Army vet arrested after years on run for allegedly killing estranged wife

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Twenty-two-year-old Cati Blauvelt wanted nothing more than to create a family with her husband, John Blauvelt, and his young daughter from a previous marriage. But sadly, she would never see that dream become a reality. In 2016, John was 28 years old and worked as an Army recruiter at local high schools. He also allegedly had an eye for high school-aged girls, too. His marriage to Cati had ruptured by this point, with Cati moving back in with her mom and starting the process of looking for lawyers to help her file for divorce. On October 23, 2016, Cati was last seen leaving her job at a pet store. She was supposed to meet up with friends after work, but she never showed up. Her mom reported her missing. The next day was any family’s worst nightmare: Cati was found stabbed to death in the cellar of an abandoned home deep in the woods of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When police went to John’s home to speak with him, he was hanging out with his 17-year-old girlfriend, Hannah Thompson. Hannah’s parents had previously expressed concerns about her underage partying with the Army vet. On November 18, 2016, Simpsonville Police obtained warrants for John’s arrest on charges of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Then, he and Hannah disappeared. Hannah was found in Oregon in December 2016, but John remained on the run. He eluded officials for six more years until the U.S. Marshals captured him in Oregon on July 21, 2022. John was extradited to South Carolina and was ordered to be held without bond. Let’s take a look back at the case of a young woman whose life was cut much too short and the estranged husband who tried to run, but couldn’t hide.