← True Crime with Kendall Rae
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Soldier Evades Capture for HOW LONG?! The Heartbreaking Murder of Cati Blauvelt
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iOS mobile app busted Appliance this is your sign to upgrade shop at Lowes to get up to 35% off and next day delivery on hundreds of major appliances. Lowes we help you Save valid through 318 while supplies last selection varies by location. Order by 4pm Available Monday through Saturday subject to availability, fees, exclusions and restrictions apply. See Lowes.com appliancedelivery for more details. Visit your nearby Lowes on Colorado street in Kennewick. Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today and if you're new to the show then welcome. I am so happy to have you here. So you guys, I know that probably all of you can picture someone in your own personal life that tends to want to or just straight out does date or hang around people who are younger than them and we are seeing so much of this in society right now. I know you can definitely picture a celebrity, influencer, public figure, person in position of power who goes for younger people. It's truly terrifying what has been coming to light, right? And the case that I am going to be talking about today I think is really important to talk about in light of all of that and it involves one of those predators or, or monsters I should say. I'm going to be telling you guys about the murder of Katie Blavel, which absolutely needs to be talked about more. She was a girl in her early twenties who only ever wanted to be happy. In fact, she was taking steps to get back to being her happier self, living a happier life when her life was senselessly and horrifically taken. This case makes me so sad. It is so disturbing. I think my jaw was on the floor nearly 10 times looking into this case because the details are unbelievable. I cannot believe how long it took to bring her killer to justice. I Want to start by telling you more about Katie, who she was and what happened to her. Now, Katie, aka Katherine Ann Boyder, was born on August 8, 1994. And she was raised in Simpsonville, South Carolina by her mom, Patricia Piver. Her mom, who goes by Patty, was blessed with two other daughters as well. Well, and she says that Katie, her middle child, just had a heart of gold. She was caring, she was sweet, she was kind. And although she could be shy at first with people she didn't know, as soon as Katie got to know you, she was gonna open right up. Patty also says that she was really the free spirited type, that she made friends with people easily. And one of her biggest passions in life was animals. I know I always say this, but I think people who love animals that much where it is, you know, next level passion in their life territory, I think that says so much about a person. That's just my opinion. All Katie ever really wanted to do in life was live a pretty simple life, fall in love, get married, start a family, you know, be with as many animals as she could during her lifetime. And in 2014, when she was in her early 20s, she thought that she found the person that she was going to live that life with. That year, Katie was 20 years old and she was working at a very popular sandwich restaurant. I'm sure many of you have heard of it. It's called Firehouse Subs. And just a few doors down from the shop there was an army recruiting building. And at lunchtime, a 26 year old guy named John Blauvelt used to frequently make his way in for a sandwich. And just like the other service members in this community, John really seemed to have a good reputation. He was known to be charming and people really enjoyed being around him, Katie included. And it sounds like he would come in to get a sandwich mainly just to see her. And he really just took an interest in her. Eventually a relationship started to bloom. You know how it goes. Here's the kicker though. The whole time Johnny Boy was married and had a child the entire time. Now, he did tell her about this and he did tell her that they were in the process of getting a divorce. You know, the classic. But knowing what I know, I'd argue that the process was not quite as far along as he had her believing in the beginning. Either way though, the two of them start dating and for the first few months, everything was fine. I guess. Katie actually came from a military family herself. So she really had a lot of activity, admiration and respect for people who served and that's why a lot of people think that she was so drawn to him. But her family pretty much right off the bat seemed to not be so sure that he was the one. Patty says that when her daughter first introduced John to them, he could not have been less interested. He came across as standoffish and wouldn't even look her in the eye. He just didn't seem to want to give them the time of day, which is obviously a huge red flag when you are interested in someone's daughter, any of their family members, loved one, and you can't even look them in the eye, you can't show any interest in them. I mean, that just shows bad character right off the bat, in my opinion. Now, Patty says this was Katie's first serious boyfriend. So she thought she was just excited about this kind of attention, but she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Apparently John wouldn't use his real last name on his Facebook page because he didn't want the army knowing about Katie. Now, adultery, if you didn't know, is a punishable crime in the military. So he seemed to be going out of his way to keep her a secret because he was still married. When they got together, Katie reassured their family that he was getting divorced. But the secrecy of it all was off putting to them, to say the least. And again, his general attitude towards them all was really off putting as well. He just acted like he couldn't care less to be around them, had no interest in getting to know them or showing any appreciation for them for raising Katie. You know, just like the basic things that you would do when you meet your loved one's family. And eventually, I think Katie was feeling those vibes. It got awkward. She knew that they weren't, you know, super into John. So Katie started keeping their relationship to herself. And that was the case until they announced that they were moving in together. Let's be real.
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up until this point, Katie had been living with her mom. And Patty, of course, understandably thought it was way too soon for her to be moving in with John, but she was not in a position to stop her. Of course she was worried, though, because Katie didn't usually talk to her about her relationship. She would talk to her sisters and then her sisters would tell Patty what was going on. And they weren't telling her good things. They were telling her that John was an alcoholic. And also that as soon as they moved in together, they started getting in these huge blow up fights. And they were so intense that there were nights where she would go and stay with her sister to get away from him. Now, Katie also had a niece, Cheyenne, and she was only a few years younger than her and the two of them were really close. And she says that Katie and John's fights were really toxic. Then Katie surprised everyone in her family in the summer of 2015 when she suddenly announced that she had enlisted in the army. Now, she had talked about joining the military before, but it was always the navy. But seeing as John was a recruiter for the army, he clearly must have persuaded her in the other direction. Although I guess it didn't totally matter in the end because Katie did end up getting medically discharged due to a previous undiagnosed spine condition, which was actually a huge bummer for everyone. I mean, no one was happy about this, even though they were confused by her joining the army. It sounded like it brought her a lot of joy and they wanted her to be happy. Katie was writing them letters when she was in basic training, talking about how much she enjoyed it, and they were hopeful that this, you know, would be beneficial in her life long term. But yeah, having to give that up was really hard on her. But then in December of that year, things took a major turn because on December 7, 2015, Katie texted her mom just out of the blue, basically saying, oh, by the way, John and I got married today. And Patty at first actually thought she was maybe joking, but she wasn't. John and Katie had gone to the courthouse and had gotten married without telling anyone, which, you know, is fine. That's their right to do that. But Patty, of course, was just really surprised. And Patty ended up texting her and told her that getting married on Pearl harbor day was a bad omen. And maybe she was right because the two of them, they went on their honeymoon and that was, as far as we know, okay, it was fine. But as soon as their honeymoon was over, things got so bad that Katie soon realized that she wanted out of this marriage. And by that point, she and John had moved out of an apartment and into a four bedroom house together. And their issues only got worse when they did that. And it started with the fact that John didn't want to live there, just the two of them, which is what you would think you would want. No, John didn't want that. He wanted Katie's niece Cheyenne to move in with them, which I mentioned earlier that Katie and her niece Cheyenne are very close. But it was John who wanted her to move in. Very, very creepy. And Katie actually had reservations about it. But John ended up getting his way and Cheyenne moved in. And at first Cheyenne said that it was fun living with them. But over time, the fun totally stopped because John and Katie were fighting more and more often. And I think you'll understand why she was so mad. It turns out that John would throw these parties with a lot of drugs and alcohol. And I'm talking drugs like acid, shrooms, cocaine. But what really made this a problem is these weren't parties with his other, you know, 20 something year old friends. These were parties that he would throw. Four high schoolers. Yes, you heard that right. Don't Forget he was 26 years old. John is literally that guy who can't get people his own age to like him. So he has to throw parties and seem like the cool guy to a bunch of high schoolers. And understandably, Katie is not okay with this. She's like, what the fuck is going on here? Especially after two other high school girls began crashing at the house as well, like staying there.
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C
And this was a girl named Allie
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B
and then another girl named Hannah. And no matter how many times Katie would say he needed to stop, they need to leave. You need to stop throwing these parties and supplying for minors. What the hell are you doing? He wouldn't. And to make matters worse, John and that Hannah girl I mentioned started seeing each other behind Katie's back, mind you. Hannah was 17 years old and he was 26. She was a child. He is a predator. He groomed her, he gave her drugs, he took advantage of her, all under the same roof that he was sharing with his new wife. Now I just feel the need to say something before we even get to more about Hannah. I know there's going to be a lot of thoughts about Hannah, and especially as you go through this episode and you hear how things unfolded. But I did want to say that aside from everything else that's about to happen, what he did to her, especially in the beginning, was extremely wrong. She was also a victim of his. Now, I think you cannot like a person and feel that they're guilty about other things, for sure, but also admit that they were a victim at another time in another sense. I know that's cryptic and you're probably really confused, but you'll see what I mean as we go through. Let me know if you feel differently, because I'm not condoning her future actions at all. I just think she was very highly manipulated and taken advantage of from a really young age. But anyway, he and Hannah started secretly seeing one another, and with everything else that was going on, Katie was obviously pissed off beyond belief. And Hannah was supposedly following John around the house like a puppy. And that's literally how she's been described. And Katie just reached her breaking point with the whole shit show and moved out. And In February of 2016, she moved back in with her mom. And meanwhile, John wasted no time moving Hannah in with him, which, if you're confused about where her family was in all of this, I wondered that, too. I wasn't able to find out too much information, but I did learn that about two weeks later, after she had moved in, her dad did end up calling the police, and that ended up in a nightmare of a situation. After that report was filed, several officers went over to John's house to speak with him and Hannah, but John literally refused to open the door. And I guess the two of them, and Cheyenne as well, were doing acid. And Cheyenne says that he wouldn't let them leave. And because the police didn't have a warrant, they couldn't just go inside. And, well, long story short, they managed to track down Katie, and she informed them that John had been supplying these young girls with drugs and alcohol. She even told them about a very scary incident when he threatened to kill her and her whole family with his gun. And this is no surprise, but he also threatened to shoot himself, too, which, all of that is terrifying. But the silver lining about her telling the police about this is they were able to get a warrant. And with that, he comes out of the house, and they were able to arrest him. And they charged him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and domestic violence. And there was also a restraining order put in place between him and Katie. And as a result, John was going to face Consequences from the military. His pay was cut and they suspended him from recruiting pending an investigation into the allegations. And one thing you gotta understand about John is being in the military was his entire personality. It was everything to him aside from, you know, being a predator and doing drugs with minors. But yeah, his whole identity, his whole life was on the line. And that made him big mad. Every day our cats act like they
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And of course, who does John blame for all of this? Because you damn well know it's not going to be himself, even though it is all his fault. No, no, no, no, no. He blames Katie. Katie ruined his life, stripped him from everything he had, took away his dream job, his identity, ruined his life. And I know you are all feeling so shocked that a pedophile freak like John couldn't take responsibility for his actions, right? That's just wow. And Katie, on the other hand, she wanted to move past it. She wants to move on with her life, forget this guy ever existed. And for example, she got an amazing job working at petsmart where she could spend all day with animals, which was awesome for her. And she was back living with her mom and out of that toxic environment, things were starting to, you know, sort of look up for her. Now Patty says that Katie still did go over to John's house on occasion because her dog lived there and she loved her dog, but there was absolutely no relationship between them. And for a first time in a long time, Katie's loved ones say that she was starting to feel happy again. She even enrolled in classes at her local technical college and started taking steps towards filing for a divorce. However, any chance that she could have to rebuild her life and really start over was was taken from her on October 24, 2016. That day was a work day for Katie, and when she was leaving petsmart she got a call from Cheyenne asking if she wanted to hang out. And Cheyenne remembers that Katie sounded strange on the phone, but she brushed it off and the two of them made plans for her to come over and they would go grab dinner. Cheyenne even took a nap in the meantime, figuring that Katie would Come over, and she would wake her up. They would go to dinner. But that never happened. She never came over to the house, and she never called or texted to explain why. Now, truthfully, when Patty heard this, she wasn't immediately worried. She got a call from one of her daughters that afternoon asking if Katie came home, but she figured she probably went to a friend's house. When she wasn't home the next morning, though, that's when she started to panic, Especially because her calls started going straight to voicemail. So that day, she went and filed a missing person's report. And she made sure to specifically mention everything that had been going on with John. And while the police did take this seriously right away, which is great, they were not the ones who found her. When word spread to Katie's friends that she was missing, they started to look for her on their own. And they had sort of a hunch. Two of her friends had a hunch of where she might be. It turns out there was this old abandoned house located deep in the woods where kids would sometimes go to party. It was somewhere where Katie and John had been before, so they figured they would check it out. And when they got there, they realized their hunch was right. But by that point, it was too late, because just after midnight on October 26, they called 911 to report that they had found Katie's body, who they soon discovered had died from a stab wound to her neck. And it was just brutal, you guys. There's no other way to say it. The autopsy actually revealed that the blade of the knife was still inside her, which makes me sick. And based on the blood evidence, plus a cadaver dog who had found a button from her jeans, Investigators believed that Katie was killed outside of the house. But then her killer dragged her body inside to conceal her. And as for Katie's loved ones, they found out about all of this in the middle of the night. And that call was just more than devastating. Patty actually had a feeling that she had been killed from the very beginning, but she never wanted that feeling to be true. And she also had a feeling that she knew who did it. That person was, of course, John. And it didn't take long for investigators to agree. Really, as soon as they brought him in for questioning and had a little bit of time with this guy, could see the way that he was speaking and acting, they realized that his demeanor was off, that he was probably their guy. At first, he seemed a little upset by her murder, but pretty quickly, his expression appeared more annoyed by the whole situation than anything.
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D
Else the restraining order deal was to deal with that. This is a charge back that I got back in end of February, domestic violence, first degree, that she charged me with. Obviously when that happens, the state issues a restraining order. Right, right. Has anything ever like that ever happened before? Have you guys ever had any big issues like that in the past? I mean, we. We were the worst couple. You know, we argued a lot, but she. I think it was just bad timing, honestly, because she was going through some and I was going through some. She just left one day. It was like a Tuesday. And then she came back Friday with all like the entire Fountain Police department. And it was a pretty big scene. It was a four hour thing. When's the last time you actually saw her? I'd say probably July because she moved out in April.
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I think he even cracked a joke. John's a funny guy. About how his duties in the army were temporarily demoted because of those charges.
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E
What do you do for the army?
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D
Well, right now I just sit in
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E
this office, small office.
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D
Right now because of the civil investigation, all my recruiting duty movies have been suspended.
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B
And of course investigators are thinking, how is this guy joking in a time like this? They're seeing right through him. And literally throughout the entire rest of his interview, the whole thing, he didn't ask a single question about how she died or if they knew who did it. Something that anyone normal who had nothing to do with it would ask. Right. The only question that John seemed to want an answer to was about himself. Of course it was. If he was being charged with anything related to her death.
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D
Am I being charged with a crime? Because he's recording me and I'm not comfortable with that.
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B
No.
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D
If I am, I'd like to contact a lawyer because this is uncomfortable. You're not, you're. You're not being charged. Okay. With a crime right now.
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B
And his expression throughout all of this just tells me everything I need to know about how he felt. I'm sure you feel the same way. But despite what is so obvious to everyone, there was no physical evidence to arrest him, so they had no choice but to let him go at that point. Investigators did bring him back about a week later, hoping that they could get maybe something more out of him. But unfortunately, it was a whole lot of the same bullshit. But this time he spoke even meaner about Katie.
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E
We hadn't really had a chance to sit down. I know. I talked to that day when we notified you about her death.
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B
Yeah.
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E
And things are kind of emotional and everything, so. So we're still working the case, obviously, and trying to figure out who killed her. We've talked to a bunch of people. We wanted to give you some time to grieve and, you know, do what you need to do mentally before we brought you in here. But we would like to ask you some questions that maybe can give us an answer of what we're looking for. So with that in mind, are you willing to talk to us today?
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B
Yeah.
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D
Okay.
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E
So I know, obviously, about the incident that happened between you guys, allegedly in January. Then she didn't file a report till February. What made her final report a month later about something that.
- [29:26]
D
That was just kind of her personality
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E
just getting back at you for something. She pissed or.
- [29:30]
D
That was her personality. When she got mad about something, she would act extremely childish until she got away.
- [29:36]
E
And if she didn't get away, she
- [29:37]
D
was escalating, so she got away.
- [29:38]
E
What kind of stuff are y' all arguing about? Everything. Just normal.
- [29:43]
D
Just normal stuff.
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E
People stuff.
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D
And then being a recruiter, I talked to a lot of different people, so I had two phones and I talked to a lot of females. And she didn't like us, but that was my job as a recruiter. I had to talk to everybody.
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B
Yeah.
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D
And she wouldn't like that. So then we'd argue about that. And then one time I just didn't ask her to come back. And she came back, like, four days later with her mom, and they cleared out, like, all of her stuff up from the house.
- [30:08]
B
And he, not surprisingly, made himself out to be the good guy. And when he was asked if he had anything to do with her murder, John denied having any involvement. In fact, he said he was the terrified one because her family was, quote, trying to spin it to make it seem like he was guilty.
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D
They're trying to spin this story against me, and it's got me terrified. It's got me scared as shit.
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E
Do you have any idea who killed her?
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D
No, absolutely not. This shit is ridiculous.
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E
And it's scary as.
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D
But I'm.
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E
I can't even be scared for Katie
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D
right now because I know Katie wouldn't want me in this situation. She knows I'm scared as hell.
- [30:48]
B
And towards the end of the interview, they told him they had a warrant to search his car, as well as another to obtain a sample of his DNA. And they actually read him the probable cause that led to these warrants.
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E
The AFN is currently investigating the murder of Catherine Ann Bland Belt, which occurred on or about 1024, 2016. The victim's body was located in the basement of an abandoned residence at 817 Southeast Main Street. An autopsy determined the victim's manner of death to be a homicide. The Effie and other investigators have conducted multiple interviews with friends, family and acquaintances of the victim and her estranged husband John Tufton Blauvel. These interviews have yielded multiple statements in which the interviews interviewees stated John Blauvelt has made comments about his desire to kill the victim and his plan to hide her body in the house located at 8:17. The Effien also has recorded statements from witnesses who say John Blauvelt had approached them and offered them monetary compensation for assisting him in murdering the victim and offering him an alibi by using his cell phone, debit cards and vehicle in another city to make it appear as if he was not in the area at the time of the victim's death. The FN has also compiled police reports from the Fountain Police Department that show John Bauvelt was arrested in February 2016 for domestic violence first degree where he was alleged to appoint a gun on the victim and threatened her life. John Bible had a pending criminal charge that if he was found guilty would most likely result in his discharge from the US army where he's employed full time time. Lavelt has made statements to multiple persons about the existence of a life insurance policy he holds on the victim for between 100,000 and $150,000 in which he is the beneficiary. The Advent has obtained reported statements from witnesses that state the victim's vehicle was driven to the residence of John Blauvel in South Carolina on 102416 at 4:56pm this is the day the victim disappeared was the last name. The witnesses described the driver as someone other than the victim and state the driver was wearing a black jacket with a hood pulled over. The witnesses stated 15 minutes after the victim's vehicle pulled out from the residence, John Blavelle came up from the backyard sweating profusely and was wearing a black hooded jacket similar to the one of the person driving the victim's vehicle. Blivel did not have a shirt on underneath the jacket and claimed to have been running. The victim's vehicle was later located at Granville, South Carolina in the Strip shopping Center. Video surveillance from the area shows the vehicle being dropped off on 10 24, 2016. At approximately 6:15pm the second vehicle pulls up with a victim's vehicle and it matches the description of John Blaveld's 2007 gold Toyota Prius. The second vehicle drives off after approximately five minutes with the driver of the victim's vehicle, cell phone records from John Blavelt's phone number obtained from AT&T place his phone in the area at the time the victim's vehicle was dropped off. It is the affiant belief, based upon the aforementioned evidence, that the 2007 Toyota priest belonging to John Blybelt contains evidence related to the death of Katherine Lavelle.
- [33:41]
B
Okay.
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E
Do you have any questions about the wording of that warrant?
- [33:44]
D
Do you have to take the car? Do you want to take my car?
- [33:46]
E
Yes.
- [33:47]
D
All right, I got no questions.
- [33:50]
B
So not only had John talked about wanting to kill Katie, but he offered some money in exchange for their help in doing so, as well as their help in providing an alibi. Plus the fact that someone matching his description was driving her car to his house on the day that she was last seen. Come on. And then the fact that his phone placed him at the exact location where her car was later found abandoned. Coincidence? Now.
- [34:25]
C
That's what we say in our house every time. It's time for my daughter to take her Haya and she gets so pumped. She does her little karate chopping motions and she honestly thinks of her Haya vitamins as her end of the day treat. Which is great for us, but I don't have to worry about it. Because some children's vitamins on the market contain up to 7 grams of sugar per serving and are just stuffed with artificial additives and petroleum based dyes. But Haya took the opposite approach. Zero sugar, zero gummy junk. Just clean nutrition. They looked at what modern kids are actually eating or not eating and formulated around those specific nutritional gaps. Working alongside pediatricians and nutrition scientists, Haya created a super powered chewable vitamin that packs 12 organic fruits and vegetables plus 15 essential vitamins and minerals into every dose. And what I love is you get this awesome reusable bottle with your first order and then they send refills to you every month. And that's just one less thing to
- [35:17]
B
worry about at the store.
- [35:18]
C
And here's something that every parent needs to hear. If getting your kids to eat vegetables feels like an impossible daily battle, Haya's new kids Daily Greens plus Superfoods is a game changer. It's basically chocolate milk stuffed with veggies. It's a greens powder that's packed with 55 plus whole food sourced ingredients. Just mix one scoop with milk or any non dairy beverage and watch them actually enjoy something that's secretly fueling their growing bodies. And I've worked out a special deal with Haya for their Best selling children's vitamin. Receive 50 off your first order to claim this deal, you must go to hayahealth.com TCKR this deal is not available on their regular website. Go to H I Y-A H-E-A-L-T-H.com TCKR
- [35:57]
B
to get your kids the full body
- [35:58]
C
nourish that they need to grow into healthy adults.
- [36:04]
B
Oh, and if you're wondering, and I'm sure some of you have already figured this out, but who is that suspected second driver? The one who picked John up after the car was abandoned? It was Hannah Thompson. That's right, you guys. They theorize that Hannah hated katie and that she would have gone along with John's plan to murder her so that she could have him all to herself. Therefore, she was brought in for questioning as well. And like John, she denied any involvement.
- [36:35]
E
She's right here. That's your friend.
- [36:39]
B
I don't want to do this anymore.
- [36:42]
E
Don't want to do what? Don't want to help us find out who killed her?
- [36:45]
B
Tell us exactly what happened to Katie. I really don't know. I don't know anything about her murder. You do. I don't. You do.
- [36:56]
E
Can I please leave?
- [36:57]
B
Can I please leave? Hannah, this is a friend of yours. And because there was no evidence to hold her, which is such a damn shame, she was allowed to leave. And both her and John were able to go about their normal lives until more concrete evidence was found. And no one was held accountable for Katie's murder. And by the time that investigators got that evidence, it was too late. On November 18, 2016, an arrest warrant was finally signed. But when they went to locate him, they found that John and Hannah were on the run. They had left about a week prior, so they had a one week head start on evading the police. And you have to keep in mind here that John is not. Not your average citizen. He has been trained for this. He's got military training. He's pretty equipped to not be detected. So at that point, the local authorities ended up calling in the assistance of the u. S. Marshals to try and track them down. And even though there was suspicion about Hannah's possible involvement, law enforcement, of course,
- [38:12]
C
was still worried about her safety.
- [38:14]
B
If john was capable of murdering his wife, then there was no telling what he might do to his girlfriend, who could most likely link him to that crime. And the search for the two of them was not easy by any means. During that first few weeks, ATM cameras, license plate readers, and grocery store security footage captured John And Hannah headed west. But by the time authorities arrived, they'd already been gone. And the first real break they got wasn't even because of something they did. On December 12th of that year, Hannah ended up reaching out to a family member, saying that she was in Eugene, Oregon, and wanted to come home. It turns out that after being on the run together for about a month, John just up and abandoned her one day. So she was brought back in for questioning on December 20, and that's when she explained everything. Hannah told them how they had traveled across the country, but that John got his car stuck in the mud in the Pacific Northwest. And from that point on, they were pretty much homeless. She talked about how they had to beg for money just to get by. And that during this time, John admitted to her that he murdered Katie. And he told her that he did it all for her. And she said that he made her feel like it was her fault.
- [39:28]
F
And he was just crying and screaming and, like, he was, like, saying that he did all that stuff for me. Like, did all this stuff, like, kill Katie? Like, he was like, I did that for you, and like, all that kind of stuff, like, trying to make me feel like it was my fault. I can't believe that he was just. What else did he tell you about it? I know it's hard. He told me that the last thing she said was that if he let her go, that she wouldn't call the police.
- [40:03]
B
Where were they?
- [40:04]
C
Hannah?
- [40:07]
B
How so? Hannah's story is that she didn't know about the murder until after the fact. And I'm sure a lot of you question that story, and I definitely do as well. But what's tough is we never really find out if that's true. And like many of you, I'm sure my thoughts with that are, why would you go on the run with someone if you didn't know what they did? Why. Why did you think you were on the run? Right. Like, it just. It's not adding up. Also, if that really is the case, why didn't you go to the cops the minute that he told you? Again, you never know what threat she was dealing with. And I do sympathize with that to some degree, but I don't know. I've got a lot of questions. When it comes to Hannah. It seems like she thought this was going to be some sort of, like, dark, romantic gesture to run away with him, help him evade police. And I don't know. That's just my thoughts, but she actually said that she lied because John promised to Keep her safe. But the dude literally ditched her, so that's obviously why she was now coming forward. And she even admitted that she was the one who helped him move Katie's car. And what I also find really interesting is that she was still protecting him and people. It gets worse. Because Hannah swore that the two of them weren't contact and that she had no idea where john was, but that just wasn't true. Investigators just couldn't prove it. And because they still needed her help, she was all they had. They let her go. And it wasn't until, my God, Years later in 2022, when Hannah finally admitted that they had been in contact that entire time, which just blows my mind. And I don't fully. They didn't figure that out. I don't know if she had a change of heart or what happened. Maybe he said something to her. But eventually Hannah just decided to help point everyone in the right direction. She admitted that for the first few years, the two of them were in contact every single day via facebook messenger. And then after that, they started talking on snapchat. And I have to say, I don't fully understand how they didn't figure that out. Out. Seems pretty stupid to be doing that all over social media. But, yeah, she claims that that contact ended in 2019, and ultimately she was able to provide the u. S. Marshals with information that did lead to his arrest. And that's when they learned that john had been operating under the alias ben klein for the last six years and that he was living in medford, Oregon, with another woman. And finally, on July 20, 2022, they got his ass. There was a stakeout outside of the house that he was living in, and as he stepped outside, they made the arrest, tackled him to the ground, and they say he looked genuinely stunned when they found him and that he even tried to deny he was john, which I think is really funny that he was saying, no, I'm Ben klein. I have. I have no idea what's going on. Meanwhile, it was his tattoos, his ugly ass tattoos, I have to say, too, that were a dead giveaway that it was him. Plus, and this is really cool, if you didn't know about this, this, there's actually fingerprint technology now that they can use to identify someone in just a couple of minutes. And they did that right outside his house while he was sitting there and were able to confirm his identity and say, no, you are not ben klein. And to be clear, they don't think that the woman he was living with had any idea who he really was. They think she was really under the impression he was Ben Klein and that she certainly didn't know that he was wanted for murder. There is audio, I think it's copyrighted, and I can't insert it, but she sounds. Oh, it's like, really, really sad. When I listened to it, I actually had a tear come to my eye because I just felt so bad for her, finding out that she had been living with this monster, this predator, for so long. But anyway, as for Katie's family, the news couldn't have come as any more of a relief, as you could imagine. They were genuinely worried that he was never going to be found, that Katie would never get the justice that she deserved. But justice was now well on its way. And it wasn't just John that was being prosecuted. Hannah was finally arrested and charged with five felonies related to Katie's death, including concealment of a felony, obstruction of justice, and accessory after the fact, all of which she initially pleaded not guilty to. And I thought this was interesting, but she ended up testifying against John during his trial. However, she wasn't given any kind of plea agreement for that. Sounds like she did it because she just wanted to see him be held accountable, even if it did nothing to help her own case. And say what you want about Hannah, I definitely, you know, have my thoughts, which I have expressed, but that testimony certainly went a long way, and she didn't have to do that. So I guess thanks for that. She talked all about how John confessed to her and the horrific details of what happened that night at the abandoned house, as well as the details about evading the police and how she played a part in moving Katie's car. And the motive, if it wasn't obvious, was Katie's allegation of domestic violence threatened John's fragile little ego and in his eyes, ruined his life. He couldn't handle losing his status, and because of that, she had to go. And Patty also believes that he was angry with her because she had filed for spousal support. So some of John's paycheck was being routed to her. And I do agree. I think that was probably part of it as well. And there was one big bombshell that came out during the trial. Remember how I said that John had a daughter. Daughter with his first wife? I think I just said a child. But, yes, he had a daughter with his first wife. Well, while he was on the run, he had this journal that he, I don't know, was keeping for himself. Or maybe the whole thing was going to his daughter. But either way, he had wrote a letter to his daughter in the journal where he admitted to doing it. And he wrote, in part, someday, I hope you understand why I did it. That girl was evil to me. She treated me like Dirk. She took everything from me, including you. I am sorry that I had to do it, do that. But there was no other way for me. Sorry, bud. I love you. Plus, he had also Googled things like how to sharpen a knife and what to do if my wife dies. So there was just no getting around the truth here, right? Even if there was no physical DNA linking him to the murder, which, of course, was the defense's whole argument. But everything else pointed to the fact that John killed Kate, period. And the jury agreed, and they did. So after five hours of deliberation, he was eventually sentenced to life in prison without parole. My favorite sentence. And this just was a moment of pure relief for Katie's friends and family, who, after it was all over, said they finally feel like they can celebrate her life now that their efforts aren't focused on justice. And as for Hannah, she ended up pleading guilty pretty recently, in 2025. And this surprised me, but she only got three years of probation. Patty says this feels like a slap on the wrist, and I couldn't agree more. For a while, her sister Brandy thought that Hannah was just a dumb kid who made a stupid mistake by aligning herself with John. But once she found out that she was actively keeping his location hidden all of those years, her opinion definitely changed. I'd imagine all of their opinions did. And in my opinion, as I've stated earlier, I do have a little bit of sympathy for Hannah, especially more from when she originally met John and when she, you know, was a minor. I think she was taken advantage of. But I think at some point, she could have made better decisions. She could have made the right decisions, and she needs to be held accountable. I think anyone associated with Katie's murder deserves to be punished with jail time, no matter how big or small of a role they played in it, Especially the fact that she delayed her getting justice for so long. I mean, there's just no excuse for that in my book. And I don't believe everything she says. I. I personally believe there's still a lot of lies that have been uncovered when it comes to Hannah. And here's something that you may not have seen coming. There was actually a third person involved in all of this, at least kind of. His name is mentioned in almost no coverage on this case, which is crazy, but but I read that a guy named Charles Sidney Scott was initially arrested and charged in connection with Katie's murder. It was later discovered that he didn't have as prominent of a role as investigators thought, so he got off with a plea deal on time served. And I wish I knew more about this. I don't fully understand what happened here. The information is seriously lacking, which is frustrating. So I have no idea what role he could have played, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. This whole case jet just really took me by surprise. It pisses me off so much that John was able to get away with this for six years. That just shocked the hell out of me. I can't believe that. And it makes me so mad thinking that those are six years that he got to be free when he shouldn't have had another free day from the day that she was murdered. But I do think it's a nice reminder that but just because justice sometimes takes a lot of time, sometimes more than other cases, it doesn't mean that it's not coming and you can never give up. I'm so grateful that her family finally has that peace of mind, knowing that her killer will never see another day out of prison. He will spend the rest of his sad, pathetic life having to rot in prison and hopefully thinks about what he did and feels guilty and haunted every single day of his miserable life. I'm sure you won't be shocked to hear this, but he is appealing his conviction. But I think hell would freeze over faster than he would ever be released. So have fun with that Johnny. That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel which will be linked or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.
- [50:53]
G
Hey it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Are you looking for a refresh this spring? Make sure you take some time for self care with savings on all your favorite hair care Essentials now through March 31st. Shop in store or online for participating Hair care items from Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Aussie and Old Spice and earn four times points. Points can be redeemed later for discounts on groceries or gas. Offer ends March 31st. Restrictions apply. Promotions may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.
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H
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I
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