'When you think of Paul John Knowles, I just think of pure evil': Mass murderer left gruesome legacy in Central Georgia

Some people achieve fame and fortune by acting in movies or recording music. That's what Paul John Knowles wanted, but 46 years ago, he became infamous for a much more gruesome legacy.

Connecticut. Texas. Nevada. Florida. Georgia. These five states are where investigators confirm that Paul John Knowles shot, strangled, and stabbed at least 14 women and 4 men in 1974. 

A 28-year-old man from Orlando, Florida described as smart and charming, Knowles traveled across the United States, stealing cars and credit cards. 

Knowles always circled back to Macon where there was at least one woman he had no intention of killing, his girlfriend, Jackie Knight.

"It was an embarrassment to me and my family that I could've been so naïve to have gotten involved in someone like this," Knight told 13WMAZ in a previous interview. 

Knight and her children were spared, but other Central Georgians weren't as lucky.

Retired Milledgeville Police Officer James Josey remembers a bloody scene on the north side of town where Knowles stabbed a man and strangled his 15-year-old daughter inside their home.

"Carswell Carr was stabbed, I would say, probably 25 times," says Josey. "There's no telling how many people he really killed." 

About 70 miles away from Milledgeville, Knowles struck again. 

Andy Hill's father was the sheriff of Pulaski County in 1974. That's where Knowles handcuffed a Florida state trooper and Delaware businessman to a tree and shot them. 

"He always described it as the worst thing he'd ever been a part of or had to be a part of," says Hill. 

Shortly after those shootings, Knowles ran into a traffic stop in Henry County, wrecked his car, and ran into some woods. A civilian held him at gunpoint until law enforcement took Knowles into custody and brought him to the federal courthouse in Macon. 

It was there that a federal judge learned that Knowles had recorded audio tapes describing who, how, and where he had killed over a dozen victims.

"He wanted a book written, he wanted a movie done, and the proceeds to be split with his mother," says Josey. 

But those tapes were never played in court or made into a movie, because a GBI agent shot Knowles just weeks after his capture when Knowles tried grabbing an officer's gun. 

13WMAZ reporter Randall Savage was working for the Macon Telegraph when Knowles was shot.

"His lawyers and several people always said they don't believe that's what happened. They think that they took him out and executed him," says Savage.

Either way, that was the end of Paul John Knowles. 

Now, nearly 20 cases have been closed, but some investigators think that many more could still be unsolved.

"I would say there are a number of victims out there that we don't know who they are or where they are. Knowles was a troubled individual," says Josey.