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WWW.MY-SUBS.CO
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Thirty years ago,
in January, 1990,
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I started the investigation
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of the death of a young woman
by the name of Taunja Bennett.
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Whoever did it
had to be a sick individual.
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That's the first time
I'd ever seen anything like that.
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Two people,
Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske,
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were convicted
for the murder of Taunja Bennett.
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And now, here it is, '94.
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Letters started to surface
that were alleged to have been written
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by the individual claiming responsibility
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for Taunja Bennett's murder.
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It was April 29th, 1994.
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I was a writer on the crime team
at The Oregonian...
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which was
a very successful paper in Portland.
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It was early afternoon,
and I was sitting out, uh, on the floor.
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The editor came by
and handed me this letter.
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He said, "It... It looks pretty crazy,
but you might wanna look at it."
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It was striking, to be sure.
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Uh, the printing was very irregular
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and violent almost.
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Capital letters, small letters,
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and little happy faces...
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...all over the place.
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Happy faces.
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Uh, should I go?
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"I would like to tell my story."
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"I have always wanted to be noticed...
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...so I started something
I don't know how to stop."
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"On or around January 20th, 1990,
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I picked up Sonya Bennett
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and took her home."
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"I raped her and beat her real bad."
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"Her face was all broke up,
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then I ended her life."
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It was Taunja Bennett.
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The writer had called her "Sonya" Bennett,
but it was Taunja Bennett.
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"She was my first,
and I thought I would not do it again,
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but I was wrong."
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Newspapers get
all sorts of crank calls, tips,
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but if it was true...
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...these two people in prison,
Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske,
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are innocent.
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- Okay, happy to go?
- Yeah.
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Rolling.
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Go.
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The letters had been sent
to the courthouse
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and sent to The Oregonian.
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Once we received the letter
from The Oregonian,
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the district attorney told me
to take a look at it.
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You want me to read the whole thing?
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"I am a good person at times."
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"I always wanted to be liked."
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The first paragraph
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gave you an indication more of what
he really wants, which is attention.
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"I want to know that it was my crime,
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so I tied a half-inch, soft white rope,
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cut on one end and burned on the other,
around her neck."
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There was a rope,
but it wasn't burnt on one end.
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There are both factual accuracies
and inaccuracies
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contained within the letter.
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"Her face was all broke up,
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then I ended her life
by pushing my fist into her throat."
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Factually, that doesn't fit
with the autopsy report.
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This isn't making sense.
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There's nothing that makes me think
I have the wrong two people in prison,
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because Pavlinac and Sosnovske
implicated themselves.
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I thought that someone was probably
just trying to play a sick joke
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or was trying to do something
to help Pavlinac and Sosnovske
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and shift the blame off of them.
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Hello again.
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I do remember getting a phone call
from, uh, Jim McIntyre
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informing me
that a letter had been received.
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I'm thinking, "Oh, God."
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"Is this thing
gonna start all over again?"
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"Was that nagging feeling I had valid
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throughout this whole case
in the beginning?"
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As far as I was concerned,
this case was closed and done
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three years before.
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But the district attorney thought
these letters could be a problem.
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He said, "We can't let it just lie."
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"Something has to happen,
'cause Phil Stanford from The Oregonian
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is going to write about it."
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So, that was the marching orders.
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Either figure it out or throw it out,
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but don't ignore it.
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Phil Stanford
was an Oregonian columnist, who, um...
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He picked a lot of columns and topics
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that were regularly poking
at issues in the public sector,
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whether it was
law enforcement or politics.
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From my perspective, he was a columnist
that was more than happy to say anything
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that'd get him a wider readership.
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We didn't get along,
but you can tell him I said hello.
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I think law enforcement people
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regarded me as a pain in the ass.
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Coming from the people it's coming from,
I take it as a... a compliment.
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The letter writer claimed
to have committed five murders,
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but I needed more proof.
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So, I started going down the list.
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"One day in California,
I picked up a girl named Claudia."
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"On the way out of LA, my mind went wild
with the thought of a sex slave,
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and when I stopped at a rest area,
I took her."
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Oh!
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Jesus.
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"A hooker became my next victim."
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"I placed her body in the dirt
and stepped on her throat."
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"This triggered something in me.
It was getting easy."
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"Real easy."
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So, counting Taunja Bennett,
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there were five murders
described in the letter.
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I started making calls
to the different jurisdictions.
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The detectives I talked to in each...
each one of those locations said, "Yeah."
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"That's one of our bodies."
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And in several cases,
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the detectives told me
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that the letter writer had information
that they hadn't released to the public.
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Four out of five of the murders
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had pretty much, uh, well, checked out,
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so time to go back
and look at the Taunja Bennett case.
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I got a nice bound volume
of all the police reports,
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and I started reading it.
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And it didn't take that long
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to see that, uh...
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...it was a very shaky case.
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The whole thing starts
with Laverne Pavlinac
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and her taped confession.
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Thanks.
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When you
arrived there, Laverne,
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what did you find?
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A female.
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I asked if she's sick.
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He says, "Worse than that, she's dead."
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The big problem
is that she'd kept changing her stories.
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W hen you entered the lot...
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...what did you see, if anything?
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I seen John
standing with a young lady.
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And they appeared
to be arguing in a playing way.
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Each time she gives them a story,
it turns out to be false.
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Why are they pursuing it?
Why do they want it?
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It's hard to explain.
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The more complicated it got
and the more convoluted it got,
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I had a feeling of uneasiness
that I think is the best way to put it.
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But when she pointed almost directly
to where that body had been located...
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...then I thought
she's been telling us the truth all along.
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It blew me away.
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There was no forensic evidence
that could prove
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Pavlinac and Sosnovske
had committed these murders.
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I... I mean, there's just none.
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So, I called McIntyre for a quote.
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I'm surprised
I talked to Phil Stanford at all.
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Um...
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He was not eager
to be pursuing...
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...this line of inquiry,
that's for damn sure.
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And, uh, he... he let me know
that he... he didn't really like it.
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I answered him
the way I did everybody else,
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"I don't know who's writing these things."
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"I'm not sure what their intent is."
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"I don't know whether they're linked
to Pavlinac and Sosnovske or not."
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With what we have, we've got nothing.
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Uh...
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I wasn't in a position to tell him
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that I thought his explanation
was full of it.
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So, I decided I needed
to go visit Pavlinac and Sosnovske.
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I wanted to find out what really happened.
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Laverne Pavlinac was a... a frail
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little grandma.
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She was in her
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mid-sixties.
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She'd been in prison
for three years at this point.
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I... I asked, "Why did you do it?"
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"Why did you confess?"
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She claimed that Sosnovske
had been abusive to her,
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that he had threatened her kids,
that he pushed her around,
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and she just wanted him out of the house.
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So, instead,
she got them both convicted of murder.
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"It just snowballed on me."
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She said that several times,
"It snowballed on me."
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That... That's how
she explained it to herself.
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I asked how she would have known
where the body was left.
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And she told me that when she pointed out...
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...the spot that it had been
almost pinpointed in the newspapers.
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Like, I... I felt sorry for her.
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She wasn't angry, she wasn't sad.
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She wasn't... anything.
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She was just sort of beaten.
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Sosnovske was beside himself with anger.
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And... And, um, it... it's
easy enough to understand why.
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He just said Laverne framed him.
That's the way he saw it.
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He said, "They're gonna execute me."
So, he plead no contest.
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He... He was broken.
When I... I spoke to him, he was broken.
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I had no doubt that Pavlinac
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and Sosnovske
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were quite innocent
of that murder or any other murder.
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So, I told my bosses
I'm gonna write a series.
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And so, they let me do it.
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It took I... I think less than two weeks,
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and... and, uh, that was it.
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I thought about it from the beginning.
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What am I gonna call this guy
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if it turns out to be a real story?
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And there were happy faces.
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As those articles appeared,
I would glance at them.
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I didn't... I never...
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I don't think I read
a single column, line for line.
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I actually thought that the way
I had taken apart the state's case
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made it clear
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that these people were innocent.
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I thought that,
"Oh, of course the DA will see this,
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and McIntyre will see it, and they'll say,
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'Whoa, we made a mistake.'"
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Of course,
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that was foolish of me.
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Hmm.
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This isn't a case where the state said,
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"Laverne Pavlinac,
we know you killed Taunja."
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Laverne Pavlinac's in prison
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because she said
she killed Taunja Bennett.
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00:13:37,775 --> 00:13:40,736
John Sosnovske is in prison
because he plead no contest.
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Stanford fashioned himself
a crime reporter
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who was uncovering the things
the state had always done wrong.
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00:13:49,286 --> 00:13:52,122
I'm certain he thought he was
probably on his way to a Pulitzer Prize.
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I thought it was nonsense.
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That's what was
really driving me nuts,
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because I was convinced
the real killer was still out there.
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I had not heard anything
about the case for over a year,
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and then we have this hand grenade go off.
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00:14:28,325 --> 00:14:31,036
Yesterday, in an exclusive interview
with Channel 2 News,
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00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:32,663
alleged murderer Keith Jesperson
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confessed to being
the so-called Happy Face Killer.
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Make a hole, people. Let's go.
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This Keith Jesperson fella
was up in custody
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in Clark County, Washington,
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pending trial on a murder of a girlfriend.
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He comes forth and confesses,
"Yes, I am the Happy Face Killer."
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And he seemed proud of it.
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There is no doubt in my mind.
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I am him.
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I am the Happy Face Killer.
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00:15:04,653 --> 00:15:08,365
The fact that Keith Jesperson
was seeking so much media attention
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gave me pause to believe
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that he was being truthful
about, really, anything.
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00:15:13,078 --> 00:15:16,665
Forty-year-old Keith Jesperson
came to court today in Clark County
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to get something off his chest.
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You understand
the consequences of a guilty plea?
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Yes, I do.
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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.
38948
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