USA Update

IF you’re still in the market for a Christmas tree, look no further because Dollar Tree has got you covered.

Shoppers can now pick an artificial tree for the price of a cup of coffee.

Dollar Tree

Dollar Tree shoppers heaped on the praise for a budget-friendly artificial Christmas tree[/caption]

Getty

So if you’re still on the hunt for the perfect tree but don’t want to break the budget, it may be time to pay a visit to your local Dollar Tree.

The Un-Lit PVC Christmas Tree is currently available for just $5 from the chain store.

And it comes in two different colors so you can pick whichever matches your home best.

Shoppers have the choice between a traditional green or a bright white look.

The artificial tree measures four feet and has a 23-inch diameter, making it ideal for smaller spaces.

“Transform your home into a winter wonderland with this Un-Lit Artificial Christmas Tree,” manufacturers said.

IN THE COMMENTS

The budget-friendly Christmas tree has received an average rating of 4.7 stars out of five from customers.

They shared their thoughts on the item in the comments section of the site.

“I got two of each color, I really wish I would have gotten more,” wrote one shopper.

“Next year I’m getting an entire case.”

“Awesome if you want a tree in your room, if you want a small tree or are on a short budget [it’s] perfect,” said another customer.

They summed up the budget buy as the “best fake tree in the world.”

“I bought this Christmas tree to prepare my room for the Christmas season and beat my family’s best-decorated room for under $35,” commented a third person.

“It added so much coziness and Christmas joy to my room.

“I would DEFINITELY recommend this tree, it is very full and mind-blowing to be sold for only $5!

“My family did not believe me when I told them it was only $5; they even got themselves one!

“My favorite is the white tree; it looks great with gold ornaments.”

“These Christmas trees are AMAZING for just $5,” agreed another Dollar Tree fan.

“We plan on buying them for all of our preschoolers for our Christmas event.”

“They look so nice!! And for $5??? You can’t beat that!” said one buyer.

GAGGED, handcuffed and her legs bound with rope, tears sprang to 15-year-old Kara Robinson’s eyes as she desperately scoured her captor’s flat trying to figure out an escape plan. 

The school girl had endured unimaginable suffering – forced into a car at gunpoint, then sexually assaulted and tortured for 18 hours by evil rapist and kidnapper Richard Evonitz, 38.

Collect

Kara was just 15 when she was abducted and repeatedly sexually assaulted by serial killer Richard Evonitz[/caption]

If that wasn’t bad enough, she would have been even more petrified if she’d known Evonitz was already a serial killer – responsible for the rape and murder of at least three other young innocent girls previously.

The odds were undoubtedly stacked against her.

However abducting brave Kara, now 38, would prove to be Evonitz’s downfall, as she would miraculously escape and consequently bring an end to the monster’s reign of terror. 

And how she did it was also remarkable.

Putting aside her terror and panic, Kara memorised even the tiniest details to help identify her attacker, even remembering the serial number on the inside of the plastic container he had forced her into. 

FBI

Kidnapping Kara would, thankfully, be the biggest mistake the twisted killer ever made – and it ended his reign of terror[/caption]

‘I just knew something bad had happened’ 

For Kara it was a chance encounter on June 24 2002 that changed her life as she knew it.

She’d spent the night at her best friend Heather’s house, and they had plans to go to the lake that day after completing some chores.

Kara started to water the garden while Heather took a shower. 

However when going out into the garden Heather discovered the hosepipe was still running – but there was no sign of Kara. 

Speaking on Hayu documentary, Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story, Kara’s mum Debra says: “I was at lunch and I got a call from Heather and she told me Kara was missing. She said she was in the front yard and [then was] gone.

“Heather was completely hysterical. She knew Kara would not just walk away.

“When I was driving to Heather’s house I just really knew something bad had happened. I could feel it in my heart.” 

Recalling the events of that morning, Kara says: “I was outside watering the flowers and I noticed a car on the way out of the neighbourhood. 

“It was a green trans am – such a cool car. I kept watering the flowers and I saw the car come back into the neighbourhood.

“A guy gets out of the car. He said ‘hey, how are you doing? I have these magazines’ and then he asked if my parents were home. 

“I told him this was my friend’s house… and said her mum’s not home right now. 

“At that point the man asked if he could give me the magazines. 

“When I said yes he leaned in to give them to me and as he was leaning in I felt a red flag somewhere in my head. 

“At the same time… I felt a gun press to the side of my neck. 

“He said ‘if you scream I’ll shoot you. You’re going to come with me’. I think I felt a moment of terror but I knew I just needed to do what he told me to do.

“I looked in the back seat and there’s a giant plastic storage container. He said ‘get in the container’. 

“At that point my brain shut off my emotions. I just went into survival mode.”

Heather called her mother, who reported Kara, who lived in Lexington County, South Carolina, missing to the local police. 

instagram/@kararobinsonchamberlain/

‘I knew I had to be my own victor’ 

Once in the car, Kara was trapped inside the storage container, unable to see where she was being taken – but she knew her life was in danger.

Kara says: “I thought he was going to assault me and that my life could possibly be at risk if I did not take action. 

“I knew I had to be my own victor and that I had to save myself. 

“I had to get as much information about this person and my surroundings as I can so that I can escape and so that I can identify this person when I do. 

“One of the first things I locked into my brain was a serial number on the container itself. 

“We drove for a little while [then] he took the lid off the container and he told me that he was going to restrain me and he put a gag in my mouth… handcuffs around my wrists and rope on my feet.”

‘I had to call him daddy’ 

Once they arrived at Evonitz’s flat, he snuck Kara in under the cover of darkness. 

Kara recalls: “He opened the container and told me if I promised not to scream or yell he would take the gag out of my mouth. 

“I looked around and noticed we were in a living room. 

“There was a wall with some small animal cages, fish, lizards. There was a guinea pig, there was at least one bird. 

‘He told me to come with him and we went through a door. Inside the bedroom there was a big blanket hanging above the bed with a wolf on it. 

While I was being assaulted it felt like something that happened to someone else. I shut off my brain and left my body. 

Kara Robinson

“He told me he was going to tell me what the rules were going to be while I was there. 

“The first rule was that he would always have a gun nearby and I had to listen to what he said or there would be consequences. 

“He also told me while I was there I was going to have to call him daddy. 

“He started asking me questions… When he asked me about my boyfriend and about my family and my friends… I kinda broke down a little bit into tears. 

“It was very real for me in that moment I may never get to see them again.”

‘I shut off my brain & left my body’

Over the course of 18 hours, Kara was held captive and repeatedly sexually assaulted at the hands of her captor. 

She says: “When I started crying my abductor told me to lay down in the bed and I could just feel panic in my whole body. 

“I knew what was coming next. I knew what this man’s intentions were for me. 

“While I was being assaulted it felt like something that happened to someone else. I shut off my brain and left my body. 

“After that we went into the bathroom and he made me take a shower. 

“That’s when I noticed some hairspray, I noticed feminine hygiene products. I noticed a hairbrush with long red hair in it. I just remember thinking there was a woman that lived here.”

She was right – however at that time his wife was on holiday at Disneyland with his mother – and had no idea the man she married was a monster. 

Kara knew she had to play a strategic game if she was to get out of this alive, saying: “I knew that if I was easy to get along with he would be more likely to let his guard down at some point.

“When it was time for dinner… I said ‘is there anything I can do while you’re making your food?’ and I swept his kitchen. 

“I used that as an opportunity to get close to his refrigerator where there were magnets that had his dentist information. 

“Gather information, wait for him to be complacent, escape. I said it over and over again.”

facebook.com/OnTheCase

Evonitz abducted Sofia Silva, 16, from the porch of her home[/caption]

Assaulted & forced to watch explicit sexual content

Later that night he took Kara into the bedroom, and made her get back into the container while he made a call.

She says: “When I got out the container he told me he was going to give me a pill for my anxiety.

“I was assaulted multiple times but there were a lot of things that happened during that time.

“He made me sit down in front of the TV and watch a tape [with explicit sexual content] and describe what was happening. 

“I was 15 years old. I was seeing things I didn’t really know how to describe. There were things he asked me to do I didn’t know how to do. 

“The things that were happening to me were any person’s worst nightmare.”

A daring escape… & horrifying discovery

Early the next morning, Kara was finally gifted her chance, and was able to free herself from the restraints used to tie her to the bed. 

She says: “I opened my eyes and the first thing I noticed was there was just a sliver of early morning light. I just instantly was hit with this thought – this is it, this is your time, lets go.’

“My biggest fear was I was going to wake up my captor. 

“I slowly just slid out of the bed to the side. I put my shorts on, and went to the front door. My heart was beating so fast. I put my hand on the knob and I [knew] this is my moment to escape. 

“I just ran. I saw a car driving across the parking lot and I just ran straight for the car. There were two men… I said I was kidnapped by the man in that apartment [and] I said take me to the police station.”

Arriving at the police station, Kara says: “I held my arm up to show him my handcuffs and I said ‘my name is Kara Robinson, I was kidnapped and I escaped my captor.” 

The police took Kara back to the apartment complex, and based on all the information she had gathered, the block’s maintenance manager was able to help identify which flat she’d escaped from. 

However, by the time authorities arrived, Evonitz had fled to Florida, calling his sister and confessing to killing someone and committing “more crimes than he can remember.”

I was really, really angry. I just wanted him to sit in a court room across from me and look in my eyes and know that picking me was the greatest mistake he ever made.

Kara Robinson

Inside his apartment, police found sex toys, a revolver and a locked chest containing underwear and newspaper clippings about the unsolved murders of three girls.

Sofia Silva, who disappeared from her front porch in September 1996 aged 16, and sisters Kati, 12, and Kristin Lisk, 15, who were abducted from their home.

Sofia’s remains were found a month later in a creek, while sisters Kati and Kristin’s bodies were found in a nearby river.

They’d been raped then murdered, each missing their shoes and underwear and neither case was solved – until Kara’s abduction. 

‘Greatest mistake he ever made’

Forensic evidence found at the crime scenes matched evidence found inside Evonitz’s home, and two of Kristin’s fingerprints were also discovered inside the trunk of Evonitz’s car.

Police tracked Evonitz  and after a high-speed chase Evonitz then shot himself, dying immediately on June 27 2002.

Upon hearing about his death, Kara says: “I was really, really angry. I just wanted him to sit in a court room across from me and look in my eyes and know that picking me was the greatest mistake he ever made.”

Finally, in August 2002, Spotsylvania County Sheriff Ronald Knight announced that Evonitz was responsible for the other murders. 

One officer recalls: “We recovered homemade tapes where he filmed himself masturbating and fantasising at the same time talking about the crimes he committed.”

For her help in solving Silva and the Lisk sisters’ murders, Kara received $150,000 in reward money, and met the families of the victims.

“It was one of the most important things that’s ever happened to me,” she previously told People magazine.

“Because it brought home the importance of what I did. Because I felt like, ‘Wow, I’m actually giving these families something that they never would’ve gotten without me.’

“Just the closure of knowing that the person responsible for their daughters’ [deaths] is no longer here.”

TikTok/@kararobinsonchamberlai

The case attracted huge media attention at the time, as Kara survived against all odds[/caption]

THE mass killing of hundreds of brown bears is taking place in Europe following two dozen brutal deaths – including the mauling of a teen.

Romania has become known as the bear attack capital after a horror spate of fatal and severe interactions with humans over the last 20 years.

Reuters

Many of the brown bears have been nicknamed ‘trash-bin bears’[/caption]

South West News Service

German Andi Bauer, 26, needed emergency surgery after a brown bear ripped his right leg open while he was trekking in Romania[/caption]

Jam Press

A Brit tourist was left hospitalised after a bear attacked her in her car[/caption]

The Eastern European nation makes up a staggering 45 per cent of all attacks on the continent with 26 people killed and another 275 injured, according to Nature.com.

Many of these attacks involve farmers, shepherds or cattle hearders as the brown beasts continue to be pushed closer to civilisation in a desperate hunt for food.

One of the country’s worst ever attacks came in July.

Diana Cazacu, 19, was savagely mauled to death by a young, female bar in Bucharest’s Bucegi mountains.

Her body was discovered by rescue teams at the bottom of a ravine – as the bear stood over her lifeless corpse.

Officials believe Diana tried to run away from the wild animal while hiking but was ruthlessly grabbed, scratched, bitten and then thrown down the mountain.

The bear went on to lunge at the large group of rescuers before one of them shot the beast dead.

The murderous attack prompted the government to rule that up to 481 bears could now be culled across the next 18 months by hunters.

It overturned a law from 2016 that banned bear hunting for good.

Speaking on the controversial change, PETA’s Vice President of Programmes, Elisa Allen, said killing a wild animal for simply existing can’t be justified.

She told The Sun: “There are always humane methods for addressing perceived wildlife issues that should be used instead of violently gunning down animals.

“Ecological harmony will never be found down the barrel of a gun.

“If the killing goes ahead, many bears will likely be shot several times before they die, and some may escape from hunters only to bleed slowly to death.

“And when mother bears are killed, their orphaned cubs are left behind to starve.”

The problem bears have even been given the nickname “trash-bin bears” as they are often seen stalking leftover food left outside people’s homes.

This hunt for dinner can lead to brave yet unfortunate people trying to scare them away – often leading to dangerous consequences.

Other victims often attempt to interact with the ferocious wild animals and falling to a similar grisly fate.

A Brit pensioner was savagely mauled by a bear after she stopped to take photos of a playful pair from her car, earlier this year.

The 72-year-old was driving near Romania’s Carpathian Mountains when she spotted the beasts at the side of the road.

Central European News

The terrifying moment a woman dices with death as she foolishly tries to pose for a photo with a giant bear in Bacău[/caption]

AFP

Cristina Lapis spoke to The Sun about Romania’s bear issues and the plan to kill hundreds off[/caption]

Jam Press

A 72-year-old Brit tourist took a picture of a bear before being attacked in her car in Romania[/caption]

The Scottish holidaymaker lowered her window to take a snap but one of the animals suddenly got onto its hind legs and put its paws into the car.

It then bit down on the unsuspecting woman’s arm – prompting her partner to quickly put their foot on the gas to escape.

The woman was rushed to a hospital in the back of an ambulance.

In 2016, a US tourist was left hospitalised after a brown bear lunged at him in the city of Brasov.

The 20-year-old was pounced on by a 100kg brute and left with a deep wound on his left arm.

Several other tourists have also been viciously attacked by Romanian bears in the last few years.

Andi Bauer, 26, and Brit Lara Booth, 23, were hiking through the mountains when a 6ft female bear savaged Andi’s leg.

He was airlifted to hospital and had emergency surgery after his leg had shattered in three places.

Romania currently has over 8,000 brown bears roaming around the dense forests, according to the environment ministry.

But many officials fear that this number is set to rise drastically in the coming years prompting concern over if the attack rate may also rise.

In 2023, 7,500 emergency calls about bear sightings were recorded – double the number of the last year, according to the Romanian authorities.

Many of these are believed to have been “trash-bin” bears who were swiftly rounded up by cops and either sent to a nearby sanctuary or fatally dealt with.

Christina Lapis runs a bear sanctuary in Romania where she looks after 130 bears from across the globe from Armenia, Ukraine and even a pair from the US.

But the majority come from on her doorstep in the Romanian woodlands.

She has been one of the biggest opposing voices to lifting the legislation to allow people to hunt for bears again.

Christina has even taken in 25 brown bears who were due to be shot in order to give them a better life.

The animal lover said she had no choice but to accept the new bears as it was either let them be gunned down or rescue them.

She told The Sun it felt like blackmail: “I accepted to take them because it was a blackmail of the government.

“You take them or we kill them. So, it was better for them to come to the sanctuary.”

“We cannot blame the bears. We as human beings are responsible for the animals.”

She says officials need to focus on creating a long-term solution as simply killing 500 bears will not create peace.

Directing her frustration at the Romanian government she said: “They need to solve it. They’ve never counted a bear but they say there are too many. They don’t even know how many there are.

“They didn’t propose any electric fences, changing the situation of the garbage or try educating the people.

“There are many things to do before beginning to kill them and we must find the best solution to avoid this massacre.”

PETA has also urged Romanian authorities to look into non-lethal methods of solving the bear and human crisis in the country.

They recommended installing secure, safe fences to gate off areas commonly used by brown bears and making it clear that humans shouldn’t go beyond the fences.

AFP

A keeper throwing food to bears in Bucharest, Romania[/caption]

Jack Hill/The Times

A lone bear roaming around a residential block in Romania[/caption]

SWNS:South West News Service

Andi Beauer and Lara Booth were hiking in the Romanian mountains when Andi was attacked by a bear[/caption]

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