Ex-Army recruiter blamed wife Cati Blauvelt for his demotion. Did he kill her for revenge?

In the soft South Carolina night, in the city of Simpsonville, Cati Blauvelt was missing. It had been two fearful days for her mom, Patti Piver.

Patti Piver: I just was terrified that something was gonna happen to her.

Then, past midnight on Oct. 26 2016, investigators Cheryl Schofield and Keith Morecraft were dispatched to the scene. Cati’s mangled body had been found in an abandoned farmhouse. She was 22 years old. A knife blade left in her body.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: There was a rectangular concrete box kind of in the center of the basement. … We found Cati’s body inside that box.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Her body had basically been folded into this box. It was a picture of what you would see in a horror movie.

Cati’s mom was overwhelmed.

Patti Piver: I was totally empty inside. … She did not deserve to be murdered.

Jennifer Piver is Cati’s stepsister.

Jennifer Piver:  I just prayed and cried and … Just sick. Just sick.

Morecraft and another investigator went to tell John Blauvelt his wife’s body had been found.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: We went to make the death notification.

INVESTIGATOR (death notification visit): I’m so sorry for your loss, sir.

At first, Blauvelt appeared distressed. But as the conversation progressed his demeanor changed.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: Didn’t ask normal questions … such as … where did you find her? How did she die?

Peter Van Sant: He wasn’t shocked by the news?

Investigator Keith Morecraft: He didn’t seem to be at all.

Peter Van Sant: What did that suggest to you?

Investigator Keith Morecraft: That he knew how she died. He knew where her body was.

John Blauvelt did have one question. But it wasn’t about Cati.

JOHN BLAUVELT (death notification visit): Am I being charged with a crime? Because he’s recording me. And I’m not comfortable with that.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: You’re not being charged —

JOHN BLAUVELT: OK.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: — with a crime right now.

Peter Van Sant: Right away you sensed this could be our guy.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: I was pretty confident at the time.

But they couldn’t arrest him on a feeling. First Morecraft and Schofield had evidence to gather and a case to build. But just as they got started, John Blauvelt took to the road. Traveling with him was Hannah Thompson, his new girlfriend, all of 17.

Peter Van Sant: How concerned were you about Hannah’s safety?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: If he was willing to kill his own wife, there’s no telling what kind of danger Hannah Thompson would’ve been in by fleeing with him.

WHEN CATI MET JOHN BLAUVELT

But John Blauvelt hadn’t always been considered threatening. Back in 2014, in the quiet city of some 20,000, he was a welcome part of the community — the larger than life, public face of the U.S. Army.

Peter Van Sant: A person of principle, someone willing to sacrifice.

Patti Piver: Yes.

Peter Van Sant: For his country.

Patti Piver: That’s what I think.

Peter Van Sant: These are all admirable traits, right?

Patti Piver: Yeah exactly.

It was then that John Blauvelt met Cati, just yards from his recruiting office at a sub shop where she worked. Cati turned 20 and Blauvelt was 26. They started dating.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: And they just hit it off.

Patti Piver: She’s lovable, caring, funny. Who wouldn’t fall in love with her?

In the summer of 2015, recruiter Blauvelt convinced Cati to enlist. But after just two months, a health issue prevented her from finishing her training.

Patti Piver: They found a problem with her spine. … She got a medical discharge out of the Army.

While Cati’s military hopes were dashed, Blauvelt told friends he had found his calling.

With his war stories about his deployments in Iraq and his sharp uniform decorated with service ribbons, Blauvelt impressed local teenagers.

Aly Somerville: Like, to me, he had all his ducks in a row.

Peter Van Sant: Almost like a role model, right?

Aly Somerville: Almost like a role model. More like—it was definitely like a role model.

Aly Somerville, a close friend of Cati, says she often ate lunch with John Blauvelt at his recruiting booth in her school. She adds he also sometimes showed up at local hangouts.

Aly Somerville: I thought he was cool.

Peter Van Sant: He was interested in your life, what you were up to and things?

Aly Somerville: Yeah, he made sure I was OK.

But as he began dating Cati, her family was never half sure about Blauvelt.

Patti Piver: I don’t think I ever had a meaningful conversation with him.

Peter Van Sant: Did he seem interested in you and … the family?

Jennifer Piver: No. Not at all.

Then, after about a year — and seemingly out of the blue — Cati surprised her family with an alarming announcement.

Patti Piver: She says, “Oh, by the way,” she said, “me and John got married today.” … And I’m in shock. .. Then she said, “Oh, we got married at the courthouse.”

Patti Piver:  They went on the honeymoon … But within two months, that honeymoon was over.

A DREAM HOUSE-TURNED-PARTY HOUSE

Staff Sergeant John Blauvelt and his new bride were putting down roots in the community. Cati had taken a job at the local PetSmart.

Patti Piver: Yeah, she’s gonna love that (laughs) and she did. …

Peter Van Sant: And she was passionate about animals.

Patti Piver: She was.

Peter Van Sant: This could be a career for her.

Patti Piver: Yes.

As for John Blauvelt, he already owned a four-bedroom home in Fountain Inn, right next to Simpsonville, where Capt. Schofield worked.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield (with Van Sant outside the Blauvelt’s home): Once they got married this is the house that they were supposed to move into and have a family.

Jennifer Piver: She wanted a family. She wanted to have kids.

Cati moved in. And soon the house was crowded with kids. But not the kind Cati imagined.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Unfortunately the only kids that were here were the teenagers that John Blauvelt invited.

John Blauvelt had invited Cati’s niece to stay with them, and later Hannah Thompson and Aly Somerville crashed there, too. Somerville says it became a party destination for kids from Hillcrest High School, where Blauvelt often worked as an Army recruiter.

Aly Somerville: We were just smoking weed all day, every day.

Peter Van Sant: And how old were you then?

Aly Somerville: 16.

And Somerville claimed it wasn’t just weed that was the draw. She said, at times, there was booze, acid, and cocaine.

Peter Van Sant: This is with the U.S. Army recruiter, right?

Aly Somerville: U.S. Army recruiter, yes. … Letting us party at his house. … Like, that — this is awesome.

Patti Piver says it wasn’t long before Cati grew frustrated with all of the partying and told Blauvelt it had to stop.

Peter Van Sant: Her dream house turned into a party house.

Jennifer Piver: Right.

Peter Van Sant: And that’s the last thing your sister wanted, right?

Jennifer Piver: Absolutely.

As Cati and John Blauvelt drifted, Thompson was there to fuel the fire.

Investigator Cheryl Schofield: Hannah absolutely despised Cati.

Peter Van Sant: And what was the nature of Hannah’s relationship with John as time went on?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Hannah became John’s puppy. Any time that John would tell her to do something, she would do it.

It was all too much for Cati. According to police records, after being married less than three months, Cati moved out. Schofield says Blauvelt and Thompson wasted no time.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: She moved into John Blauvelt’s bedroom in this house when Cati moved out.

Aly Somerville: Whoa, that’s creepy. Like you’re in your late 20s and she’s 17 dude. … Like, you’re not supposed to be doing stuff like this.

Thompson’s father went to the police and told them he hadn’t seen his daughter for two weeks. That night, on Feb. 26, 2016, cops showed up at Blauvelt’s house.

Peter Van Sant: When they arrive what happens?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield (with Van Sant outside Blauvelt’s home): They tried to make contact with John … and John refused to come outside.

Somerville was inside the house with Blauvelt and some other minors when police arrived.

Aly Somerville: And John was like “Lock the door. Nobody go outside.”

Peter Van Sant: What were they saying?

Aly Somerville: Like, “John Blauvelt,” like, “come out of the house with your hands up.”

Peter Van Sant: You must have been a little terrified. Were you not?

Aly Somerville: Terrified. Yeah.

Peter Van Sant: These were people with weapons. Were weapons out?

Aly Somerville: Oh yeah. There were weapons drawn and everything.

Peter Van Sant: A veteran of the Iraq war and they’re having to pull their guns to get him out of the house?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Yes.

Peter Van Sant: It’s kind of extraordinary, isn’t it?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Yes, very much so.

John Blauvelt eventually opened the door and was questioned by police. On Feb. 27, 2016, he was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His soldier’s image was replaced with a mug shot.

Patti Piver: He’s the exact opposite of what everybody thought he was. The exact opposite.

And soon John Blauvelt’s troubles would get even worse. Police talked to Cati the day John was arrested. She told them about a more troubling incident she says happened a month earlier.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: There had been a domestic violence incident where John allegedly pointed a gun at Cati.

Peter Van Sant: Pulls out a gun, points it at her —

Jennifer Piver: Right.

Peter Van Sant: — head …

Jennifer Piver: Yep.

Peter Van Sant: Says what?

Jennifer Piver: That he was gonna kill her. … And also threatened the family.

Peter Van Sant: Threatened the family. What do you mean?

Jennifer Piver: Threatened to kill the family.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: The Fountain Inn Police Department investigated the matter and ended up charging him with domestic violence.

A restraining order was issued preventing John Blauvelt and Cati from seeing each other.

Jennifer Piver: He blamed her for ruining his life. Because there was obviously gonna be a consequence from the military.

That consequence came just a few days later, when the Department of the Army cut John Blauvelt’s pay and suspended him from the recruiting duty that defined him.

Patti Piver: You can’t do this and be a military recruiter.

The Army reassigned him to a small back office and began an investigation that might lead to his dismissal.

Aly Somerville: He was like, “I can’t be out in the field” … “like on the front lines” … “I’m not recruiting people for the Army. Now I’m sitting behind a desk” and that’s what made him so mad.

Cati quickly moved on from her short, disastrous marriage and told her mother she planned to divorce John Blauvelt.

Peter Van Sant: Your daughter moves out. Did she move back with you?

Patti Piver: Yeah.

But But despite the restraining order, Cati and John Blauvelt still had some contact, including visits to the house she had shared with John.

Patti Piver: The only reason she would go back over there was because she had her dog over there, Jupiter.

Patti Piver: For some reason I just was terrified that something was gonna happen to her.

As for John Blauvelt, the military career he cherished was in tatters. And according to Somerville, he planned to get revenge.

Peter Van Sant: Did he ever say anything about harming Cati?

Aly Somerville: Yes. He did say multiple times that he was going to kill Cati. …He said that she ruined his military career, that’s all he’s ever wanted to do in life. …

Peter Van Sant: You destroy my career — I’m going to destroy you?

Aly Somerville: Yeah. …

Peter Van Sant: Did you think he’d really go through with it?

Aly Somerville: No. Never.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: He was very vocal on the fact that he wanted Cati dead. He wanted Cati gone. 

A HUSBAND’S ANGER AND PLAN FOR REVENGE?

Police say Cati Blauvelt was last seen alive on Oct. 24, 2016, at her job at PetSmart. But come morning in Simpsonville, no one had heard from her. Calls to her went to voicemail. Her mother reported her missing.

Peter Van Sant: Did she tell the officer she spoke with that she was suspicious of John Blauvelt?

Investigator Keith Morecraft: She did.

The desperate search and the painful waiting began.

Patti Piver: I didn’t think she was alive anymore.

Jennifer Piver: It’s terrifying. It’s the worst feeling. You feel helpless.

After midnight, two of Cati’s friends followed a hunch that sent them deep in the woods to an old, abandoned farmhouse.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Teenagers would go there. And they would party, they would drink, they would smoke marijuana.

Cati and John Blauvelt were known to have gone there, too.

The friends made their way to the basement. They were horrified by what they found. One of them called 911.

911 OPERATOR: 911, What’s the location of your emergency?

FRIEND: …We found my friend Cati … dead in —

911 OPERATOR: OK.

FRIEND: — the house.

911 OPERATOR: OK. … Are you saying she’s dead in the house?

FRIEND: Yes, ma’am.    

911 OPERATOR: Is she cold?

FRIEND: She’s very pale. And there was no response.

Cati Blauvelt’s body had been stuffed into a cold, concrete box.

Peter Van Sant: You believe she — Cati was killed outside the house and brought in?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Yes … And we believe that she was actually killed on the gravel driveway. And then drug on her face through that window.

Peter Van Sant: And if she’s screaming there’s no one to hear.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: You wouldn’t hear it … from that house where that house was located.

Peter Van Sant: And you live with that every day.

Patti Piver: Every day.

Peter Van Sant: It doesn’t get any easier, does it?

Patti Piver: No.

It was Oct. 26, 2016. Investigators made that official “death notification visit” to Blauvelt. They got their first sense of the resentment he held towards Cati.

JOHN BLAUVELT (death notification visit): She flipped my life upside down.

Morecraft and Schofield wanted more information from Blauvelt. And so, just a week later, they spoke with him.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: Didn’t seem to really care that she was gone. Let alone had been murdered.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT (Nov. 2, 2016 interrogation): Anything you say can be used against you in court

JOHN BLAUVELT: I lost a friend. Maybe not the best wife, but I lost a f******* friend.

He told them he visited Cati at the funeral home.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT (Nov. 2, 2016 interrogation): Did you go by yourself?

JOHN BLAUVELT: Yeah. Well, I took Hannah with me.

Blauvelt said he hadn’t seen Cati in months. Their marriage had been a nonstop argument.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT (Nov. 2, 2016 interrogation): What kind of stuff were y’all arguing about?

JOHN BLAUVELT: Um. Everything. (Laughs)

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: Just normal?

JOHN BLAUVELT: Just normal stuff.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: He seemed very arrogant, cocky, narcissistic.

Then the cop fired that point-blank question.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: Did you kill Cati?

JOHN BLAUVELT: No.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: OK. Do you know who killed her?

JOHN BLAUVELT: No.

Peter Van Sant: Sitting across, talking to this man, what are you sensing in John Blauvelt?

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: That he very much is the one who more than likely … committed this murder.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: Like he was put off. Like we were taking up his time. … That he was smarter than we were, and that he was gonna get away with this.

Next up: Hannah Thompson.

HANNAH THOMPSON (interrogation): I don’t know anything about her murder.

INVESTIGATOR: You do.

HANNAH THOMPSON: I don’t.

INVESTIGATOR: You do.

Investigators confront Thompson, sensing she must know something.

CAPT. SCHOFIELD (interrogation): Tell us exactly what happened to Cati.

HANNAH THOMPSON: I really don’t know.

And while they suspected Thompson might know something, they did not know exactly what.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT (interrogation): I can tell you already you’re lying to me. OK? You do not wanna get wrapped up in catching a murder charge.

HANNAH THOMPSON: Right.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: You’re 17 years old. You have your entire life ahead of you.

HANNAH: Mm-hmm.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: You may love John … and you may think you two are going to get married and … walk down the yellow brick road, OK? But no man and no woman is worth going to prison for.

HANNAH THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: Do you agree?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes, sir.

CAPT. SCHOFIELD: If you know something, and you’re trying to cover up for it … you’re gonna go down with the person who did this to her. For — for knowing anything, whether it was beforehand or after the fact — you’re gonna go down with them.

Investigators showed Thompson an autopsy photo of Cati.

INVESTIGATOR: Look at her. She’s right here.

HANNAH THOMPSON: I don’t wanna look at her.

INVESTIGATOR: That’s your friend.

HANNAH THOMPSON: I don’t wanna do this anymore.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT: Don’t wanna do what? Don’t wanna help us find out who killed her?

HANNAH THOMPSON (crying): Can I please leave? Can I please leave?

CAPT. SCHOFIELD: Hannah, this is a friend of yours that we’re trying to do —

HANNAH THOMPSON: I know. And I wanna help, but I can’t.

With no help from Thompson, police hands were tied.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: We had to let him go.

Potential hard evidence had to be processed, including John Blauvelt’s cellphone records and his DNA.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield:  It’s very aggravating. … because we know we’re sitting across from the person who killed his wife. … And shortly after that interview is when he fled the state.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: He had taken his red GMC Yukon.

Peter Van Sant: And he was gone.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: He was.

John Blauvelt, trained in survival and combat, was suddenly loose on the open road.

Patti Piver: I didn’t think they were ever gonna find him. He just disappeared off the face of the map.

And so did Thompson. Police believed she was with Blauvelt.

Prosecutor Kinli Abee would begin building the case with the chilling evidence she says he left behind.

 Kinli Abee: First, what I want to kind of show is, you know, the knife that was found in Cati’s neck … And so what you can see here is this X-ray, that the actual knife blade broke off inside of Cati.

Peter Van Sant: What you’re holding there —

Kinli Abee: Yep.

Peter Van Sant: — is what I’m seeing on this X-ray.

Kinli Abee: Exactly. Matches exactly right there. That’s what was found and lodged in her neck. And that’s how she died.

Simpsonville police knew they needed help to find John Blauvelt.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: I contacted the United States Marshals.

Marshal Will Cook: The investigation is let’s find him, let’s find him, let’s find him.

THE SEARCH FOR A FUGITIVE

On Nov. 18, 2016, John Blauvelt — still on the run — was charged with Cati Blauvelt’s murder.

Peter Van Sant:  What kind of fugitive are you dealing with?

Marshal Will Cook: A cocky one. … John thought … we were never going to find him.

U.S. Marshal Will Cook, based near Simpsonville, would become the point person in the hunt for John Blauvelt, who had been skilled at evasion.

Marshal Will Cook: He had training from the Army that … the government provided him to —

Peter Van Sant: — avoid you guys.

Marshal Will Cook: Avoid us. And he was good at it.

Investigators remained uncertain about Thompson’s involvement in the murder — if any. But they knew for sure she was traveling with Blauvelt. They uncovered photos of Blauvelt and Thompson shopping and Blauvelt at an ATM. His red Yukon truck passing through Texas and New Mexico, heading west.

Peter Van Sant: Were you able to get hits on where this vehicle was from time to time?

Cook: So there were a couple of license plate reader hits.

But by the time police were able to respond, Blauvelt was gone.

Marshal Will Cook: And in a game like this, all the seconds count.

Then, after a month, investigators caught a break. Thompson made contact with her family from Eugene, Oregon. She wanted to come home to Simpsonville. Schofield couldn’t wait to talk to her.

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): We are very glad that you’re back, and that you’re safe, and that nothing bad happened to you.

HANNAH THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.

Thompson’s story was that Blauvelt had left her in Eugene. Just up and walked away.

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): Did you ever see John again?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Mm mm. [shaking her head no]

And, Thompson added, she had no idea where Blauvelt was headed. But apparently, she had enough of life on the run.

Marshal Will Cook: She thought it was going to be a fairy tale. You know, they were going to live on the lam and make things happen. But after a few weeks of that, reality set in.

Any romantic notion Thompson may have had was derailed when Blauvelt got the Yukon stuck in the mud in the Pacific Northwest.

Peter Van Sant: Couldn’t get out?

Marshal Will Cook: Could not get out.

HANNAH THOMPSON (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): He said that we would hike. We had to hike, like, walk off the mountain basically.

Marshal Will Cook: Miles and miles.

The couple was reduced to panhandling for change.

Peter Van Sant: And they used that for food?

Marshal Will Cook: Sustainment.

Thompson says while on the road, Blauvelt confessed — sharing the awful details of the killing.

HANNAH THOMPSON (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): He told me that the knife broke. … I can’t believe that he would do something like that. … (crying)

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD: What — what else did he tell you about it? I know it’s — it’s hard.

HANNAH THOMPSON: He told me that the last thing she —  she said was … that if he let her go, that she wouldn’t call the police.

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD: Where were they, Hannah?

HANNAH THOMPSON: The abandoned house.

Peter Van Sant: An adult can psychologically take advantage of a child. Do you believe in a way that’s what was going on between John and Hannah?

Investigator Keith Morecraft: Absolutely, yeah.

HANNAH THOMPSON (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): And he was just crying and screaming and like … he was like, saying that he did all that stuff for me, like —

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD: Did all what stuff?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Like kill Cati. 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.

Thompson told conflicting stories about her involvement, eventually saying she dropped John Blauvelt off by PetSmart the day Cati disappeared and then left. Thompson says she did not know he planned to kill Cati. But later that day, he asked her to help hide Cati’s car. She also admitted she had lied in her first interview just days after Cati’s murder.

HANNAH THOMPSON (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): He told me that if I lied to the police, that he would keep me safe.

Investigators did not charge Thompson right away because they needed her.

Investigator Keith Morecraft: We had a long-term goal of, A, finding John, B, prosecuting him. And she was the key to a lot of that.

CAPT. SCHOFIELD (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation):  We’re still hunting for John.

HANNAH THOMPSON: Right.

CAPT. SCHOFIELD: OK?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.

They hoped she might lead them to Blauvelt.

INVESTIGATOR MORECRAFT (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): Has John contacted you by Facebook at all since you separated? Or since contacted you by any means at all?

HANNAH THOMPSON: No.

CAPT. SCHOFIELD: But please don’t keep it a secret —

HANNAH THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD: — from — from us.

HANNAH THOMPSON: OK.

INVESTIGATOR SCHOFIELD: OK?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.

But if Thompson knew where John Blauvelt was, she wasn’t ready to tell them.

HANNAH THOMPSON (Dec. 20, 2016 interrogation): I still really care about him, even though he did something, like, really bad. Like I feel like I should hate him. A part of me does, but a part of me just keeps thinking about how he used to be.

Blauvelt was still out there. Months turned into years and lives changed.

Marshal Will Cook: He’s beating us. And we don’t like to lose.

Peter Van Sant: It’s driving you crazy.

Marshal Will Cook: It’s driving us crazy.

Peter Van Sant: Was it frustrating that you retired with this case still out there?

Investigator Keith Morecraft: It was very frustrating. … And it was the only case that I still had that was open.

Those who knew John Blauvelt thought justice for Cati might never come.

Ali Somerville: John is the type of person that if somebody was gonna get away with it, it would be John.

Patti Piver: I never really thought that they would get him.

The police in Simpsonville interviewed Thompson repeatedly over the years. Then in 2022 – six years after Cati’s murder — Thompson finally revealed a secret. She had been in regular contact with Blauvelt for years.

HANNAH THOMPSON (June 2022 interrogation): We had been talking — the whole time. … Like, at first we were talking every single day, multiple times, like, for hours a day. …

CAPT. SCHOFIELD: Did anybody know you were still talking to him?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Nope.

Thompson told investigators how they communicated.

HANNAH THOMPSON (June 2022 interrogation): At the very beginning we were communicating on Facebook Messenger. And then after that we were talking on Snapchat.

She said their conversations ended in 2019.

Authorities believe Thompson had matured, with time and distance away from Blauvelt. She told them she realized what she had done was wrong, and gradually offered more leads. Blauvelt might still be in Oregon. And she added Blauvelt told her he had been living with another woman for years.

CAPT. SCHOFIELD (June 2022 interrogation): ‘Cause honestly, she’s in danger, too.

HANNAH THOMPSON: I know.

Marshal Will Cook: Based on some of the information that Hannah gave us … zoned us in on … John’s new girlfriend in Medford, Oregon.

Medford is small city in the northwest. Investigators jumped on the lead and discovered a phone number that Blauvelt had used to text a mystery woman.

Peter Van Sant: And this sounds tantalizing, isn’t it.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: Very tantalizing.

Marshal Chris Tamayo is Cook’s colleague in the Northwest. His team got an address that corresponded with the mystery woman’s house. He took “48 Hours” to the scene.

Peter Van Sant: They started to stake out the house?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: Stake out the house … And …they followed a subject out — a male that appeared to match our description.

But six years after Blauvelt allegedly murdered Cati, how could investigators be certain they had their man?

Marshal Will Cook: John has some unique tattoos.

Peter Van Sant: Can you show me?

Marshal Will Cook: This is a still shot — from one of John’s initial interviews with Simpsonville Police.

The tattoo of a pirate.

It was a quiet morning in Medford.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: As I’m starting to pull through this neighborhood my heart is racing.

The Marshals made their move.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: That’s the house right there.

Peter Van Sant: And did you see any activity?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: We — did see him come out.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: He’s coming out shirtless.

But was it for sure John Blauvelt? A pirate told the tale.

FUGITIVE JOHN BLAUVELT CAPTURED

On July 20, 2022, some six years after Cati Blauvelt’s death, Chris Tamayo joined Marshals and other law enforcement for the takedown of the man they believed killed her.

Marshal Chris Tamayo (with Van Sant outside house in Medford, Oregon): John’s about three quarters away down the driveway, and the guys start going right at him, giving him commands: “Police show us your hands. Get down on the ground!”

Peter Van Sant: And what does he do?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: His eyes got wide, pure shock. And he drops down to the ground fast.

John Blauvelt was handcuffed and under arrest.

But the suspect told the Marshals they had the wrong man.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: He said, “I’m Ben Klein.” … I said, no you’re not. … And he stuck with Ben Klein.

Ben Klein? Had the Marshals make a mistake?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: We have a device that allows us to mobile print someone in the field.

Peter Van Sant: Fingerprint.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: Fingerprints.

It took less than five minutes for Ben to become John.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: “Your fingerprints show that you are John Blauvelt. … you’re wanted out of South Carolina.”

Peter Van Sant: He knew it was over?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: He knew it was over.

When the Marshals went inside the house, they realized the raid could have taken a fatal turn.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: There was a firearm, a handgun sitting right on the nightstand.

Peter Van Sant: What did that tell you?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: That was an indication to us that … he probably would’ve given a fight.

All of it was apparently news to the woman Blauvelt was living with, when she returned to the house later that day.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: Pure shock. She was visibly shaking, crying, scared.

Tamayo recorded audio with her at the scene:

MARSHAL TAMAYO: So he’s being arrested … on charges out of South Carolina.

GIRLFRIEND: For what?

MARSHAL TAMAYO: For murder.

GIRLFRIEND: Are you serious? (crying)

MARSHAL TAMAYO: Yeah … 

GIRLFRIEND: I can’t believe any of this. This is like a f******* nightmare. I’m sorry.

Blauvelt’s girlfriend told the Marshals she had no idea who he really was.

GIRLFRIEND: We been together for like six years …  He would do random odd jobs … 

GIRLFRIEND: He was basically here watching my cats and my …  my dog all the time.

Peter Van Sant: She loved him.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: She loved him.

The news hit Simpsonville like thunder.

Patti Piver: I was over the moon, just freaking — that was such a great day.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield: And I was completely elated.

John Blauvelt would go cross-country again. This time, handcuffed and brought back to a South Carolina jail to await trial. Just three months later, Hannah Thompson would be charged with five felonies including obstruction of justice and accessory after-the-fact. She would plead not guilty and be released on bail.

Prosecutor Kinli Abee, who began putting the case against Blauvelt together a few months after Cati was killed, would team with John Meadors, preparing the case for trial starting with that blade investigators found in Cati’s neck.

John Meadors: Doesn’t get any worse than that and that’s what she died from.

Kinli Abee (Holding the blue shirt Cati was wearing): You can actually see through the collar of the shirt where that knife blade entered. And you can see it right there.

Peter Van Sant: Right there?

Kinli Abee: Yeah. Right into her neck

They focused on that abandoned farmhouse where kids once partied, where they found Cati.

Kinli Abee: They would throw their bottles, their empty beer cans … And that’s exactly where he discarded Cati’s body.

Peter Van Sant: So do you think John was making a statement by placing her body —

Kinlee Abee: Absolutely.

Peter Van Sant: — in this bin that normally you put trash.

Kinli Abee: Yeah, absolutely.

Prosecutors say Blauvelt blamed Cati for the abrupt end of his military career.

Kinli Abee: It’s all Cati’s fault.

Peter Van Sant: He’s not responsible for what he did. He’s blaming his wife?

Kinli Abee: Yes.

And there were John Blauvelt’s own words. While on the run, he kept a journal—that the Marshals found.

Peter Van Sant: Like a diary, correct?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: Correct.

And it held a damning entry.

Marshal Chris Tamayo: So at the end … it says boldly, “I did it.”

Peter Van Sant: And for you that’s what?

Marshal Chris Tamayo: That’s evidence and proof that he murdered Cati.

THE TRIAL OF JOHN BLAUVELT

In September 2024, eight years after Cati’s death, John Blauvelt went on trial for murder.

Patti Piver described the child she adored.

Patti Piver (in court): She was sunshine. I mean everybody loved her.

Aly Somerville stared at the man she once called a role model.

Aly Somerville: He looked like a stone-cold killer to me.

The prosecution’s key witness was Hannah Thompson. She would admit to helping Blauvelt the day Cati died.

PROSECUTOR MEADORS (in court): You loved John Blauvelt, didn’t you?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes. 

PROSECUTOR MEADORS: You helped him … hide Cati’s car after he killed her, didn’t you?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes.

PROSECUTOR MEADORS: You didn’t know he’d killed her at that point?

HANNAH THOMPSON: No.

PROSECUTOR MEADORS: But you did help him?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes 

And prosecutors played grainy video that Thompson says shows John Blauvelt getting out of Cati’s car and into his. Thompson was at the wheel of his Prius.

JOHN PROSECUTOR MEADORS (in court): But that was you on that video?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes.

PROSECUTOR MEADORS: In those cars?

HANNAH THOMPSON: In the Prius, yes.

Once on the run she says he told her the details of the murder.

HANNAH THOMPSON (in court): He had told me that he killed her …  

HANNAH THOMPSON: He told me that … he stabbed her … in the neck …

HANNAH THOMPSON: He said that he threw her phone into water … that was on the ground, in the abandoned house.

HANNAH THOMPSON: And he said that … he had to cover up the—her blood with dirt.

But Blauvelt’s defense team, Paul Neely and Ana Walker, made Thompson admit that her story changed over the years.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY WALKER (in court): You’ve lied to your friends and your family?

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes …

DEFENSE ATTORNEY WALKER: And you kept lying.

HANNAH THOMPSON: Yes.

Then the defense zeroed in on the lack of DNA evidence at the scene.

Peter Van Sant: Was there any DNA that tied John Blauvelt to this murder?

Paul Neely: No.

Ana Walker: There was no DNA matched to John Blauvelt.

And what about John Blauvelt’s journal, in which he wrote “I did it…”? His lawyers told “48 Hours” much of it was a fantasy.

Ana Walker: A lot of this journal is filled with these fictional stories of observations. It’s filled with poems, drawings, all kinds of things.

As for Hannah Thompson —

KINLI ABEE (in court): You heard she has five pending charges for the information she ultimately provided to law enforcement.

The prosecution pointed to the importance of her testimony.

KINLI ABEE (in court): She is facing 55 years in jail upon conviction for those crimes and she got up here with no deal. The State didn’t offer her a single thing, no agreement to dismiss her charges, no cooperation agreement, no nudge nudge, wink wink — none of it. She got up here and testified. And she told you because she thought it was the right thing to do.

Capt. Cheryl Schofield:  She did a great job, going up there and telling the truth and giving the key details of what John had told her, what he had done to Cati …

The trial lasted four days. The jury was out some five hours.

COURT CLERK (reading verdict): As to the charge of murder, we the jury unanimously find the defendant, John T. Blauvelt, guilty.

Reporter Taylor Farmer covered the case for WSPA.

Taylor Farmer: And it was very emotional in the courtroom, kind of quiet but you could tell Cati’s family was very emotional.

Patti Piver: As soon as the jurors got out, I just started crying.

John Blauvelt was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Patti Piver: He’s a monster. … She was helpless.

And what did the family think about Hannah Thompson, who allegedly covered for Blauvelt for so long?

Jennifer Piver: I would think she was a stupid 17-year-old until at trial when I heard how long she’d been in touch with him. … You are not willing, at that time, to turn him in. … I have hard feelings about that. … it’s unfathomable.

Peter Van Sant: What would you say to your sister today if you could.

Jennifer Piver (crying): That I’m sorry. … That I love her. And that I think she was brave.

Hannah Thompson’s trial date is still pending.

John Blauvelt is appealing his conviction.

If you have been a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

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Produced by James Stolz. Kat Teurfs is the field producer. Ryan Smith, Charlotte Fuller, Michelle Sigona are the development producers. Michael Vele, Greg McLaughlin and Marcus Balsam are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.