"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Lisa Rinna revealed that her mother was attacked by the notorious Trailside Killer, who struck fear in the San Francisco area after murdering several people on hiking trails in state parks in the 1970s and 80s, People reported.
Lisa shared her mother's harrowing story on a recent episode of the show.
Lois Rinna, 90, had previously worked with the serial killer, David Carpenter, who was eventually convicted on five counts of first degree murder, two rapes and one attempted rape, according to Jezebel.
For a brief period, Carpenter was suspected to be the Zodiac killer, but this was later disproved. Lois was just one of two who survived an attack by the Trailside Killer.
"He picked her up at the bus stop and then all of sudden he started to drive her down this really deserted road," Lisa revealed, according to People.
"He tried to rape her. He tried to kill her. Luckily, a military policeman had seen them drive down this deserted road and he knew no one was supposed to be down there and he followed them down. My mom was saved that day by that military policeman."
Lois recalled thinking that she was going to die.
"He’s straddling me. He had a hammer in one hand and a knife in another," she said. According to People, Lois sustained several blows to the head and was stabbed in the hand. Carpenter was later arrested for the attack and spent seven and a half years in jail before being released. He killed several other women before being arrested again. He is alive and on death row.
Lois only told her daughter of the attack much later.
"When I finally learned the truth, I had such great sadness and empathy for my mom, knowing that not only did this happen to her but that she basically just stuffed those feelings for how many years," Rinna said. "She never dealt with it, she never talked about it — she never even told her daughter about it."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.