True Crime with Kendall Rae - Soldier Evades Capture for HOW LONG?! The Heartbreaking Murder of Cati Blauvelt

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

In October 2016, 22-year-old Cati Blauvelt went missing. Her family already had their suspicions on who could have caused her harm–her husband John, an ex-Army recruiter with anger issues who had lost his job, his identity... and blamed it all on her. In reality, John was partying with and supplying drugs and alcohol to minors. He had even allegedly pulled a gun on Cati during a domestic violence incident.This episode is sponsored by:Nutrafol - promo code: KENDALLRAEMerit BeautySmalls -  For a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping, when you head to Smalls.com/kendallrae.ARMRA Colostrum - promo code: TCKRHiya Health—Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/Watch my documentaries:530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLkApartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84oSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66prShop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shopCheck out my other podcasts:Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpodYouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcwInstagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpodThe Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcastInstagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr*Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnytInstagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonytFacebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NKTrue Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKgREQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0Form for people directly related/close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCNC O N T A C T:For Business Inquiries - [e-mail] me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall 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, uh, 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, monsters, I should say. I'm going to be telling you guys about the murder of Katie Blavelt, 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, aka Catherine 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, 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, 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,

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 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 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 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 he 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 a real. 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 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 moving in together. Let's be real. Women have been sold every miracle product under the sun. 30-day transformations, quick fixes, overnight results, and somehow none of them actually last. That's why Nutraful stands out. It's not about the hype. It's about committing to a simple daily routine that supports hair health from within. So that results can actually build over time. If you've been listening to my show for a while, you know how much I love and stand by NutriFle.

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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 half. 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, 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. 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 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 Allie 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.

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 them 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 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, 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 are the CEOs of our house. They decide when they are hungry. They will cry and complain all day. And my cats, they're so spoiled. They get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And, And they deserve it because my cats mean everything to me. And this podcast is sponsored by Smalls.

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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 taken to. from her on October 24th, 2016. That day was a workday 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. 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. 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 Hardy. 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 blue, 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, 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 restraining order to deal, what was to deal with that?

This is a charge that I got back in the end of February, domestic violence first degree, that she charged me with. Obviously, when that happens to the state issues of the restraining order. Right, right. Has anything ever, like I said, ever happened before, have you guys ever had any big issues like that in the past? I mean, we were the worst couple. You know, we argued a lot, but she,

She, I think it was just bad timing, honestly, because she was going through some shit. And I was going through some shit. She just left one day. It was like a Tuesday, and then she came back Friday with all the entire family, and the entire family apartment. And it was a pretty big thing. It was a wilder thing. It was the last time you actually saw her.

I'd 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 I just sit in this office. It's my office right now.

Because of the civil investigation, all of my recruiting duties have been suspended. 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. Am I being charged with a crime because he's recorded me? And I'm not comfortable with that. And if I am, I'm like to contact a lawyer. Because this is uncomfortable. Okay.

You're not. You're not being charged. Okay, with a crime right now. 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. meaner about Katie. We hadn't really had a chance to sit down. I talked to that date that when we notified you about her death, and things 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 want to give you some time to grieve and, you know, do it 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, you know what we're looking for so with that in mind are you willing to talk to us today yeah okay so I know obviously about the incident that happened between you guys allegedly and January and then she had filed a report till February

February yeah what made her file a report a month later about something that was just kind of her 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 her way and if she didn't get her way she was escalating until she got her way What kind of stuff for you all arguing about? Everything. Just normal.

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'd argue about that. And then one time I just didn't ask her to come back. And she came back like four years later with her mom. And they cleared out, like, all of her stuff. 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

of shit. Do you have any idea who killed her? No, absolutely not. This shit is ridiculous and as scary as but I'm, I can't even be scared for Katie right now. Because I know Katie wouldn't want me in this situation.

She knows him to be scared as 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 affian is currently investigating the murder of Catherine Anne Blanelt,

which occurred 100 about 1024, 2016. The victim's body is located in the basement of an abandoned residence at 8, 17 Southeast Main Street. An autopsy to determine the victim's manner of death to be a homicide. The affiant and other investigators have conducted multiple interviews with friends, family, and acquaintances of the victim and her estranged husband, John Tufton Blowbell.

These interviews have yielded multiple statements from which the interviewees stated John Blalbilt has made comments about his desire to kill the victim and is planned to hide her body in the house located at 817. The Afian also has recorded statements from witnesses who say John Blalveld had approached them and offered them monetary compensation for a 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 FFIN has also compiled police reports from the Fountainham Police Department that showed John Bliveau 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 Blowelt had a pending criminal charge that if he was found guilty would most likely result in his discharge from the U.S. Army where he's employed full-time. Bliveld 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 affint has obtained reported statements from witnesses that state the victim's vehicle was driven to the residence of John Blabel in South Carolina in 102416 at 4.56 p.m. This is the day the victim disappeared and was the last thing alive. The witnesses described the driver as someone other than the victim and state that the driver was wearing a black jacket with the hood pulled over. The witnesses stayed at 15 minutes after the victim's vehicle pulled down from the residence. John Bliveldt 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. Bliveld did not have a shirt underneath the jacket and claimed to have been running. The victim's vehicle is later located at Throgan, Gramele, South Carolina, and a strip shopping center. Video surveillance from the area shows the vehicle being dropped off on 1024, 2016, at approximately 615 p.m. The second vehicle pulls up with the victim's vehicle and it matches the description of John Bliveau's 2007-to-o Toyota Prius. The second vehicle drives off after approximately five minutes with the driver of the victim's vehicle. Cell phone records from John Blabelt's phone number obtained from AT&T placed his phone in the area at the time the victim's vehicle was dropped off.

It is the affingance belief based upon the aforementioned evidence that the 2007 Toyota Prius belonging to John Blabel, contains evidence related to the death of Catherine Blabell. Okay. Do you have any questions about the recording that warrant? Do you have to take the car? Do you want to take my car? Yes. All right.

I got no question. 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? Fuck now. Hayah! That's what we say in our house. Every time it's time for my daughter to take her hya and she gets so pumped. She does her little karate chopping motions and she honestly thinks of her

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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. She's right here. I don't want to look at her. That's your friend. I don't want to do this anymore. Don't want to do what? Don't want to help us find out who killed her?

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'm trying to do. I want to help. 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 18th, 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 U.S.

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 were, 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 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 20th, 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. And he was just crying and screaming, and, like, he was, like, saying that he did all that stuff for me, like, Then all this stuff, like, kill me, 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 can't believe that. He would just be doing my stuff. What else? Did he tell you love? 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 it police. Where were they him? 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 would 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 don'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 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. It 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 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 Clyde. 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, 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 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, 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, an 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, 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 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 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 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 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 Sidney Scott

was initially arrested and charged in connection with Katie's murder. It was later discovered that he didn't have as prompt 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 on 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 from 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 to. 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 Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.