Discovery of woman’s body in abandoned house in woods sparks yearslong manhunt
Cati Blauvelt was found dead in a basement in October 2016.
When Cati Blauvelt's friends discovered she was missing in 2016, the first location a couple of them checked was an abandoned house in the woods that they had used as a hangout spot in their South Carolina hometown.
Sure enough, Blauvelt's body was found in the basement of the Simpsonville house in a box covered in plywood, setting off a search for her killer that would last years.
A new "20/20" episode, "Born to Kill," airing Friday, Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu, explores the details of Blauvelt's case.
You can get more behind the scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The After Show" weekly series right on your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts.
Blauvelt, 22, was described by her friends and family as fun and beloved by all. She worked at PetSmart and loved animals.
"She had the biggest heart I think I've ever known," Maggie Jones, Blauvelt's friend and co-worker, said. "Never met anybody that she was unkind to. Absolutely obsessed with animals. Loved Harry Potter."
On Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, at about 2 p.m., Blauvelt spoke to her niece, Chyanne Paxton Davenport, over the phone after work and discussed meeting up. But Davenport recalled later that Blauvelt sounded off on the phone, and when asked what she was up to at the moment, she responded with "I don't really know."
No one heard from her again.
Blauvelt's family reported her missing to police the next day. After a false lead that showed her cell phone location in West Virginia, her body was found in the basement of the house in the early hours of Oct. 26 by her friends, Wayne Roper and Richard Hargrove, who had gone looking for her.
Investigators found the blade of a knife in Blauvelt's neck and determined she bled to death after being stabbed.
Blood spatter outside of thehouse and leading down to the basement led officials to believe Blauvelt was killed outside and her body brought downstairs.
Police questioned Roper and Hargrove, who fully cooperated with investigators by turning in their DNA and phones. Both were cleared.
Investigators turned to John Blauvelt, Blauvelt's estranged husband. The couple had started a relationship and gotten married quickly but split up a few months later, just months before Blauvelt died.
John, who was an Army recruiter in town, told police he and Blauvelt were "the worst couple ever" and that they used to engage in screaming arguments, but he denied any involvement in or knowledge of her death.
Around this time, police located Blauvelt's car. Security camera footage from a nearby auto shop showed the vehicle pulling up in a lot after her time of death, and the driver exiting the vehicle and leaving in another car.
John drew increased skepticism from authorities when he appeared in video footage at Blauvelt's funeral with a 17-year-old girl, Hannah Thompson, who turned out to be his high school-aged girlfriend. John was 28 years old.
Police questioned Thompson, who denied knowledge of Blauvelt's murder. Without any evidence against Thompson or John, police let them go.
Then, just days after Blauvelt's funeral, John and Thompson took off. The two went missing.
A nationwide manhunt for the couple ensued as authorities and loved ones began to fear for Thompson's safety. About a week and a half later, police issued an arrest warrant for John for Blauvelt's murder, making him a fugitive.
Despite receiving several reports of John and Thompson being seen on security camera footage and John withdrawing money from an ATM, police were unable to locate them.
But nearly five weeks later, Thompson resurfaced -- in Oregon. She called her family wanting to come home, and her dad drove to Oregon to pick her up and bring her back to Simpsonville.
Thompson told police that John said he stabbed Blauvelt to death and she recounted details of the pair's life on the run. She said John continued to tell her that she was the reason he killed Blauvelt, causing her to worry she would be blamed.
Years passed with no further leads on John's location. With Blauvelt's killer still on the loose, her family begged for answers.
Then, in 2022, Thompson was questioned again by police and shared that she had been messaging with John for about two years after she returned to South Carolina. U.S. Marshals tracked John to a woman named Stephanie living in Oregon.
Authorities identified a house John was living at with Stephanie, his new girlfriend. A U.S. Marshal saw John standing shirtless in the front yard on a drive-by.
U.S. Marshalsfinally apprehended John, much to the surprise of Stephanie, whom John had been lying to about his identity for their nearly six-year relationship.
John was charged with murder and found guilty by a jury at his trial two years later.
At the trial, Thompson emerged as the star witness. Her testimony, corroborated by video evidence and other clues investigators had gathered, pulled the entire story together. She had been the one driving the getaway vehicle that John hopped into after abandoning Blauvelt's car.
John was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole. He is appealing his conviction.
Thompson was charged and ended up pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and one count of misprision of a felony. She was sentenced to three years' probationand no prison time.
Blauvelt's loved ones remember her happy, kind spirit.
"She was just always there for me when I needed her and she was my best friend," Davenport, Cati's niece, said. "Always somebody who I could talk to."
