Paul Mack murderer and r*pist was caught after his fiancée recognized him on TV, leading to his arrest and conviction.
‘Evil Lives Here,’ he Looks Like the Killer on TV, a show on Investigation Discovery, narrates the story of Paul Steven Mack, an American killer and rapist.
In February 1987, Mack was found guilty of one r*pe and murder in Sacramento County, California, and was the prime suspect in another r*pe and murder in Crawford County, Ohio, in June 1981.
Mack’s first victim was Annette Ramelle Huddle, a 19-year-old woman who had been employed as a secretary at the Marion County Country Club in July 1981.
She was last seen on July 8, 1981, and her body was found the next day in Clairdon Township near the Roberts Road bridge by a family canoeing on the Olentangy River.
The sheriff estimated the corpse was in the water for around 24 hours, and she was identified with the help of dental records since the body was unrecognizable.
Hamilton County’s Forensic Science Center found Annette had been r*ped and strangled to death.
Paul Mack became a suspect after Annette’s sister Anita told the police how her sister had previously complained about him harassing her.
Karen Grace Winslett was Mack’s second victim. She was a 21-year-old waitress at the Peppermill Restaurant and part-time model living with her 27-year-old boyfriend, David Samas, in their Citrus Heights apartment in Sacramento County in February 1987.
After leaving a note for David, Karen departed for a Budweiser calendar shoot, and her boyfriend found out later that Winslett had gone to an address on Regard Way in the Antelope area.
He arrived at the address and met Paul’s erstwhile fiancée, who told him she knew nothing about Karen. Paul, who was also present, said the same. Karen’s boyfriend reported her missing in the evening hours of February 19, and her car was found behind a Super 8 motel at Hillsdale Boulevard and Madison Avenue on March 3, 1987.
The officers discovered her clothed body in a state of “moderately advanced” decomposition, hidden underneath a purse, a pile of clothing, and the carpeting covering.
According to the autopsy report, she had been sedated with Percodan and r*ped. Eventually, the official cause of death was determined to be an overdose of the sedative.
Paul became a prime suspect in Karen’s murder after a pharmacy clerk recognized his name when going through the news reports. The woman came forward and supplied the authorities with a copy of his Percodan prescription from the files in the drug store.
On March 11, the investigators interviewed Paul’s dentist, who had written the medication, and he admitted he had been prescribed the drug because of his alleged dental pain.
Hence, the detectives executed a search warrant and obtained fiber samples from Paul’s bedspread and bedroom carpeting while searching his house.
When the forensic team matched these fibers with some found on Karen’s clothes and undergarments, the detectives had enough evidence to charge Paul with first-degree murder.
They arranged through his then-attorney for his client to surrender to their custody in early April 1987.
Instead, Paul fled to Utah, where he met Margie Danielsen (now Margie Bult), a 37-year-old single mother, at a country western-themed bar in Salt Lake City.
Paul used the false name Sean Paul Lanier and deceived Margie into believing he was a chef. He persuaded her to marry him within a year of meeting at a bar.
Sean had told Margie that his daughter had died in a terrible accident, which was a significant reason behind her decision to give him another chance, even after he had allegedly broken into her home while they were dating.
During a TV show, Margie noticed that Sean’s daughter’s death certificate had incorrect information, such as misspelled words and a lack of a state seal.
On March 20, 1988, Margie’s friend informed her that she had seen a man who looked like Sean on “America’s Most Wanted.”
The show reported that Paul Steven Mack, who bore a striking resemblance to Sean, was wanted for two murders in California and Ohio.
After watching the show, Margie decided to investigate further and collected evidence, such as his two social security cards and a glass containing his fingerprints, before going to the police.
Paul was arrested by Salt Lake City and taken to Sacramento, where he was charged with the first-degree murder of Karen in March 1998.
However, the authorities could not find enough evidence to link him to Annette’s murder, although he remained the primary suspect.
In 1991, Paul was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted.
He was transported to the California Health Care Facility in Stockton in 2017, where he died of natural causes a year later.
After Paul’s death, his attorney contacted the authorities to inform them that his client had confessed to Annette’s murder.
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