A soldier goes on the run after his wife is murdered. With him, his 17-year-old girlfriend. What does she know? Peter Van Sant reports. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: How was the community of Simpsonville described?
Simpsonville is a tight-knit community. It's got that small-town Southern charm. This is a place where you bake a cake and take it to your neighbor next door.
It was a great place to be a police officer, and murderers and serious assaults were few and far between.
Chapter 2: Who was Katie Blauvelt and what was her background?
My name is Patty Piver, and Katie Blauvelt is my daughter. Katie was 5'1". She was a teeny little thing. She was just a free spirit. She made friends so easily. She loved animals. That was her biggest thing. She loved animals.
She touched a lot of people's lives.
She did.
John Blauvelt was working over there at the Armed Forces Center.
He was a recruiter for the military. He was someone that was respected by the community.
Somebody who's in the military, you can rely on them. And I think she wanted that, somebody stable and dependable.
John was a catch for Katie. She married him, was happy, wanted to have kids and get their life started.
They were moving into their new house, so everything was really cool.
What did John and Katie seem like as a couple to you?
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances around Katie's disappearance?
On October 24th of 2016, Katie Blauvelt went missing.
She disappeared.
She disappeared.
Off the face of the earth.
Yes. And now nobody could get in touch with her. Her phone's cut off. We don't know what's going on.
Shortly after midnight, I got a phone call from our chief of police at the time, and he advised me that they'd found a body at an abandoned house. Very dilapidated house. How had she died? She'd been stabbed in the neck.
John did it. I know John did it. Oh, yeah. I immediately thought John.
We did our first interview with him several days after her body was located.
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Chapter 4: How did John Blauvelt become a suspect?
I'm just going to ask you point blank. Did you kill Katie? No. Do you know who killed her? No.
Shortly after that interview is when he fled the state.
John disappears and he is on the run.
John Blauvelt goes on the run. Where's Hannah?
With him.
I contacted the United States Marshals. This is their bread and butter, what they do best. I'm a Deputy U.S. Marshal.
We go after fugitives, violent offenses.
He's been trained on how to defend himself. He's been trained on how to kill. Does that make him a unique fugitive? It does. So we don't know where he's going to go. We don't know what he could be doing next. When you heard that he was on the run, what'd you think?
I was like, oh my God, you're never going to find him.
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Chapter 5: What led to John Blauvelt going on the run?
In the soft South Carolina night in the city of Simpsonville, Katie Blauvelt was missing. It had been two fearful days for her mom, Patty Piver.
I just was terrified that something was going to happen to her.
Then, past midnight, October 26, 2016, investigators Cheryl Schofield and Keith Moorcraft were dispatched to the scene. Katie's mangled body had been found in an abandoned farmhouse, 22 years old, a knife blade left in her body.
There was a rectangular concrete box kind of in the center of the basement. We found Katie's body inside of that box.
Her body had basically been folded into this box. It was a picture of what you would see in a horror movie.
Katie's mom was overwhelmed.
I was totally empty inside. She did not deserve to be murdered.
Katie's stepsister, Jennifer Piver.
I just prayed and cried and just sick, just sick.
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Chapter 6: How was Katie Blauvelt's body discovered?
Unfortunately, the only kids that were here were the teenagers that John Blauvelt invited.
John had invited Katie's niece to stay with them. And later, Hannah Thompson and Allie Somerville crashed there, too. Allie says it became a party destination for kids from their high school, where John often worked as an Army recruiter.
We were just smoking weed all day, every day. And how old were you then? Sixteen.
And Ali claimed it wasn't just weed that was the draw. She said at times there was booze, acid, and cocaine. This is with the U.S. Army recruiter, right?
U.S.
Army recruiter, yeah.
Letting us party at his house. Like, this is awesome.
Patty says it wasn't long before Katie grew frustrated with all of the partying and told John it had to stop. Her dream house turned into a party house. Right. And that's the last thing your sister wanted, right? Absolutely. As Katie and Blauvelt drifted, Hannah Thompson was there to fuel the fire.
Hannah absolutely despised Katie.
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Chapter 7: What were the reactions from Katie's family and friends?
Oh, yeah, there were weapons on and everything.
A veteran of the Iraq War. and they're having to pull their guns to get him out of the house. Yes. It's kind of extraordinary, isn't it?
Yes, very much so.
John eventually opened the door and was questioned by police. On February 27, 2016, he was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His soldier's image replaced with a mugshot.
He's the exact opposite of what everybody thought he was. Exact opposite.
And soon, Blauvelt's troubles would get even worse. Police talked to Katie the day Blauvelt was arrested. She told them about a more troubling incident she says happened a month earlier.
There had been a domestic violence incident where John allegedly pointed a gun at Katie.
Pulls out a gun, points it at her head, says what?
That he was going to kill her and also threaten the family.
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