it's all good, right? yeah it is good. i guess that that wraps it up for us here or not a lot of good topics before we go. send us your like it or not questions record yourself asking the question. we really love to hear from you where you're from. you might see it here on the show. so send us a message. a comment on instagram or tiktok? we really want to hear your like, not questions. when we come back . but i go take that. thank you. go take that. i'm anna garcia. right now on true crime news. a new marriage on the rocks after a secret is uncovered. >> there were some minors in the house. >> then a devastating discovery. >> my friend, we found her in the basement, covered up. >> her husband under suspicion.

>> i couldn't understand why anybody could be so evil. >> and on the run with a 17 year old girl. after a nationwide manhunt, he is standing trial. plus, a man murdered while he is live on facetime with his kids. didn't answer me. were clues to his killer caught on that call? >> i could hear muffled noises, some yelling. >> your daily source for true crime starts right now. we begin with our top story. a trial is underway right now in south carolina involving infidelity, murder, and a man on the run with his teenage girlfriend. a case that sparked a nationwide manhunt. sparks flew when katie beutler met army staff sergeant john blauvelt. he worked as an army recruiter in local high schools. she worked at a sandwich shop next to his office in fountain inn, south carolina. katie fell hard even after

learning that john was married and had a child. >> she loved him so much and wanted to be a family with him and his young daughter. >> and katie made her dream come true. eventually marrying john. but mere weeks after the i do's trouble was already percolating when police say john blauvelt started throwing underage parties at his house. >> there were some minors in the house and some others that were 17 or older. >> it seemed john wasn't only recruiting for the u.s. army, he was recruiting for his own pleasure. and katie didn't like that. >> a lot of the kids that hannah was hanging around were hanging out at his house. >> one of the partygoers is 17 year old hannah thompson. her worried parents alert police that their daughter is spending a lot of time over at the blauvelt, by south carolina state law. >> she was an adult, technically, but we wanted to

make sure that she was okay. >> when police pay a visit to the house, sure enough, on that very night, there's a party going on and john blauvelt is in trouble. >> he was subsequently charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, several counts because there was alcohol and marijuana being provided to the kids by john blauvelt. >> katie is nowhere near the party. in fact, soon after john is charged, police ask her what she knows. katie reveals something shocking, according to her statement. >> he pointed a gun at her and said that he would kill her, and then he pointed a gun at himself and said that he would kill himself. and then he left the residence, telling her that he would kill everybody, that she knew. >> now blauvelt is even deeper in trouble. police booked john on a domestic violence charge. katie moves back to her mother's house and their sweet but short young love crumbles.

>> i was just so glad to have her back again and try to have a mother daughter bond and do things with her. go to the movies and just hang out. >> john bailed out of jail but faced a no contact order with katie. patricia says her daughter was more than happy to comply. >> she asked me to help her find lawyers and look them up and try to find somebody to get a divorce. she had had it with him. >> but just when katie seemed determined to get her life back on track, something awful happens in fountain inn, south carolina. katie goes missing. sensing foul play, friends immediately begin searching for her. one of the places they look is an old abandoned house out in the woods in nearby simpsonville. katie and her friends used to hang out there when they were kids. in the cellar. they notice a pile of construction debris on the floor, but something doesn't look right, so they check underneath. a horrific

discovery. they find their longtime friend lifeless on the floor, stabbed multiple times and left to die in this dark and foreboding place. >> bamba, my friend. she's been missing for, i think, 30 hours now. and we found her in the in the bottom part in the basement, covered up with pieces of wood. was she still alive? no, sir. no response. so she was pale and unresponsive? yes >> i don't know what she went through. the pain. what? she must have been screaming for him to stop. then the mortuary. the man told us it took them five hours to fix her up, to make her presentable. and it. it still didn't look like her. the makeup they used was so dark, and they said they had to do that to cover up everything that was done to her.

>> investigators pay their first visit to the house of john blauvelt. this time, he's in more than trouble. and not only do they find john, they find 17 year old hannah thompson. now, police have double the question. and what happens next is a journey that literally takes the investigation. on a wild ride across the country and through years of a dogged police hunt. on the next true crime news, an apple orchard millionaire ties the knot with a forbidden love. your husband was your uncle. yeah >> a lot going on there. >> and when he is suspiciously shot in the middle of a tropical jungle, he didn't kill himself. it's an unsettling mystery that authorities are tracking from washington state to belize. you had a phone in the house, but you di 't dial (vo) welcome to old el paso, where stand 'n stuff taco shells stand tall without falling over.

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thompson. detectives question the pair, but they are about to face a major roadblock in their investigation. hannah and john will soon disappear. police needed answers about katie blackwell's murder, but when they show up at her husband john's house with the questions, hannah was with him. now john and hannah are on the hot seat. >> she and john blauvelt had both been asked questions about katie's murder. >> investigators soon gather enough evidence to charge john blauvelt in the murder of his wife. but just when his arrest is imminent, john blauvelt is gone and so is 17 year old hannah thompson. investigators don't know if hannah is with john willingly or not. they do know she could be in grave danger. >> i don't think it's a huge leap of assumption to think that this child has left with this man. it's 28 years old, 11 years her senior, and knowing the fact that he was married to another

young girl who was also reported missing and was found some 32 hours later, murdered and in the cellar of a house, an abandoned house. >> hannah's family was always concerned after learning she attended parties at john's house, red flags started going up. >> she was skipping classes and then there was an argument at the house between us and hannah, and she left home for about a week and we didn't know at that time. but she was at john's house that week. i talked to a friend of theirs after they disappeared who said that they were in a relationship. so i imagine there's a sexual relationship there as well as romantic. >> there wasn't anything law enforcement could do. the legal age of consent in south carolina is 16. >> my husband lost it when he heard. i mean, he wanted to go to john's house and confront

him. i'm like, no, you don't need to do that. you you know, you might end up in jail yourself or killed because we knew that john had guns. >> soon after, hannah disappears, her cell phone mysteriously ends up in her family's mailbox. >> it had been wiped clean. reset. i assumed when she left it in the mailbox, it was because she didn't want us to try to find her. then we started thinking she maybe didn't want anybody to see some of the texts that she had on her phone. >> at one point, christie is relieved when her daughter texts her from a burner cell phone that she's okay and that she's still in south carolina. but police tell her hannah is nowhere near her home state. >> we've had information that he's been seen in california in arizona and new mexico along those areas. >> so she was texting me just

lies, i guess, since john was military trained in survival skills and technically awol, u.s. marshals are brought in to join what soon becomes a nationwide manhunt. >> we want hannah returned home safely. that's that's our number one priority. and the safe capture of john blauvelt. >> in a stunning turn of events, police would get exactly that. after seven weeks on the run, hannah gets in touch. she's in oregon and reveals john abandoned her. the teenager wants to come back home. john remained on the run for five and a half years, using the alias ben cline. u.s. marshals finally tracked him down in medford, oregon. john was finally behind bars, but then a twist few saw coming. hannah thompson was also later arrested, accused of helping blauvelt. the very day

his wife was murdered. she's charged with two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of concealment of a felony and one count of accessory after the fact for what police say is her part in dropping john off near katie's workplace the day she was killed, lying about his whereabouts and helping him conceal evidence. true crime news and true crime news.com will be following this story and keeping you updated on the developments when we come back. a father of two is shot and killed while on a facetime call withis family. his idow's (vo) welcome to old el paso, where stand 'n stuff shells never topple, no matter how rowdy your game night. where we celebrate tex-mex mondays, taco tuesdays, and fajita fridays. where there ain't nothing weak about weeknights. go on, get yourself some in old el paso. wow. that's good. almond breeze? you like the almond breeze

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cl(vo) welcome to old el paso, where stand 'n stuff taco shells stand tall without falling over. where squeezable sauces means less mess. where however you make it, everyone can make it their own. go on, get yourself some in old el paso. wow. that's good. almond breeze? you like the almond breeze i got you... that's sooo interesting. what's happening, dad? with delicious taste and 50% more calcium. blue diamond almond breeze. don't just milk it. almond milk it. let's clear the air, about air. unlike febreze, lysol air sanitizer is the only product uniquely formulated to eliminate odors and kill 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. because scent can't sanitize. lysol can. and bacteria in the air. because scent can't sanitize, lysol can. >> nick and ashley cordova had it all. a beautiful home just outside phoenix, arizona. a growing family and a successful

business. but that all changed in the middle of a facetime call nick was having with his young children. he was shot and killed. who would want to kill him? it was love at first sight for alicia cordova. when she first laid eyes on nick. >> i was like, you're cute, you should give me your number. and so he gave me his number. >> that number led to a blossoming relationship. >> i feel like the rest is kind of history. from there, the couple married in 2012 and had two children in 2019, nick cordova purchased a successful heating and air business in gilbert, arizona with a silent partner, dave sweatman. he worked a lot and really tried to build the company up and it was his third baby. >> everything came to a tragic end. nick cordova was inside his business office, facetiming his young children when suddenly i was in the kitchen and then i

heard kapri say, something's wrong, alicia cordova telling our phoenix fox ten affiliate that she grabbed the phone from her daughter as the facetime call was still connected. >> i couldn't see anything, but like, my instincts just kicked in that something wasn't right. i could hear muffled noises, some yelling, and so i immediately took the phone and ran into my room where my phone was and called 911. it's okay. caprice >> i'm on facetime with my husband. my kids are facetiming. someone came in and started like beating him. i think they have. what's your address? he's at gilbert air. >> alicia is shaken and says she can hear nick's business partner's voice on the facetime call and yells out to him. dave is he okay? >> is he breathing? dave answer me. >> i'm pretty sure i saw a black glove or gun. i didn't hear any shots or anything though. i just

i could hear him saying what? like yelling? screaming. someone was hitting him when police arrived. >> nick cordova is found with a gunshot wound to his head. alicia is left staring at nick's office ceiling from his phone's camera, still connected to facetime. >> it's terrifying, and i felt helpless because i'm just screaming through this phone, someone do something. someone say something. >> police temporarily detained sweatman, placing him in cuffs, but he immediately tells cops it was a robbery, claiming two men had entered the business. he says one guy hit him on the head, the other shot and killed nick. but strangely, a substantial amount of cash was left at the scene. >> i do feel like he was targeted. i wish i could say it was a freak accident and someone just came in, but deep down that's not what i think happened. >> dave sweatman is released and

police say he is not a suspect at this time, leaving alicia to wonder who could possibly want her husband dead. >> he wasn't involved in anything shady or any criminal activity. is there something i could have possibly not have known and no way. >> still no answers. police have asked for the public's help with this video from a local gas station of someone they are calling a person of interest. they also have high quality video from inside the business they have not released. >> it's been really hard now alicia is left raising their two beautiful children and desperate for answers. it's like darkness in here, having to live in this house that we planned on growing old together in, and then him not physically being here. it's a lot. >> joining me now is justin lum from our affiliate at fox ten in phoenix. thank you so much for

being with us. it feels like we don't really have anything new. >> that's exactly right. and you can imagine how tough it is for nick cordova's family. there really have been no new leads, no new information, and they are just struggling to get any answers at all from gilbert police. >> justin, do we know for sure that that surveillance video from the gas station that police have released, if that person is a suspect, a person of interest, do we know anything? >> gilbert. police have said that person seen on that video is believed to be a suspect, not just a person of interest, but someone they believe to be involved. they sort of trace the footsteps from the business where nick cordova was ambushed and murdered through the car that was being driven by the suspects into that gas station. that is the digital trace they have. but again, we just don't have video from where it happened. and from the police report, it says that we don't have the full attack on camera, but we know that there's video in that suite of people coming

in and going, all right, justin lum, thank you. >> so much for covering this case and giving us a few minutes of your time. if you have any information on the suspect seen in this surveillance video, contact the gilbert police department at. (480) 503-6500. the other stories m ing news in our

>> on the next true crime news, an apple orchard millionaire ties the knot with a forbidden love. your husband was your uncle. yeah, a lot going on there. and when he is suspiciously shot in the middle of a tropical jungle, he didn't kill himself. it's an unsettling mystery that authorities are tracking from washington state to belize. you had a phone in the house, but you didn't dial 911? >> no, i didn't think about it. >> i didn't know on the next true crime news. now, here are

some of the other stories we're following. it's our true crime index. herndon, virginia a married father and his 23 year old brazilian au pair are accused of orchestrating a double murder plot that has rocked this affluent suburb. they're accused of luring a fetish seeking stranger to the banfield home, and then fatally shooting him. the pair claimed they walked in on joseph ryan as he allegedly stabbed banfield's wife, christine, to death in her bedroom. that's when they say they each shot him, but cops say it was brendan who attacked his wife with a knife. not joseph. columbus, ohio a dramatic high speed chase involving police and two carjacking suspects came to a frightening end. a police cruiser slammed into a building, hitting one suspect and causing an officer in the passenger seat to accidentally fire his weapon. both suspects in the car were apprehended in houston, texas.

police are asking the public for help in identifying a man who robbed a pregnant woman during a home invasion, when she tried to run downstairs, the knife wielding intruder caught her. she could be heard screaming, i'm pregnant! i'm pregnant! after dragging her through the living room, she finally got away and ran for help. if you recognize him, please call the true crime news tip line at (888) 845-7555. that's it for today's true crime news. i'm ana garcia. join s (dramatic theme music) - [elizabeth] today on icrime, you think this is bad? wait until you see what led up to it, a mother fights back, and later. (suspenseful orchestra music) (men off camera exclaim) (siren blares) - [cameraman] oh no!