Transcript of Born to Kill

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The crime scene was one out of a horror movie. The house was an old abandoned house deep into the woodline. You couldn't even see it from the street.

The walls had holes in it. Old stained mattresses laying on the floor. Empty beer cans, empty soda cans, just trash everywhere.

The house itself had been abandoned for Lord knows how long. There was graffiti and stuff written on the walls. Satanic graffiti. Real dark. If the house could tell stories, I'm sure it'd have a lot to tell.

I didn't even know it was there. I've been in Fountain Inn and Simpsonville since 2002, and I never knew it was there. There was a lot of people that would go there and smoke and drink and things. I guess it was something a lot of high schoolers had done before us. A house in the woods that we could go hang out after school and not get in trouble.

Is what we thought it was. Looking back now, it's terrifying to even think about it.

This is a picture that Katie took. This is me and Katie. That's me right there, and that's her right there. This was the day of our 5th grade graduation. So like, this is another one of her.

You know, it just shows her smile, and there's like a little bit of goofiness to it. We went to Hillcrest High School together. All these photos were taken right before our senior year started. Everybody had to wear, you know, just something appropriate. Katie Blauvelt was a young girl living in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

Simpsonville is one of these South Carolina small towns, very few businesses. Everybody kind of knows everyone. She liked One Direction. I just remember her being really big about them. My ringtone for her was You Don't Know You're Beautiful.

You don't know, uh-oh, you don't know you're beautiful. When I hear that song, I still tear up because that's just— that was her song. She just didn't realize how beautiful she was. She just liked happy music. Something with a good beat.

She just always wanted to be bouncing, singing, going, doing, having fun, going on an adventure. Katie had gotten over some hurdles. She was on her way to a new life, working at PetSmart, gotten a new car. I cosigned for her a 2011 Ford Fiesta. Nice little car, really cute.

And so she was happy to finally have her own little car. She loved that thing. We worked at the PetSmart and the Pets Hotel, which is a doggy daycare and boarding facility. She had the biggest heart I've ever known. Never met anybody that she was unkind to.

Absolutely obsessed with animals. Loved Harry Potter. That's her turtle tattoo. Turtles were her thing. Katie was my mom's little sister, so she was my aunt.

We're 4 years and 1 week apart. She was just always there for me when I needed her, and she was my best friend. Always somebody who I could talk to. Not one person had a bad thing to say about Katie. Everybody said she was loving, she was fun, she had a good job.

She was just doing things that a normal 22-year-old would do.

On October 24th, Katie goes to work. We have her time cards where she checks in at PetSmart. She ended up clocking out just a few minutes after 2:00 PM on the 24th. She was supposed to meet up with her niece, Cheyanne, later on in that day. Cheyanne called her after she'd gotten off work and told her to come by.

We'll go grab something to eat. We'll hang out. I called her and I said, do you want to come hang out with us after you're done with work? And she said, yeah, I'll call you later. Cheyanne even said that the conversation was a little weird, that Katie wasn't her normal self.

She was just very vague on the phone, and I was like, what are you doing? And she was like, I don't really know. Didn't think much of it until later on. I look back, I realized that she sounded uncomfortable, but at the time I didn't pick up on that.

She doesn't show up. She doesn't call. She's not answering her phone. It's like she's disappeared. No missed calls, no messages.

Katie wasn't there. She's not answering her phone. Just nothing. So then I just started up the chain, like, call Mama, make sure she's on this too. See if she's there.

Is she asleep? Brandy calls me. She said, is Katie there? I'm like, no. She said, have you seen her?

Talked to her? I'm like, no. I said, she's not here. She said, something's not right. Word gets out in Simpsonville, hey, Katie's missing.

So everybody kind of knows, hey, this isn't right. Something's wrong. They're out there looking for her— friends, family, coworkers. Everybody went out looking for her. Everybody.

I said, if I don't hear anything by morning, I'm going straight to the police station. So I did. And I went down to Simpsonville Police Station and reported her missing.

And then that's when law enforcement gets involved and starts trying to track down where Katie is. So they said, just go home and wait. That was the hardest thing to do, was just go home and wait. But we didn't. We got in groups, and we were searching places she'd hang out.

I was the investigator who was on call. I got a phone call from the uniformed patrol supervisor who was meeting with the family. He relayed the information about the case to me. I immediately felt like this was something we needed to jump on as quick as possible. Contacted her cell phone carrier and went ahead and requested what's called an exigent ping.

Where they're able to give us either the current location of the phone if it's turned on or the last known location. Her phone was pinging way out of state. And they actually get some information back from the wireless provider that shows that she's up in West Virginia. Katie's GPS actually said she was in Bluefields, West Virginia. I said, does this make any sense?

Do you know anybody up there? Is there any reason she'd be going in this path? They said, absolutely not. Katie's been missing about 24 hours now, and her friends and family are asking, what is she doing there? Did she go on her own, or did someone take her there?

Around 1:30, 2:30 in the morning, Brandy called me and said, Mom, something's going on. I knew. I knew from that minute what happened, and I was just screaming.

Simpsonville's a nice rural town. We're about 15 minutes outside of downtown Greenville, South Carolina. We've got the typical ice cream station that you'll find a line out the door every Friday night. Simpsonville is just a beautiful, quiet place where everybody knows everybody and everybody gets along. High school football up here is tremendous.

It's just a peaceful place, and that's another thing I think that shocked this community when this happened.

Catherine Blauvelt was last seen leaving her job at the PetSmart on Woodruff Road Monday around 2 o'clock. Last time anyone saw Katie was Monday night. It's now Tuesday. She's still missing. Her phone is still indicating that it's in West Virginia.

And no one knows what's going on. From what I understand, they started tracking her phone. And they had some kind of miscommunication. The cell phone company gave us the wrong cell phone information. We later found out that they had entered some incorrect information and provided the wrong information to us.

And it really derailed the investigation for a while. They really lost about 12 hours of time looking for Katie, trying to trace down Simpsonville 911, what's the location of your emergency? Um, I'm at Discover Church across from the woods. You're at Discover Church across from where? Um, in the woods across from it.

2 of Katie's friends, Wayne Roper and Ricky Hargrove, go looking for her. And the first place that they search is honestly so creepy, it's the kind of place you expect to find a body. I was worried about my friend, uh, Katie. She went missing. She's been missing for a while now.

And, uh, we came in this house that we used to hang— all hang out in. Dispatch received a phone call from 2 young men. They were friends of Katie's. And one of them had just gotten off work. At the local Walmart at midnight.

Wayne Roper was a good friend of Katie's, knew her for a really long time, went to school with her. And they decided to go to this house because it was a place that they had all hung out in the past. She's been missing for, I think, 30 hours now. And, uh, we went into the woods where we used to all hang out at. And there's a house there.

And we went looking for her there just in case, like, she might be there staying or something. They did a search of the entire house, and the last place they checked was the basement. There was a concrete box formed in the floor of the basement. It was covered with a piece of plywood. These 2 boys removed the plywood and found Katie's body.

What's wrong with her, sir? She's not alive. She run away? No, ma'am. She— we found her in this house not alive.

It went from a place where they used to socialize and have fun to a tomb.

I believe it was Investigator Moorcraft who called me to notify me that we had a murder and we had located Katie's body and that I needed to respond as an additional investigator to help out. Okay, hold on for me, sir. Centerville, you still— you have police on the way? I've got police on the way. All right, we'll stage for you if you could just advise.

All right, sir, I should have officers pulling up now. Can you see them? Yes, sir.

The abandoned house itself has got its own special brand of creepy. Then you add in the fact that law enforcement's discovering this crime scene after midnight, late night. There's floorboards missing. There's all this spray paint on the walls. And then you see the camera pivot and turn to walk down into the basement.

Then you just see Katie's body. She is naked from the waist down. She's got her shirt pulled up, and she's got that board covered on top of her. And you can just see a stab wound on her neck. Her shirt's soaked in blood.

The actual handle of the knife wasn't present on the scene. And the entire blade was inside of her neck. The 6-inch knife, 4.9 inches into her right neck, cut the carotid artery and the left jugular vein. And she bled to death. She wasn't wearing any clothes from the waist down.

Obviously makes you concerned if there's some sort of sexual assault. The coroner's office tested to rule out a sexual assault. There was no signs of sexual assault.

Police say that they find blood spatter in the undergrowth of the bushes near the house, which makes them think that Katie was likely killed outside and her body taken inside the farmhouse. There were drag marks and blood leading from outside the house down to the basement and into this, um, hole, if you will. You could tell she'd been there more than 12 hours or so.

Pathologist said there was some injuries on her hands and all that would be consistent with defensive-type wounds. I think she fought. There was no signs of where her cell phone was. It was still turned off. We couldn't locate it anywhere in an initial search of the crime scene.

So that was the thing we really wanted to get our hands on.

I passed by the abandoned house and saw all the cops there. There that night, something just clicked in my brain, and I was like, why else would they all be here? I knew. I knew Katie was dead.

I got out and went and asked one of the policemen. I said, is it my daughter you found? Tell me. I just want to know. They said, we can't tell you anything.

You need to go home and just wait for somebody to contact you.

I remember screaming. I was just screaming. And I remember somebody picked me up and put me back in the car and took me home to my mom and dad. And I was just screaming. I was checking the news and I saw that there had been a body found.

And I kind of looked at my roommate and I was like, I'm not going to think anything until I hear something. I found an article just scrolling through Facebook and it said, 22-year-old body found. And I was just hoping and praying it wasn't her. Just please don't be her. The body of a 22-year-old Catherine Blyvelt was found in the cellar of an abandoned home on Main Street.

Happened about 1 o'clock this morning. Police say her family had reported her missing just hours earlier Tuesday afternoon. I picked up the phone and I didn't want to hear what he said, so I handed it to my husband. And I remember watching my husband's face. That's what told me There's nothing else to do.

Cops are asking themselves, what are the chances that these 2 guys who found Katie's body found it in the first place that they looked? What made you go to that house specifically at midnight?

Since this is obviously a death investigation, we kind of have to treat everybody like they might have something to do with it. Simpsonville did a really thorough job investigating this case. So they looked at everyone. That included Wayne Roper. That included his friend Richard Hargrove that was there with him that day that found Katie.

What we want to do this morning is talk to you about How you came about to find Katie. Just ask you some, some basic questions, okay? Oh, these 2 guys called and said that they had found Katie's body in an abandoned house between Simpsonville and Fountain Inn.

So tell me what happened once you got to the abandoned house tonight. We went through all the rooms, then, uh, Shone my light down in the basement. At the bottom of the flight of the steps, there was some kind of concrete structure to the right, and, uh, it looked like somebody had shoved the body in there.

Then I looked in there, I seen a black jacket that had dirt on it, and then I looked a little around in there. I seen a woman. Yeah, Wayne pointed out the body. I couldn't believe it at first. All I did, I looked in there and I remember I said, oh my God, and I, I couldn't handle it.

I had to— I started leaving right then.

Who at 12:30 at night is going to go to this abandoned house by themselves without contacting the police first or without going with a group of You know, friends. So it seemed a little bit strange to us. This was a pretty obscure place for someone to find a body. We couldn't figure the odds of these 2 guys deciding they're going to go look for Katie, and they go check one place and find her under a bunch of trash in the basement of this abandoned house.

Yeah. She— I went to school with her. Um, I've known her since then, and then we did date, and that's pretty much it. And then we've been hanging out every so often. Has Katie ever made you mad, or— No, sir.

Were you guys talking like you're trying to get together? Oh no. This latest time? No, sir. We were just— we were being friends.

She was telling me everything that was, like, going on in her life and everything. Detectives interview Katie's niece, Cheyenne Paxton. She tells police there's no way Wayne could have killed Katie. Wayne would never do something like this to Katie.

Wayne— me and Katie have known each other since I was 11 years old. And that's how I know Wayne.

And Wayne wouldn't do something like this to Katie. We just felt bad that he asked it. I understand, but you got to look at it from our perspective. It's very suspicious that he's the one that found that body, especially where it was. Of course, we didn't know either of these two.

We didn't know their relationship to Katie, so we got on them pretty hard. Let me ask you a question. It's kind of blunt. Did you have anything to do with Katie's death? No, sir.

No, absolutely not. I bailed and you worked. I don't— I didn't know anything about her. She just came to my bonfires a few times. Eventually we're gonna find out who killed her.

I promise you that. If you have any involvement or any knowledge of it, now's the time for you to come forward. I don't— I did not do anything. Okay. All right, what I'm gonna do is swab each of your cheeks, okay?

If you don't mind, I'm gonna take some pictures of you. Wayne and Ricky submit to DNA tests. They have their bodies photographed. Turn around. They turn over their cell phones.

So it seems like Wayne and Ricky are in the clear. All right. We'll be in touch with you then. I appreciate your time. However, they get called back into the interrogation room because a neighboring police department from Fountain Inn that's working on the case wants to talk to them.

Boy, Ricky, I, I gotta tell you, man, it seems like every time you kind of go over the story, a little bit more is added to it. Does that not— does it— is that resonating in your mind? I mean, you guys are asking me the questions, I'm answering them. And we run that blood on plants around that house where a body's found, and it comes back, and you're The winner. What do you think is going to happen to you?

You're going to think that I did it. Do you see how we would think that anyway?

It's— yeah, I think that it's weird that, like, I'm the one that found her and that we just— we've— it's just a weird coincidence that I just went to— I don't believe in coincidences. Not like that. I'm not opposed to helping anybody that's made a mistake, Wayne, but I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth. I'm telling you the truth. You're telling me part of the truth.

I'm telling you the full truth. It's just hard for me to get my mind around how they go into this abandoned house with flashlights and find her buried under a bunch of stuff. I mean, Just didn't pass the smell test to me. Wayne, did you kill— did you kill her? Yes, sir.

You knew she was dead, though? No, I didn't, sir. Why else would you go straight down to where she was? I didn't go straight there. I don't know what— what— I'm not telling.

That's all. Like, I've told you everything that I can think of. And I'm like, I can tell him he didn't do it. I can promise you he didn't do it. I know he didn't do it.

We were thorough enough that even though we were suspicious about that, you know, they were eliminated and they were actually, you know, telling the truth. These gentlemen had nothing to do with it. And if I could ever say anything to Wayne, it's 2 things. One, thank you for being the one that found her, but I am so sorry it was you that found her because I can only imagine What he went through for that. But— and I hurt for him for being the one that actually found her.

Police tell us they do have a few leads but no defined persons of interest just yet. Wayne and Ricky have been cleared, so police turn their attention to other people in Katie's life. They do start with the people closest to her. Even though Katie may look young, The 22-year-old has already been married. But then investigators find out that she's recently separated from her husband, and they decide they need to talk to him.

And at this point, we're— we're able to say that it is Katherine, OK? I'm so sorry for your loss, sir.

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The NBA on ESPN is happening now, and we're here for all of it. From the superstar moves to the next-gen revolution. Let's get who we are, boys. Another 3. Bang!

We don't just live it, we love it. Because the NBA is a world of its own.

So from the biggest names To the biggest moments, ESPN is where you call home. Opening week begins October 21st. Yeah, in case you got any problems with her. This is, uh, Josh Payton. He's a detective.

This is Gary Sessions. He's a deputy coroner. At the time of Katie's murder, she was actually living with her parents because she had separated from her husband, John Blauvelt. What's your wife's full name? Catherine Ann Blauvelt.

Okay. And are you familiar that she's missing? I am. Okay. Yeah.

He didn't file the missing persons report because they weren't living together at that point in time. They hadn't been married very long at all. They get married in December. They are married a few months before they had separated. She said that it was over.

She was done. She didn't want to be with him. Naturally, detectives have questions for John. But before they can get to that, they need to inform him that his wife has been murdered. John was considered next of kin since he was still legally married to Katie.

John Blauvelt is in the Army. He's currently serving as a recruiter. So myself, the deputy coroner, and an investigator from Fountain Inn went to his office and made the death notification. Out off of Southeast Main Street, there was a body that was found in a house, okay, an abandoned house. Um, and at this point, we're, we're able to say that it is Captain, okay?

I'm so sorry for your loss, sir. Um, we are obviously in the process of investigating this.

Katie and John Blavelt started, uh, Dating sometime late 2014. She worked at Firehouse Subs, which is a sub shop, and right next door was the Army recruiting station. And that's how it started. She just worked right next to him, and I remember her saying that he would come in and get drinks and talk to her. He was nice, very talkative.

She kept him secret for a while, and the reason was, I think, I think it's because he was separated from his wife, but he wasn't divorced yet. And I found out he had a daughter, but she would crawl up in Katie's lap in a heartbeat. And Katie was very protective of her. She really loved her.

We were laying on the trampoline in my mom's backyard, and we were just talking. And she told me, she said, I think that I'm falling in love with John. And I remember being a little shocked. I was like, I thought this was I thought it was fun, something you were playing with, but I didn't know it was that serious.

I was at work one day, and we were texting. And halfway through the text, she said, oh, by the way, me and John got married. I'm like, what? When? She said yesterday.

That was fast. That was really fast. For better or worse, it went to worse pretty quick. And then Katie moved out of the house.

We were the worst couple. You know, we argued a lot. She moved out in April, I think. And then we talked on and off. Mostly she just wanted to see the dog.

So we— she would come over with her dog, but we couldn't really connect again. It wasn't really working. I know she still loved him. I do know that she talked to him. I do know she hung out with him.

Him and Katie were definitely still around each other. They would both find excuses. You know, Katie was like, they're still A way where we can fix everything, you know? She wanted her marriage to work, but it's like every time she would go back, she would just realize how wrong it was. But then she gets sucked right back into it.

Who do you know that would want to do harm to her? Nobody. I can't think of nobody that would actually want to do anything to her because she's just— Average, quiet. Have you ever gotten so mad at her that maybe you did something you didn't mean to do? No, absolutely not.

Um, I used to have a drinking problem, so I used to get pretty mad, and we used to have like yelling matches, and— but she has some lungs on her, so we could go back and forth all night. But I hadn't drank in 2 months now.

Just because I'm trying to turn my shit around. Are you familiar with this abandoned house? Yeah. Okay. That's the spot.

What's the spot? The hangout spot. When was the last time you were there?

Probably, I don't know, like a week ago, a month ago. It's been months. What starts out as a death This notification starts morphing into an interrogation. And the more questions that the cops ask, the more uncomfortable John becomes. Am I being charged with a crime?

Because he's recording me, and I'm not comfortable with that. No. If I am, I'd like to contact a lawyer because this is uncomfortable. OK. You're not being charged, okay? Our job is to find out what happened, who killed her, and bring them to justice.

Chief Steve Moore tells us that Catherine Blauvelt was last heard from that same afternoon while driving in her car. That car is now missing. Her car was not located at the crime scene. We didn't know where the vehicle was, so we entered it on NCIC basically as a vehicle of interest in a murder case. We believe that the car would hold evidence, you know, that we could use in this case.

But so far, we haven't been able to find it. Now, this is what that car looks like. It's a 2011 black Ford Fiesta. If you have seen or heard anything about this case, the Simpsonville Police Department wants you to call them. On the same day that cops are talking to John, there's a huge development in the case.

A Greenville County deputy located the vehicle in the parking lot We found a vehicle in a parking lot over on Whitehorse Road and called in the VIN number on the vehicle and came back as a match to the vehicle we were looking for. We are pulling into the strip mall where Katie's vehicle was dumped on the day that she was killed. Katie's car, key evidence about what happened in the last few hours of her life, and now surveillance video is the key to finding her killer.

From the time her body was found, it was later that day that the car was found. We got the 911 call a little after midnight, and her car was located at Joe's Auto a little after 6:30, 7 o'clock.

Law enforcement found that car quick. This is the parking lot where Katie's vehicle was stashed after she was killed the same day. We put out a BOLO for her vehicle, so area law enforcement agencies were looking for it in relation to her murder. Greenville County deputies came up on the vehicle. Katie's car contains clues, but we're not talking about DNA or fingerprints.

It has this tiny little insurance device that's called a Snapshot that's hidden underneath the dashboard.

It was equipped with a data collection unit that plugs into the OBD port, and it measures their driving activity to get lower rates or higher rates in some cases. Snapshot from Progressive. Plug it in and you can save on car insurance. The insurance company says it uses this device to personalize rates so it can measure how good and safe a driver you are. And Katie was trying to save some money.

Now authorities are hoping that this little box is going to pay off for them. I think that was some pretty good evidence that we've found, because not only did it show his erratic driving, but it also showed the trajectory of Katie from when she left work to when she got to the abandoned house as well. It's powerful. It's just powerful. It's breadcrumbs from murder to where they left the car finally on White Horse Road.

It showed us a lot of information that we would have never gotten. It was able to pick up speeds, locations, duration of said locations, how long it took her to get from point A to point B. how long she was at that specific location. And it showed us a trajectory of where she went from when she left PetSmart to how she got to where her body was located. She wasn't able to speak again, but thank goodness, thank God that her Progressive Insurance Snapshot kind of spoke for her after that. Police say the device even recorded the driving behavior of the killer as they made their getaway.

The way her car was driven after we know she was dead, you can just see it's a completely different person driving that car. It's got really high rates of speed. He was braking really quickly, speeding up, taking curves really fast. And all that matches up with that device that was on the car. The device shows that Katie's car sat at the abandoned house for about an hour and a half and then drove about 3.5 miles away.

They found the car. Without a license plate. So then, being very good law enforcement, they looked for video. One of our captains located the business across the street, an auto repair shop, and we found that they had video surveillance that aimed across Whitehorse Road and covered the area where the vehicle was parked. The cameras were located back behind us at Joe's Auto Shop.

He's got his video going, captured When both cars are coming in. In the surveillance video from Joe's Auto, we were able to see the victim's vehicle being driven past Joe's into the parking lot that we're currently in. Shortly thereafter, a light-colored vehicle, which we believe to be a Prius, pulled in right behind the victim's vehicle and parked right next to the victim's vehicle. The driver of Katie's vehicle exits the vehicle and goes to the back of the vehicle and And ends up removing the license plate from the vehicle, then gets into the gold vehicle, and they both leave the scene.

You see that gold Prius leaving across the street on Whitehorse Road from Joe's Auto Salvage. That's incredible evidence. So who is that riding around in Katie's car after her murder? Investigators are talking to people in her life. Like the housemates who live with her estranged husband, John, at the house she once shared with him.

John Blavat was living here in October of 2016 along with a few roommates. So Brandon Tucker and Crystal Gorda were roommates living with John. So they were actually there at the house the day that Katie went missing. You'll remember Crystal is Katie's childhood friend.

Crystal and her boyfriend were sitting in the front room to the right of the front door at that time. They saw a small black vehicle pull into the driveway. I was sitting right here and Daniel was sitting at the end of the table. And we saw her car come from like the back of the road. Right.

It come in and went in the driveway and then backed up and then went down the road real fast.

It was so fast. It was so fast. They pulled in, I guess saw who all was home, realized not today, and drove off. Like, it just— it happened that fast, you know? And I was like, wasn't that Katie's car?

And I was like, I think that was Katie's car. Mom, did you see who was driving? I didn't see who was driving the car, but they weren't wearing a watch.

What they were wearing was a black zip-up jacket, and the hood was on. I just saw the black jacket, and I was like, I know that's not Katie. Who do you think it was? I don't know. I have not a clue.

They saw the car come in and saw it leave. Just a short while later, John Blavelt comes back in from the back wooded area. After the car left, it was probably 15 minutes after that, he came up from the woods. And we were like, you know, where were you at? And he was like, I was just going for a run.

You know, he went and took a shower. Was he sweating? Yeah, I mean, he was just getting back from a run. He was sweating. So, if he had a taping, yes.

So who killed her? Who's that? I feel like it has to be somebody that knows Katie and somebody that knows John because they pulled in John's driveway. In her car. And that's just what I keep going back to.

Police have a lot of questions about John Blavelt, and he has a lot of questions about the police. He didn't ask you, what'd you tell the police? Anything like that? He didn't tell me anything. No, I didn't— I didn't tell him.

What were his exact words? I mean, he was just like, what were they asking you? And all this other stuff. What police do next So Katie's body has a viewing. Law enforcement decides to set up a camera in the viewing area.

Police put a hidden camera in the funeral home. Now, that's John Blavelt. But the question is, who's that with him? I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that they would come together.

As they talk to witnesses and they gather more evidence in the homicide of Katie Blauvelt, investigators start focusing in on her husband, Sergeant John Blauvelt, as suspect number one.

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.

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. He brings Hannah Thompson, his 17-year-old girlfriend, to the viewing as well. He makes a remark that she's— she still has blood on her, like they could have done a better job cleaning her up.

You do not see an emotional man looking at his wife. He's kind of making fun of her. He's talking about how dirty she is.

He showed up with Hannah, the last person he should have showed up with.

Who brings another woman to your wife's funeral? Even if they're separated, you just don't do that. You just don't. Their relationship started before Katie even moved out, and then after Katie moved out, Hannah moved into John's bedroom. At the time of Katie's murder, John, who's 28, is dating 17-year-old Hannah.

She was my friend from high school. She just was around with us a lot, coming to his house, hanging out and smoking. And that's how John met her. All right, so November 2nd, 2016. So we contacted him again, and he voluntarily came to the police department.

I lost a friend. Maybe not the best wife, but I lost a friend. We would have always been the worst married couple on the planet, but she was always going to be my friend. We've heard a little bit about this abandoned house. You've been there before?

Yeah. Okay. He denied being in the cellar at one point, even though all of his roommates told us that they would hang out there. In the abandoned house, this is where we used to go to hang out with our friends and stuff. Uh-huh.

And the only people that I know that know about it that know Katie as well, you know, there's not many people. Have you guys ever been in the basement? I have been down there before. John's been there too. You ever been down the stairs in the basement?

No, because the one side's all flooded out and then you can only climb down, and then the other stairs is like missing the last step and it's all like, oh, sketchy. You can feel it. I don't know if you've gone down there, but you can feel it like every step. Wobbling back and forth. You don't know how you're gonna get back up?

He even knows that they're wobbly when you step on them. And how do you know that if you've never been down there? And he also knows that another part of the basement that Katie's body wasn't even in was flooded. And it's not visible unless you actually go down there, go down the steps to see that it was flooded. Police then asked John, why would you bring Hannah to your wife's visitation?

So I'm there by myself. I'm dealing with it by myself. I'm dragging her around because she's willing to be drug around.

So John was a recruiter at the local high school, and he really just kind of became everyone's friend. He was the cool guy, the guy that would throw all the parties. It seemed like a great place to hang out and do things we weren't supposed to do. Instead of recruiting them for the Army like he was supposed to, he was recruiting them to come party at his house. Katie was against it, and she's like, I keep trying to get him to stop and telling the kids to quit coming, but they just— he lets them in and they keep coming.

And there's an incident at the house about 8 months before Katie is murdered. There's a party with underage teens. They're allegedly drinking and smoking, and then the cops knock on the door.

John wouldn't come to the door, basically barricaded himself inside. And at that point, it kind of became a standoff of sorts. We essentially just rushed the door and got him handcuffed, and that was it. That same night, Katie goes to the police.

Katie went down to the Fountain Inn Police Department and reported the fact that at some point in time, John and her had gotten into into an argument, and he pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her. They did arrest him for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and criminal domestic violence. They arrested him for both of those that night.

It really impacted his career. So he immediately gets written up and then goes from being an active recruiter to working a desk job. He blamed her for— Him losing everything, like his whole downfall was all her fault.

Katie's the person that ratted him out. Katie's the one that made up these allegations and went to law enforcement. Katie's the person that has ruined his military career.

What was Hannah's response when you guys were at the viewing?

Just kind of taken aback. That's what— that was one of our friends too. I mean, they were close. They were real close, like months. You have the right to remain silent.

Mm-hmm. And if police want to know more about Hannah, well, she accompanied John to his interrogation at the police station. No, he brought Hannah with him, and that was a great opportunity for us to interview her as well. So who are you dating? I'm not dating anybody.

But if you look at your Facebook status, you just posted on Sunday that you're currently in the most amazing relationship Ever, or something along those lines. So who was that relationship with on Sunday? It was— I mean, it was with John, but we're not, like, in a relationship. Like, we're not dating. I just have a good relationship with him.

Hannah may be a 17-year-old with braces, but she holds her own against a tough interrogation. You may love John, and you may think you two are gonna get married and walk down Yellow Brick Road. Okay. But no man and no woman is worth going to prison for.

Do you agree? Yes, sir. Okay. Hannah stands by John, doesn't say anything to police, even when they show her Katie's autopsy photos. That's your friend.

I don't want to do this anymore. Don't want to do what? Don't want to help us find out who killed her? All you got to do is tell the truth. It would be so easy.

I can't look at her. I can't look at her. And she literally got up out of the room and left. Hey, just talk. I don't want to talk anymore.

I'm sorry. I can't talk. At that point, we had nothing to charge her or to hold her. So, you know, we had to let her leave.

Hannah and John are free to go. You either have the evidence to make the arrest or you don't. If you don't, you have to let them go. I think that's one of their biggest regrets that they didn't arrest him on the day that they searched his car and took his DNA. But this investigation is just getting started, and police will soon catch a break.

In an initial search of the crime scene, there was no signs of where her cell phone was. They went back to the house, and they drain out the basement, and they ultimately find Katie's phone there. Nowadays, cell phones are a treasure trove of information. They are able to extract it and get some of the information out. There was a photo.

That photo was actually taken at the crime scene. Police now have a chilling window into Katie's last few minutes of life.

I got some stories to tell, some things to celebrate, and of course, plenty of laughs along the way. We're talking life, family, music, unexpected moments, and a whole lot of comedy. So come spend an hour with me and let's have some fun. Jamie Foxx: Take Care of Yourself, now streaming on Hulu.

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In theaters October 16th. Get tickets now. On October 19th, 2025, the Louver became the backdrop of something straight out of a heist movie. Now, nearly a year out, there are still critical questions to be answered. We're used to following heists in movies from the perspectives of the ever-so-glamorous and dangerous perpetrators.

But when it happens in real life, the lines between good and bad guys aren't so clear. And even less clear is the fate of those French Crown Jewels. In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day, Like you've never heard them before, through the eyes of the people who lived them. I'll follow the investigation into how this could have happened, who could have been behind it, and then I'll join the international hunt for the Louver jewels. Heist at the Louver, a new series from ABC Audio.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app, or subscribe to 20/20 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts, The body of a 22-year-old Catherine Blyvelt was found— She was found in the cellar of this abandoned home about 1 o'clock in the morning.

At that point, we had a lot of evidence pointing towards John, but not enough to physically arrest him.

Hi, Crystal. Hello. How are you? I'm doing good. Oh, good.

I told him anything and everything that I could— where he was, what's he been doing.

And, you know, I didn't have a whole lot of insight. He was just mad. John was just mainly pissed. You know, he was like, I know everybody's going to be looking at me. I know her family is going to point it straight towards me.

The level of suspicion around John Blavat at that time was extremely high. The very next step is an arrest warrant. And I think John sniffed that out.

Did you work yesterday? Yes, Thursday.

You don't want the answer? That's him. That's him. Hello?

Hey, it's John. Hey, what's up? I want to thank y'all.

I remember Seen anything new? Uh, no, not really. I mean, nothing's changed. Nobody's come to the house or anything like that.

OK. Just let me know. Here's my number now, so just let me know. He's behaving very terrified, skittish, watching his back, paranoid, anxious.

Yeah, I think he felt like all the eyes were pointed at him. John, you know, who else has motive to kill her? Who else had the opportunity? Who else could have gotten her into a vehicle? And just days after that secret video of John at the funeral home is taken, he skips town.

So he had a second vehicle, a GMC Yukon, and that's the vehicle that he When he turned up missing, Hannah was missing also. She had completely wiped her cell phone and stuck it in the mailbox of her parents' house.

He books, basically tells Hannah, we're leaving, you're going with me.

And he flees. Yeah, they just proved their guilt right there. I mean, why would you run if you're innocent? Kind of suspicious to me. I don't even say it's on the run.

He just leaves. But he fully cooperated with him. He gave the keys over voluntarily. He opened his mouth for the buccal swab. He gave the phone over.

The walls are closing in. I'll take my chances on the road. John Blauvelt may be on the run with a 17-year-old girl. This was a huge story. There was a national manhunt.

Everyone was looking for Do they think this 17-year-old girl is in danger? 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. With his training and his knowledge and his motivation, he's got every reason to give it 100%.

You know, if you've got the motivation, this is a big country, big world.

About a week and a half after John takes off, the Simpsonville police issue an arrest warrant for Katie's murder. John is now officially a fugitive on the run. There's a nationwide BOLO out for the two of them. You know, his vehicle was entered into a national database as being wanted in connection with a murder. I contacted the local U.S.

Marshal's Office. We are just there to assist them in the apprehension of John Blavelt. But also, we were looking for Hannah Thompson, who at that point, what we believe as an endangered juvenile.

We were afraid she was going to end up the same way, that we were afraid that she was going to meet her demise at his hands. We had good reason to believe that John had left the state. We got a photo of Hannah and John, what looked like they were buying camping supplies in a store in Alabama. And then we got a picture of John attempting to withdraw funds from an ATM. There was different license plate reader sightings of it going basically south and west.

But it was always a day late, basically day late, dollar short. Even though the marshals were getting hits on where Hannah and John were, that was the problem. That's where they were. They had already moved on by the time the marshals were notified. The license plate reader picked up John's tag in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Before we could mobilize our guys out there, we didn't know where they were— where they were going. And that was pretty close to the Mexico border. So for a while, we were afraid that he had crossed the border. He does have training, and he was like one step ahead. And just when they think John and Hannah may have slipped out of the country, a major new development.

Come on in here and have a seat. The biggest thing that developed was Hannah coming back. She ended up doing an interview with me. What did he tell you about killing Katie?

Tonight, the search is continuing for a man who the police say is wanted for murder. Nearly 5 weeks after Hannah disappeared, she resurfaces not in Mexico but in Oregon. She calls her family to say, I want to come home. So her father drives out west and brings her back to Simpsonville.

The biggest thing that developed was Hannah coming back. She ended up doing an interview with me. Come on in, Hannah. Have a seat. So how was your birthday?

It was good. Yeah? You turned what, 18? The interview was 5 hours long, and I tried to get every detail out of her. She's a potential witness.

She's a potential We had no idea at that point in time what her involvement was, if any. So we really kind of treated her softly in the beginning. We wanted to get information. We wanted to locate and find John. Where did you go when you guys first left?

First, we went to Columbia on foot. And when we got there, John had bought like a bunch of stuff. And then, like, a bunch of clothes. He bought a bunch of gift cards, like 4 $500 gift cards, um, with the rest of the money. We went— we left to go to Arizona, and then we slept in the car at a rest stop in Phoenix.

Then after that, we just drove. You know, for like a really long time then when we were in Oregon. I think she realized that life on the lam is not as glamorous as some of the movies make it. With no income coming in, those funds dry up pretty, pretty quickly. He started using the gift cards for food, and he like spent all the money that was on it.

And we were kind of like paying him the living. Just day-to-day living, just to try and stay under the radar. He was talking on the phone, and he was going to use, like, Wi-Fi. He had connected to the Wi-Fi while she went to the bathroom. And we believe it was at this point that John had looked himself up on the internet and found out that he was now wanted for Katie's murder.

He, like, drove up into the mountains and went, like, I was like freaking out. And then we just got the car like stuck in the— like in the trees, like in the mountain. And then I was like, why did you do that? Like, what are you doing? Like, how are we going to get it back out?

Hanok was able to help locate an area in which they got the Yukon stuck during them fleeing. It was right at the border of Washington and Oregon in a national park, literally wedged in between 2 trees. And then I heard like a growl, and it was like— I looked over and there was like a bear, like, like right next to us, and I started like freaking out. Hannah has had enough. No money, no car, stuck in the mountain with bears.

Hannah reaches out to family in Oregon and says, I want to go back home to Simpsonville. I was like crying, and I was like, I don't want to do this. Like, I want to go home. That first time she went there, she came with John Blavelt. I think she was under the extreme influence of him then.

But she didn't come clean the first time, didn't tell the truth. I don't want to talk anymore. I'm sorry. I can't talk. When she comes back now, starts telling more, implicating him more, helping us figure out how he met Katie and that sort of thing, Hannah had told me that she was talking to John about Katie's killing.

He kept telling me, like, every day that, like, it was my fault and that he did it for me. And, like— What did he say he did for you? Just that he killed her for me. I'm just scared. Like, I don't want anybody to think that, like, I would do whatever happened to Katie.

I don't want somebody to do something like that to anybody. Like, I'm just really scared. And that was kind of the gotcha moment. It was the nail in the coffin we were waiting for. What did he tell you about killing Katie?

He told me that the knife broke. He told me that the last thing she said was, ow. And she said that before that, that if he let her go, that she wouldn't He never cried about it or anything. He just acted like it never happened. I think she's fortunate to be alive.

I think they were one argument away from her being hurt. Did he tell you where they were when he killed her? Or what did he say about that?

He said that he put her there, that he— and her phone in the water. He threw her phone in the water? What water was he referring to? He said that the thing that we put in. So at the time, there was no signs of where her cell phone was.

We couldn't locate it anywhere in an initial search of The crime scene. So that was the thing we really wanted to get our hands on.

And we had suspicion that there was still some communication between Hannah and John. Hannah knows. Hannah knows where he's at. We took a gamble. She will lead us to him.

If you know where he is, we need to find out. Now's the time to tell me.

It was one thing for there to be a single clown sighting, and then there was a second one. Hundreds of students launched a late-night manhunt. How many more of these are we gonna have? On October 12th— The rumors started to spread around town that there were killer clowns. The clowns are coming.

There were clowns seen in different rural areas. We even tried to form a killer clown posse. Watch the new Hulu original documentary, Clown Panic on October 12th. Streaming with Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

Welcome to the greatest show on Earth. FX's AHS: 13. What do you sense? A harbinger of our doom. The star-studded cast returns.

Something wicked this way comes. You all got to unite! I'll drink to that. If you're gonna rise up and rule the world, You better get yourself a damn sense of humor. FX's AHS: 13, now streaming on Hulu.

From the studio that brought you WandaVision— I was an Avenger, but I'm not a hero anymore. On October 14th, the Vision returns for the final chapter of the groundbreaking trilogy. That family wasn't real. You sure about that? I had a father called Vision.

How is this possible? Am I losing my mind? Don't miss the 2-episode premiere of Marvel Television's Vision Quest. Nothing bonds a family together quite like Mortal Jeopardy. Streaming October 14th, only on Disney+.

Hannah had come back. If you'll have a seat right there in that chair for me. She told me that John had told her that he had taken Katie's cell phone and thrown it in a flooded area in the abandoned house. We were able to go back and locate a separate basement area, so not the same area that Katie was located in, and it was flooded about 2, 3 feet of water. So they find the phone, and it is submerged in water.

So they call the forensic technicians. They say, hey, we have this phone. What should we do with it in order to try to be able to extract it? And they tell them to put it in rice for a while. Put it in a bag of rice and hope for the best.

And so we had to give it a shot. We let it dry out the best we could. Eventually they were able to get data out of it.

There was a photo, what appeared to be a selfie taken by Katie. You can see there's Woods in the background, which is consistent with the woods of the abandoned house. She still has on her PetSmart shirt. We had a timestamp. Around 4:17 on October 24th, she was at the abandoned house.

So we know that's the time frame when she was killed.

She was smiling. She was happy, not knowing what was going to happen. I don't think she knew she was in any danger. But this critical new evidence doesn't get police any closer to finding John Blavelt, who's still on the lam. With police unable to find him for years, the case is still unsolved, and Katie's family is begging for answers.

It's bad enough knowing your daughter was murdered and will never be back again, but to know her murderer's free, running around doing his thing.

Hannah returns. She's not charged with anything. Myself and others, we believe there was still a chance they would be in contact. I threw a fit about Hannah every chance I got. Hannah knows.

Hannah knows where he's at. We took a gamble she will lead us to him. Authorities are certain that Hannah is the key to finding John, and the U.S. Marshals interview her I looked and spent hours and hours and hours, many hours looking at every individual that was interviewed in that case over and over and over. There's a 7-second piece that I showed Hannah that actually broke the case.

This is one of the interviews that the Simpsonville PD did for John. Yeah, well, I took Hannah with me. I'm dragging her around because she's willing to be drug around. John doesn't say, oh, Hannah was my girlfriend, that I loved her and I trusted her. Instead, he says, because I could drag her around.

In that moment, John reveals his true self to Hannah. Because she's willing to be drug around. That's it. When I played that for her, that was the key right there. I knew then, 100%.

I told her, we're going to catch this guy. We called Simpsonville, and I said, I will have her I want you to meet her in your office tomorrow at 9:00 AM. She is going to tell you everything.

How you been? Good. Yeah? Yeah. Good.

It's been a long time, huh? How old are you now? It's been, what, 6 years? I'm 22. All right.

Well, I heard you wanted to talk to me. The floor is yours. I want you to tell me everything. We had suspicion that there was still some communication between Hannah and John, and she did end up admitting to the fact that she spoke with John all the way up through January or February of 2019, which is a little over 2 years since when they actually fled. And how are you guys communicating?

Through— well, at the very beginning, communicating on Facebook Messenger, and then after that we were talking on Snapchat. So what was his Facebook page? It was Hannah was still very much in love with John and thought that once the heat, so to speak, went away, that they'd be able to start their life together. I was going to move to Colorado. We were going to live there.

And then I didn't— like, when I got to Texas, I was just thinking about everything. I was scared.

I think enough time had lapsed between the spell that John had on her that she was no longer trying to keep him hidden. If you know where he is, we need to find out. Now's the time to tell me. I don't know where he is. I heard him mention Ashland and Medford.

I don't know for sure.

My name is Chris Tamayo, Deputy U.S. Marshal, and I was assigned to the Cold Case Unit for this case. There was deputies and officers in South Carolina that discovered that through interviews with Hannah, she was still in communications with him. I just know the number that he's using to communicate with me. Would you already give that to the marshals?

Yes, ma'am. Okay. We ended up getting records that had conversations between them via text. And once we saw this 541 area code, we immediately honed in on 541. That's an Oregon area code.

We ran that phone number through a normal law enforcement database, and it came back to us Stephanie. I know that he was living with somebody. Who? A girl that he said that they were dating. And when we further checked into Stephanie, it came back to this address that's right here behind me.

They saw him in the yard. He had changed. He'd had a full beard, no longer the short haircut, the Army haircut, but had his shirt off. Chris Tamayo, the marshal's office, said he had a unique tattoo. It was of a pirate.

I did that drive-by. We saw the tattoo, and I communicated that to them. I said, you know, we can take him outside. We can take him right now. It's him.

Are you good with that?

He had no shirt on. They could see his waistband. He didn't have his gun. What do you want us to do? Go get him.

So John's far in the back there. We turned up the driveway. The team got in front of the vehicle. Vehicle, gave John commands. Police, U.S.

Marshals warrant, get down on the ground. And John dropped right in the back there. The team's got him in cuffs. I looked down at John's face. I said, look at me.

I take a photo. We got a 10-15. Fugitive is apprehended. They found John Blavat. I said, you got to be kidding me.

What was John doing for all those years? How was he able to survive as a man. Police are hoping that the woman he was living with might be able to explain.

We've been together for like 6 years.

The first pictures that came out were of him on the ground getting arrested. I said, what's your name? That's when he said, Ben Klein? I was like, okay, we're gonna play that game. I just went behind him and started rolling his fingerprints.

Said John Tufton Blavelt, wanted out of South Carolina for homicide. I remember turning around to him and just kind of no smile anymore, deadpans and looks down. And I was like, yeah, you're going to jail.

Stephanie, the woman he had been living with Stephanie, who had been with him for 5 years, had no idea when she came home from work as a postal carrier that her house would be surrounded by US Marshals. At the time, there were pets. We wanted to make sure the house was secure before we just took off, and we knew that Stephanie had been with him so long. She was questioned and interviewed by the US Marshals. She was completely beside herself.

She had absolutely no knowledge of who this man really was. He was Ben Klein. Now, you said his name is John what? John Tufton Blovel. So he's being arrested on charges out of South Carolina for murder.

Are you serious? Yeah. That moment that she found out, it's so raw. Her cries are so deep and cutting. Like, you can feel her pain.

He murdered his wife.

And then went on the run and came here to Oregon. Oh my God, we've been together for like 6 years. I mean, because that's how long we've been looking for him.

Oh my God. Who she thought she knew is not the person that she, she knew. You ever seen any IDs or identification? No. He always said that he was just, um, like off the grid or didn't like any— so I just, I chalked it up to him being like a, like a hippie.

I believed her. I, I knew she wasn't involved with this because she truly broke down. Uh, he found someone that would allow him to live here, take care of him, and he didn't have to do anything else. He would do random odd jobs and then like just random Craigslist things. He was basically here watching my cats and my, my dog all the time.

While Stephanie is being interviewed by one US Marshal, another one walks in and says, hey, do you know where this bag is that John's talking about that he wants us to get for him? Is that something you would allow us to take a look at? Yeah, the rafters. I think it's green. It's a green hiking We're going through the backpack looking for anything that may just show how he was on the run— fake IDs, stolen IDs, checkbooks, something that just indicates, yeah, he was living another life.

So once we went through it, it was the journal, some fake IDs that he had. At this point, U.S. Marshals know they have something here, but they don't know how important that journal is. He had kept that journal what appeared to be during the actual fleeing. It was during the trip with Hannah.

He's writing about everything on his run, you know, where they're staying, what they're doing, where they're eating. He's drawing pictures of the ocean. There's a letter to his daughter in there. He talks about how sorry he is that he had to do what he had to do, but that girl was evil. And then he's writing this thing, and there's certain letters capitalized at the end.

And so letters that are capitalized at the bottom of this journal entry, if you put together all the capitalized letters, it just says, I did it.

I did it. Which I don't see that much. Just doesn't happen. LaVelt is being held in a jail in Oregon, but he will be extradited back to South Carolina to face his charges. A day or two later, we had flown back with him and got him back here.

He really didn't show much of any emotion. After nearly 6 years on the run, John Blavelt appeared in court in Greenville. He pleads not guilty.

A judge denied bond. He's charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. And eventually, those 2016 charges of domestic violence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor were dropped. And not long after John's arrest, Hannah Thompson was also arrested. Hannah Thompson is now charged with obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact.

The State Attorney General's Office says Thompson is looking at potentially a 55-year prison sentence. She ended up getting arrested. I think she had 5 different warrants between Simpsonville and Greenville County. So she had an ankle monitor and house arrest that she was on prior to trial. This is a prepaid collect call from John Louisville, an incarcerated individual at Greenville County Detention Center.

While John is sitting in jail awaiting trial, he starts calling all his friends and his family who he hasn't spoken to in years. Where you been, man? I've been all over the country, man. And it's so bizarre, he's filling them in on what it was like being on the run. I was like working on pot farms and stuff like that.

And I met a girl and moved in with her. Just held it down like that. Bought a house all in her name. And then one morning the U.S. Marshals came.

I was out front tending to my vegetable garden and the U.S. Marshals just pulled up in the driveway. That was that. But that night I got the best sleep that I've had in 6 years. So I guess there's a positive to it.

I do imagine that there is some sort of relief that comes with that because it's got to be a little bit freeing that I'm not having to look over my shoulders anymore. I'm not having to pretend to be somebody else. I got a lawyer visit tomorrow. We're going to trial. Nearly 8 years after Katie's murder, John is finally headed to trial.

He probably thinks he's going to get off because he's just that lucky. And the star witness for the Leading the prosecution is his old girlfriend, Hannah.

All these years later, and John's trial is about to begin, and he is facing the possibility of life in prison for the murder of Katie Blauvelt. The trial is underway in Greenville County for an upstate man accused of murdering his estranged wife. 6 inches, 2,724 miles, and 2,086 days. Those were significant numbers in the 6 inches that blade went into her body, the number of days that John Blauvelt was on the run, and then the distance from, uh, Simpson It's hard looking at him because he's, like, smug. He probably thinks he's going to get off.

I was trying to look at his eyes because, like, right here doesn't change. I stay gone if witness. Thank you, Your Honor. The state calls Keith Moorcraft. Katie's cell phone had been dumped in a separate side of the basement.

Please state your name for the record. Cheryl Scofield. I was confident we had a great prosecution team, and I was confident with what evidence we had. State have any additional witnesses? State would now call Allie Somerville.

Allie Somerville was one of John's roommates and also a close friend that he confided in. Please be seated. Allie Somerville had a really good insight into John Blavelt. She was around him a lot. John probably shared a lot of information with her.

He said that he was born to kill good and bad people, that he loved to kill. That's what he was born to do. John Blavat told you he was born to kill? Yes, sir. Good and bad people?

Good and bad people. That's what his purpose was here on this earth. The most important witness was Hannah Thompson. Hannah Thompson was the only person that got us from A to Z in the entire case.

The day of the murder, he had told Hannah, today's the day I'm going to kill Katie. Then told her, I need you to drive me near Katie's job, and I'm going to stand outside of her vehicle until Katie gets off of work. That was when John had gotten in the car with Katie. Hannah testifies that she brings John's phone back to the house to make it look like he's there. He had staged Katie's car in in a gravel wooded, um, kind of like drive-through that was somewhat behind John's house at the time.

What were you told to do then, if anything was? To follow him while he drove Katie's car and I started with the Prius. Do you remember where you ended up? We pulled into a parking lot on Whitler's Road. Thank God for Joe's Autos.

He's got his video going, captures that when both cars are coming in. Who pulled in first? John. Whose car was he driving? Katie's car.

Who pulled in second?

Me. John gets out of Katie's car, and he gets into the car that I'm driving. And then you see that gold Prius just leaving.

That's incredible evidence. That was tied together by Hannah Thompson. By the time we got to trial, Hannah had a full version of events of John giving a full confession to her about how he did it. That was version number 11 of events. I don't know anything about her murder.

And that had been going on for several years. In those 8 years, you've had now 11 opportunities to come before this court and tell the truth. Yes. And today's that day? Yes.

You've lied to your friends and your family? Yes. And you kept lying? Yes. I don't know how you parse out what part of her statement is the truth.

Her story was constantly changing, and so she She alone by herself in a vacuum is not credible enough to try an entire case, but we were able to corroborate every single little step of her story. What is this? It's just a journal that John kept. She was one of the reasons why the diary was actually present in the trial. She wrote in that diary.

She was able to identify that John's handwriting was in the diary. And again, on page 39, it says, I don't bother to run. Yes. Somehow hope you understand why I did it. That world was evil to me.

Sorry that I had to do that, but there was no other way for me. I don't know that I would categorize anything in there as a confession. John is talking to— is writing a letter to his daughter. He's not confessing and he's not apologizing for killing Katie. He's apologizing for running and not being there for his daughter and missing out on So everyone is wondering, is John going to take the stand in his own defense?

Did he, uh, reach a decision? Yes, sir. I will not testify. After 3 days of testimony— We are ready for closing arguments. Lawyers, I recognize the state.

Thank you, Your Honor. May it please the court, you don't have to take Hannah Thompson's word for it. You don't have to take Investigator Moorcraft, Investigator Scofield, or even my word for it.

I did it. We're here because of tunnel vision. It became obvious that he was going to be the only person that law enforcement investigated, and fear got the best of him, and he decided to take his chances on the road. Was John a perfect husband? Absolutely not.

Absolutely not. But does being a terrible husband make you guilty of murder? No.

After just hours of deliberations, the verdict is in. Breaking news right now out of Greenville County. The jury just reaching a verdict. The jury deliberated for about 5 hours today. The verdict did come back.

I was just watching the judge because I am hard of hearing. Foreman, I understand that you agree with the verdict, is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. I wanted to see his lips when he said what As to the charge of murder, we the jury unanimously find the defendant, John Teague Avellp Lavell, guilty. I even grabbed my husband.

I said, guilty? Just to make sure I heard it right, you know? And I couldn't believe it. I just started crying like crazy and couldn't stop because that's when I guess all the emotion and the stress I've been going through, We just finally broke through. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

In South Carolina, since '96, life means life. It's pine box life, as we call it. It means you don't get out unless you're in a pine box. No freedoms, hopefully no happiness. If he can't get the pain and suffering he caused my sister, at least he doesn't get anything else either.

A second suspect was John Blauvelt's teenage girlfriend. She is now 25 and charged with obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact. Hannah Thompson was looking at trial at 50 years in prison. John's been convicted of murder, so what about Hannah Thompson?

Shawn Blavelt's girlfriend, Hannah Thompson, who was 17 at the time of the crime, faces lesser charges in this case. Hannah Thompson was looking at 50 years in prison. By the time we get to sentencing, though, 3 of the 5 charges against Hannah have been dropped. So now she's facing a potential of 20 years in prison.

She pled guilty to obstruction of justice and misprison of a felony. The judge that presided over her plea got to see the value of her information that she provided and ultimately sentenced her to a probationary sentence instead of active time. She's scarred for life because of this, and she knew she was manipulated.

She participated. She should have done It's hard to accept, and I recognize that. But you have to decide what's important for the conviction of the person that actually did the killing. John Blavett will never get out of jail. And a lot of that was due to the testimony of Hannah Thompson tying it together.

And as much justice as we got with John, we got the total opposite with Hannah. And so she's living free as a bird and come and go and do what she wants now. And she's got a new life.

And that's just wrong to me.

She knew what he was doing. She knew his plans. She helped him make sure he had an alibi. A slap on the wrist and a pat on the back. That's what she got.

After Katie's death, her mother Patty brought He took flowers to the place where she was murdered, that abandoned farmhouse.

And we went down to where they found Katie. I laid roses down there.

He put her there because he was taking out the trash. My daughter's not trash. She was a beautiful soul who did not deserve this.

Would she have had kids? Would she have had someone who truly loved her? What would she have been doing, you know, in this moment? We've got necklaces that have a little piece of her, so we just take her everywhere we go.

After she passed, I got her signature on my wrist from a birthday card and the word Parabatai. It comes from a book series we liked, and it meant 2 warriors who are supposed to fight through life together.

Katie had my name saved as that in her phone when she died.

Nobody's ever heard this letter. She wrote this when she was 17. Dearest Crystal, just remember I love you.

Promise me you'll always remember me. How I can never be mean to someone without feeling guilty. How I always have to say thank you or I'll feel bad. Remember me as I sang with you on the bus, not caring who hears or if we were in tune.

Oh, the good times we have. I really hope we have more, but if we don't, remember the ones we did have.

Always and forever, Katie. She was the sister I never got to have.

I would give anything just to have her back.

Her name, Katherine, it meant pure and innocent. And that's what she was. She was pure and she was innocent.

Along with her family, Katie continues to be remembered by her colleagues at that PetSmart where she worked. In fact, they've installed a memorial to her that even includes a picture of her favorite animal, a sea turtle. As for Katie's killer, her estranged husband John Blavelt, he's appealing his conviction. That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching.

I'm Deborah Roberts. And I'm David Muir. From all of us here at 20/20, good night. Thank you. I'm David Muir, CBS 20 and ABC News.

Good night.

Last October's brazen daytime heist at the Louver was shocking. Now, nearly a year out, there are still critical questions to be answered. Where did they go? And second, where did they come from? In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day like you've never heard them before, through the eyes of the people who lived them.

On the pavement, I saw something shiny. You did see the crown? Yes, exactly. Heist at the Louver, a new series from ABC Audio, available now ad-free on Amazon Music.