Ex-wife of serial killer recalls red flag signs in their marriage that’s left her with ‘trust issues’

A woman who was once married to a serial killer has opened up about the red flags throughout their eight-year relationship.

Bonnie Lou Gower is the ex-wife of Richard Evonitz, the kidnapper and rapist who killed at least three teenage girls.

She married him when she was 17-years-old and got divorced when she was 25.

After marrying her second husband, the FBI informed her that Evonitz murdered at least three girls.

She claims she later learned that he murdered multiple people before and during their marriage.

The FBI said Evonitz murdered three girls in Virginia between 1996 and 1997: Sofia Silva, 16; Kristin Lisk, 15, and her sister Kati Lisk, 12.

In 2002, his would-be victim Kara Robinson Chamberlain, 15, escaped from his apartment and alerted police.

After a high-speed car chase three days later, he shot and killed himself.

Taking to TikTok, Gower has now spoken about what it was like living with Evonitz.

Red flag no.1

"He started telling me I was fat and that I needed to join Weight Watchers," she said.

"If I cheated on my diet, he would tell me you're going to wind up being fat like your mother.

"Up until this point, I felt pretty good about things overall, but as time was going on I was regretting my choice of getting married."

Red flag no.2

Gower said he didn't support her plans to get a college education.

"Eventually though, he relented and allowed me to go to cosmetology school," she added.

"Going to cosmetology school really opened up my world and allowed me to get out of the house and make new friends. He didn't really like that that much."

Red flag no.3

The serial killer also told her to not discuss their marriage with anyone else, as Gower explained: "Not having a lot of friends or anybody who I could talk to about my relationship, I really didn't know how different it was from the average marriage.

"I really didn't have anybody to bounce things off of and find out what was normal, which I think was probably exactly what he wanted.

"There were things like that, that eventually played into future things

"Looking back at that that seems kind of crazy."

Meanwhile, the killer's last-be victim Chamberlain recounted in a 4 June TikTok video: "My ability to escape was part of my trauma response.

"I was able to stay calm and collected and appease my captor so that I could make him feel safe enough to sleep. So when I escaped, it was when he was asleep the next morning.

"I had to actually use my teeth to kind of loosen the clip that connected the handcuffs to the bed and then slide out of the bed, get my things together. So I think the key for me was to stay calm, and that's not always an option for everyone."