You know, when 369 00:25:04.940 --> 00:25:07.259 you leave black and blue marks on a kid from 370 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.220 a bill, that's a beating. And the old man was 371 00:25:09.299 --> 00:25:11.940 beating Paul with his fist. And he was about to 372 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:14.640 beat him to death. He got well enough, he ran 373 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:15.299 away again. 374 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:18.400 Every day is a party. 375 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:20.359 You know, I just rode around town. 376 00:25:20.380 --> 00:25:25.430 Went to the shooting galleries, penny arcades. Just whatever didn't 377 00:25:25.450 --> 00:25:28.630 go on, I was sleeping in the morning. 378 00:25:31.730 --> 00:25:32.390 Then they called me. 379 00:25:53.210 --> 00:25:56.390 Paul John Knowles was sent away to the infamous Dozier 380 00:25:56.430 --> 00:26:00.769 School for Boys. A 2013 investigation revealed that at least 381 00:26:00.769 --> 00:26:03.730 50 bodies were buried on the grounds of the school. 382 00:26:04.470 --> 00:26:08.690 To date, more than 500 former students have alleged brutal 383 00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:10.970 beatings and a culture of abuse. 384 00:26:11.569 --> 00:26:14.329 Florida School for Boys, which is Dozier School for Boys. 385 00:26:14.470 --> 00:26:15.829 I call it Florida School for Boys. 386 00:26:17.849 --> 00:26:20.490 And he stayed in and out of there until he 387 00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:23.460 got old enough to go to Rayford, Florida State Prison. 388 00:26:24.619 --> 00:26:27.900 I call it Rayford, but it was Florida State Prison. 389 00:26:29.500 --> 00:26:33.019 And it was the same thing. Never stayed out over 390 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:38.670 six months. It institutionalized him instead of reforming him. He 391 00:26:38.710 --> 00:26:41.549 didn't go in a killer. He was just a wayward 392 00:26:41.609 --> 00:26:44.819 soul that got tired of the beatings when he was 393 00:26:44.859 --> 00:26:49.339 a young'un and got away from it the best way 394 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:53.799 he knew how at the time. And one thing led 395 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.309 to another, one thing led to another. This state of 396 00:26:56.369 --> 00:27:02.240 Florida has a hand in this too. They will deny it. 397 00:27:02.259 --> 00:27:05.599 The hell won't have it. But the state of Florida 398 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:09.200 has a responsibility in this too. 399 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:13.849 He

had been in prison in Rayford. And I had 400 00:27:14.789 --> 00:27:18.869 been retained by his girlfriend, Angela Kovac, also known as Samuels, 401 00:27:19.589 --> 00:27:23.299 to get him a parole. She was a small, short woman. 402 00:27:24.059 --> 00:27:27.740 And I made a note somewhere that she wasn't very attractive. 403 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:31.240 And she was older than him. And I couldn't understand 404 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:35.680 the appeal, except that she had money. And she was 405 00:27:35.740 --> 00:27:36.579 a meal ticket out. 406 00:27:38.859 --> 00:27:43.049 Three women had loved Paul John Knowles. His mother, for 407 00:27:43.089 --> 00:27:45.809 whom he had such a passionate love that he went 408 00:27:45.910 --> 00:27:49.710 out and killed to make her rich. And for whom, finally, 409 00:27:49.950 --> 00:27:55.009 I suppose, he gave his own life. Jackie Knight, who 410 00:27:55.069 --> 00:27:59.059 knew his faults and weaknesses, but stood by him staunchly, 411 00:27:59.779 --> 00:28:02.259 and Angela Kovic, his last chance. 412 00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:08.660 He was going to go to California. That was the 413 00:28:08.819 --> 00:28:12.059 basis of the parole, and marry Angela Kovic. She was 414 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:14.960 still married, so we had to wait until she got divorced. 415 00:28:15.539 --> 00:28:20.220 He was released from Florida Penitentiary in like the spring 416 00:28:20.259 --> 00:28:25.519 of 1974, and he went to California to visit the 417 00:28:26.339 --> 00:28:29.039 young lady out there, and they were going to be married. 418 00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:32.109 And when he got out there, she had talked with 419 00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:34.650 a psychic or something and told him that there was 420 00:28:34.670 --> 00:28:36.609 this bad guy that was going to come into her future. 421 00:28:36.690 --> 00:28:40.450 And she broke off whatever it was, and he came 422 00:28:40.549 --> 00:28:42.309 east and started killing folks. 423 00:28:42.650 --> 00:28:46.150 Came back to Georgia, came back to Florida, and that's 424 00:28:46.170 --> 00:28:51.180 when he started on his kidnapping, raping, murder spree. Well, 425 00:28:51.259 --> 00:28:55.079 it seems like something triggered him to start. 426 00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:01.259 His attempts at love had all failed him. His mother, 427 00:29:01.859 --> 00:29:05.099 Bonnie Knowles, who he adored, had allowed his father to 428 00:29:05.180 --> 00:29:09.420 send him away. The loves conducted by mail with Jackie 429 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:13.759 and Angela were both childish and swaggering, the letters filled 430 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:17.460 with sexual boasts. There are only two things I like 431 00:29:17.500 --> 00:29:20.039 to do on a rainy day, he had written Angela, 432 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:24.529 sleep and make love. And I very seldom get sleepy. 433 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:28.660 The lined paper was smothered with kisses, the envelopes with 434 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:33.309 crayon drawings. Nothing came out of these relationships because they 435 00:29:33.329 --> 00:29:34.650 were based on fantasy. 436 00:29:36.269 --> 00:29:37.849 He called me to pick him up at the airport. 437 00:29:38.089 --> 00:29:39.970 He told me one little thing about what happened out there. 438 00:29:41.150 --> 00:29:43.410 That the lady out there was seeing a black man. 439 00:29:45.569 --> 00:29:50.859 And Paul beat him half to death. That's what he 440 00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:54.279 told me. And evidently, Paul was a little bit racist too. 441 00:29:55.140 --> 00:29:56.920 And so that's why he beat the black guy about 442 00:29:56.940 --> 00:29:58.880 half to death. He was thinking that there was going 443 00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:02.529 to be a a relationship for him. And he got 444 00:30:02.609 --> 00:30:04.349 out there and he found out that it wasn't what 445 00:30:04.390 --> 00:30:06.849 he thought it was. And I think that that's what 446 00:30:06.910 --> 00:30:07.509 set it off. 447 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:15.380 His failed relationship with Angela Kovic started the murder spree. 448 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:18.779 But over the course of the next five months, Paul 449 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:22.259 John Knowles kept returning to the same woman, former girlfriend 450 00:30:22.299 --> 00:30:24.880 Jackie Knight. He'd stop and stay at her house in 451 00:30:24.900 --> 00:30:29.180 between killings. Jackie claims she had no idea that's where 452 00:30:29.220 --> 00:30:29.619 he'd go. 453 00:30:30.569 --> 00:30:34.589 Around my children, babysitting my children while I'd go shopping 454 00:30:34.690 --> 00:30:35.710 or have. 455 00:30:35.529 --> 00:30:37.789 To go pay bills. He would do this. 456 00:30:38.309 --> 00:30:39.430 He would babysit my kids. 457 00:30:39.710 --> 00:30:41.730 You'd think if I'd known he was killing these people, 458 00:30:41.769 --> 00:30:45.150 I'd let my kids be involved. It was an embarrassment 459 00:30:45.670 --> 00:30:47.839 to me and my family that I could have been 460 00:30:47.910 --> 00:30:52.980 so naive to have gotten involved in someone like this. 461 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:57.220 And I'm just afraid, you know, they probably thought I 462 00:30:57.319 --> 00:31:00.099 might have been involved in some way or knew something 463 00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:00.680 in some way. 464 00:31:01.460 --> 00:31:03.880 I didn't know anything that was going down in Macon 465 00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:06.220 or anywhere. I know he'd be gone for two weeks, 466 00:31:06.259 --> 00:31:09.279 he'd come back. He'd stay three or four days, he'd 467 00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:12.829 be gone again. He'd sleep on my couch. He would 468 00:31:12.910 --> 00:31:16.410 see to it that the kids had Christmas. He would 469 00:31:16.490 --> 00:31:19.529 see to it that they was well taken care of 470 00:31:19.589 --> 00:31:23.690 when it come to school. He took those kids as 471 00:31:23.750 --> 00:31:24.130 his own. 472 00:31:30.099

--> 00:31:34.000 So he embarked on his journey, a 20,000 mile round 473 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.880 trip on which he saw the vast grandeur of America. 474 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.640 Perhaps we wondered why, when there was so much, he 475 00:31:42.700 --> 00:31:46.720 had so little. After his capture, he told his lawyer 476 00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:50.700 he had let his victims know their fate beforehand. He 477 00:31:50.839 --> 00:31:54.480 charmed them into acquiescence by telling them he must tie 478 00:31:54.519 --> 00:31:57.839 them up in order to get away. I never wanted 479 00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:01.559 to hurt them, he said. He could not understand their terror, 480 00:32:01.980 --> 00:32:04.400 and when killed them, he felt no remorse. 481 00:32:06.220 --> 00:32:10.890 If you could change your life from the point you're 482 00:32:10.950 --> 00:32:14.210 at right now, where would you go back to to. 483 00:32:14.109 --> 00:32:14.950 Make the change? 484 00:32:15.730 --> 00:32:19.910 Well, actually, if I had to live over again, I wouldn't. 485 00:32:20.150 --> 00:32:24.730 You wouldn't do what? I wouldn't live again. It's been 486 00:32:24.750 --> 00:32:25.150 that bad. 487 00:32:25.210 --> 00:32:29.369 There's no way I'd go through another year of it. 488 00:32:30.769 --> 00:32:32.069 I never did decide to go back. 489 00:32:32.089 --> 00:32:40.960 I decided I wasn't going back. It's just a chance 490 00:32:40.980 --> 00:32:41.500 of faith that I. 491 00:32:43.859 --> 00:32:44.940 Am going back. 492 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:45.839 I had no intention of living. 493 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:48.720 How do you mean that? 494 00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:50.259 I fully intended to. 495 00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:53.180 Be shot before. 496 00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:03.609 I think in his heart he knew what was the 497 00:33:03.690 --> 00:33:08.170 end result, what was going to happen. And he was 498 00:33:08.190 --> 00:33:10.269 trying to set mom and daddy up with a book 499 00:33:10.329 --> 00:33:17.579 deal or something and give them the rights for anything 500 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:19.000 to happen with the tapes. 501 00:33:19.579 --> 00:33:23.710 Maybe that he just... wanted to die. But on the 502 00:33:23.750 --> 00:33:27.450 other hand, he was enjoying his celebrity status. Women liked 503 00:33:27.509 --> 00:33:31.289 him now. He was somewhat of a hero, you know, 504 00:33:31.390 --> 00:33:33.750 in a strange sort of way. He wanted, when he died, 505 00:33:33.769 --> 00:33:38.829 that his crimes be made known and that his story 506 00:33:38.869 --> 00:33:40.950 be made known and that there be a book or 507 00:33:41.009 --> 00:33:44.609 a movie or something done. And the proceeds would go 508 00:33:44.650 --> 00:33:47.779 to his mother. I didn't tell him that a murderer 509 00:33:48.380 --> 00:33:51.099 or a criminal like that cannot profit from his crimes. 510 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.400 that eventually, if he had any victims, they'd sue the estate, 511 00:33:56.420 --> 00:34:00.450 and the estate would be wiped out. There wouldn't be 512 00:34:00.470 --> 00:34:01.339 any profit to it. 513 00:34:04.630 --> 00:34:08.309 Paul John Knowles was as much a victim as any 514 00:34:08.349 --> 00:34:12.139 of the 18 people killed, with a compassion that in 515 00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:15.719 no way diminishes my sorrow for the dead and my 516 00:34:15.780 --> 00:34:20.539 sympathy for those who mourn them. May his poor, demented 517 00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:22.440 soul Rest in peace. 518 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:30.179 They took him out and killed him. They took him 519 00:34:30.219 --> 00:34:33.239 out and killed him. Do you think they planned to 520 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:33.619 do that? 521 00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:44.800 We'll let God be the judge of that. We'll let 522 00:34:44.900 --> 00:34:53.630 God be the judge of that. It took a while 523 00:34:53.650 --> 00:34:57.360 to get over it, but eventually it just faded away. 524 00:34:57.380 --> 00:35:02.539 I always knew, I always knew, I tell my wife, 525 00:35:03.340 --> 00:35:04.559 that this day would come. 526 00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:10.639 This day would come. Something just told me that it would. 527 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:17.039 What about this day? The interview. That somebody would have 528 00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:22.130 some questions. Is there anything you've been waiting to say? 529 00:35:22.599 --> 00:35:27.489 On this day. The two girls. He didn't do it. 530 00:35:32.650 --> 00:35:37.110 PJK's brother is talking about the Anderson sisters. Those two 531 00:35:37.170 --> 00:35:41.730 little girls are believed to be PJK's second and third victims. 532 00:35:42.170 --> 00:35:43.730 But it's not a clear-cut case. 533 00:35:44.380 --> 00:35:48.400 And when the girls went missing, it just totally changed everything. 534 00:35:49.260 --> 00:35:52.219 Millette liked to play with baby dolls. If you've seen her, 535 00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:54.599 she always has a baby doll. And that was a 536 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:57.619 book reader. We called her the bookworm because you see 537 00:35:57.659 --> 00:36:02.070 her and she had a book. Everybody said Paul Knowles 538 00:36:02.110 --> 00:36:05.590 was in the area at the time the girls went missing. 539 00:36:06.530 --> 00:36:10.889 About five, six years later, we put the tombstone down 540 00:36:10.929 --> 00:36:14.349 there at the cemetery. I just knew they was gone 541 00:36:14.429 --> 00:36:15.690 and they never come back. 542 00:36:16.989 --> 00:36:21.019 Instead of a final resting place, These gravestones mark heartache 543 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:26.219 and uncertainty. The girls' bodies were never found. Despite court 544 00:36:26.280 --> 00:36:31.780 documents that indicated PJK offered specific details about them on 545 00:36:31.820 --> 00:36:33.300 his infamous kill tapes. 546 00:36:36.570 --> 00:36:40.170 He gave a direction how to find them. Something about 547 00:36:40.250 --> 00:36:43.949 two

palm trees supposed to be connected like a heart. 548 00:36:44.190 --> 00:36:46.230 And they went out in search and they never did 549 00:36:46.250 --> 00:36:51.150 find them. Find the area or nothing. I don't think 550 00:36:51.190 --> 00:36:57.199 we'll ever get closure out of it because it's been 551 00:36:57.300 --> 00:37:04.480 too long. And if anybody really knew anything, I would 552 00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.340 think by this time it would bother them so much 553 00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:09.659 on their mind that they would come out and say something. 554 00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:14.400 And I just don't think there's nobody out there that knows. 555 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:17.059 I think it's time to let it go. 556 00:37:17.079 --> 00:37:39.809 This is it. The Anderson sisters are on the list 557 00:37:40.010 --> 00:37:43.769 of at least 18 victims murdered by Paul John Knowles, 558 00:37:44.369 --> 00:37:49.840 but it's clear that list is probably incomplete. Debbie Griffin 559 00:37:49.940 --> 00:37:54.300 disappeared while hitchhiking in Bibb County during PJK's killing spree 560 00:37:54.360 --> 00:37:59.889 in October 1974. This FBI file names him as a suspect, 561 00:38:00.130 --> 00:38:04.530 but the investigation has never been closed. These images from 562 00:38:04.570 --> 00:38:08.519 the case file show evidence of her grisly death, her 563 00:38:08.579 --> 00:38:14.260 body tossed in the woods, undiscovered until nearly a year later. But, 564 00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:19.760 like others, she's never been officially added to his victims list. 565 00:38:20.510 --> 00:38:23.969 There's a lot of cold cases that they're trying to solve. 566 00:38:24.409 --> 00:38:27.679 They just solve one I don't know, say a couple 567 00:38:27.699 --> 00:38:31.570 of years ago in Houston County, that the body was 568 00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:37.849 found several years after all this took place in 74. 569 00:38:37.849 --> 00:38:41.170 And through the tapes or transcripts, they were able to 570 00:38:41.429 --> 00:38:44.059 identify that he did, in fact, kill that one. 571 00:38:45.750 --> 00:38:47.369 Well, I'll tell you what I have at home. I 572 00:38:47.409 --> 00:38:50.369 have a picture that was blowed up of him. And 573 00:38:50.409 --> 00:38:53.309 I have it out in my backyard. And I take 574 00:38:53.349 --> 00:38:55.320 my BB gun and I shoot him. 575 00:38:57.380 --> 00:38:58.300 It's just a picture. 576 00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:04.639 Betty Wisecup's daughter, Ima Jean, is the most recent victim 577 00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:08.500 officially added to Paul John Knowles' kill list more than 578 00:39:08.500 --> 00:39:11.019 35 years after her death. 579 00:39:11.820 --> 00:39:14.389 Ima liked to go swimming. She liked boys. She liked 580 00:39:14.409 --> 00:39:17.349 to go to the sandpit. Normal things most 13-year-olds like. 581 00:39:18.809 --> 00:39:20.889 So she had left to go to the sandpit. I 582 00:39:20.929 --> 00:39:25.150 worked and her stepdad

worked. So we weren't home during 583 00:39:25.170 --> 00:39:28.239 the day. Well, I figured that she was so unhappy 584 00:39:28.300 --> 00:39:31.010 that maybe she just decided to go live her own life. 585 00:39:31.969 --> 00:39:35.070 But we did searches and things for Social Security, never 586 00:39:35.110 --> 00:39:38.260 could find anything. But I had never dreamed that she 587 00:39:38.300 --> 00:39:41.199 was killed by a serial killer. Surprised the hell out 588 00:39:41.260 --> 00:39:44.880 of me, because I wasn't expecting it. Just took the 589 00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:45.739 cells right out. 590 00:39:46.389 --> 00:39:50.789 A tip from a former family friend prompted investigators to 591 00:39:50.909 --> 00:39:55.150 ask the family for DNA samples in 2011. Their DNA 592 00:39:55.469 --> 00:40:01.340 matched the unidentified body of PJK's fifth victim. It was Ima. 593 00:40:02.360 --> 00:40:06.579 Some hikers found her, but they never connected anybody with anything. 594 00:40:07.769 --> 00:40:09.769 until they did that DNA. 595 00:40:09.869 --> 00:40:11.530 She disappeared in 1974. 596 00:40:11.530 --> 00:40:12.070 Uh-huh. 597 00:40:12.369 --> 00:40:14.909 And you didn't know Paul John Knowles was involved until 2011. 598 00:40:14.909 --> 00:40:17.849 That's right. All those years. 599 00:40:17.949 --> 00:40:18.130 No. 600 00:40:18.510 --> 00:40:19.590 He had said it on the tape. 601 00:40:20.090 --> 00:40:20.300 Mm-hmm. 602 00:40:20.590 --> 00:40:22.159 No one told you that he had said that on 603 00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:26.059 the tape. They didn't realize. That's because the Casanova killer 604 00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:30.500 got her name wrong. He called Ima Alma on the 605 00:40:30.539 --> 00:40:31.099 kill tape. 606 00:40:31.619 --> 00:40:35.570 The detectives said, I'm going to tell you that we 607 00:40:35.590 --> 00:40:39.469 found your sister and that she was deceased. I can 608 00:40:39.510 --> 00:40:42.699 tell you what happened, how we know how it happened, 609 00:40:42.739 --> 00:40:45.300 and who did it. They had a story from Knowles 610 00:40:45.539 --> 00:40:47.920 that he had confessed to doing it. They had it 611 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:50.159 on audio. He had said that he went back in 612 00:40:50.219 --> 00:40:53.780 the woods like 10 days later, and the wild animals 613 00:40:53.860 --> 00:40:57.960 had drug her body. And he took her jawbone and 614 00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:01.159 buried it somewhere else. And that jawbone was not in 615 00:41:01.219 --> 00:41:05.400 those bones. The jawbone was missing. At the time, it 616 00:41:05.940 --> 00:41:08.750 was like I was numb. I mean, it hurt. I 617 00:41:08.829 --> 00:41:13.989 cried because in my heart she was dead. But to 618 00:41:14.030 --> 00:41:19.460 hear it and really be confirmed, like, hit you really hard, 619 00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:20.539 you know. 620 00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:24.119 To me, I don't care if he rots in hell myself. 621 00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:26.880

For six months, he went up and down Georgia and Florida. 622 00:41:27.780 --> 00:41:30.239 And he was called a Casanova killer because he had 623 00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:33.289 a way to worm his way into someone's life and 624 00:41:33.329 --> 00:41:36.980 they wouldn't think anything about him. I took it a 625 00:41:37.019 --> 00:41:41.300 lot harder because when you sit around and think about things, 626 00:41:41.820 --> 00:41:43.840 then you think, well, if I hadn't have been working, 627 00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:45.659 maybe I would have been home and then maybe it 628 00:41:45.699 --> 00:41:48.530 wouldn't have happened. So you start to put the blame 629 00:41:48.590 --> 00:41:51.849 on yourself, which you don't really know if that would 630 00:41:51.869 --> 00:41:57.130 have done it or not. 631 00:41:57.130 --> 00:42:01.889 40 years, and finally, Imogene's family has answers. But if 632 00:42:01.949 --> 00:42:05.300 PJK killed as many people as he claimed... More than 633 00:42:05.340 --> 00:42:08.019 a dozen other families are still waiting. 634 00:42:08.420 --> 00:42:10.340 You just got to be strong and keep on going 635 00:42:10.380 --> 00:42:12.460 and you don't give up. What you do is you 636 00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:14.360 put it out in the papers every now and then. 637 00:42:14.679 --> 00:42:17.239 You print up posters and put them posters out there, 638 00:42:17.300 --> 00:42:19.639 even if it's been 10, 15 years ago. Because if 639 00:42:19.659 --> 00:42:23.320 you can get it out, maybe somebody might click to say, well, hey, yeah, 640 00:42:24.070 --> 00:42:27.110 I know about this. Sometimes you got to fresh people's memories. 641 00:42:32.269 --> 00:42:36.650 When you hear a The name Paul John Knowles. What 642 00:42:36.670 --> 00:42:37.369 goes through your mind? 643 00:42:40.329 --> 00:42:44.789 How many people have still not been identified as victims 644 00:42:44.869 --> 00:42:50.110 of Knowles? Serial killers, they. 645 00:42:51.610 --> 00:42:52.369 Kill a lot of people. 646 00:42:54.010 --> 00:42:57.010 You find some, some you don't. I heard the old saying, 647 00:42:57.110 --> 00:43:00.269 leopards don't change their spots, killers don't change their M.O.s. 648 00:43:02.789 --> 00:43:07.030 I'm really surprised that he, quote, has not gotten the 649 00:43:07.090 --> 00:43:13.860 notoriety that Ted Bundy got or Charles Manson got. He 650 00:43:13.900 --> 00:43:19.820 wanted notoriety, but he never got it. I'm almost certain 651 00:43:19.840 --> 00:43:22.679 there are other victims out there that are related to 652 00:43:23.260 --> 00:43:27.449 his activity. How many, I don't know. The people in 653 00:43:27.489 --> 00:43:30.869 Florida are working on a cool case that they're trying 654 00:43:30.929 --> 00:43:36.369 to linked to him, and I'm sure there are bodies 655 00:43:37.789 --> 00:43:44.440 in the woods somewhere that he left there. Again, he 656 00:43:44.500 --> 00:43:48.320 was just probably the most brutal person I ever dealt with. 657 00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:50.980 Just about everywhere he went, he left a body. 658 00:43:56.650 --> 00:44:00.269 Credit card receipts show Paul John Knowles crisscrossing the country 659 00:44:00.630 --> 00:44:04.179 over the course of five months. He made more than 660 00:44:04.179 --> 00:44:08.940 100 stops through at least 40 states. So what happened 661 00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:13.780 to the other victims? Maybe there are only 18, but 662 00:44:13.820 --> 00:44:18.480 there are also a lot of unsolved murders along that path. 663 00:44:19.579 --> 00:44:23.119 Law enforcement agencies in at least three states tell us 664 00:44:23.159 --> 00:44:27.920 they're now reexamining cases After we asked about potential connections 665 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:32.860 to Paul John Knowles, the so-called Casanova wasn't really a 666 00:44:32.900 --> 00:44:38.460 notorious lover. Instead, he was just a thief, a liar, 667 00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:43.170 and a cold-blooded killer. He may be long dead, but 668 00:44:43.210 --> 00:44:47.389 the investigation into his murderous spree now has new life. 669 00:44:48.190 --> 00:44:51.170 He was a con artist. He could con you out 670 00:44:51.210 --> 00:44:55.730 of your wallet, your watch, your car. He was a 671 00:44:55.750 --> 00:45:02.230 smooth talker. Some people identified him as a ladies man. 672 00:45:02.250 --> 00:45:07.219 He was brutal. 673 00:45:08.139 --> 00:45:08.800 He was mean. 674 00:45:09.099 --> 00:45:18.280 He was vicious. He's just thank God we don't have 675 00:45:18.300 --> 00:45:21.630 a whole lot of them around. There are serial killers 676 00:45:21.730 --> 00:45:25.840 out there but I don't know what makes a person 677 00:45:25.880 --> 00:45:26.639 do what he did. 678 00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:37.010 I had a dog. It was a nice dog. Sort 679 00:45:37.030 --> 00:45:38.690 of a muck, but it was a nice, pleasant dog. 680 00:45:39.530 --> 00:45:43.289 One day, the dog kills a duck, and then it 681 00:45:43.329 --> 00:45:46.690 kills a second duck. The ducks trusted the dogs. They 682 00:45:46.889 --> 00:45:48.670 weren't worried about them. They didn't run from them, and 683 00:45:48.710 --> 00:45:51.050 he started killing them. What he had become was a 684 00:45:51.070 --> 00:45:54.530 mad dog. And I think that's basically what Knowles became. 685 00:45:54.619 --> 00:45:57.329 He became a mad dog where he just killed people.