Show full transcript 0:50 An old cap finds a new scarf 0:52 because you don't simply step into the season. 0:55 You create it layer by layer 0:57 until it finally feels like fall. 1:00 Find fall your way at Ross. 1:02 The crime scene was one out of a horror movie. 1:23 The house was an old abandoned 1:25 house deep into the woodline. You couldn't even see it from the street. The 1:37 walls had holes in it, old stained mattresses laying on the floor, empty 1:43 beer cans, empty soda cans, just trash everywhere. The house itself had been 1:52 abandoned for Lord knows how long. There was graffiti and stuff written on 1:56 walls, satanic graffiti. Real dark. The house could tell stories I'm sure have a 2:05 lot to tell. I didn't even know it was there. I've been in Fountain Inn in 2:09 Simpsonville since 2002 and I never knew it was there. There was a lot of 2:14 people that would go there and smoke and drink and things. I guess it was 2:17 something a lot of high schoolers had done before us. A house in the woods 2:22 that we could go hang out after school and not get in trouble is what we 2:27 thought it was. Looking back now it's terrifying even think about it. 2:49 This is a 2:50 picture that Katie took. This is me and Katie. That's that's me right there and 2:55 that's her right there. This was the day of our fifth grade graduation. So like 3:01 this is another one of her. You know it just shows her smile and there's like a 3:05 little bit of goofiness to it. We went to Hillcrest High School together. 3:09 All these photos were taken right before our senior year started. 3:14 Everybody had to wear, you know, just something appropriate. 3:18 Katie Blavilt was a young girl living in Simpsonville, South Carolina. 3:22 Simpsonville is one of the South Carolina small towns. 3:25 Very few businesses. Everybody kind of knows everyone. 3:29 She liked One Direction. 3:31 I just remember her being really big about them. 3:34 My ring tone for her was, you don't know, you're beautiful. 3:37 When I hear that song, I still cheer up because that was her song. 3:45 She just didn't realize how beautiful she was. 3:48 She just liked happy music, something with a good beat. 3:52 She just always wanted to be bouncing, singing, going, doing, having fun, going on an adventure. 3:59 Katie had gotten over some hurdles. 4:01 She was on her way to a new life, working at Petsmart, got in a new car. 4:05 The co-sign for her a 2011 Fort Fiesta, nice little car, really cute, and so she was happy 4:13 to finally have her own little car. 4:15 She loved that thing. 4:16 We worked at the Pets Mart in the Pets Hotel, which is a doggy daycare and boarding facility. 4:22 She had the biggest heart I've ever known. 4:25 Never met anybody that she was unkind to, absolutely obsessed with animals. 4:31 Loved Harry Potter. 4:32 That's her turtle tattoo. 4:34 Turtles were her thing. 4:36 Katie was my mom's little sister, so she was my aunt. 4:39 We're four years and one week apart. 4:42 She was just always there for me when I needed her, 4:44 and she was my best friend, always somebody who I could talk to. 4:49 Not one person had a bad thing to say about Katie. 4:52 Everybody said she was loving, she was fun, she had a good job. 4:55 She was just doing the things the normal 22-year-old would do. 5:09 On October 24th, Katie goes to work. 5:12 We have her time cards where she checks in at PetSmart. 5:15 She ends up clocking out just a few minutes after 2 p.m. on the 24th. 5:19 She was supposed to meet up with her niece Cheyenne later on in that day. 5:24 Cheyenne called her after she'd gotten off work and told her to come by. 5:28 We'll go grab something to eat, we'll hang out. 5:30 I called her and I said, 5:31 do you want to come hang out with us after you're done with work? 5:34 And she said, yeah, I'll call you later. 5:36 Cheyenne even said that the conversation was a little weird 5:39 that Katie wasn't her normal self on the other end of the phone but she didn't really know why. 5:44 She was just very vague on the phone and I was like, what are you doing? 5:47 And she was like, I don't really know. 5:49 Didn't think much of it. 5:50 Until later on I look back I realized that she sounded uncomfortable 5:55 but at the time I didn't pick up on that. 6:03 She doesn't show up. 6:05 She doesn't call. 6:06 She's not answering her phone. 6:09 It's like she's disappeared. 6:10 No missed calls, no messages. 6:13 Katie wasn't there, she's not answering her phone. 6:15 Just nothing. 6:16 So then I just started up the chain, like call mama. 6:19 Make sure she's on this too, see if she's there, she asleep. 6:23 Brandy calls me. 6:24 She said, is Katie there? 6:26 I'm like, no. 6:27 She said, have you seen her? 6:28 Talk to her? 6:29 I'm like, no. 6:30 I said, she's not here. 6:31 She said, something's not right. 6:33 Word gets out in Simpsonville. 6:35 Hey, Katie's missing. 6:36 So everybody kind of knows, hey, this isn't right. 6:38 Something's wrong. 6:40 They're out there looking for her, friends, family, co-workers. 6:45 Everybody went out looking for her. 6:48 Everybody. 6:49 I said, if I don't hear anything by morning, I'm going straight to the police station. 6:52 So I did. 6:54 And I went down to Simpsonville police station and reported her missing. 7:00 And then that's when law enforcement gets involved and starts trying to track down where Katie is. 7:04 So they said just go home and wait. 7:06 And that was the hardest thing to do, was just go home and wait. 7:08 but we didn't. We got in groups and we were searching places she'd hang out. 7:14 I was the investigator who was on call. I got a phone call from the Uniform 7:18 Patrol Supervisor who was meeting with the family. He relayed the 7:23 information about the case to me. I immediately felt like this was something 7:26 we needed to jump on as quick as possible. Contacted her cell phone 7:30 carrier and went ahead and requested what's called an exigent ping where 7:34 they were able to give us either the current location of the phone if 7:38 if it's turned on or the last on location. 7:41 Her phone was pinging way out of state. 7:44 And they actually get some information back 7:46 from the wireless provider that shows 7:48 that she's up in West Virginia. 7:50 Katie's GPS actually said she was in Bluefield's West 7:53 Virginia. 7:54 I said, does this make any sense? 7:56 Do you know anybody up there? 7:57 Is there any reason she'd be going in this path? 7:59 They said, absolutely not. 8:01 Katie's been missing about 24 hours now. 8:04 And her friends and family are asking, 8:06 what is she doing there? 8:07 Did she go on her own? Or did someone take her there? 8:12 Around 1.30 to 2.30 in the morning, Brandy called me and said, 8:17 Mom, something's going on. 8:20 I knew. I knew from that minute what happened. 8:23 And I was just screaming. 8:44 Simpsville is a nice rural town. 8:46 We're about 15 minutes outside of downtown Greenville, South Carolina. 8:50 We've got the typical ice cream station that you'll find a line at the door every Friday night. 8:56 Simpsonville is just a beautiful, quiet place where everybody knows everybody and everybody gets along. 9:01 High school football up here is tremendous. It's just a peaceful place. 9:05 And that's another thing I think that shocked this community when this happened. 9:19 Catherine Blauvert was last seen leaving her job at the Pets Marta Woodruff Road Monday around 2 o'clock. 9:25 Last time anyone saw Katie was Monday night. It's now Tuesday. She's still 9:31 missing. Her phone is still indicating that it's in West Virginia and no one 9:36 knows what's going on. From what I understand they started tracking her 9:39 phone and they had some kind of miscommunication. The cell phone 9:42 company gave us the wrong cell phone information. We later found out that 9:45 they had entered some incorrect information and provided the wrong 9:49 information to us. And it really derailed the investigation for a 9:53 They've really lost about 12 hours of time looking for Katie trying to trace down why she could be up in West Virginia 10:14 You're at discovered church across from where 10:20 Two of Katie's friends Wayne Roper and Ricky Hargrove go looking for her and the first place that they search is 10:29 is honestly so creepy it's the kind of place 10:31 you expect to find a body. 10:33 I was worried about my friend, Katie, 10:36 she was missing, she's been missing for a while now 10:39 and who came in this house that we used to hang 10:42 to all hang out again? 10:44 Dispatch received a phone call from two young men. 10:47 They were friends of Katie's 10:48 and one of them had just gotten off work 10:50 at the local Walmart at midnight. 10:52 Wayne Roper was a good friend of Katie's, 10:55 knew her for a really long time, went to school with her. 10:57 and they decided to go to this house because it was a place that they had all hung out in the past. 11:02 She's been missing for, I think, 30 hours now, and we went into the woods where we used to all hang out at, 11:11 and there's a house there, and we were looking for her there just in case, 11:16 like she might be there staying or something. 11:18 They did a search of the entire house, and the last place they checked was the basement. 11:23 There was a concrete box formed in the floor of the basement. 11:28 It was covered with a piece of plywood. 11:30 These two boys removed the plywood and found Katie's body. 11:34 What's wrong with her, sir? 11:36 She's not alive. 11:38 She run away? 11:39 No way. 11:40 We found her in his health. 11:43 Not alive. 11:44 It went from a place where they used to socialize and have fun to attend. 11:52 I believe it was investigator Moorcraft who called me to notify me that we had a murder 11:57 and we had located Katie's body and that I needed to respond as an additional investigator 12:02 to help out. 12:06 I've got police on the way. 12:07 All right, we'll stay for you if you can just advise. 12:10 All right, sir. 12:11 I should have officers pulling up now. 12:12 Can you see them? 12:13 Yes, sir. 12:23 The abandoned house itself has got its own special brand of creepy. 12:29 Then you add in the fact that law enforcement's discovering this crime scene after midnight, late night. 12:35 There's floorboards missing. There's all the spray paint on the walls. 12:41 And then you see the camera pivot and turn to walk down into the basement. 12:47 Then you just see Katie's body. 12:50 She is naked from the waist down. 12:52 She's got her shirt pulled up and she's got that board covered on top of her. 12:56 and you can just see a stab wound on her neck, 12:58 her shirt soaked in blood. 13:00 The actual handle, the knife wasn't present on the scene 13:02 and the entire blade was inside of her neck. 13:05 The six inch knife, 4.9 inches into her right neck 13:09 cut the carotid artery in the left jugular vein 13:13 and she bled to death. 13:15 She wasn't wearing any clothes from the waist down. 13:17 Obviously makes you concerned 13:18 if there's some sort of sexual assault. 13:20 The coroner's office tested 13:22 to rule out a sexual assault. 13:23 There was no signs of sexual assault. 13:29 Police say that they find blood spatter in the undergrowth of the bushes near the house, 13:35 which makes them think that Katie was likely killed outside 13:39 and her body taken inside the farmhouse. 13:42 They were dragging marks and blood leading from outside the house down to the basement 13:47 and into this hole, if you will. 13:50 You could tell she'd been there more than 12 hours or so 13:53 due to some different things that we found on the body. 13:56 Pathologist said there was some injuries on her hands and all 14:00 that would be consistent with defensive type wounds. 14:03 I think she fought. 14:04 There was no signs of where her cell phone was. 14:07 It was still turned off. 14:08 We couldn't locate it anywhere in an initial search of the crime scene. 14:13 So that was the thing we really wanted to get her hands on. 14:18 I passed by the abandoned house and saw all the cops there. 14:21 That night, something just clicked in my brain 14:23 And then I was like, why else would they all be here? 14:25 I knew. 14:27 I knew Katie was dead. 14:32 I got out and went and asked one of the policemen. 14:34 I said, is it my daughter you found? 14:36 Tell me, I just want to know. 14:38 They said, we can't tell you anything. 14:40 You need to go home and just wait for somebody to contact you. 14:44 I remember screaming. 14:46 I was just screaming. 14:47 And I remember somebody picked me up and put me back in the car 14:50 and took me home to my mom and dad. 14:51 And I was just screaming. 14:53 I was checking the news. 14:55 And I saw that there had been a body found. 14:57 and I kind of looked at my roommate and I was like I'm not gonna think anything 15:01 until I hear something. I found an article just scrolling through Facebook and 15:07 it said 22 year old body found and I was just hoping and praying it wasn't her. 15:14 Just please don't be her. The body of a 22 year old Catherine Blyveld was found 15:20 in the cellar of an abandoned home on Main Street having about one o'clock 15:23 this morning. Police say her family had reported her missing just hours 15:27 earlier Tuesday afternoon. 15:29 I picked up the phone and I didn't want to hear what he said. 15:33 So I headed to my husband. 15:35 And I remember watching my husband's face. 15:38 That's what told me there's nothing else to do. 15:44 Cops are asking themselves, 15:47 what are the chances that these two guys who found Katie's body 15:51 found it in the first place that they looked? 15:54 What made you go to that house specifically at midnight? 16:12 Since this is obviously a death investigation, 16:15 we kind of have to treat everybody like they may have something to do with it. 16:20 Simpsonville did a really thorough job investigating this case. 16:23 So they looked at everyone. 16:24 That included Wayne Roper. 16:25 That included his friend Richard Hargrove that was there with him that day that found Katie. 16:30 All we want to do this morning is talk to you about how you came about 16:34 on Katie, just ask you some basic questions, okay? 16:39 Oh, these two guys called and said 16:41 that they had found Katie's body 16:42 in an abandoned house between Simpsonville and Fountain Inn. 16:51 So tell me what happened 16:52 once you got to the abandoned house tonight. 16:54 We went through all the rooms 16:58 and shone a light down in the basement. 17:03 At the bottom of the flight of the steps, 17:06 There was some kind of concrete structure to the ride. 17:11 And it looked like somebody had shoved the body in there. 17:16 I looked in there, I see a white jacket that had dirt on it. 17:21 And then I looked all the way around in there. 17:25 I'd seen it all. 17:27 Yeah, Wayne pointed out the body. 17:30 I couldn't believe it at first. 17:33 I looked in there and I remember I said, 17:35 Oh my God, I couldn't handle it. 17:37 I had to, I started leaving right then. 17:43 Who at 12.30 at night is gonna go to this abandoned house 17:47 by themselves without contacting the police first 17:50 or by going with a group of friends. 17:52 So it seemed a little bit strange to us. 17:55 This was a pretty obscure place 17:56 for someone to find the body. 17:57 We couldn't figure the odds of these two guys 18:01 decide they're gonna go look for Katie 18:03 and they go check one place and find her 18:07 under a bunch of trash in the basement 18:08 of this abandoned house. 18:12 Tell my head, you knew this young lady? 18:16 Katie? 18:17 Yeah. 18:18 She, I went to school with her. 18:23 I've known her since then, and then we did date. 18:26 And it's pretty much it, 18:29 and we've been hanging out pretty so often. 18:33 Has Katie ever made you a manager? 18:35 No, sir. 18:36 Were you guys talking like 18:38 You're trying to get together under the sleigh this time. 18:42 No, sir. 18:44 We were just, we were being friends. 18:46 She was telling me everything. 18:47 It's like going down in the lives of everything. 18:51 Detectives interview Katie's niece, Cheyenne Paxton. 18:53 She tells police there's no way Wayne could have killed Katie. 18:57 Wayne would never do something like this to Katie. 19:01 Wayne and Katie have known each other since I was 11 years old. 19:05 And that's how I know Wayne. 19:08 And Wayne went through something like this to Katie. 19:10 He, we just felt bad that he asked it. 19:13 I understand, but you got to look at it from our perspective. 19:15 It's very suspicious that he's lying about it, 19:17 about it, especially where it was. 19:19 Of course, we didn't know either of these two. 19:21 We didn't know their relationship to Katie. 19:23 So we got on pretty hard. 19:25 Let me ask you a question, it's kind of blunt. 19:27 Did you have anything to do with Katie's death? 19:30 No, sir. 19:31 No, I'm sorry, we're not. 19:34 I, I bailed and didn't work. 19:36 I don't, I didn't know anything about her. 19:39 She just gave me a lot of buyers a few times. 19:43 Eventually, we're going to find out who killed her. 19:46 I promise you that. 19:48 If you have any involvement or any knowledge of it, 19:51 now's the time for you to come forward. 19:53 I don't, I don't do anything. 19:54 OK. 19:55 All right, what I'm going to do is swab each inch 19:57 of your cheeks, OK? 19:59 You don't mind. 20:00 I'm going to take some pictures of you. 20:02 Wayne and Ricky submit to DNA tests. 20:05 They have their bodies photographed. 20:07 They turn over? 20:08 They turn over their cell phones. 20:10 So it seems like Wayne and Ricky are in the clear. 20:13 All right, we'll be in touch with you. 20:15 I appreciate your time. 20:16 However, they get called back into the interrogation room 20:20 because a neighboring police department from Fountain Inn 20:23 that's working on the case wants to talk to them. 20:29 Ricky, I gotta tell you, man, it 20:32 seems like every time you kind of go over the story 20:35 a little bit more is added to it. 20:37 Does that resonate in your mind? 20:41 I mean, you guys are asking me the questions on answering. 20:44 And we run that blood on plants around that house 20:49 where a body's found, and it comes back, 20:53 and you're the winner. 20:57 What do you think is going to happen to you? 21:00 Do you ever think that I did it? 21:02 Do you see how we would think that anyway? 21:07 Yeah, I think that it's weird that I'm 21:10 the founder and that we just, we've, it's just a weird coincidence that I just went 21:18 through it. 21:18 I don't believe in coincidence. 21:19 It's not like that. 21:22 I'm not opposed to having anybody that's made a mistake like, but I can't help you 21:27 if you don't tell me the truth. 21:29 You're telling me the truth. 21:31 You're telling me part of the truth. 21:33 I'm telling you the full truth. 21:34 It's just hard for me to get my mind around how they go into this abandoned house with 21:42 flashlights and find her buried under a bunch of stuff. 21:45 I mean, just didn't pass the smell test to me. 21:50 Why did you kill her? 21:51 Did you kill her? 21:52 Yes, sir. 21:52 Do you know she was dead, though? 21:54 Who did you know, sir? 21:55 Why else would you go straight down to where she was? 21:59 I didn't go straight there. 22:03 I'm not telling you. 22:04 It's all hey 22:08 I've told you everything that I can think and I'm like I can tell him he didn't do it 22:13 I can promise you he didn't do it. I know he didn't do it 22:16 We were thorough enough that even though we were suspicious about that, you know, they were eliminated and they were actually 22:22 You know telling the truth these gentlemen had nothing to do with it and 22:27 If I could ever say anything to Wayne miss two things one 22:30 Thank you for being the one that found her but I am so sorry 22:34 It was you that found her. 22:35 Because I can only imagine what he went through for that. 22:38 And I hurt for him for being the one that actually found her. 22:47 Police tell us they do have a few leads, 22:49 but no defined persons of interest just yet. 22:52 Wayne and Ricky have been cleared, 22:53 so police turn their attention to other people 22:55 in Katie's life. 22:57 They do start with the people closest to her. 23:00 Even though Katie may look young, 23:02 the 22-year-old has already been married. 23:05 But then investigators find out that she's recently separated from her husband and they decide they need to talk to him 23:13 And at this point we're we're able to say let it happen. Okay 23:17 I'm so sorry for the loss there 23:25 This show is sponsored by my mom's murder a podcast from audible 23:29 Lauren Malloy spent 30 years thinking her mom had died of natural causes. That's what everybody told her 23:36 That's what she believed until one day. She got a phone call that changed everything a woman claiming to be her mom's best friend told 23:44 Lauren that her mother was actually murdered and that no one had ever 23:48 Investigated it. Well, she became kind of a detective 23:52 She pulled the threads knocked on doors and confronted the contradictions and what she found was worse than she imagined 24:00 Something happened to Lori Malloy. 24:03 Someone killed her. 24:05 And Lauren won't stop until she finds out who. 24:08 The system may have given up on her mom, but family never will. 24:12 Listen to my mom's murder wherever you get your podcasts. 24:15 Audible subscribers can binge all 10 episodes early and add free right now. 24:21 Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. 24:30 message your younger self would have liked to hear. 24:32 There's a bank out there where you don't have to pay all those endless fees. 24:36 It's called CHIME. 24:38 CHIME is a breath of fresh air compared to all the other banks that charge you for everything. 24:43 With CHIME, there are no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, and no minimum balance fees. 24:47 Instead of fees, you get rewards. 24:50 You get 5% cashback on CHIME card in a category of your choice, like gas or groceries. 24:55 All while building credit through their regular, everyday spending with no credit check. 24:58 You can also grow your money faster with a savings rate that's nine times the national average. 25:03 And if you're ever in a pinch, SpotMe lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free. 25:08 Join the millions who are already banking fee-free with America's number one choice for banking. 25:12 Head to chime.com slash 20 spelled out T-W-E-N-T-Y. 25:17 Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes. That's chime.com slash 20. 25:21 Chime is a fintech, not a bank. 25:24 Banking services and Chime Card provided by Chime's bank partners. 25:27 Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to Chime.com 25:32 slash Disclosures for details. This show is sponsored by Who Killed Angel Harris, 25:37 a podcast from ID. On June 25th, 2011, 31-year-old Angel Harris was found 25:43 murdered in Gainesville, Florida. More than 15 years later her case remains 25:47 unsolved. But on the new podcast Who Killed Angel Harris, a podcast from ID, 25:53 host Sarah Kalen travels to Florida to uncover what happened to Angel and who 25:58 may be responsible. Retired Gainesville police detective Courtney Roberts 26:02 joins Sarah to review evidence. That includes surveillance footage showing 26:06 Angel with an unidentified man shortly before her death and then the same man 26:11 walking away alone. Soon the search for answers in One Murder turns into an 26:16 investigation of five unsolved homicides. Who killed Angel Harris? Listen 26:22 Listen to Who Killed Angel Harris Wherever You Get Your Podcasts. 26:38 At the time of Katie's murder, she was actually living with her parents because she had separated 26:43 from her husband, John Blavilt. 26:46 What's your wife's full name? 26:48 Catherine Ann Blavilt? 26:49 You cry. 26:50 And are you familiar with it? 26:53 She's missing. 26:55 He didn't file the missing person's report 26:57 because they weren't living together at that point in time. 26:59 They hadn't married very long at all. 27:01 They get married in December. 27:04 They are married a few months before they had separated. 27:08 She said that it was over. 27:10 She was done. 27:11 She didn't want to be with him. 27:13 Naturally, detectives have questions for John, but before they can get to that, they need 27:18 to inform him that his wife has been murdered. 27:21 John was considered next of kin since he was still legally married to Katie. 27:26 John Blaveld is an army, is currently serving as a recruiter. 27:30 So myself, the deputy coroner and an investigator from Fountain Inn went to his office and 27:36 made the death notification. 27:38 I'm off the southeast main street, there was a body that was found in the house, 27:41 in an abandoned house and at this point we're able to say that it is a cat. 27:49 I'm so sorry if we lost her. 27:54 We're obviously in the process of investigating this. 28:01 Katie and John Blavouts started dating sometime late of 2014. 28:06 She worked at a firehouse subs, which is a sub shop, and right next door was the Army 28:12 recruiting station. 28:13 And that's how it started, she just worked right next to him and I remember her saying 28:18 that he would come in and get drinks and talk to her. 28:21 He was nice, very talkative. 28:26 She kept him secret for a while and the reason was, I think, is because he was separated 28:31 from his wife but he wasn't divorced yet. 28:33 And I found out he had a daughter but she would crawl up and Katie's lapping a heartbeat. 28:38 And Katie was very protective of her. 28:40 and she really loved her. 28:43 We were laying on the trampoline in my mom's backyard 28:47 and we were just talking and she told me, 28:50 she said, I think that I'm falling in love with John 28:52 and I remember being a little shocked. 28:54 I was like, I thought this was fun, 28:56 something you were playing with, 28:57 but I didn't know it was that serious. 29:00 I was at work one day and we were texting 29:03 and halfway through the text, she said, 29:05 oh, by the way, me and John got married. 29:07 I'm like, what, when? 29:09 And she said yesterday. 29:11 That was fast. 29:13 That was really fast. 29:14 For better or worse, it went to worse pretty quick. 29:17 And then Katie moved out of the house. 29:21 We were the worst couple. 29:23 We argued a lot. 29:25 She moved out in April, I think. 29:27 And then we talked on and off. 29:30 Mostly, she just wanted to see the dog and so we shoot 29:33 more with her dog. 29:34 But we couldn't really connect again. 29:36 That wasn't really working. 29:37 I know she still loved him. 29:38 I do know that she talked to him. 29:40 I do know she hung out with him. 29:41 Him and Katie were definitely still around each other. 29:44 They would both find excuses. 29:46 You know, Katie was like, they're still 29:48 a way where we can fix everything, you know? 29:52 She wanted her marriage to work. 29:54 But it's like every time she would go back, 29:57 she would just realize how wrong it was. 30:00 But then she gets up right back into it. 30:03 Who do you know that would want to do harm to her? 30:06 Nobody. 30:07 I can't think of nobody that would actually want to do anything to her because she's just 30:14 averaged quite 30:16 Have you ever gotten so mad at her that maybe you did something you didn't mean to do? No, absolutely not 30:23 Well, I used to have a drinking problem. So I see you're pretty mad and we used to have like 30:30 yelling matches and but 30:32 She has some lungs on her so we can go back and forth all night, but I hadn't drank in 30:38 Two months now, I'm just going to try to turn my **** around. 30:44 Are you familiar with this abandoned house? 30:47 Yeah. Okay. 30:48 That's the spot. 30:51 What's the hangout spot? 30:53 What was the last time you were there? 31:01 Like a week ago, a month ago. 31:03 It's been months. 31:04 What starts out as a death notification 31:07 starts morphing into an interrogation 31:10 and the more questions that the cops ask 31:13 the more uncomfortable John becomes. 31:15 I might be in charge of the crime because he's recording me and I'm not comfortable with that. 31:20 No, if I am, I might be in contact with a lawyer because this is uncomfortable. 31:26 Okay. You're not, you're, you're not being charged. 31:32 Okay. We'll clap right now. 31:34 Our job is to find out what happened. 31:36 Who killed her and bring them to justice. 31:40 Chief Steve Moore tells us that Catherine Blauvelt was last heard from that same afternoon 31:45 while driving in her car. 31:48 That car is now missing. 31:50 Her car was not located at the crime scene. 31:52 We didn't know where the vehicle was, 31:54 so we entered it on an NCIC, 31:56 basically as a vehicle of interest in the murder case. 31:59 We believe that the car would hold evidence 32:01 that we could use in this case, 32:03 but so far we haven't been able to find it. 32:06 Now this is what that car looks like 32:08 is a 2011 Black Ford Fiesta. 32:12 If you have seen or heard anything 32:14 about this case, the Simpsonville police car wants you to call them. On the same day that cops 32:20 are talking to John, there's a huge development in the case. 32:25 A Greenville County deputy located the vehicle in the parking lot over on Whitehorse Road and 32:30 called in the Venn number on the vehicle and came back as a match to the vehicle we were 32:35 looking for. We are pulling into the strip mall where Katie's vehicle was dumped on the day 32:43 that she was killed. 32:45 Katie's car, key evidence about what happened 32:49 in the last few hours of her life, 32:51 and now surveillance video is the killer caught on tape. 33:05 From the time her body was found, 33:07 it was later that day that the car was found. 33:10 We got the 911 call a little after midnight 33:14 and her car was located at Joe's auto 33:16 a little after 6.30, seven o'clock. 33:21 law enforcement found that car quick this is the parking lot where Katie's 33:25 vehicle was stashed after she was killed same day we put out a bow low for her 33:32 vehicle so area law enforcement agencies were looking for it in relation to her 33:36 murder Greenville County deputies came up on the vehicle Katie's car contains 33:42 clues but we're not talking about DNA or fingerprints here it has this 33:47 tiny little insurance device that's called a snapshot that's in underneath the 33:52 dashboard. It was equipped with a data collection unit that plugs into the OBD 34:00 port and it measures their driving activity to get lower rates or higher 34:04 rates in some cases. Snapshots from Progressive? Plug it in and you can save 34:09 on car insurance. The insurance company says it uses this device to 34:15 personalized rates so we can measure how good and safe a driver you are and 34:21 Katie was trying to save some money now authorities are hoping that this little 34:26 box is gonna pay off for them. I think that was some pretty good evidence that 34:32 we've found because not only did it show his erratic driving but it also 34:36 showed the trajectory of Katie from when she left work to when she got to the 34:42 abandoned house as well. 34:44 It's powerful. 34:46 It's just powerful. 34:47 It's breadcrumbs from murder to where they left the car 34:51 finally on White Oars Road. 34:53 It showed us a lot of information 34:55 that we would have never gotten. 34:57 It was able to pick up speeds, locations, 35:00 duration of said locations, how long it 35:02 took her to get from point A to point B, 35:04 how long she was at that specific location. 35:07 And it showed us a trajectory of where 35:09 she went from when she left PetSmart 35:11 to how she got to where her body was located. 35:15 She wasn't able to speak again, 35:16 but thank goodness, thank God, 35:18 that her progressive insurance snapshot 35:21 kind of spoke for her after that. 35:23 Police say the device even recorded 35:26 the driving behavior of the killer 35:28 as they made their getaway. 35:31 The way her car was driven after we know she was dead, 35:34 you can just see it's a completely different person 35:36 driving that car. 35:37 It's got really high rates of speed. 35:39 He was breaking really quickly, 35:40 speeding up, taking curves really fast and all that matches up with that device 35:43 that was on the car. The device shows that Katie's car sat at the abandoned 35:48 house for about an hour and a half and then drove about three and a half miles 35:52 away. They found the car without a license tape so then being very good 35:59 law enforcement they looked for video. One of our captains located the 36:05 business across the street at an auto repair shop and we found that they 36:09 We had video surveillance that aimed to cross Whitehorse Road and covered the area where 36:13 the vehicle was parked. 36:15 The cameras were located back behind us at Joe's auto shop. 36:19 He's got his video going, captures when both cars are coming in. 36:23 In the surveillance video from Joe's auto, we were able to see the victim's vehicle 36:28 being driven past Joe's into the parking lot that we're currently in. 36:32 Shortly thereafter, a light color vehicle which we believed to be a Prius pulled in 36:38 right behind the victim's vehicle and parked right next to the victim's vehicle. 36:43 The driver of Katie's vehicle exits the vehicle and goes to the back of the vehicle 36:47 and ends up removing the license plate from the vehicle, then gets into the gold vehicle and 36:52 they both leave the scene. You see that gold pruritus leaving across the street on White 37:01 Horse Road from Chosauto Savage. That's incredible evidence. So who is that riding around 37:07 in Katie's car after her murder. 37:10 Investigators are talking to people in her life, 37:13 like the housemates who live with her estranged husband, 37:16 John, at the house she once shared with him. 37:19 John Blavette was living here in October of 2016, 37:22 along with a few roommates. 37:25 So, Brandon Tucker and Crystal Gorda 37:27 were roommates living with John, 37:29 so they were actually there at the house 37:31 the day that Katie went missing. 37:33 You'll remember Crystal is Katie's childhood friend. 37:38 And Crystal and her boyfriend were sitting in the front room to the right of the front 37:42 door. 37:43 At that time, they saw a small black vehicle pulling the driveway. 37:47 I was sitting right here and Daniel was sitting at the end of the table and we saw her car 37:53 come from like the back of the road. 37:55 Right. 37:56 They come in and went in the driveway and backed up and went down the railroad path. 38:03 It was so fast. 38:05 It was so fast. 38:06 and they pulled in, I guess saw who all was home, 38:11 realized not today and drove off. 38:15 Like it just, it happened that fast. 38:17 You know, and I was like, wasn't that Katie's car? 38:21 And I was like, I think that was Katie's car. 38:30 What they were wearing was a black zip up jacket 38:33 and the hood was on. 38:35 I just saw the black jacket and I was like, I know that's not Katie 38:42 They saw the car come in and saw it leave just a short while later John Blavilt comes back in 38:49 From the back wooded area after the car left. It's probably 15 minutes 38:54 After that, he came up from the woods. I can't where were you at? He was like, I was going for a run 38:59 You know, he went took a shower 39:01 was he sweating? Yeah, I mean he was just getting back from a room and he was sweating. 39:06 They would be. If he had a technique, he has some hook-up room. 39:10 I feel like it has to be somebody that knows Katie has money that knows John 39:19 because they pulled in John's drive light in her car. 39:24 And that's just what I keep going back to. 39:26 Police have a lot of questions about John Blobelt 39:29 and he has a lot of questions about the police. 39:33 They didn't ask you, 39:34 would you tell them please? 39:36 I didn't tell them. 39:37 You can tell them to do what I'm gonna do. 39:39 No, I didn't tell them. 39:40 What were his exact words? 39:42 I mean, he was just like, 39:43 what were they asking you? 39:45 I didn't know all this other stuff. 39:47 What police do next is incredible. 39:51 So, Katie's body has a viewing. 39:53 Law enforcement decides to set up a camera 39:56 in the viewing area. 39:57 Police put a hidden camera in the funeral home. 40:01 Now that's John Blavilt. 40:03 But the question is, who's that with him? 40:06 I was flabbergasted. 40:08 I couldn't believe that they would come together. 40:24 As they talk to witnesses and they gather more evidence 40:27 in the homicide of Katie Blavilt, 40:30 investigators start focusing in on her husband, 40:33 Sergeant John Blavilt, as suspect number one. 40:37 And then in a move that you'd expect to see in a mob investigation, police put a hidden camera inside the funeral home for Katie's visitation. 40:52 The footage is decently muffled. John shows up to the viewing of Katie's body. He gets a private viewing, separate from the rest of the family. 41:03 He brings Hannah Thompson, his 17-year-old girlfriend, to the viewing as well. 41:09 He makes a remark that she still has blood on her, like they could have done a better 41:13 job cleaning her up. 41:17 You do not see an emotional man looking at his wife. 41:22 He's kind of making fun of her. 41:23 He's talking about how dirty she is. 41:28 He showed up with Hannah, the last person he should have showed up with. 41:35 Who brings another woman to your wife's funeral? 41:38 Even if they're separated, you just don't do that, you just don't. 41:43 Their relationship started before Katie even moved out. 41:47 And then after Katie moved out, Hannah moved into John's bedroom. 41:52 At the time of Katie's murder, John, who's 28, is dating 17-year-old Hannah. 41:59 She was my friend from high school. She just was around with us a lot. 42:05 Coming to his house, hanging out and smoking, and that's how John met her. 42:10 Alright, so November 2nd, 2016. 42:13 So we contacted him again, and he voluntarily came to the police department. 42:18 I lost a friend, maybe not the best wife, but I lost a f***ing friend. 42:23 We would have always been the worst married couple on the planet, but she was always 42:26 going to be my friend. 42:27 We've heard a little bit about this abandoned house that you've been there before. 42:32 He denied being in the cellar at one point, even though all of his roommates told us 42:36 that they would hang out there. 42:38 And I've been in the house this summer. 42:40 I used to hang out with my friends and stuff. 42:44 And the only people that I know that know about it, 42:47 that know Katie as well, you know. 42:52 There's not many people. 42:54 Have you guys ever been on the basement? 42:57 I have been on there before. 42:59 John's been there too. 43:02 You ever been down the stairs in the basement? 43:04 No. 43:05 Because the one-size-all flooded out. 43:07 And then you can only climb down. 43:09 And then the other stairs is like missing 43:11 and the last step, and it's all like, oh, sketchy. 43:16 You can feel it. 43:17 I don't know if you've gone down there, 43:18 but you can feel it like every step. 43:20 Wobbling back up. 43:21 So you don't know how you're gonna get back up. 43:24 He even knows that they're wobbly when you step on them 43:27 and how do you know that if you've never been down there? 43:30 And he also knows that another part of the basement 43:33 that Katie's body wasn't even in was flooded 43:36 and it's not visible unless you actually go down there, 43:39 go down the steps to see that it was flooded. 43:42 Police then asked John, why would you bring Hannah to your wife's visitation? 43:48 It's all in there by myself. I'm dealing with by myself. 43:51 I'm dragging her around because she's willing to be drug around. 43:55 So John was a recruiter at the local high school and he really just kind of became everyone's friend. 44:01 He was the cool guy, the guy that would throw all the parties. 44:05 It seemed like a great place to hang out and do things we weren't supposed to do. 44:09 Instead of recruiting them for the army like he was supposed to, 44:12 he was recruiting them to come party at his house. 44:15 Katie was against it, and she's like, 44:17 I keep trying to get him to stop and tell them the kid to quit coming, 44:19 but they just, he lets them in and they keep coming. 44:24 And there's an incident at the house about eight months before Katie is murdered. 44:30 There's a party with underage teens that are allegedly drinking and smoking, 44:34 and then the cops knock on the door. 44:40 John wouldn't come to the door, basically barricaded himself inside and at that point it kind of became a standoff of sorts. 44:49 We essentially just rushed the door and got him handcuffed and that was it. 44:53 That same night, Katie goes to the police. 44:58 Katie went down to the fountain and police department and reported the fact that at some point in time John and her had gotten into an argument and he pointed a gun at her and threatened a killer. 45:10 They did arrest him for contributing to the legacy of a minor and a criminal domestic 45:15 violence. They arrested him for both of those that night. 45:19 It really impacted his career so he immediately gets written up and then goes from being an 45:24 active recruiter to working a desk job. 45:29 He blamed her for him losing everything like his whole downfall was all her fault. 45:38 Katie's the person that ratted him out. Katie's the one that made up these allegations 45:42 and went to law enforcement. 45:43 Katie's the person that has ruined his military career. 45:48 What was Hannah's response when you guys were at the viewing? 45:53 Kind of taken aback. 45:55 That was what I was trying to see. 45:57 I mean, they were close. 45:59 They were real close for like months. 46:00 You have the right to answer Hannah. 46:02 And if police want to know more about Hannah, 46:05 well, she accompanied John 46:07 to his interrogation at the police station. 46:10 Now, he brought Hannah with him, 46:12 and that was a great opportunity for us 46:13 to interview her as well. 46:14 So who are you dating? 46:16 I'm not dating anybody. 46:17 But if you look at your Facebook status, 46:20 you just posted on Sunday that you're currently 46:22 in the most amazing relationship ever or something 46:24 along those lines. 46:26 So who was that relationship with on Sunday? 46:29 It was, I mean, it was with John, 46:31 but we're not like in a relationship. 46:33 We're not dating. 46:35 I just have a good relationship with him. 46:38 Hannah may be a 17-year-old with braces, 46:40 but she holds her own against a tough interrogation. 46:44 You may love John, you may think you two are gonna get married and walk down Yellowbrook Road, okay? 46:50 But no man and no woman is worth going to prison for. 46:54 Do you agree? Yes, sir. Okay. 46:56 Hannah stands by John doesn't say anything to police even when they show her Katie's autopsy photos. 47:04 This is your friend. I 47:06 don't want to do this anymore. 47:09 Don't want to do what? Don't want to help us find out who killed her? All you gotta do is tell the truth. 47:13 It would be so stinking. 47:15 Yeah, look at her. 47:16 I can't look at her. 47:18 And she literally got up out of the room and left. 47:20 He just told her. 47:21 I don't want to talk to anyone. 47:23 I'm sorry. 47:24 I can't talk to anyone. 47:25 At that point, we had nothing to charge her to hold her, 47:27 so we had to let her leave. 47:32 Hannah and John are free to go. 47:35 You either have the evidence to make the arrest or you don't. 47:37 If you don't, you have to let them go. 47:39 I think that's one of their biggest regrets 47:41 is that they didn't arrest him on the day 47:42 that they searched his car and took his DNA. 47:45 But this investigation is just getting started, 47:49 and police will soon catch a break. 47:52 In an initial search of the crime scene, 47:55 there was no signs of where her cell phone was. 47:58 They went back to the house, 48:00 and they drain out the basement, 48:01 and they ultimately find Katie's phone there. 48:04 Nowadays cell phones are a treasure trove of information. 48:07 They are able to extract it 48:09 and get some of the information out. 48:11 There was a photo. 48:12 So that photo was actually taken at the crime scene. 48:16 Police now have a chilling window into Katie's last few minutes of life. 48:29 Fall never arrives all at once. 48:32 Burst the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other. 48:38 A jacket meets a dress, a hoodie slips beneath a blazer, an old cap finds a new scarf, because 48:44 you don't simply step into the season. 48:46 You create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall. 48:52 Find fall your way at Ross. 48:58 Hey y'all, Kelly Clarkson here with Wayfair. 49:00 I know holiday magic starts at home, so I tend to go a little overboard. 49:05 The twinkling lights, the trees, the cozy blankets, 49:08 but the thing I love even more than decorating 49:09 is having everyone over and knowing my home is ready. 49:13 With Wayfair, it's easier than ever to make holiday magic at home. 49:16 Ooh, I think I found room for one more wreath. 49:19 Don't wait. Head to Wayfair.com and get your home holiday ready today. 49:27 When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. What they don't expect. 49:33 Using smart AI cameras, live US-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds. 49:40 Don't just record a break-in. Stop it from ever happening. 49:42 Plan starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring 49:48 at simplysafe.com slash Spotify. 50:18 At that point, we had a lot of evidence pointing towards John, but not enough to physically 50:36 I told him anything and everything that I could, where he was, what's he been doing. 50:46 And you know, I didn't have a whole lot of insight. 50:48 He was just mad. 50:50 John was just mainly pissed. 50:52 You know, he was like, I know everybody's going to be looking at me. 50:55 I know her family is going to point it straight towards me. 51:00 The level of suspicion around John Blovout at that time was extremely high. 51:04 The very next step is an arrest warrant and I think John sniffed that out 51:08 Did you work yesterday? 51:15 Yes 51:30 Hello, hey, what's up? 51:42 No, not really. I mean 51:44 Nothing's changed. Nobody's come to the house or anything like that 51:54 He's behaving very terrified 51:59 skittish, watching his back, paranoid, anxious. 52:07 Yeah, I think he felt like all the eyes were pointed at him. 52:11 John, you know, who else has motive to kill her? 52:13 Who else had the opportunity? 52:14 Who else could have gotten her into a vehicle? 52:17 And just days after that secret video of John at the funeral home is taken, 52:22 he skips town. 52:27 So he had a second vehicle, a GMC Yukon, 52:31 and that's the vehicle that he fled in. 52:34 When he turned up missing, Hannah was missing also. 52:39 She had completely wiped her cell phone and stuck it in the mailbox of her parents' house. 52:47 He books, basically tells Hannah, we're leaving, you're going with me. 52:51 And he flees. 52:53 They just proved their guilt right there. 52:55 I mean, why would you run if you're innocent? 52:57 Kind of suspicious to me. 52:59 I don't even say it's on the run. 53:01 He just leaves. 53:03 But he fully cooperated with him. 53:04 He gave the keys over voluntarily. 53:06 He opened his mouth for the buckle swab he gave the phone over just the walls are closing in. I'll take my chances on the road 53:15 John Blaubelt may be on the run with a 17 year old girl. This was a huge story 53:21 There was a national manhunt. Everyone was looking for him. Did they think the 17 year old girl is in danger? 53:27 Absolutely, and they say the reason for that is because of what he has done in the past. I thought we were in for a long haul 53:34 with his training and his knowledge and his motivation. 53:40 He's got every reason to give it a hundred percent. 53:43 You know, if you've got the motivation, 53:45 this is a big country, big world. 53:51 About a week and a half after John takes off, 53:54 the Simpsonville police issue an arrest warrant 53:56 for Katie's murder. 53:58 John is now officially a fugitive on the run. 54:01 There's a nationwide bolo out for the two of them. 54:04 You know, his vehicle is entered 54:05 into the national database as being wanted in connection with the murder, I contacted 54:10 the local U.S. Marshals office. 54:12 We are just there to assist them in the apprehension of John Blivell, but also we were looking 54:21 for Hannah Thompson who at that point what we believe as an endangered juvenile. 54:29 We were afraid she was going to end up the same way that we were afraid that she 54:35 was gonna meet her demise at his hands. We had good reason to believe that John 54:43 had left the state. We got a photo of Hannah and John what looked like they 54:48 were buying camping supplies in a store in Alabama. And then we got a picture of 54:57 John attempting to withdraw funds from an ATM. There was different license 55:03 plate reader sightings of it going basically south and west. It was always a day late, basically day 55:10 late dollar short. Even though the marshals were getting hits on where Hannah and John were, 55:16 that was the problem. That's where they were. They had already moved on by the time the marshals 55:21 were notified. The license plate reader picked up John's tag in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Before 55:28 or we could mobilize our guys out there. 55:31 We didn't know where they were, where they were going. 55:34 And that was pretty close to the Mexico border. 55:36 So for a while we were afraid that he had crossed the border. 55:39 He does have training and then he was like one step ahead. 55:42 And just when they think John and Hannah 55:44 may have slipped out of the country, 55:46 a major new development. 55:49 Come on in and have a seat. 55:51 The biggest thing that developed was Hannah coming back. 55:54 She ended up doing an interview with me. 55:57 We're going to tell you about her and Jamie. 56:08 Tonight, the search is continuing for a man who the police say is wanted for murder. 56:13 Nearly five weeks after Hannah disappeared, she resurfaces, not in Mexico, but in Oregon. 56:20 She calls her family to say, I want to come home. 56:23 So her father drives out West and brings her back to Simpsonville. 56:31 The biggest thing that developed was Hannah coming back. 56:34 She ended up doing an interview with me. 56:36 I wanted him to have a big... 56:38 So how was your birthday? 56:40 He was big. 56:41 Young? 56:41 You can't call it 18. 56:44 The interview was five hours long. 56:46 Then I tried to get every detail out of her. 56:50 She's a potential witness. 56:52 She's a potential defendant. 56:54 We had no idea at that point in time 56:56 what her involvement was, if any. 56:58 So we really kind of treated her 57:00 softly in the beginning. 57:02 We wanted to get information. 57:03 we wanted to locate and find John. 57:51 I think she realized that life on the lam is not as glamorous as some of the movies make it. 57:57 With no income coming in, those funds dry up pretty quickly. 58:03 He said he didn't give a curse, but he was like all the money that was on it. 58:09 It was kind of like hanging in the living room. 58:12 Just day-to-day living just to try and stay under the radar. 58:16 He didn't stop telling me to don him, and then he didn't use, like, Wi-Fi. 58:23 He had connected to the Wi-Fi while she went to the bathroom, 58:27 and we believe it was at this point that John had looked himself up on the internet 58:32 and found out that he was now wanted for Katie's murder. 58:35 He, like, drove up into the mountains, 58:38 and he, like, was, like, freaking out. 58:43 And then he just got the car, like, stuck in the, like, 58:48 in the trees, like, in the mountains. 58:50 And then I was like, why did you just act like, 58:53 like, what are you doing? 58:54 Like, how are we going to get back out? 58:57 Hanuk was able to help locate an area in which 59:01 they got the Yukon stuck during them fleeing. 59:04 It was right at the border of Washington and Oregon 59:06 in a national park literally wedged in between two trees. 59:11 And I heard a growl, and it was like, I looked over, 59:15 and there was like a bear, like right next to it. 59:19 And I started like freaking out. 59:21 Hannah has had enough. 59:22 No money, no car. 59:24 Stuck in the mountain with bears, 59:25 Hannah reaches out to family in Oregon 59:27 and says, I want to go back home to Simpsonville. 59:30 I was like crying and I was like, I don't want to do this, like, I want to go home. 59:35 That first time she went there, she came with John Bob out. 59:39 I think she was under the extreme influence of him then. 59:42 But she didn't come clean the first time, didn't tell the truth. 59:45 I don't want to talk to you anymore, I'm sorry. 59:48 When she comes back now, starts telling more, implicating him more, helping us 59:54 figure out how he met Katie and that sort of thing. 59:56 Hannah had told me that she was talking to John about Katie's killing. 60:29 And that was kind of the gotcha moment. It was the nail in the coffin we were waiting for. 60:33 What did he tell you about killing Jamie? 60:37 He told me that the last thing he said was out. 60:45 He said that before that, that if he let her go, she wouldn't call the police. 60:51 She didn't cry about it or anything. 60:56 She didn't have to like it in her pocket. 60:58 I think she's fortunate to be alive. 61:02 I think they were one argument away from her being hurt. 61:10 And he tells you where they were when he was killed or what anything like that happened. 61:17 He said that he put her there, left, and her phone was in the water. 61:28 He did the thing in the water, what water he was playing to. 61:33 He doesn't think that it was funny. 61:36 So at the time there was no signs of where her cell phone was. 61:38 We couldn't locate it anywhere in an initial search of the crime scene, so that was the 61:44 thing we really wanted to get our hands on. 61:48 And we had suspicion that there was still some communication between Hannah and John. 61:53 Hannah knows. 61:54 Hannah knows where he's at. 61:55 We took a gamble. 61:56 She will lead us to him. 61:58 If you know where he is, we need to find out. 62:00 Now's the time to tell me. 62:10 Fall never arrives all at once. 62:13 Verse the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other. 62:19 A jacket meets a dress, a hoodie slips beneath a blazer, an old cap finds a new scarf. 62:25 Because you don't simply step into the season. 62:28 You create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall. 62:33 Find fall your way at Ross. 62:38 So you're not worried about hosting the whole family for the holidays? 62:41 Why would I be? 62:42 Wayfair had everything I needed to get the house holiday ready. 62:45 What if Mike brings his... 62:46 Cheerful dogs? 62:47 My tree has tons of five-star reviews telling me how sturdy it is. 62:50 But what if everyone's plus one, brings a plus one? 62:53 We'll see how extendable this extendable table really is. 62:56 And extra chairs are on the way. 62:57 Okay, what if there's a blizzard and everyone has to sleep over? 63:01 Ready to go with extra bedding and towels. 63:03 From guest-ready essentials to holiday decor you can trust, Wayfair delivers. 63:08 When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. 63:11 What they don't expect stop. This is simply safe police are on the way using smart AI cameras live US based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds 63:20 Don't just record a break in stop it from ever happening plan starting around a dollar a day right now 63:26 Get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe comm slash spotify 63:31 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49 99 a month visit simply safe comm slash licenses for alarm license information 63:43 Hannah had come back 63:45 Are you right there in that chair for me? 63:47 She told me that John had told her 63:50 that he had taken Katie's cell phone 63:53 and thrown it in a flooded area in the abandoned house. 63:59 We were able to go back and locate a separate basement area, 64:03 so not the same area that Katie was located in, 64:07 and it was flooded about two, three feet of water. 64:10 So they find the phone and it is submerged in water, 64:13 so they call the forensic technicians, 64:15 they say hey we have this phone what should we do with it in order to try to be able to extract it 64:19 and they tell them to put it in rice for a while. Put it in a bag of rice and hope for the best 64:25 and so we had to give it a shot. We let it dry out the best we could eventually they were able 64:31 to get data out of it. There was a photo of what appeared to be a selfie taken by Katie. 64:40 You can see there's woods in the background which is consistent with the woods of the 64:48 a time stamp. 64:50 Around 417 on October 24th, she was at the abandoned house. 64:57 So we know that's the time frame when she was killed. 65:03 She was smiling. 65:04 She was happy not knowing what was going to happen. 65:07 I don't think she knew she was in any danger. 65:11 But this critical new evidence doesn't get police 65:14 any closer to finding John Blavilt, who's still on the 65:18 Lam, with police unable to find him for years. 65:22 The case is still unsolved, and Katie's family 65:24 is backing for answers. 65:26 It's bad enough knowing your daughter was murdered 65:28 and will never be back again, but to know her murder is free, 65:31 running around, doing who knows what. 65:39 Hannah returns. 65:40 She's not charged with anything. 65:41 Myself and others, we believe there was still a chance 65:44 they would be in contact. 65:45 I threw a fit about Hannah. 65:47 Every chance I got, Hannah knows. 65:49 Hannah knows where he's at. 65:50 We took a gamble. 65:51 She will lead us to him. 65:52 Authorities are certain that Hannah is the key to finding John and the US 65:56 Marshals interview her multiple times over the years. I looked and spent hours 66:03 and hours and hours many hours looking at every individual that was 66:08 interviewed in that case over and over and over. There's a seven seconds 66:13 piece that I showed Hannah that actually broke the case. This is one of 66:18 the interviews that the Simpsonville PD did for John. 66:21 Yeah, well, that's a count. 66:23 I'm dragging her around because she's 66:24 willing to be drug around. 66:25 John doesn't say, oh, Hannah was my girlfriend, 66:28 that I loved her and I trusted her. 66:30 Instead he says, because I could drag her around, 66:34 in that moment, John reveals his true self to Hannah. 66:38 Because she's willing to be drug around. 66:40 That's it. 66:41 When I played that for her, that was the key right there. 66:44 I knew that 100% I told her we're 66:46 going to catch this guy. We called Simpsonville and I said I will have her 66:51 in your office tomorrow at 9 a.m. She is going to tell you everything. 67:01 How you been? Yeah? Yeah. 67:04 It's been a long time. How long, how old are you now? It's been what six years? 67:09 I'm 22. All right well I heard you wanted to talk to me or is yours? I want you to 67:14 tell me everything. We had suspicion that there were still some 67:18 communication between Hannah and John and she did end up emitting to the fact that she 67:23 spoke with John all the way up through January or February of 2019, which is a little over 67:29 two years since when they actually fled. 67:31 And how are you guys communicating? 67:34 Through... 67:35 Well, at the very beginning we were communicating on Facebook and Messenger and then after 67:41 that we were talking on Snapchat. 67:43 So what was his Facebook page? 67:44 It was then they had been given to me. 67:48 Hannah was still very much in love with John and thought that once the heat, so to speak, 67:54 went away that they'd be able to start their life together. 67:57 I was going to move to Colorado, we were going to live there, and then I, you know, like 68:04 when I got to Texas, I was just thinking about everything. 68:09 I was scared, and so I came back home. 68:13 I think enough time had lapsed between the spell that John had on her that she was no longer trying to keep him hidden. 68:21 If you know where he is, we need to find out. Now's the time to tell me. 68:26 I don't know where he is. I heard him mentioned from Ashland and Bloodford. 68:36 I don't know for sure, but I feel like it was in Oregon. 68:44 My name is Chris Tamayo, Deputy U.S. Marshal, and I was assigned to the Cold Case Unit for this case. 68:51 There was deputies and officers in South Carolina that discovered that through interviews with Hanna, 68:57 she was still in communications with him. 68:59 I just know the number that he was using to communicate with me. 69:03 Would you ready to give that to the Marshal? 69:04 Yes, ma'am. 69:05 We ended up getting records that had conversations between them via text. 69:10 and once we saw this 541 area code we immediately honed in on 541 that's an 69:17 Oregon area code. We ran that phone number through a normal law enforcement 69:21 database and it came back to us Stephanie. I know that he was living with 69:27 somebody who a girl that he said that they were dating. We further checked 69:34 into Stephanie it came back to this address that's right here behind me. They 69:39 saw him in the yard, he had chains, he'd had a full beard, no longer the short hair 69:43 cut, army haircut, but had his shirt off. Chris Tamayo, the marshal's office said 69:49 he had a unique tattoo. It was of a pirate. I did that drive-by, we saw the 69:54 tattoo, and I communicated that to them. I said, you know, we can take him 69:58 outside. We can take him right now. It's him. Are you good with that? He had 70:05 no shirt on. They could see his waistband. He didn't have his gun. 70:08 and what do you want us to do? 70:10 Go get them. 70:14 So John's far in the back there. 70:15 We turned up the driveway. 70:17 The team got in front of the vehicle, gave John commands. 70:22 Police, US Marshals warrant get down on the ground 70:25 and John dropped right in the back there. 70:28 The team's got him in cuffs. 70:29 I looked down at John's face. 70:31 I said, look at me, I take a photo. 70:33 We got a 10-15. 70:34 Fugitive is apprehended. 70:36 They found John Blob out. 70:38 I said, you gotta be kidding me. 70:41 What was John doing for all those years? 70:43 How was he able to survive as a wanted man? 70:46 Police are hoping that the woman he was living with 70:49 might be able to explain. 70:54 He's saying the earth. 71:06 The first pictures that came out 71:07 were of him on the ground getting arrested. 71:10 I said, what's your name? 71:11 That's when he said Ben Klein. 71:14 He's like, okay, we're gonna play that game. 71:17 I just went behind him 71:18 and started rolling his fingerprints. 71:19 Said John Tufton Blavilt, 71:21 I wanted out of South Carolina for homicide. 71:24 I remember turning around to him and just kind of no smile anymore, 71:28 dead pans and looks down. 71:30 I was like, yeah, you're going to jail. 71:34 Stephanie, the woman he had been living with for five years, 71:38 had no idea when she came home from work as a postal carrier 71:43 that her house would be surrounded by US marshals. 71:46 At the time, there were pets. 71:49 We wanted to make sure the house was secure before we just took off. 71:51 and we knew that Stephanie had been with him so long. 71:53 She was questioned and interviewed by the U.S. Marshals. 71:57 She was completely beside herself. 71:58 She had absolutely no knowledge of who this man really was. 72:01 To her, he was Ben Incline. 72:05 Now you said his name is John what? 72:07 John Tufton Blovell. 72:09 So he's being arrested on charges out of South Carolina for murder. 72:13 Are you serious? 72:14 Yeah. 72:15 That moment that she found out, it's so raw. 72:19 her cries are so deep and cutting like you can feel her pain. 72:26 He murdered his wife and then went on the run and came here to work with him. 72:33 I'm like six years. 72:38 I mean because that's how long we've been looking for him. 72:46 Who she thought she knew is not the person that she knew. 72:50 Have you ever seen any IDs or identification? 72:52 No, he always said that he was just, um, like, off the grid or didn't like any—so I just 73:01 chocked it up to him being like a hippie. 73:04 I believed her. 73:05 I knew she wasn't involved with this because she truly broke down. 73:09 He found someone that would allow him to live here, take care of him, and he didn't 73:14 have to do anything else. 73:16 He would do random odd jobs and then, like, just random craigslist things. 73:21 He was basically here watching my cats and my dog all the time. 73:26 While Stephanie is being interviewed by one U.S. Marshal, 73:30 another one walks in and says, 73:32 hey, do you know where this bag is that John's talking about 73:36 that he wants us to get for him? 73:37 Is that something you would allow us to take a look at? 73:41 The rafters. 73:42 I think it's green. It's a green hiking bag. 73:45 It's filled to the brim. 73:47 We're going through the backpack, 73:48 looking for anything that may just show how he was on the run. 73:52 Fake IDs, stolen IDs, checkbooks, 73:56 something that just indicates, yeah, 73:57 he was living another life. 74:00 So once we went through it, it was the journal, 74:03 some fake IDs that he had. 74:04 At this point, U.S. Marshals know they have something here, 74:08 but they don't know how important that journal will become. 74:13 He had kept that journal what appeared to be 74:16 during the actual fleeing. 74:17 It was during the trip with Hannah. 74:20 He's writing about everything on his run. 74:22 You know, where they're staying, what they're doing, where they're eating. 74:26 He's drawing pictures of the ocean. 74:28 There's a letter to his daughter in there. 74:31 He talks about how sorry he is that he had to do what he had to do. 74:34 But that girl was evil. 74:36 And then he's writing this thing and there's certain letters capitalized at the end. 74:41 And so letters that are capitalized at the bottom of this journal entry. 74:45 If you put together all the capitalized letters, it just says, I did it. 74:51 I did it. 74:53 But I don't see that much. 74:55 Just doesn't happen. 74:56 LaVel is being held in a jail in Oregon, but he will be extradited back to South Carolina 75:02 to face his charges. 75:04 A day or two later, we had flown back with him and got him back here. 75:08 He really didn't show much of any emotion. 75:11 After nearly six years on the run, John Blavilt appeared in court in Greenville. 75:16 He pleads not guilty. 75:20 A judge denied bond, he's charged with murder 75:23 and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. 75:27 And eventually, those 2016 charges of domestic violence 75:30 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor were dropped. 75:35 And not long after John's arrest, 75:38 Hannah Thompson was also arrested. 75:41 Hannah Thompson is now charged 75:43 with obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact. 75:46 The State Attorney General's office says Thompson is looking at potentially a 55-year prison sentence. 75:52 She ended up getting arrested. 75:54 I think she had five different warrants between Simpsonville and Greenville County. 75:58 She had an ankle monitor and house arrest that she was on prior to trial. 76:04 This is a prepaid collect call from 76:06 John Lovell 76:07 an incarcerated individual at Greenville County Detention Center. 76:11 While John is sitting in jail awaiting trial, 76:14 He starts calling all his friends and his family who he hasn't spoken to in years. 76:19 Where you been, mom? 76:20 I've been all over the country, man. 76:21 And it's so bizarre. 76:22 He's filling them in on what it was like being on the run. 76:27 I was like working on top farms and stuff like that. 76:30 And I met a girl, they moved in with her, just called it down like that, bought a house, 76:35 all in her name. 76:36 And then one morning the U.S. marshals came out of that front, turned into my vegetable 76:40 garden, and the U.S. marshals just pulled up in the driveway. 76:44 But that night I got the best sleep that I've had six years. 76:47 So I guess there's a positive to it. 76:49 I do imagine that there is some sort of relief that comes with that 76:53 because it's got to be a little bit freeing 76:55 that I'm not having to look over my shoulders anymore. 76:58 I'm not having to pretend to be somebody else. 77:01 I got a lawyer visit tomorrow. We're going to trial. 77:04 Nearly eight years after Katie's murder, John is finally headed to trial. 77:09 He probably thinks he's going to get off because he's just that lucky. 77:14 And the star witness for the prosecution is his old girlfriend, Hannah. 77:31 All these years later, and John's trial is about to begin, 77:34 and he is facing the possibility of life in prison for the murder of Katie Blobelt. 77:41 The trial is underway in Greenville County for an upstate man accused of murdering his estranged wife. 77:48 Six inches, 2,724 miles, and 2,086 tanks. 77:56 Those were significant numbers in the six inches that blade went into her body. 78:01 The number of days that John Blauvelt was on the run, 78:04 and then the distance from Simpsonville to Medford, Oregon. 78:09 It's hard looking at him because he's like smug. 78:12 He probably thinks he's going to get off. 78:14 I was trying to look at his eyes because, like, right here doesn't change. 78:21 I stake on this winners. 78:23 Thank you, Your Honor. This day calls Keith Moore Cratch. 78:27 Katie's cell phone had been dumped in a separate side of the basement. 78:31 Please state your name for the record. 78:32 Cheryl Scofield. 78:33 I was confident we had a great prosecution team, 78:36 and I was confident with what evidence we had. 78:39 Stay happy, kids from witnesses. 78:41 State of the mouth, Hallie Somerville. 78:43 Allie Somerville was one of John's roommates and also a close friend that he confided in. 78:49 Please be significant. 78:49 Allie Somerville had a really good insight into John Blavilt. 78:53 She was around him a lot. 78:55 John probably shared a lot of information with her. 78:58 He said that he was born to kill good and bad people, that he loved to kill, that's 79:04 what he was born to do. 79:05 John Blavilt told you he was born to kill good and bad people, good and bad people. 79:10 That's what his purpose was here on this earth. 79:13 The most important witness was Hannah Thompson. 79:17 Hannah Thompson was the only person that got us from A to Z in the entire case. 79:23 The day of the murder, he had told Hannah, 79:26 today's the day I'm going to kill Katie. 79:29 Then told her, I need you to drive me near Katie's job. 79:33 And I'm going to stand outside of her vehicle until Katie gets off of work. 79:37 That was when John had gotten in the car with Katie. 79:41 Hannah testifies that she brings John's phone back to the house to make it look 79:46 like he's there. He had staged Katie's car in a gravel wooded kind of like 79:52 drive-through that was somewhat behind John's house at the time. What were you 79:57 told to do then? To follow him while he drove Katie's car in our 80:03 Strangely done Prius. Do you remember where you ended up? 80:07 Then we pulled into a parking lot on Whitler's Road. Thank God for Joe's auto 80:14 He's got his video going 80:15 Captures that when both cars are coming in who pulled in first John 80:21 Whose car was he driving? 80:23 He's car who pulled in second part. Yeah 80:28 John's gets on keys car and 80:30 and he gets into the car and I'm driving. 80:35 And then you see that gold Prius just leaving. 80:40 That's incredible evidence. 80:42 That was tied together by Hannah Thompson. 80:46 By the time we got to trial, 80:49 Hannah had a full version of events 80:50 of John giving a full confession to her 80:53 about how he did it. 80:55 That was version number 11 of events. 81:00 I don't know anything about her murder. 81:02 And that had been going on for several years. 81:05 In those eight years, you've had now 11 opportunities 81:11 to come up for this court and solve the truth. 81:13 Yes. 81:14 And today's that day? 81:16 Yes. 81:17 You've lied to your friends and your family? 81:21 Yes. 81:22 And you're kind of blind? 81:24 Yes. 81:25 I don't know how you parse out 81:27 what part of her statement is the truth. 81:31 Her story was constantly changing, 81:33 and so she alone by herself in a vacuum 81:35 is not credible enough to try an entire case. 81:38 But we were able to corroborate 81:39 every single little step of her story. 81:42 What is this? 81:43 It's just a journal that John kept. 81:46 She was one of the reasons why the diary 81:48 was actually present in the trial. 81:51 She wrote in that diary. 81:52 She was able to identify 81:53 that John's handwriting was in the diary. 81:55 And again, on page 39, he says, I don't bother to run. 81:59 Yes. 82:00 Somehow, however, you understand why I did it, 82:03 back where all was evil to me. 82:06 Sorry that I had to be there, 82:08 but there was no other way for me. 82:10 I don't know that I would categorize anything in there 82:13 as a confession. 82:14 John is talking to, is writing a letter to his daughter. 82:17 He's not confessing, and he's not apologizing 82:19 for killing Katie. 82:20 He's apologizing for running and not being there 82:22 for his daughter and missing out on her growing up years. 82:27 So, everyone is wondering, is John going to take the stand in his own defense? 82:35 After three days of testimony, thank you, your honor, may it please the court. 82:43 You don't have to take Hannah Thompson's word for it. 82:46 You don't have to take investigator Moorecraft, investigator Schofield, or even my word 82:50 for it because you can take his words for it. 82:52 But I did it. 82:55 We're here because of tunnel vision. 82:57 It became obvious that he was going to be the only person that law enforcement investigated. 83:04 Then fear got the best of him, and he decided to take his chances on the road. 83:09 Was John a perfect husband? 83:11 Absolutely not. 83:12 Absolutely not. 83:13 But does being a terrible husband make you guilty of murder? 83:16 No. 83:20 After just hours of deliberations, the verdict is in. 83:23 Breaking news right now out of Greenville County, the jury just reaching a verdict. 83:28 The jury deliberated for about five hours today. The verdict did come back. 83:32 I was just watching the judge because I am hard of hearing. 83:35 Paul, I understand that you agree to the verdict. Is that correct? 83:38 Yes, Your Honor. 83:38 I wanted to see his lips when he said what he said. 83:42 As to the charge of murder, we the jury unites when finding the defendant John Teague 83:47 Love out. Love out. Guilty. 83:51 I even grabbed my husband, I said, guilty? 83:55 Just to make sure I heard it right, you know? 83:57 And I couldn't believe it. 83:59 I just started crying like crazy and couldn't stop 84:02 because that's when I guess all the emotion 84:05 and the stress I've been going through 84:07 it just finally broke through. 84:09 He bes sentenced to life in prison for the murder. 84:12 In South Carolina, since 96, life means life. 84:15 It's a pine box life as we call it. 84:17 Means you don't get out unless you're in a pine box. 84:20 No freedoms, hopefully no happiness. 84:23 If he can't get the pain and suffering he caused my sister, 84:29 at least he doesn't get anything else, either. 84:36 A second suspect was John Blavilt's teenage girlfriend. 84:39 She is now 25 and charged with obstruction of justice 84:43 and accessory after the fact. 84:45 Hannah Thompson was looking at trial at 50 years in prison. 84:49 John's been convicted of murder, so what about Hannah Thompson? 85:04 John Blavel's girlfriend, Hannah Thompson, 85:07 who was 17 at the time of the crime, faces lesser charges in this case. 85:11 Hannah Thompson was looking at 50 years in prison. 85:15 By the time we get to sentencing though, 85:17 three of the five charges against Hannah have been dropped, 85:20 so now she's facing a potential of 20 years in prison. 85:25 She pled guilty to obstruction of justice and misprison of a felony. 85:30 the judge that presided over her plea 85:32 got to see the value of her information that she provided 85:35 and ultimately sentenced her to a probationary sentence 85:37 instead of active time. 85:39 She's scarred for life because of this 85:41 and she knew she was manipulated. 85:47 She participated, she should have done it sometime. 85:51 It's hard to accept and that guy recognized that 85:54 but you have to decide what's important for the conviction 85:56 of the person that actually did the killing. 85:59 John Blavette will never get out of jail 86:01 And a lot of that was due to the testimony of Hannah Thompson, tying it together. 86:06 And as much justice as we got with John, we got the total opposite with Hannah. 86:12 And so she's living free as a burden to come and go and do what she wants now. 86:16 And that's just wrong to me. 86:22 She knew what he was doing. She knew his plans.
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