Tied Up and Held Captive by a Serial Killer on the Run, A Fla. Woman's Mom Came to Her in Dream (Exclusive)
Barbara Mabee Abel, who survived the so-called "Casanova Killer," is featured on the upcoming 'People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer'
Warner Bros. Discovery
Barbara Mabee AbelAfter being kidnapped and tied down by a serial killer, in a moment of pure terror and exhaustion, Beverly Mabee Abel drifted off to sleep — and dreamt that her late mother came to her.
“She came to me and she was like an angel,” Abel recalls. “She was like, ‘You’re going to be OK. You’re going to be OK, God’s with you.’”
Abel had just been tied to a bedpost by Paul John Knowles, a wanted serial killer who had abducted her from her home in Florida and taken her to a motel. Abel, who survived her encounter with a man later dubbed the Casanova Killer, is the focus of the upcoming episode of People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer, which airs on Sunday, May 19 at 9/8c on ID and streams on Max.
In November 1974, Abel was a single mother who worked at a radio station in West Palm Beach to support her 6-year-old boy, Dale. The two lived with Abel's twin sister, Beverly, who had cerebral palsy.
Abel’s life was turned upside down when Knowles, who, unbeknownst to her at the time, had already killed over a dozen people, broke into her house and sexually assaulted Beverly, who died in 2019. When Abel and Dale returned home, they were met by Knowles, armed with a sawed-off shotgun.
Billy Downs/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP
Paul John KnowlesKnowles said he wanted money and that he needed to take Dale with him. Risking her life to save her sister and her 6-year-old son, Abel told the dangerous killer to take her instead.
In a clip from the new episode shared exclusively with PEOPLE, Abel recounts her harrowing experience with Knowles at a motel in Fort Pierce, Fla.
“I was terrified,” Abel says. “I was praying to the dear Lord that I would get out of this. I said, ‘Let me get home to Beverly and Dale.’”
Exhausted from the ordeal, Abel says she started to fall asleep after she was tied up by Knowles. That’s when her beloved late mother, Matilda, appeared in a dream and provided a moment of comfort.
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After she awoke from the dream, Abel finally discovered who had taken her captive. Knowles turned the TV on and saw their faces flash on the screen. He was a wanted man.
People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer airs Sunday, May 19 at 9/8c on ID and streaming on Max.
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Read the original article on People.
