The Casanova Killer – Life of Serial Killer John Paul Knowles –4.Star-Crossed Lovers

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Star-Crossed Lovers

During his nearly nine years in the Florida prison system, Knowles was a loner. Other inmates referred to him as a "rat," although there's no evidence that he was ever an informer. One prison official described him as "antisocial, profiting neither from experience nor punishment."[11] Records show that he scored 125 on an intelligence test, which was above average for the population at large and considered amazing for a prison inmate.

He may not have passed the time by making friends, but he did have other interests, one of which was astrology. He read his daily horoscope and let it affect his mood. A positive outlook left him giddy to the point of mania, while a negative or cautious prediction made him withdraw and keep to himself. This obsession with the mysterious soon extended to tarot cards, which he became quite adept at reading.

In late 1972 or early 1973, Knowles began exchanging letters with twenty-six-year-old Angela Covic, a San Francisco cocktail waitress whose name he had found in American Astrology magazine. Covic's mother was a renowned local psychic so she, like Knowles, loved the esoteric and found his handwriting especially alluring.

She responded to him enthusiastically, beginning each letter with "Hi, Mad Dog Knowles!" This delighted him. He called her "my Yiddisher angel" and decorated each letter with crayon drawings of astral symbols, flowers, and chubby devils with the initials "P.J." between their horns. The fact that he was a prison inmate didn't faze her. Her former husband was currently serving time in a California prison. Also, Knowles concealed his violent history, telling her that he had been busted for drug dealing.

When she traveled across the country to visit him at Raiford in September 1973, they hit it off so well that he proposed marriage. Mrs. Covic accepted, and even hired a Florida lawyer, Sheldon Yavitz, to secure his release on parole so he could join her in California.

Knowles now had an incentive to toe the line. He earned a high school diploma and began some college courses. When the Parole Commission agreed to hear his case, he vowed that if released, he planned to go to California, where Angela Covic and a sign-painting job awaited him. Knowles conceded that he had been angry and aimless before. Now he had a reason to abandon his old ways.

Chairman Ray Howard later recalled that they agreed to his parole for two reasons: he was due for release in a year anyway, and California officials had agreed to supervise him. There was likely a third reason. Knowles would be leaving his home town of Jacksonville where he kept falling off the straight and narrow. Another prison officer told the press, "He has too many friends and acquaintances in Jacksonville who kept on getting him into trouble."

Upon his release on May 14, 1974, Knowles flew to San Francisco. But when he turned up at Angela Covic's home, the reception was not quite what he had expected. She didn't say it right away, but she had changed her mind about marrying him. A psychic had warned her that a dangerous man was entering her life, and she was now afraid.

Knowles stayed for less than a week, sleeping at her mother's place each night. Finally Angela told him that she had changed her mind about getting married and decided to reconcile with her former husband.

Paul John Knowles was more than stung by the rejection. Angela's worship had raised him on a pedestal and had made him feel powerful. From her, he had gotten the sense of celebrity that he'd craved all his life. The crash landing left him disoriented and furious.

Knowles returned to Jacksonville in a state of extreme agitation. He got into a bar fight, pounded the bartender into a bleeding pulp, and found himself in jail. Rather than go back to Raiford prison for violating parole, Knowles picked a lock and escaped on July 26, 1974.

His killing spree began that night.