1 00:00:09,092 --> 00:00:11,219 Thirty years ago, in January, 1990, 2 00:00:11,302 --> 00:00:12,554 I started the investigation 3 00:00:12,637 --> 00:00:15,432 of the death of a young woman by the name of Taunja Bennett. 4 00:00:16,766 --> 00:00:18,810 Whoever did it had to be a sick individual. 5 00:00:19,644 --> 00:00:22,063 That's the first time I'd ever seen anything like that. 6 00:00:22,564 --> 00:00:25,650 Two people, Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske, 7 00:00:25,734 --> 00:00:27,986 were convicted for the murder of Taunja Bennett. 8 00:00:29,612 --> 00:00:31,156 And now, here it is, '94. 9 00:00:31,239 --> 00:00:34,159 Letters started to surface that were alleged to have been written 10 00:00:34,242 --> 00:00:37,037 by the individual claiming responsibility 11 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:39,956 for Taunja Bennett's murder. 12 00:00:49,758 --> 00:00:52,594 It was April 29th, 1994. 13 00:00:54,763 --> 00:00:58,433 I was a writer on the crime team at The Oregonian... 14 00:01:01,102 --> 00:01:03,855 which was a very successful paper in Portland. 15 00:01:05,190 --> 00:01:09,778 It was early afternoon, and I was sitting out, uh, on the floor. 16 00:01:11,154 --> 00:01:13,573 The editor came by and handed me this letter. 17 00:01:13,656 --> 00:01:17,285 He said, "It... It looks pretty crazy, but you might wanna look at it." 18 00:01:20,497 --> 00:01:22,832 It was striking, to be sure. 19 00:01:22,916 --> 00:01:24,834 Uh, the printing was very irregular 20 00:01:24,918 --> 00:01:26,795 and violent almost. 21 00:01:26,878 --> 00:01:28,713 Capital letters, small letters, 22 00:01:29,214 --> 00:01:30,423 and little happy faces... 23 00:01:30,507 --> 00:01:32,550 ...all over the place. 24 00:01:32,634 --> 00:01:33,551 Happy faces. 25 00:01:36,554 --> 00:01:37,554 Uh, should I go? 26 00:01:38,807 --> 00:01:40,725 "I would like to tell my story." 27 00:01:40,809 --> 00:01:42,769 "I have always wanted to be noticed... 28 00:01:43,853 --> 00:01:46,606 ...so I started something I don't know how to stop." 29 00:01:47,899 --> 00:01:50,568 "On or around January 20th, 1990, 30 00:01:50,652 --> 00:01:52,445 I picked up Sonya Bennett 31 00:01:52,529 --> 00:01:54,364 and took her home." 32 00:01:54,447 --> 00:01:56,616 "I raped her and beat her real bad." 33 00:01:58,243 --> 00:01:59,869 "Her face was all broke up, 34 00:01:59,953 --> 00:02:01,704 then I ended her life." 35 00:02:03,623 --> 00:02:05,333 It was Taunja Bennett. 36 00:02:06,084 --> 00:02:09,337 The writer had called her "Sonya" Bennett, but it was Taunja Bennett. 37 00:02:10,088 --> 00:02:13,383 "She was my first, and I thought I would not do it again, 38 00:02:13,466 --> 00:02:14,884 but I was wrong." 39 00:02:17,846 --> 00:02:21,057 Newspapers get all sorts of crank calls, tips, 40 00:02:21,141 --> 00:02:23,560 but if it was true... 41 00:02:23,643 --> 00:02:28,106 ...these two people in prison, Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske, 42 00:02:28,189 --> 00:02:29,440 are innocent. 43 00:02:59,387 --> 00:03:01,264 - Okay, happy to go? - Yeah. 44 00:03:01,347 --> 00:03:02,347 Rolling. 45 00:03:02,849 --> 00:03:03,849 Go. 46 00:03:04,809 --> 00:03:07,061 The letters had been sent to the courthouse 47 00:03:07,145 --> 00:03:08,479 and sent to The Oregonian. 48 00:03:10,773 --> 00:03:12,942 Once we received the letter from The Oregonian, 49 00:03:13,026 --> 00:03:15,820 the district attorney told me to take a look at it. 50 00:03:20,533 --> 00:03:22,243 You want me to read the whole thing? 51 00:03:23,411 --> 00:03:25,038 "I am a good person at times." 52 00:03:25,914 --> 00:03:27,457 "I always wanted to be liked." 53 00:03:29,250 --> 00:03:31,711 The first paragraph 54 00:03:31,794 --> 00:03:35,131 gave you an indication more of what he really wants, which is attention. 55 00:03:36,466 --> 00:03:38,676 "I want to know that it was my crime, 56 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,554 so I tied a half-inch, soft white rope, 57 00:03:41,638 --> 00:03:44,307 cut on one end and burned on the other, around her neck." 58 00:03:46,559 --> 00:03:48,895 There was a rope, but it wasn't burnt on one end. 59 00:03:51,064 --> 00:03:54,192 There are both factual accuracies and inaccuracies 60 00:03:54,943 --> 00:03:56,319 contained within the letter. 61 00:03:56,819 --> 00:03:58,238 "Her face was all broke up, 62 00:03:58,321 --> 00:04:01,032 then I ended her life by pushing my fist into her throat." 63 00:04:02,116 --> 00:04:04,911 Factually, that doesn't fit with the autopsy report. 64 00:04:05,411 --> 00:04:06,621 This isn't making sense. 65 00:04:07,956 --> 00:04:11,459 There's nothing that makes me think I have the wrong two people in prison, 66 00:04:11,542 --> 00:04:15,296 because Pavlinac and Sosnovske implicated themselves. 67 00:04:17,340 --> 00:04:20,635 I thought that someone was probably just trying to play a sick joke 68 00:04:20,718 --> 00:04:23,763 or was trying to do something to help Pavlinac and Sosnovske 69 00:04:23,846 --> 00:04:25,348 and shift the blame off of them. 70 00:04:30,478 --> 00:04:31,938 Hello again. 71 00:04:35,525 --> 00:04:38,569 I do remember getting a phone call from, uh, Jim McIntyre 72 00:04:39,487 --> 00:04:41,823 informing me that a letter had been received. 73 00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:44,409 I'm thinking, "Oh, God." 74 00:04:44,909 --> 00:04:46,953 "Is this thing gonna start all over again?" 75 00:04:47,453 --> 00:04:49,789 "Was that nagging feeling I had valid 76 00:04:50,915 --> 00:04:53,209 throughout this whole case in the beginning?" 77 00:04:57,130 --> 00:05:00,174 As far as I was concerned, this case was closed and done 78 00:05:00,258 --> 00:05:01,384 three years before. 79 00:05:02,593 --> 00:05:07,140 But the district attorney thought these letters could be a problem. 80 00:05:11,144 --> 00:05:14,188 He said, "We can't let it just lie." 81 00:05:14,981 --> 00:05:18,609 "Something has to happen, 'cause Phil Stanford from The Oregonian 82 00:05:18,693 --> 00:05:20,320 is going to write about it." 83 00:05:21,237 --> 00:05:22,989 So, that was the marching orders. 84 00:05:24,115 --> 00:05:26,367 Either figure it out or throw it out, 85 00:05:26,451 --> 00:05:27,535 but don't ignore it. 86 00:05:30,788 --> 00:05:34,584 Phil Stanford was an Oregonian columnist, who, um... 87 00:05:36,210 --> 00:05:37,920 He picked a lot of columns and topics 88 00:05:38,004 --> 00:05:41,632 that were regularly poking at issues in the public sector, 89 00:05:41,716 --> 00:05:43,634 whether it was law enforcement or politics. 90 00:05:45,553 --> 00:05:49,140 From my perspective, he was a columnist that was more than happy to say anything 91 00:05:49,223 --> 00:05:50,850 that'd get him a wider readership. 92 00:05:52,018 --> 00:05:54,729 We didn't get along, but you can tell him I said hello. 93 00:05:56,939 --> 00:05:59,984 I think law enforcement people 94 00:06:00,068 --> 00:06:02,278 regarded me as a pain in the ass. 95 00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:06,282 Coming from the people it's coming from, I take it as a... a compliment. 96 00:06:13,039 --> 00:06:15,833 The letter writer claimed to have committed five murders, 97 00:06:16,626 --> 00:06:18,961 but I needed more proof. 98 00:06:21,422 --> 00:06:24,175 So, I started going down the list. 99 00:06:24,926 --> 00:06:28,513 "One day in California, I picked up a girl named Claudia." 100 00:06:29,097 --> 00:06:32,725 "On the way out of LA, my mind went wild with the thought of a sex slave, 101 00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:35,853 and when I stopped at a rest area, I took her." 102 00:06:35,937 --> 00:06:37,063 Oh! 103 00:06:37,146 --> 00:06:38,189 Jesus. 104 00:06:38,272 --> 00:06:40,274 "A hooker became my next victim." 105 00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:44,404 "I placed her body in the dirt and stepped on her throat." 106 00:06:44,487 --> 00:06:46,697 "This triggered something in me. It was getting easy." 107 00:06:48,324 --> 00:06:49,324 "Real easy." 108 00:06:53,830 --> 00:06:55,957 So, counting Taunja Bennett, 109 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:57,959 there were five murders described in the letter. 110 00:07:00,628 --> 00:07:03,756 I started making calls to the different jurisdictions. 111 00:07:04,715 --> 00:07:08,678 The detectives I talked to in each... each one of those locations said, "Yeah." 112 00:07:09,512 --> 00:07:11,222 "That's one of our bodies." 113 00:07:12,807 --> 00:07:14,934 And in several cases, 114 00:07:15,017 --> 00:07:16,227 the detectives told me 115 00:07:16,310 --> 00:07:20,857 that the letter writer had information that they hadn't released to the public. 116 00:07:22,817 --> 00:07:25,111 Four out of five of the murders 117 00:07:25,194 --> 00:07:27,405 had pretty much, uh, well, checked out, 118 00:07:27,488 --> 00:07:30,867 so time to go back and look at the Taunja Bennett case. 119 00:07:33,494 --> 00:07:36,205 I got a nice bound volume of all the police reports, 120 00:07:37,748 --> 00:07:39,292 and I started reading it. 121 00:07:39,959 --> 00:07:42,170 And it didn't take that long 122 00:07:42,253 --> 00:07:44,881 to see that, uh... 123 00:07:44,964 --> 00:07:47,049 ...it was a very shaky case. 124 00:07:51,012 --> 00:07:54,098 The whole thing starts with Laverne Pavlinac 125 00:07:54,182 --> 00:07:56,350 and her taped confession. 126 00:07:56,934 --> 00:07:57,768 Thanks. 127 00:07:57,852 --> 00:08:00,313 When you arrived there, Laverne, 128 00:08:00,396 --> 00:08:01,856 what did you find? 129 00:08:01,939 --> 00:08:02,982 A female. 130 00:08:03,483 --> 00:08:05,860 I asked if she's sick. 131 00:08:06,569 --> 00:08:09,655 He says, "Worse than that, she's dead." 132 00:08:10,281 --> 00:08:13,534 The big problem is that she'd kept changing her stories. 133 00:08:14,410 --> 00:08:15,804 W hen you entered the lot... 134 00:08:15,828 --> 00:08:18,289 ...what did you see, if anything? 135 00:08:18,915 --> 00:08:21,792 I seen John standing with a young lady. 136 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:28,132 And they appeared to be arguing in a playing way. 137 00:08:32,887 --> 00:08:36,432 Each time she gives them a story, it turns out to be false. 138 00:08:36,933 --> 00:08:39,602 Why are they pursuing it? Why do they want it? 139 00:08:44,732 --> 00:08:47,610 It's hard to explain. 140 00:08:47,693 --> 00:08:51,155 The more complicated it got and the more convoluted it got, 141 00:08:51,822 --> 00:08:56,285 I had a feeling of uneasiness that I think is the best way to put it. 142 00:08:57,787 --> 00:09:03,751 But when she pointed almost directly to where that body had been located... 143 00:09:05,086 --> 00:09:08,673 ...then I thought she's been telling us the truth all along. 144 00:09:10,132 --> 00:09:11,259 It blew me away. 145 00:09:14,387 --> 00:09:17,723 There was no forensic evidence that could prove 146 00:09:17,807 --> 00:09:20,560 Pavlinac and Sosnovske had committed these murders. 147 00:09:21,185 --> 00:09:22,728 I... I mean, there's just none. 148 00:09:25,898 --> 00:09:28,818 So, I called McIntyre for a quote. 149 00:09:30,278 --> 00:09:32,905 I'm surprised I talked to Phil Stanford at all. 150 00:09:32,989 --> 00:09:33,989 Um... 151 00:09:34,407 --> 00:09:36,742 He was not eager to be pursuing... 152 00:09:36,826 --> 00:09:38,828 ...this line of inquiry, that's for damn sure. 153 00:09:39,412 --> 00:09:42,582 And, uh, he... he let me know that he... he didn't really like it. 154 00:09:43,541 --> 00:09:45,686 I answered him the way I did everybody else, 155 00:09:45,710 --> 00:09:48,379 "I don't know who's writing these things." 156 00:09:48,462 --> 00:09:50,256 "I'm not sure what their intent is." 157 00:09:50,339 --> 00:09:54,302 "I don't know whether they're linked to Pavlinac and Sosnovske or not." 158 00:09:56,095 --> 00:09:58,431 With what we have, we've got nothing. 159 00:10:00,516 --> 00:10:01,516 Uh... 160 00:10:02,059 --> 00:10:05,563 I wasn't in a position to tell him 161 00:10:05,646 --> 00:10:08,983 that I thought his explanation was full of it. 162 00:10:12,361 --> 00:10:16,949 So, I decided I needed to go visit Pavlinac and Sosnovske. 163 00:10:19,368 --> 00:10:21,579 I wanted to find out what really happened. 164 00:10:29,962 --> 00:10:33,257 Laverne Pavlinac was a... a frail 165 00:10:34,550 --> 00:10:35,843 little grandma. 166 00:10:37,053 --> 00:10:38,053 She was in her 167 00:10:39,138 --> 00:10:40,138 mid-sixties. 168 00:10:40,890 --> 00:10:43,392 She'd been in prison for three years at this point. 169 00:10:44,435 --> 00:10:46,103 I... I asked, "Why did you do it?" 170 00:10:47,104 --> 00:10:48,522 "Why did you confess?" 171 00:10:50,107 --> 00:10:54,028 She claimed that Sosnovske had been abusive to her, 172 00:10:54,612 --> 00:10:57,281 that he had threatened her kids, that he pushed her around, 173 00:10:57,365 --> 00:10:59,325 and she just wanted him out of the house. 174 00:11:00,242 --> 00:11:02,745 So, instead, she got them both convicted of murder. 175 00:11:04,955 --> 00:11:06,415 "It just snowballed on me." 176 00:11:06,499 --> 00:11:08,834 She said that several times, "It snowballed on me." 177 00:11:08,918 --> 00:11:11,629 That... That's how she explained it to herself. 178 00:11:13,214 --> 00:11:16,050 I asked how she would have known where the body was left. 179 00:11:17,301 --> 00:11:19,428 And she told me that when she pointed out... 180 00:11:19,512 --> 00:11:23,724 ...the spot that it had been almost pinpointed in the newspapers. 181 00:11:26,060 --> 00:11:27,728 Like, I... I felt sorry for her. 182 00:11:28,437 --> 00:11:31,107 She wasn't angry, she wasn't sad. 183 00:11:31,190 --> 00:11:33,651 She wasn't... anything. 184 00:11:33,734 --> 00:11:35,403 She was just sort of beaten. 185 00:11:42,118 --> 00:11:46,455 Sosnovske was beside himself with anger. 186 00:11:47,707 --> 00:11:51,335 And... And, um, it... it's easy enough to understand why. 187 00:11:52,712 --> 00:11:55,756 He just said Laverne framed him. That's the way he saw it. 188 00:12:00,219 --> 00:12:03,264 He said, "They're gonna execute me." So, he plead no contest. 189 00:12:05,599 --> 00:12:08,519 He... He was broken. When I... I spoke to him, he was broken. 190 00:12:14,275 --> 00:12:16,986 I had no doubt that Pavlinac 191 00:12:17,069 --> 00:12:18,237 and Sosnovske 192 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,532 were quite innocent of that murder or any other murder. 193 00:12:24,243 --> 00:12:27,496 So, I told my bosses I'm gonna write a series. 194 00:12:28,664 --> 00:12:30,416 And so, they let me do it. 195 00:12:30,499 --> 00:12:32,793 It took I... I think less than two weeks, 196 00:12:32,877 --> 00:12:34,336 and... and, uh, that was it. 197 00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:41,552 I thought about it from the beginning. 198 00:12:41,635 --> 00:12:43,220 What am I gonna call this guy 199 00:12:43,304 --> 00:12:46,265 if it turns out to be a real story? 200 00:12:46,348 --> 00:12:47,683 And there were happy faces. 201 00:12:51,228 --> 00:12:54,231 As those articles appeared, I would glance at them. 202 00:12:54,315 --> 00:12:55,524 I didn't... I never... 203 00:12:55,608 --> 00:12:58,319 I don't think I read a single column, line for line. 204 00:13:00,362 --> 00:13:05,326 I actually thought that the way I had taken apart the state's case 205 00:13:05,409 --> 00:13:06,494 made it clear 206 00:13:07,161 --> 00:13:08,621 that these people were innocent. 207 00:13:10,498 --> 00:13:13,000 I thought that, "Oh, of course the DA will see this, 208 00:13:13,083 --> 00:13:15,628 and McIntyre will see it, and they'll say, 209 00:13:15,711 --> 00:13:17,213 'Whoa, we made a mistake.'" 210 00:13:18,839 --> 00:13:19,673 Of course, 211 00:13:19,757 --> 00:13:21,342 that was foolish of me. 212 00:13:25,221 --> 00:13:26,138 Hmm. 213 00:13:29,391 --> 00:13:31,143 This isn't a case where the state said, 214 00:13:31,227 --> 00:13:33,312 "Laverne Pavlinac, we know you killed Taunja." 215 00:13:33,395 --> 00:13:34,814 Laverne Pavlinac's in prison 216 00:13:34,897 --> 00:13:37,107 because she said she killed Taunja Bennett. 217 00:13:37,775 --> 00:13:40,736 John Sosnovske is in prison because he plead no contest. 218 00:13:42,613 --> 00:13:44,782 Stanford fashioned himself a crime reporter 219 00:13:44,865 --> 00:13:47,743 who was uncovering the things the state had always done wrong. 220 00:13:49,286 --> 00:13:52,122 I'm certain he thought he was probably on his way to a Pulitzer Prize. 221 00:13:55,084 --> 00:13:56,961 I thought it was nonsense. 222 00:13:57,962 --> 00:14:00,297 That's what was really driving me nuts, 223 00:14:00,381 --> 00:14:03,926 because I was convinced the real killer was still out there. 224 00:14:19,567 --> 00:14:23,529 I had not heard anything about the case for over a year, 225 00:14:24,446 --> 00:14:28,242 and then we have this hand grenade go off. 226 00:14:28,325 --> 00:14:31,036 Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with Channel 2 News, 227 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:32,663 alleged murderer Keith Jesperson 228 00:14:32,746 --> 00:14:35,124 confessed to being the so-called Happy Face Killer. 229 00:14:35,207 --> 00:14:37,710 Make a hole, people. Let's go. 230 00:14:40,296 --> 00:14:44,341 This Keith Jesperson fella was up in custody 231 00:14:44,425 --> 00:14:46,093 in Clark County, Washington, 232 00:14:47,094 --> 00:14:49,430 pending trial on a murder of a girlfriend. 233 00:14:51,181 --> 00:14:55,144 He comes forth and confesses, "Yes, I am the Happy Face Killer." 234 00:14:55,227 --> 00:14:56,645 And he seemed proud of it. 235 00:14:56,729 --> 00:14:58,355 There is no doubt in my mind. 236 00:14:59,773 --> 00:15:00,773 I am him. 237 00:15:02,401 --> 00:15:03,819 I am the Happy Face Killer. 238 00:15:04,653 --> 00:15:08,365 The fact that Keith Jesperson was seeking so much media attention 239 00:15:08,449 --> 00:15:09,700 gave me pause to believe 240 00:15:09,783 --> 00:15:12,995 that he was being truthful about, really, anything. 241 00:15:13,078 --> 00:15:16,665 Forty-year-old Keith Jesperson came to court today in Clark County 242 00:15:16,749 --> 00:15:18,417 to get something off his chest. 243 00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:20,794 You understand the consequences of a guilty plea? 244 00:15:20,878 --> 00:15:22,296 Yes, I do. 245 00:15:22,379 --> 00:15:25,215 I was sitting at my desk. I got a phone call from a friend. 246 00:15:25,925 --> 00:15:30,596 He said, "Did you know there's this guy who says he's Happy Face Killer?" 247 00:15:30,679 --> 00:15:33,641 And I said, "You gotta be kidding." 248 00:15:34,224 --> 00:15:35,224 "It's happening." 249 00:15:37,186 --> 00:15:39,313 He's confessed to as many as eight murders. 250 00:15:39,396 --> 00:15:41,649 Does he plan to plead guilty to any more? 251 00:15:41,732 --> 00:15:44,109 Uh, that's a little too early to tell. 252 00:15:47,404 --> 00:15:52,076 I know he's responsible for killing one person for sure, 253 00:15:52,159 --> 00:15:53,494 'cause he's in custody on that. 254 00:15:54,161 --> 00:15:55,329 At this stage, 255 00:15:55,412 --> 00:15:58,082 they're still running investigations in those other states 256 00:15:58,165 --> 00:16:01,710 to see if they can find things to corroborate the statements he's making. 257 00:16:04,713 --> 00:16:06,090 A year before, 258 00:16:06,173 --> 00:16:08,676 we had found DNA on The Oregonian letter, 259 00:16:08,759 --> 00:16:10,344 in the saliva on the stamp. 260 00:16:10,427 --> 00:16:13,263 That at least established a profile. 261 00:16:13,847 --> 00:16:19,019 I had the lab check the DNA from the stamp 262 00:16:19,937 --> 00:16:21,563 against Jesperson's DNA. 263 00:16:22,189 --> 00:16:24,608 Jesperson is then identified as being the author 264 00:16:24,692 --> 00:16:26,276 of the Happy Face letter. 265 00:16:27,569 --> 00:16:30,406 Does that mean he is... is the murderer of Taunja Bennett? 266 00:16:31,198 --> 00:16:34,159 We were miles and miles away from answering that question. 267 00:16:35,744 --> 00:16:39,164 I'm coming forward with the truth. I wanna make sure it's out there. 268 00:16:42,626 --> 00:16:44,086 I don't know what he's up to, 269 00:16:44,837 --> 00:16:47,089 but he's up to something, and he's engineering it. 270 00:16:54,138 --> 00:16:55,806 On the 25th of September... 271 00:16:56,306 --> 00:16:58,934 ...I was contacted... 272 00:16:59,852 --> 00:17:01,562 ...by Jesperson's lawyer. 273 00:17:07,109 --> 00:17:09,069 He said, "My client's told me to tell you 274 00:17:09,153 --> 00:17:11,947 that he's responsible for the Taunja Bennett killing." 275 00:17:13,449 --> 00:17:15,075 I let loose with something like, 276 00:17:15,659 --> 00:17:18,746 "I'm so tired of hearing about your client in this case." 277 00:17:18,829 --> 00:17:20,789 "You know, this whole thing is ridiculous." 278 00:17:20,873 --> 00:17:22,958 And he kind of pulled up short and said, 279 00:17:23,625 --> 00:17:25,169 "Jim, you need to listen to this." 280 00:17:25,252 --> 00:17:27,379 "You need to listen to what I have to say." 281 00:17:27,463 --> 00:17:29,173 "This is important." 282 00:17:29,256 --> 00:17:30,716 "I believe my guy." 283 00:17:32,843 --> 00:17:35,262 Coming from the lawyer, who I knew personally, 284 00:17:35,345 --> 00:17:37,931 that was one of the first times I got concerned that, 285 00:17:38,015 --> 00:17:39,516 shit, this could be a problem. 286 00:17:41,101 --> 00:17:42,269 Um... 287 00:17:42,352 --> 00:17:45,606 It could be that Pavlinac and Sosnovske 288 00:17:46,607 --> 00:17:48,776 didn't do this crime. 289 00:17:59,495 --> 00:18:01,955 The date is September 29th, 1995. 290 00:18:02,039 --> 00:18:04,041 The time is 10:35. 291 00:18:04,124 --> 00:18:06,543 Present at the Clark County Sheriff's Office... 292 00:18:06,627 --> 00:18:09,004 ...Defense attorney Tom Phelan, 293 00:18:09,546 --> 00:18:12,549 Deputy DA Jim McIntyre, Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, 294 00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:15,928 Det. Chris Peterson, Multnomah County Sheriff's Office... 295 00:18:16,011 --> 00:18:19,848 There were four of us inside of a small interview room, 296 00:18:19,932 --> 00:18:21,683 inside the jail in the courthouse. 297 00:18:23,852 --> 00:18:28,774 My first impression was he was huge. He's a very large guy. 298 00:18:29,608 --> 00:18:31,235 But, I mean, I'm not small. 299 00:18:31,735 --> 00:18:34,321 I was 6'2" and I weighed about 190 pounds, 300 00:18:34,404 --> 00:18:38,325 and, um, Jesperson was probably 6'6" 301 00:18:38,408 --> 00:18:41,703 and about 260 or 270 at a minimum. 302 00:18:43,580 --> 00:18:44,915 He held his hand out, 303 00:18:44,998 --> 00:18:49,253 um, and I... I shook his hand thinking that I... As soon as I get out of there, 304 00:18:49,336 --> 00:18:50,671 I was gonna wash my hands. 305 00:18:56,510 --> 00:18:58,220 Ahem. I understand that 306 00:18:59,388 --> 00:19:03,433 you wanna talk to us about a homicide that occurred in, uh, Multnomah County, 307 00:19:03,517 --> 00:19:05,102 uh, in 1990, is that correct? 308 00:19:05,185 --> 00:19:06,895 - That is correct. Yes, I do. - Okay. 309 00:19:08,397 --> 00:19:10,774 My role there was to listen and observe. 310 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:14,862 Okay, at some point, 311 00:19:15,821 --> 00:19:17,948 did you meet a female that you, uh, killed? 312 00:19:18,657 --> 00:19:21,160 - Yes, I did. - Do you know what her name was? 313 00:19:21,910 --> 00:19:23,412 I found out it was Taunja... 314 00:19:24,830 --> 00:19:26,623 Bennett. 315 00:19:27,666 --> 00:19:31,003 I went out for a walk, and I decided I'd go out and play some pool. 316 00:19:31,587 --> 00:19:33,130 Walked in the tavern, 317 00:19:33,213 --> 00:19:36,341 and, uh, this gal walked over 318 00:19:36,425 --> 00:19:38,218 and gave me a hug like I was... 319 00:19:38,302 --> 00:19:40,137 like I was somebody she knew. 320 00:19:41,138 --> 00:19:42,806 I just thought she was overfriendly, 321 00:19:42,890 --> 00:19:45,350 but she actually gave hugs to about everybody there. 322 00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:49,938 His description of the way Taunja acted when he came into the bar 323 00:19:50,022 --> 00:19:52,733 was completely consistent with what we had been told earlier 324 00:19:52,816 --> 00:19:55,819 about how Taunja assumed everybody she talked to was a nice person 325 00:19:55,903 --> 00:19:56,987 who'd treat her nicely. 326 00:19:58,822 --> 00:20:01,742 Keith says he was there in the afternoon, um, hanging out, 327 00:20:01,825 --> 00:20:04,244 saw Taunja hanging out with a couple of other guys. 328 00:20:04,328 --> 00:20:08,081 Um, he goes back to his house, which is nearby, 329 00:20:08,165 --> 00:20:10,834 and decides to go back to the bar later in the afternoon. 330 00:20:12,002 --> 00:20:13,754 I invited her to dinner, 331 00:20:13,837 --> 00:20:16,673 but I was conscious that I didn't have enough money, 332 00:20:16,757 --> 00:20:19,051 so I told her, "Well, I could go back to the house 333 00:20:19,134 --> 00:20:21,136 and get a $20 bill out of the dresser." 334 00:20:21,678 --> 00:20:24,223 Jesperson said that he drove Taunja back to the house. 335 00:20:25,265 --> 00:20:30,270 They went into the house, and she was acting attracted to him. 336 00:20:31,897 --> 00:20:34,066 I kissed her on the neck, went from there, 337 00:20:34,733 --> 00:20:36,860 but something just didn't seem right. 338 00:20:38,528 --> 00:20:41,490 I don't know if it was clicking for her or not. 339 00:20:41,573 --> 00:20:44,117 She was complaining she wasn't excited yet. 340 00:20:44,201 --> 00:20:46,703 And, uh, she made a comment, something like, 341 00:20:46,787 --> 00:20:49,414 "I'm not getting there. Why don't you get it over with?" 342 00:20:51,541 --> 00:20:52,709 That pissed me off. 343 00:20:56,296 --> 00:20:57,296 I, uh... 344 00:20:58,257 --> 00:20:59,758 tagged her with my right arm. 345 00:21:00,342 --> 00:21:02,761 What do you mean, tagged her? What does that mean? 346 00:21:03,262 --> 00:21:06,890 I just lost my cool, and I struck her in the side of the face, 347 00:21:06,974 --> 00:21:10,102 and I never stopped striking her until she was... 348 00:21:10,185 --> 00:21:12,354 ...laying there. 349 00:21:13,855 --> 00:21:15,535 He goes through it very flatly. 350 00:21:16,108 --> 00:21:18,777 It's clear he doesn't feel any emotion towards Taunja. 351 00:21:20,445 --> 00:21:22,990 She said things that my wife used to tell me 352 00:21:23,073 --> 00:21:24,241 when we were having sex, 353 00:21:24,324 --> 00:21:26,827 and... and it just brought back memories. 354 00:21:27,703 --> 00:21:28,703 I was not... 355 00:21:29,788 --> 00:21:32,708 I don't think I was all there at that time. 356 00:21:38,338 --> 00:21:41,091 How he was telling the story didn't surprise me at all. 357 00:21:41,591 --> 00:21:43,260 It's a good detailed description 358 00:21:44,636 --> 00:21:45,512 if it's memory. 359 00:21:45,595 --> 00:21:48,348 It's also a good detailed description if you're making it up. 360 00:21:48,432 --> 00:21:52,102 We're still not out of the realm of him just telling a good story. 361 00:21:52,894 --> 00:21:56,565 I was thinking of the fingerprints I left on the... on the buttons... 362 00:21:56,648 --> 00:22:00,527 ...so I took the buttons off her jeans. 363 00:22:00,610 --> 00:22:03,613 Okay. Uh, what happens next? 364 00:22:04,197 --> 00:22:07,576 I'm sitting there really listening and waiting for new information. 365 00:22:08,285 --> 00:22:09,703 I take off in the car, 366 00:22:09,786 --> 00:22:12,873 and I go looking for a place I can go dump her body. 367 00:22:12,956 --> 00:22:15,334 He says he gets in his car and goes for a drive 368 00:22:15,417 --> 00:22:17,919 and ends up going up above the Sandy River, 369 00:22:18,003 --> 00:22:19,838 the scenic highway to the Vista House. 370 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,677 I noticed a bunch of people parked around the Vista, 371 00:22:25,761 --> 00:22:27,512 maybe three or four cars. 372 00:22:28,722 --> 00:22:32,351 I finally figured I'd just keep on going down the hill 373 00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:34,102 until I found a place. 374 00:22:35,228 --> 00:22:38,565 At that time, I was really getting kind of panicky, 375 00:22:38,648 --> 00:22:40,150 and, uh... 376 00:22:41,109 --> 00:22:44,863 I saw a big tree on the right, and then I stopped in front of it. 377 00:22:45,906 --> 00:22:49,201 I just grabbed her and dragged her down the hill. 378 00:22:52,829 --> 00:22:57,834 I'm waiting for him to tell me something that is unique to him 379 00:22:57,918 --> 00:23:02,589 and not known to anybody else and not found anywhere else. 380 00:23:03,173 --> 00:23:04,883 You've talked about a purse? 381 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,514 Yes, I... I got rid of her purse the next following morning. 382 00:23:19,231 --> 00:23:21,983 All of her other personal items and identification, 383 00:23:22,067 --> 00:23:23,485 a purse was never found. 384 00:23:25,529 --> 00:23:28,073 I drove back out of there. 385 00:23:30,450 --> 00:23:33,036 Followed generally the same path across the river... 386 00:23:35,580 --> 00:23:37,541 and I pulled over to a wide spot. 387 00:23:38,208 --> 00:23:39,835 I took the purse, 388 00:23:39,918 --> 00:23:44,214 and I tossed the contents and the purse out over the area. 389 00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:48,385 Purse probably went 40 feet down off the bank. 390 00:23:49,678 --> 00:23:52,180 Now that Jesperson was beginning to discuss those items, 391 00:23:52,264 --> 00:23:54,474 this became, um, very significant, 392 00:23:54,558 --> 00:23:57,394 because they had been missing from the beginning of the case, 393 00:23:57,477 --> 00:23:59,396 and no one else would know where they were. 394 00:24:00,939 --> 00:24:04,359 Now we have information to check, to verify, 395 00:24:04,443 --> 00:24:07,696 to see whether or not this person is in fact involved 396 00:24:07,779 --> 00:24:09,406 with the killing of Taunja Bennett. 397 00:24:21,543 --> 00:24:23,670 It was just a typical Oregon day. 398 00:24:26,882 --> 00:24:29,718 It was early in the fall, so it was cool. 399 00:24:31,887 --> 00:24:34,222 We were in an unmarked panel van 400 00:24:34,306 --> 00:24:38,351 that had Jesperson, his lawyer, 401 00:24:38,935 --> 00:24:43,857 uh, my detective, and three other armed sheriff's deputies 402 00:24:43,940 --> 00:24:45,400 to act as guards. 403 00:24:45,484 --> 00:24:48,862 And we had an unmarked patrol car behind us 404 00:24:48,945 --> 00:24:50,489 to act as additional security. 405 00:24:53,033 --> 00:24:56,036 We took him all the way up the Gorge to the Vista House 406 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,289 and began to make the route up 407 00:24:59,372 --> 00:25:02,375 to where he believed he had dropped Taunja Bennett's body. 408 00:25:04,419 --> 00:25:06,254 Jesperson had us stop the van. 409 00:25:06,338 --> 00:25:09,174 We then all got out of the vehicle. 410 00:25:09,674 --> 00:25:12,761 He walked around for a while, and then he pointed and said, 411 00:25:12,844 --> 00:25:15,931 "I think it was in this area right around in here, but I'm not sure." 412 00:25:18,391 --> 00:25:21,895 Both my detective and I knew that it was not the right spot. 413 00:25:24,773 --> 00:25:25,649 Um... 414 00:25:25,732 --> 00:25:27,651 He was two switchbacks east. 415 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:33,364 Now what are we down to? 416 00:25:36,743 --> 00:25:39,204 We're down to only one thing left. 417 00:25:39,704 --> 00:25:41,206 Where did he throw the purse? 418 00:25:47,003 --> 00:25:49,839 We headed southbound up the Sandy River, 419 00:25:49,923 --> 00:25:53,343 to the point that he said, "This is where I threw the purse." 420 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:57,389 Then he went out and he pointed down that embankment. 421 00:25:58,431 --> 00:26:00,308 I hadn't been up there in probably five years. 422 00:26:00,392 --> 00:26:01,893 Probably since before the murder. 423 00:26:02,978 --> 00:26:06,690 And the embankment was now completely overgrown with blackberries. 424 00:26:09,526 --> 00:26:12,988 The search took place around October 7th. 425 00:26:14,406 --> 00:26:16,908 They searched that entire day... 426 00:26:18,243 --> 00:26:19,243 ...and... 427 00:26:22,247 --> 00:26:24,332 ...they did not find anything. 428 00:26:31,423 --> 00:26:33,967 I went in and told the district attorney what was going on, 429 00:26:34,050 --> 00:26:36,803 and that we had again run into a dead end. 430 00:26:39,139 --> 00:26:40,682 Things were beginning to erode 431 00:26:40,765 --> 00:26:44,102 on Jesperson being directly tied to the murder of Taunja Bennett. 432 00:26:53,111 --> 00:26:54,821 Then, about a week later... 433 00:26:56,740 --> 00:26:57,740 that Sunday... 434 00:26:59,534 --> 00:27:01,494 I got a page from the detective. 435 00:27:04,623 --> 00:27:06,416 And he said, "Are you sitting down?" 436 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,586 And I said, "Yeah, I am. What's going on?" 437 00:27:14,966 --> 00:27:15,966 And he said, 438 00:27:16,009 --> 00:27:19,471 "Well, I have Taunja Bennett's Oregon ID card in my hand." 439 00:27:27,187 --> 00:27:30,774 And he said that he had had the Explorer Scouts 440 00:27:30,857 --> 00:27:32,692 gone back to the embankment. 441 00:27:33,318 --> 00:27:37,656 He had them cut the blackberries and the bushes down to the earth. 442 00:27:39,783 --> 00:27:41,159 They had unearthed... 443 00:27:42,786 --> 00:27:44,788 her state of Oregon identification card. 444 00:27:53,672 --> 00:27:56,341 Keith Jesperson had to be the killer. 445 00:28:02,389 --> 00:28:03,431 I was stunned. 446 00:28:09,604 --> 00:28:11,022 When I learned that... 447 00:28:12,691 --> 00:28:14,442 Jesperson was indeed the killer, 448 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:16,736 I... I was... 449 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,155 I was not happy with myself. 450 00:28:20,949 --> 00:28:23,201 It really, really hurt me... 451 00:28:24,536 --> 00:28:28,873 to learn that seven other women had died. 452 00:28:32,752 --> 00:28:36,673 It ruined Laverne's life and her family's life. 453 00:28:38,216 --> 00:28:41,136 And I felt... I really felt bad for... for John. 454 00:28:42,846 --> 00:28:45,306 Yeah, he had a history of alcohol abuse, 455 00:28:46,766 --> 00:28:48,435 but it didn't make him a killer. 456 00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:51,438 He may have had a lot of other faults, 457 00:28:52,397 --> 00:28:56,568 but he certainly didn't belong in prison for the murder of Taunja Bennett. 458 00:29:02,407 --> 00:29:04,325 I'm not guilty of murder. 459 00:29:05,577 --> 00:29:07,257 For five years and nine months, 460 00:29:07,328 --> 00:29:11,416 Laverne Pavlinac has been behind bars for a murder she confessed to. 461 00:29:11,499 --> 00:29:14,294 A murder authorities now agree she did not commit. 462 00:29:16,171 --> 00:29:18,089 It was extremely difficult. 463 00:29:18,173 --> 00:29:20,759 I know that we do have the wrong two people in jail. 464 00:29:22,260 --> 00:29:25,638 The next step was the battle to get them released from jail. 465 00:29:26,306 --> 00:29:28,683 Prosecutor Jim McIntyre put the two in prison 466 00:29:28,767 --> 00:29:30,310 and now works to get them out. 467 00:29:31,603 --> 00:29:33,646 I never felt like I owed it to Pavlinac. 468 00:29:35,356 --> 00:29:40,361 In fact, this was the beginning of my growing anger at Pavlinac, 469 00:29:41,863 --> 00:29:44,449 because every killing after Taunja Bennett... 470 00:29:45,658 --> 00:29:48,286 ...may have been prevented if the investigation 471 00:29:48,369 --> 00:29:50,622 would have never been sidetracked in 1990. 472 00:29:52,791 --> 00:29:54,250 That bothered me a lot. 473 00:30:04,552 --> 00:30:07,615 Every once in a while, I write something good and say, "You hit it." 474 00:30:07,639 --> 00:30:10,141 And... And that... that's how I felt about this one. 475 00:30:12,310 --> 00:30:13,812 Two people got out of prison, 476 00:30:13,895 --> 00:30:16,439 and I'd like to think I had something to do with it. 477 00:30:31,079 --> 00:30:33,206 This case is always on my mind. 478 00:30:35,583 --> 00:30:39,170 I wish we could have went back and went over the whole damn thing again. 479 00:30:40,380 --> 00:30:41,381 From the beginning. 480 00:30:42,423 --> 00:30:43,423 Perhaps... 481 00:30:45,260 --> 00:30:47,387 ...it would have changed the whole scenario. 482 00:30:50,098 --> 00:30:53,351 But you can't go back and change things. 483 00:30:53,434 --> 00:30:54,434 They're done.