Soldier Evades Capture for HOW LONG?! The Heartbreaking Murder of Cati Blauvelt

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Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kindle Ray. 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

influence their 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 monsters, I should say. I'm going to be telling you guys about the murder

of Katie Blavell, which absolutely needs to be talked about more. She was a girl in her early

20s 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, a K.A. Catherine Ann Boydher was born on August 8th, 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. 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 going to 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 in her 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'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 Blavelt 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 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 standoff-ish 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 ones family. And eventually, I think Katie was feeling those

vibes that 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

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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 7th, 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, it's fine.

That's the 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 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 for 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. And this was a girl named Ali,

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. 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. No, 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, 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. 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 in 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 while 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 got to understand

about John is being in the military was his entire personality. It was everything to him,

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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 were 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 is absolutely no relationship between them. And for her 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 divorce. However,

any chance that she could have to rebuild her life and really start over was taken from her

on October 24th, 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 words 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 to 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 26th, 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 else.

The state issues were sharing with her. Has anything ever happened before if you guys

were at any big issues like that in the past? We were the worst couple. We argued.

I think it was bad timing, honestly, because she was going through some shit.

Now it's going through some shit. She's left one day. It was like a Tuesday and then she came

back Friday with all the, the entire fountain, the police bar and then there's a pretty big scene.

Well, I think it was the last time we actually saw her. I would say probably July,

because she moved out in April, 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. What do you do for the army?

Right now, it's small, it's right now. Because of the civil investigation, all my recurring duties have

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. 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.

And thanks are kind of emotional and everything. 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 give it to you mentally before we branch in here. But we would like to ask

you some questions that maybe you can give us an answer or what we're looking for. So with that

minor, you want to talk to us today? Yeah. Okay. So I know obviously about the incident that happened

between you guys, allegedly in January, then she had found a report till a fed worker. What made her

file report a month later? Not something that was kind of a personality. Just getting back at you

for something she pissed her. That was her personality. When she got mad about something,

she would act extremely childish until she got away. And if she didn't get away, she was escalating

so she got away. What kind of stuff are you talking about? Um, everything. Just normal stuff,

people stuff. 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 that. But that was my job as a recruiter.

I had to talk to everybody. Yeah. And she wouldn't like that. So then we 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. 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. They're trying to spin this

story against me and it's got me terrified. It's got me scared to shit.

Do you have any idea who killed her? No, absolutely not. This should have ridiculous and

as scary as. But I can't even be scared for Katie right now because I know Katie wouldn't

want me in this situation. She knows what scared us hell. 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.

The AFN is currently investigating the murder of Katherine Ann Blombel, which occurred on her about

1024 2016. The victim's body is located in the basement of an abandoned residence at 817 South

East Main Street. And I'll talk to you to determine the victim's manner of death to be a homicide.

The AFN and other investigators have conductive multiple interviews with friends family and

acquaintances of the victim and her estranged husband, John Tufton Blombel. These interviews have

yielded multiple statements from which the interviewees stated John Blombel has made comments

about his desire to kill the victim and his plan to hide her body in the house located at 817.

The AFN also has recorded statements from witnesses who say John Blombel 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. And another city to make it appear is if

you're not in the area at the time of the victim's death. The AFN has also compiled police reports

from the founding and police department that showed John Blombel was arrested in February 2016

for domestic violence first degree, where he was alleged to have pointed to get out the victim

and threatened her life. John Blombel 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.

Blombel has made statements to multiple persons by the existence of a life insurance policy.

He holds on the victim for between $100,000 and $150,000 in which he is a beneficiary.

The AFN has obtained report statements from witnesses that state the victim's vehicle was

driven to the residence of John Blombel in South Carolina in 1024 or 16 at 4.56 p.m.

This is the day the victim disappeared was the last thing alive. The witnesses described the driver

as someone other than the victim's state. The driver was wearing a black jacket with a hood pulled up.

The witnesses stated 15 minutes after the victim's vehicle pulled out from the residence. John Blombel came

up from the back yard sweating profusely and was wearing a black hoodie jacket similar to the one

of the person driving the victim's vehicle. Blombel did not have a shirt underneath the jacket and

claimed to have been running. The victim's vehicle was later located at the

Jordan-Gramble South Carolina in a strict shopping center. Video surveillance from the area

shows the vehicle being dropped off on 1024 or 2016 at approximately 166-15 p.m.

The second vehicle pulls up for the victim's vehicle and it matches the description of John Blombel's

2007 road to a police. The second vehicle drives off after approximately five minutes with the

driver of the victim's vehicle. Self-run records from John Blombel's phone number obtained from 18T

places phone in the area at the time the victim's vehicle was dropped off.

It is the Athens belief based upon the aforementioned evidence that the 2007 Toyota

Police belonging to John Blombel contains evidence related to the death of the Catherine Blombel.

So not only had John talked about wanting to kill Katie, but he offered something 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. Fuck now.

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they need to grow into healthy adults. 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 theorized 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.

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. Can I please leave? Can I please leave? Hannah, this is a friend of yours

that I tried. 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 fucking 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 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 US

marshals to try and track them down. And even though there was suspicion about Hannah's

possible involvement, law enforcement of course was still worried about her safety.

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 had already been gone. And the first real break they got wasn't even because of

something they did. On December 12 of that year, Hannah ended up reaching out to a family member

saying that she was a new gene organ and that she 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.

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 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's

wore that the two of them weren't in 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 understand how 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.

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 US 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 20th, 2022, they got his ass. There was a stakeout outside of the house

that he was living in. And as soon 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 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, 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, bitch, 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 gets copyrighted and I can't insert it. But

she sounds, oh, it's like really, really sad. When I listen 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 can 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 that 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 with his first wife. I think I just said a child, but yes, he had a daughter with

this 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 dirt.

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 with 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 Katie. 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 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 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 I read that a guy named Charles

Sydney 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 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 of me. I can't believe that. And it makes me so bad thinking that those are

six years that he got to be free when he shouldn't have had another free day for the day that she was

murdered. But I do think it's a nice reminder that 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 Kendal Ray. I will be back with another episode soon,

but until then, stay safe out there.

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