Lisa Rinna details late mom's violent run-in with man who went on to become notorious Trailside Killer

Lisa Rinna is sharing new revelations about a shocking brush with evil her late mother Lois DeAndrade experienced, involving serial killer David Carpenter.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 62 - speaking with IMPACT x Nightline in Terror on the Trails, a special set to debut Thursday - shared new details about her late mom's run-in with the mass murderer dubbed the Trailside Killer.

Lois - who died at 93 in November of 2021 - had encountered Carpenter in 1960, which led to his arrest and a seven-year imprisonment that preceded a gruesome killing spree. 

Carpenter was later convicted in 1984 of seven murders and confirmed to be the killer in an eighth murder, in addition to being suspected in two additional killings. He remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison at the age of 95. 

The reality star/actress in Terror on the Trails praised the strength she saw in her late mother, as she 'was positive,' 'never played a victim,' and 'never felt sorry for herself.'

Rinna explained how her mother had known Carpenter - who had previously been convicted for molestation, kidnapping and rape - from a job they worked at together in San Francisco.

'One morning she was waiting at the bus stop to go to the dentist,' the Days of Our Lives alum said in the clip, which was first obtained by People.

Rinna continued, 'He came by the bus stop and [said], "Lois, I want you to meet my new baby!" 

'And she was like, "No I have to go to the dentist." And he was like, "Oh I'll drive you." And she got in the car with him.'

The Melrose Place actress explained a series of major red flags that alerted her mother to danger - notably that Carpenter had stuttered while on the job, but didn't in the encounter.

'He started talking to her and he wasn't stuttering - that was the first sign,' Rinna said. 'He was driving in a weird direction. 

'And she said, "David, what's going on with you? You're not stuttering. You're speaking clearly." And he said, 'I don't know Lois, something just comes over me.' And that's when she knew she was f***ed.'

Rinna, who shares two daughters with husband Harry Hamlin, 74 - Delilah Belle, 27, and Amelia Gray, 24 - explained the horrific series of events against her mother in detail.

Rinna said Carpenter - who law enforcement probed in the Zodiac Killer case as well, but did not find a substantive link - drove her mother onto a deserted road in the park and former U.S. Army post called The Presidio, where he began brutally attacking her. 

'As David Carpenter parked the car, he literally straddled my mom, grabbed the knife out of the glove box … goes at my mom,' Rinna said. 'My mom grabs it with her hand, and it severs these two fingers, so her fingers are like dangling.

'Then David starts to freak out because he sees the car coming - so he grabs a hammer - and starts smashing my mom over the head with a hammer.'

Rinna - who also mentioned about the encounter on RHOBH - said that her mother's life was miraculously spared at the time after a military police officer (MP) got involved.

'The MP shoots David in the stomach - doesn't kill him,' Rinna said. 'My mom is in the hospital for three months. She had to get a big metal plate put into her head.'

ABC News' Ana Garcia, citing the timing of the events, noted how Lois 'had no idea she was one of the first victims of a serial killer,' and 'most likely would've been his first murder victim' had the MP not saved her. 

Rinna said her mother spent three months in the hospital as she recovered from her injuries, adding of her mother, 'She could have been the most miserable, f***ed up, traumatized human being, and I never saw that.'

Carpenter was convicted for the attack and spent seven years in prison then after another prison stint for kidnapping, he began his killing spree in 1979 and when he was put on trial for those murders, Lois had testified as Rinna went to watch.

IMPACT x Nightline: Terror on the Trails begins streaming on Hulu and Disney+ Thursday. 

Rinna previously also opened up about the deeply personal circumstances surrounding her father Frank Rinna’s 2016 death at age 94, revealing he passed away through assisted suicide.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum shared the emotional revelation during the latest episode of her Let’s Not Talk About the Husband podcast, which she co-hosts with husband Harry Hamlin.

Frank died in Oregon, where the state’s 1997 Death with Dignity Act allows terminally-ill patients to end their lives with medical assistance, including help from so-called ‘death doulas.’

'In Oregon, you’re permitted to check out when you want to check out,’ said Hamlin. 'He was 94, and his quality of life had diminished to the point where he wanted to transition. 

'You can do that in Oregon if you follow the right guidelines and the protocols and talk to the right number of doctors.’

Rinna added, 'You have to have two doctors that sign off on your terminal illness, so to speak,' noting that the process took her father ‘about three to six months’ to complete.

‘I never told this story at the time,’ she admitted. ‘I had started the [RHOBH] show, and I think it was just too painful at the time.’

Rinna described the moment she watched her father die at a hospice as 'surreal.'

With her half-sister and a 'death doula' by his side, she recalled feeling detached from reality: ‘I didn’t feel like I was in my body,’ she said.

She explained that under Oregon law, the person choosing assisted death must physically take the medication themselves. 

'The person that’s dying has to be able to pick up the juice, or whatever, to drink it themselves. You can’t administer it to somebody.’

According to Rinna, her father was 'so mad' when his death was postponed by two days due to a delay in receiving the medication. 

'He was in pain and he was really unhappy,’ she said.

Calling the moment a ‘surreal position’ to be in, the RHOBH alum admitted the emotional toll of watching a parent die by choice. 

'You want to support what they want to do, but you’re going to watch your parent kill themselves,' she said. 'That’s what we’re doing. But he wanted it so badly.'

Rinna said Frank passed away about 45 minutes after drinking the medication. 

'They just go to sleep, by the way. It’s not anything gruesome,’ she said, adding that his death was "very peaceful." It was a very humane way to go. In that aspect, it didn’t feel awful, but it felt awful.'

Hamlin and Rinna have been married since 1997. He was previously married to Nicollette Sheridan from 1991–1992, and Laura Johnson from 1985 thru 1989. He is father to son Dimitri, 45, from a previous relationship with Ursula Andress.

Rinna famously left RHOBH in 2023 while grappling with the loss of her mother Lois, making her return to such raw family memories all the more poignant. 

Oregon became the first US state to allow physician-assisted suicide in 1997, allowing terminally ill adult Oregonians, with less than six months left to live, to ask doctors for a fatal dose of drugs they then administer themselves, typically at home.

In 2023, it became the first US state to allow non-residents to travel to the West Coast state to end their lives.

Physician-assisted death, also known as medical aid in dying, is currently legal in 10 US states and Washington, D.C.: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.