She was watering plants when a stranger approached her. Hours later, she escaped the impossible.

Kara Robinson Chamberlain was just 15 years old when her life changed forever.

In the early hours of June 24, 2002, Kara was watering plants in the front garden of a friend's house in South Carolina when a car pulled into the driveway.

Out hopped, Richard Evonitz. He seemed harmless — friendly, even — dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt and a baseball cap. When he spoke to Kara, she answered politely.

He offered her some pamphlets and asked if her parents were home.

"I said, 'Well, this isn't my house. This is my friend's house'," Chamberlain recalled to People in 2022. "And he said, 'Okay, well, what about her parents ... are her parents home?' And I said, 'No, her mum's not home right now'."

In a flash, everything changed.

Richard pulled a gun, pressed it to her neck and forced her into a large plastic storage bin in the backseat of his car. He gagged her, cuffed her wrists, and drove her to his apartment.

It marked the start of a terrifying 18-hour ordeal — one that would ultimately end in her survival, and the uncovering of a serial killer.

A young Kara Robinson Chamberlain. Image: Instagram/kararobinsonchamberlain.

Despite the unimaginable trauma she endured, Kara stayed calm. She was already planning her escape.

She repeated three things over and over in her head: "Gather information, wait for him to be complacent, escape."

And that's exactly what she did.

She counted the turns he made as he drove. Noted the names of his doctor and dentist on documents in his kitchen. Memorised what music he played, what his pets looked like, how many magnets were on the fridge.

Everything could be a clue.

When he offered her food, Kara disarmed him by suggesting she clean his apartment instead. It gave her freedom to move — and more chances to gather information, as she waited for her to let his guard down.

"Fear barely even kicked in ... the human will to survive and the survival mechanism really just can't be underestimated," she told People in 2022.

Kara managed to escape her abductor and help police track him down. Image: Instagram/kararobinsonchamberlain.

Her chance finally came in the hours of dawn. While Richard slept, Kara wriggled out of her restraints. She tiptoed to the front door. Then she ran — terrified and determined.

She made it to a car parked nearby and begged the people inside to take her to police. There, she told officers everything.

Thanks to the details Kara remembered, police quickly found his apartment. With help from the building's maintenance man, they gained access to his home — and what they discovered inside changed everything.

There were newspaper clippings about three unsolved murder cases: Sofia Silva, and sisters Kati and Kristin Lisk, who had all vanished more than five years earlier.

"At that point, bells really went off in our heads that we just didn't have a kidnapping of Kara Robinson," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told People.

"This was something else. This was actually a serial killer."

By then, Richard was on the run. He was later found during a high-speed police chase. It ended when his car hit spike strips, and a police dog dragged attacked. Richard then shot himself.

Kara's life now.

Kara went on to become a school resource officer and an investigator on child abuse and sexual assault cases, as well as a victim's advocate.

She later left her job in law enforcement after the birth of her two sons with husband Joe Chamberlain.

She's since worked alongside fellow kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart to make the 2021 documentary Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story for Oxygen.

In 2023, she also executive produced The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story, a thriller based on her experience.

Today, Kara continues to share her story, using social media to support and uplift other survivors.

This week marked the 23rd anniversary of her kidnapping — something Kara said she didn't even realise until she opened her phone.

"I think it should give people hope that it is not gonnna consume all your thoughts, all your life, everything for the rest of your life," she said in a TikTok.

"You are going to get through this difficult thing that you're going through right now, I promise."

Kara uses her social media to help others. Image: Instagram/kararobinsonchamberlain

Redefining what it means to 'run like a girl'.

Earlier this year, Kara's story became part of a viral TikTok trend that reclaimed a tired insult and transformed it into something powerful.

The "run like a girl" trend began with clips from The Girl Who Escaped, showing actress Katie Douglas portraying Kara fleeing her captor — literally running for her life. It spread to include scenes from other true stories of survival: 3096 Days, based on Natascha Kampusch's abduction; Woman of the Hour, about a contestant who escaped serial killer Rodney Alcala; and other real-life accounts.

All set to Paris Paloma's haunting song Labour, the trend turned the phrase "run like a girl", once used to belittle, into a celebration of strength, courage, and survival.

Watch the "run like a girl" TikTok trend. Post continues below.

And it wasn't just fiction. Real women began posting their own stories. Stories of how like a girl, in moments of terror, saved their lives.

Because to run like a girl is to survive.

No one knows that more so than Kara.

She responded to the trend on TikTok with a message that was clear, compassionate and deeply personal.

"If you didn't or couldn't run, that doesn't mean you're not strong enough. If you ran, you made it. You can stop running," she said on TikTok.

"You are not alone."

@kararobinsonchamberlain

My love letter to the runners 🤍 . . Run like a girl trend #mystory #thegirlwhoescaped #runlikeagirl

♬ LABOUR - the cacophony - Paris Paloma

Kara urged survivors to hold onto hope.

"You won't always feel traumatised. You will find people that make you feel safe again. You are not defined by what happened," she said.

"What happened wasn't your fault, but the healing is your responsibility. You CAN heal. Time doesn't heal all wounds, but you can.

"Life will be beautiful again."

Kara Robinson Chamerblain wants others to know they're not alone. Instagram/kararobinsonchamberlain.

It's powerful to see women relcaim the phrase "run like a girl" — to own it with pride and strenght. But there's a darker truth underneath this trend.

The sheer number of women who relate to these stories — who've run from danger, from dark streets, from relentless men — speaks volumes.

We shouldn't all have such similar stories to tell.

Yes, women are strong enough to run for their lives. We just shouldn't have to.

Feature image: Instagram/kararobinsonchamberlain.