20/20: Season 2026, Episode 25

2026 - 25: Born to Kill

When 22-year-old Cati Blauvelt disappears, her loved ones immediately know something is wrong. After filing a missing person's report, family and friends begin searching locations in her Simpsonville, South Carolina, hometown. But when two male friends find Cati stabbed to death and hidden in the basement of an abandoned house, authorities become suspicious. It seems too convenient to detectives that these men would find Cati in the first place they looked. Eventually, authorities clear these friends and expand their search to other people in Cati's life. They discover that she had an estranged husband, Army recruiter John Blauvelt. Police find John's behavior in the wake of Cati's death strange, including bringing his new 17-year-old girlfriend, Hannah Thompson, to her funeral. In the weeks after Cati's murder, they continue to question John until he goes AWOL, fleeing the area with Hannah in tow. A few weeks later, Hannah turns up in Oregon, saying she wants to come home and telling police she has no idea where John has gone. John remained on the run for years until a tip led to his takedown and arrest in Medford, Oregon, where he lived under the alias Ben Klein. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murder and is appealing his conviction. Hannah pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and misprision of a felony and received three years of probation.