Naman Shrestha
The episode titled ‘Cati Blauvelt: Death of a Soldier’s Wife’ of CBS’ ’48 Hours’ delves deep into the untimely and tragic killing of Cati Blauvelt in Simpsonville, South Carolina, in October 2016. At the time, she was living separately from her estranged husband, John Blauvelt, a former military recruiter. The investigation uncovered John’s involvement in the murder as the detectives learned about his motives to commit the crime. The documentary also features insightful interviews with Cati’s loved ones and the officials linked to the investigation, which also involved John fleeing the state to avoid getting caught.
John Blauvelt’s Marriage to Cati Blauvelt Deteriorated Within Months
Born in the late 1980s, John Tufton Blauvelt worked at the Armed Forces Career Center, where he served as a military recruiter. In 2014, he met Cati Blauvelt, who worked at the Firehouse Subs just a few yards away from his workplace. As sparks flew between them, they began dating. In the summer of 2015, John convinced her to enlist in the army, but she couldn’t finish her training as a health issue arose just two months later. John was a very well-respected professional in Simpsonville, South Carolina. The nature of his job allowed him to stay connected to teenagers in the area.
Eventually, the couple exchanged marital vows, and Cati moved into John’s home, with dreams of starting a new life and building a family with him. However, he reportedly invited minors to his residence, which became a party destination. One of the teenagers who crashed at the Blauvelt residence was Hannah Thompson, who began hanging out with John regularly. As the marriage deteriorated, Cati moved out of John’s home and returned to her mother’s place. As per her mother, Cati also planned to file for divorce. Soon, Hannah moved in with him without informing her family. After her father couldn’t reach her for two weeks, he contacted the police.
On February 26, 2016, the authorities knocked on John’s door and took him into custody. The following day, he was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. That’s when Cati also claimed that John had pointed a gun at her during a domestic violence incident the previous month. As a result, he was charged with domestic violence, too. A restraining order was also issued against him, preventing him from seeing his estranged wife. In light of all these allegations against him, the Department of the Army cut his pay, suspended him from recruiting duties, and reassigned him to a small back office. Despite the restraining order, Cati and John had frequent contact, as she would visit his home to meet her dog, Jupiter.
John Blauvelt Fled the State After He Became a Prime Suspect in Cati Blauvelt’s Murder
On the fateful day of October 24, 2016, John Blauvelt stabbed his estranged wife, Cati Blauvelt, in the neck and disposed of her remains inside a concrete box in the basement of an abandoned farmhouse. A couple of days later, in the early hours of October 26, her remains were found by a couple of her friends. Soon, John was questioned about the murder, but he claimed that he had nothing to do with it. About a week later, he was interrogated once again as he was considered the prime suspect. He maintained his innocence and told the detectives that he had not seen Cati in months. Lacking evidence against him, the police could not arrest him for the murder. Not long after the interview, he fled the state with Hannah Thompson. While he was still on the run, the fugitive was charged with Cati’s murder on November 18, 2016.
Soon, Hannah returned home to Simpsonville from Eugene, Oregon, where she stayed with John. When questioned by the detectives, she told them that he had admitted to killing Cati while they were on the run. She admitted to dropping him off at PetSmart, Cati’s workplace, on the day she disappeared, but claimed that she was unaware that he planned to kill her. Over the next few years, she was interviewed multiple times, but it was in 2022 that she told them that she had been talking to John on Facebook Messenger and Snapchat until 2019. When she revealed that he had been living in Medford, Oregon, with another woman, the authorities located and arrested him on July 20, 2022. He was transferred to South Carolina for his trial.
John Blauvelt is Currently Incarcerated at a South Carolina Prison Facility
More than two years later, John Blauvelt’s murder trial got underway on September 16, 2024. During the trial, the prosecution presented a letter they found in John’s journal, wherein he seemed to have confessed to the crime, stating, “I DID IT.” They also told the jury that the detectives found a “to-do” list on his refrigerator, and that one item on it was “get rid of Cati.” The prosecution also alleged that he had reached out to several people and offered them money to kill Cati. On the other hand, the defense denied all these claims and argued that there was no DNA evidence tying the defendant to the crime.
After four days of back-and-forth between the prosecution and defense, the jury deliberated for about five hours before reaching a final verdict. Ultimately, on September 20, 2024, John Blauvelt was convicted of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the following months, John and his defense counsel appealed his conviction, but the Court of Appeals denied the requests. As of today, the 37-year-old killer is serving his sentence at the McCormick Correctional Institution in McCormick, South Carolina.
