The Casanova Killer

Many described Paul John Knowles as a charismatic individual. Many said he was a cross between Robert Redford and Ryan O'Neal. But, in reality, he was a cold-blooded killer who had no true pattern and no regard for anyone but himself. He traveled the country for decades, building up a rather large portfolio of criminal charges ranging from kidnapping to theft. It wasn't until 1974 that he added murder to his list.

Before the Murders

Starting at age 8, Paul John Knowles was set on a life of crime, at this time it was only petty thefts. And by age 19, he would be arrested for kidnapping a police officer. And soon after he was released, he developed a pattern that he would follow for eight years consisting of short stints in jail followed by releases then more petty crimes to land him back in jail.

In early 1974 Paul was serving a prison sentence in the Raiford Prison in Florida, which is now known as the Florida State Prison. While he was incarcerated, he developed a relationship with a California woman named Angela Covic.

Angela was recently divorced and working as a cocktail waitress in San Francisco, so she was delighted to have Paul as a pen pal and she fell in love with him after exchanging a few letters. She ended up hiring him a lawyer and managed to get him on parole, she then arranged for him to fly out to San Francisco to marry her. But, once she met Paul face to face, she called off the wedding. According to Angela, he projected an aura of fear that scared her. In addition to this feeling, she recently visited her psychic that warned her about a dangerous new man in her life. This combined with the aura was enough for her to send Paul on his way.

That night after his engagement was cut short, Paul murdered three strangers on the streets of San Francisco and the following day he was back in Jacksonville, Florida where he ended up pulling a knife on a bartender during a bar fight, this would end him back in jail for a short time. On July 26th, 1974, he picked the lock to his cell and escaped.

The Casanova Murders

Alice Curtis, 65-years-old, was Paul's first victim. She was a retired schoolteacher from Jacksonville who happened to be home alone the night that Paul escaped from jail.

At first, Paul was attempting to burgle her home, he broke into her home, bound and gagged the woman to keep her quiet during his robbery. Her cause of death was later determined to be her choking on her own dentures, and it is unclear that if her death occurred while Paul was in the home or not. But, there is no denying that he was to blame for her death.

Paul fled the home in Alice's car, and a few hours later he drove up the street looking for somewhere to abandon the stolen car, that was when he came across two young girls, Lillian and Mylette Anderson. He quickly recognized the two girls as family acquaintances, this was when he realized that they could recognize him as well. He kidnapped 11-year-old Lillian and her 7-year-old sister, Myllette. He strangled the pair and then dumped their bodies into a swamp.

For the next two months Paul would travel from Florida to Connecticut, leaving a trail of bodies behind. Later his murders would be dubbed the "Casanova Murders" due to his good looks. The police were largely in the dark about Paul's part in the murders until he was arrested. For most of his spree, the police were left baffled by the murders, they had no rhyme or reason behind them. There was no pattern between any of the cases or any of the victims for that matter.

Out of the 20 people who were found dead, 14 were women, 6 were men, 3 were children, and 3 were elderly. Some of the victims were shot, others were strangled, and some were burgled and others seemed to have been killed as an afterthought as they were murdered while camping or walking up the street. Some of the victims that were found had been sexually assaulted after the murder and others had been raped while still alive; this threw police further off the trail of Paul John Knowles.

He killed in over six different states, making it pretty much impossible for police to create a perimeter. Police had no idea if they were searching for a rapist, a murderer, an armed gunman, an opportunist, or worse, all of the above.

The only real lead that police were able to go off of was from a reporter, Sandy Fawkes. About two weeks before Paul was arrested, he attempted to pick up Sandy in a hotel bar. For three days, Sandy Fawkes was traveling with Paul, she was booze-filled and blissfully unaware that she was sitting beside a man who was the center of a multi-state manhunt.

Sandy described Paul as a "dreamboat." She was the first to describe him as Redford-like in appearance; years later after realizing how close she was to becoming one of his many victims. She never realized how close she truly was. Not once during their three-day bender did Paul show any signs of wanting to hurt her, she had claimed, and after the two parted ways, she thought she would remember their time together fondly.

His Arrest

On November 17th, a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper, Charles Eugene Campbell, recognized a car that matched the description of one that was stolen from the most recent murder victim. He proceeded to pull over the car, not knowing that he had just cornered the skilled mass murderer.

Paul, however, was ready. As the trooper leaned over to get a look into the car, Paul managed to wrestle the gun away from the man. He then took Charles hostage, taking off in the patrol car, when he then pulled over another car. He then took the driver hostage as well. He put the two in the less conspicuous vehicle and drove them to a remote area. He led the two men into the woods, tied them to a tree and shot them.

As he attempted to escape the scene, he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree. He took off on foot and was pursued by dogs, officers, and helicopters. He managed to make it out of the perimeter established for the manhunt. However, thanks to a local man armed with his shotgun, Paul was able to be apprehended. Once he was officially arrested, he confessed to 35 murders, on top of the 20 that police were already aware of.

Over the next month, police tried to take Paul on a tour of his crime scenes, to gain some insight into the crimes and help find the missing bodies. On December 18th, a month after his arrest, Sheriff Earl Lee and Agent Ronnie Angel were transporting Paul to Henry County, where Charles's Campbell's handgun was allegedly dumped. While on their way, Paul jumped the Sheriff in the car, attempting to steal his handgun. The gun ended up going off through the holster in the car, and as the pair struggled, Agent Ronnie fired three shots at Paul, killing him instantly.