Killer Husband Murders His Wife For His 17-Year-Old Girlfriend

On October 23rd, 2016, in Simpsonville, South Carolina, 22-year-old Catherine "Cati" Blauvelt left her job at PetSmart and never made it home. Her body was found three days later hidden in the basement of an abandoned house on Southeast Main Street — stabbed to death, her body concealed in a concrete box with a knife blade still lodged in her neck. Her estranged husband was John Blauvelt — a U.S. Army recruiter who had threatened to kill her months earlier. In the weeks before the murder his Google searches included "how to sharpen a knife" and "what do I do when my wife dies." Multiple witnesses told investigators he had spoken openly about wanting to kill Cati — and described exactly where he planned to hide her body. The same abandoned house where she was found. The night her body was discovered, Blauvelt was already gone — driving through Alabama, Texas, and New Mexico with his teenage girlfriend. The Army classified him as a deserter. He lived under a fake name in Oregon for six years. U.S. Marshals caught him in July 2022 — identified by his fingerprints and a distinctive pirate tattoo. Nine days after Cati's body was found — before he ran — investigators sat down with John Blauvelt. He didn't know how much they already had. John Blauvelt was convicted of murder in September 2024 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. This is a case about a man who told everyone his plan — and thought nobody would talk. #TrueCrime #Interrogation #criminalpsychology