She also got her geography right. A team of Explorer Scouts, supervised by sheriffs deputies, fighting through the dense foliage, found nothing. As Birkland turned to hug a sobbing Laverne Pavlinac, McIntyre rose and reached for his tape recorder. Why did she confess? For weeks, investigators had been searching for the girlfriend Keith Jesperson had lived with at the time of Taunja Bennetts murder. It was nice and neat. On the line, Ingram sounded baffled. Theres no longer any doubt that these two individuals are innocent. I always wanted to be liked . It wasnt, though. These people did the right thing., Only occasionally does someone point out that but for a serial killers bizarre scribblings, there never would have been recognition of this whopping mistake. Schrunk argued and pleaded; McIntyre even took the stand and testified. "He says, 'Because I choked her' I said, 'I think weneed to take her to a hospital. Were going after a serial killer. Still, detectives continued to interview Pavlinac. They saw crackpot stuff like this all the time. I want to be released.. For a while, the prosecutors held back. Shes tormented by guilt, thats why she confessed. Then Jespersons appointed defense lawyer, Tom Phelan, called. Most telling, on Oct. 2, when they drove out to where the body was found, Jesperson pointed to the wrong ravine. Yet thats what he felt obliged to do. Likewise, following conviction and sentencing, the prosecutor loses nearly all power to cause any verdict to be set aside.. In February 1990, the police thought they had a massive breakthrough in Taunja Bennetts murder investigation when Laverne Pavlinac called them and implicated her partner, John Sosnovske. Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske were released from prison two months after the real killer confessed. ET on ABC. The evidence against them consisted primarily of Pavlinacs recorded confessions and accusations as well as her success in identifying the place the body was found. The dates of her trucking haul, the B&I; Tavern, even the mattress--Ellis account fit all the facts. I will say this about McIntyre and Schrunk, they were very dogged, said Phelan. When he came back, he offered harsh terms, not really expecting Phelan to accept. That took precedence for McIntyre. McIntyre reviewed all they had. The detectives sat before the prosecutors, appearing tentative but pleased with themselves. At the trial, McIntyre had gone up against Wendell Birkland, one of Oregons top criminal defense attorneys. He recalled each of them; all presented certain challenges. Everyone drove back to Portland. He kept saying hang on, hang on. He still felt that way a week after Pavlinacs trial, when authorities discovered a second message scrawled on a restroom wall in Umatilla, Ore. Killed Tanya Bennett in Portland, this one read. There were forensic tests to arrange, cross-county assignments to figure out, evidence to corroborate. "Then it becameserious,a seriousargument. . From news articles, she knew the spot was 1.5 miles from Vista House, before Latourell Falls. Summary of Case: "Laverne Pavlinac was the codefendant of her then boyfriend John Sosnovske. Come fast, he said. If you need help or need help supporting someone else, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. Catching Killers is available to stream now. How climate change and forest management make wildfires harder to contain, Disparity in police response: Black Lives Matter protests and Capitol riot. As the initial investigation was relatively slow, the police decided to make the details of the case public, hoping for a tip or lead. Meanwhile, the real killer carried out a series of murders over five years. Refreshing because the prosecutors for once admitted and undid their own wrong, rather than dig in their heels. Not a great deal is known about Bennett's background, but the 23-year-old was first reported missing on 21st January 1990. McIntyre coached his sons soccer game that day. . She tells this to her own daughter.. Mac, I know its screwy, Ingram told McIntyre when he finished his account. Someone in the Pavlinac family must have written them. OK, she said. Could she be getting even for some long-ago offense? Pavlinac and Sosnovske had nothing to do with it. But when investigators were unable to match the purse and denim piece to Bennett, they confronted Pavlinac about fabricating evidence. You cant have an advocate whos hesitant, McIntyre liked to say. That seven-page statement obviously wasnt true, not literally. That had seemed proper to McIntyre. That made it their case again. In January 1991, a jury had convicted Laverne Pavlinac of felony homicide; two months later, her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, had pleaded no contest to the same charge. . On the way home, he threatened to kill Pavlinacs whole family if she told anyone. He didnt mind such job requirements; he felt suited for his position. Phelan had expected some resistance from him. When he drew a life sentence, with a 15-year minimum term, that appeared to be the end of the Taunja Bennett murder case. Mike Schrunk was asking questions. No, no, she insisted. Peterson asked his second question: Why did you confess? Feeling stuck in an abusive relationship with a boyfriend nearly 20 years her junior, the 57-year-old woman from Portland, Ore.,. Thats what he did one late November night at his favorite downtown Portland tavern, the Veritable Quandary, which he likes less for its apt name than for its dearth of criminal defense attorneys. McIntyre was not in a good mood. Clark County hadnt called him, Clark County had talked to the press instead. It didnt faze him, though. She hadnt bailed them out, she hadnt convinced them. In midsummer of 1994, McIntyre put the case file on the Bennett murder back into storage. If the public were more aware of the reality of false confessions the seven women killed by Keith Jesperson after Laverne Pavlinac's false confession might not have been killed, . Pavlinac had made the whole thing up. In January of 1991 she was convicted of felony murder by a jury in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Looks like its been there some time. Following the news of Pavlinac and Sosnovske's arrests, authorities found another confession written on a restroom wall in a Montana Greyhound bus station. Mike was in grade school at the time. The informant turned out to be Sosnovske's girlfriend, 58 year old Laverne Pavlinac. Jim McIntyre winced, for hed heard this song before. . . But shes still credible. They were convicted and sentenced to prison. He also sketched a smiling face atop his first page. Despite defense pleas, the judge had barred the message from the trial, ruling it to be hearsay with no indication of reliability. Not in the least. Jesperson was dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" for the smiley face drawings he included on a letter he sent to a Portland, Oregon newspaper, in which he bragged about killing women in a spree that began in 1990. Not until early July could McIntyre even look up from his desk. Still, McIntyre wondered. He started out thinking hed be a cop. The body of Julie Winningham, 41, of Camas, Washington, was found alongside a Washington State road in 1995. With Laverne implicating herself in the crime, both she and John were arrested and charged with Taunjas murder. Go arrest her, McIntyre said. Hi Brad, the handprinted letter began. Pavlinac told investigators during her last recorded statement on Feb. 26, 1990. How we can build a clean and renewable future. He needed an answer, any answer, but could not find one. . At present, both Laverne and John have left for their heavenly abode. She couldnt protect Sosnovske anymore. There just was no other way. . There Sosnovske and Bennett exited the car, leaving her view. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. John Sosnovske was 39 years of age and was described as an alcoholic with violent tendencies. The murders all started when I wondered what it would be like to kill someone. You listen to those words and that emotion, he told the jurors, and you will look at Laverne Pavlinac and see the face of a murderer.. On Oct. 25, McIntyre and his colleagues worked through the night, preparing a 21-page memo that summarized their conclusions. Once he developed his theory, though, he felt no hesitation at all. Sosnovskes roommate called us recently, complaining about his heavy drinking. Sosnovske, fearing the death penalty given the result of Pavlinacs trial, pleaded no contest to murder and kidnapping charges in March of 1991 and was sentenced to life in prison. Laverne insisted that she tried her best to move away, but most of her efforts were unsuccessful. Once on trial in 1991, Laverne Pavlinac pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed that her whole story was false as she was trying to escape her relationship. Pavlinac's son also died shortly after due to medical reasons. "He went off into the woods with her," Pavlinac told investigators. It looked obvious to him. Most of what Jesperson related, hed already told the news media. She also saw two small orange markers, placed by the police so they could precisely triangulate the spot. He drove the body out to Crown Point, leaving it in the woods. The anonymous writer now claimed Taunja Bennetts was the first of five murders hed committed while working as a long-haul trucker. Ms. Pavlinac recanted after being handed a 10-year sentence, and both she and Mr. Sosnovske served four years in prison before the real killer confessed to the deed. Tell Pavlinac planted that evidence in her car trunk. Additionally, the show and reports mention Johns passing, but the exact date and reason behind it are still unclear. Several days later, Ms . Laverne even took the police to the exact spot where Taunja was found. Sosnovskes release was relatively easy: Libscomb ruled that his constitutional rights had been violated because Pavlinac, while wired for sound by the police, had tried to get him to admit guilt. McIntyre wished this whole affair would go away; he wished he could call the whole thing off. Though she was legally guilty, though her conviction would stand, Pavlinac could walk free. "I thought the sky was going to fall," she said, "But it was like nothing. Pavlinacs eyewitness account, Sosnovskes polygraphs, Sosnovskes handwritten statement. Now, she said, she's "proudly 49, about . Knowing this, Sosnovske and his attorney had little appetite for a trial. No one at JBs or the adjacent Burns Brothers truckstop had seen Taunja; no one at the B&I; had seen Sosnovske. . He talked of unbuttoning Bennetts shirt, yet shed been wearing a sweater. The detectives swung into action. In November 1995, a judge released Pavlinac and Sosnovske from prison. It was, undeniably, an implausible story. I didnt plan to kill her . Sosnovske pleaded no contest to the killing of Taunja Bennett, believing it would steer him clear of the death sentence. Certainly this was terribly upsetting, certainly this has shaken all of us who work within the legal system. But no, no. Where, for so long, hed been absolutely convinced he put the right people in jail, he now felt puzzled. You cant be a prosecutor if you shrink from making the calls. Like the anonymous Happy Face Killer, he described himself as a trucker. Were going after new ones. Laverne Pavlinac convinced investigators she and John Sosnovske had killed Taunja Bennett, when they hadn't. During the trial, she recanted her confession, claiming that she had lied to police in an attempt to escape her relationship with Sosnovske, whom she said . He said he dragged the body down the embankment, but thered been no disruption to the foliage. Sosnovske pleaded no contest to murder to avoid the death penalty and also got life. And she [said], 'Well, they told me I had to tell you thisbecauseif I told you then they would believe me,'" Carpenter said. She had been beaten, raped and strangled. Not because of the years, Birkland explained, but because Pavlinac was innocent. True, shed given three different accounts, but thats how it often works. The experts findings were unequivocal: The handwriting in the Happy Face letters matched the handwriting in Jespersons letter to his brother; fingerprints on the Happy Face letters matched Jespersons; saliva retrieved from a Happy Face envelope matched Jespersons DNA type. Al Corson did not readily embrace the notion of chasing press reports on a murder hed already solved. Why Did Laverne Pavlinac Come Forward? But in the process, she also falsely implicated herself. In 1995, Keith Jesperson, who was known as the Happy Face Killer, confessed to killing Bennett and gave information only the killer and the police knewthe location of Bennetts purse. The search warrant had listed those items; thats where shed gotten the idea. He wont be happy until I am replacing that man in Oregon State Penitentiary., Jesperson wanted the noted criminal defense attorney Gerry Spence to represent him. McIntyre listened as that tape now unwound in an Oregon State Police conference room. Sitting in the sheriffs station that night, a thirsty, cantankerous drunk, he looked weak, mean and ravaged. Laverne Pavlinac, 57, a plump, gray-haired hospital worker, confessed to helping her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, 39, attack the girl. They never came up with anything, though. Not unlike his own deal, he thought. I always have wanted to be noticed . Investigators had been trying to nail down a suspect for weeks when Pavlinac brought Sosnovske to their attention. Eventually he won an acquittal, and went on to serve four terms as Portlands mayor. She felt trapped within the confines of her toxic relationship, and believed she had to go to extreme lengths in order to distance herself from him once and for all. As reported by the New York Daily News, Laverne Pavlinac confessed to the murder of Taunja Bennett in January 1990. . But he was able to briefly escape detection for Bennet's rape and murder because a local woman named Laverne Pavlinac falsely confessed to the crime shortly after it happened. Or was it all Pavlinacs fault? It looks like I truly am a black sheep . Particularly since they had not one scrap of evidence pointing in any other direction. I feel helpless. In various contacts with reporters beginning in mid-September 1995, Jesperson so incessantly claimed he was the Happy Face Killer that a judge ordered him to stop talking. He wrote checks to orthodontists, rather than fix his busted fishing boat motor. She took other things from the search warrant. Nor, for that matter, did Ingram. The first search just hadnt been done to his liking. McIntyre stared out his office window at a steady rain. "I said 'Why is she dead?'" Stanford thought him the real thing; Stanford even thought he might know his identity. No way, McIntyre thought. McIntyre, reeling, had to admit: Here was the key, here was evidence that put Jesperson in while taking Pavlinac and Sosnovske out. Now I have to get them out.. Jespersons account had too many inconsistencies. Pavlinac was tried first. She was older, candid, very convincing. By 6 p.m., the examiner concluded he had direct knowledge of or was responsible for the murder of Taunja Bennett. We have made a mistake, McIntyre and Schrunk declared, standing before Presiding Circuit Judge Paul Libscomb. During intercourse, he told Pavlinac to hang on to the rope. Pavlinac shook her head. Good Piece printed in pencil. Basically, McIntyre told Schrunk, I just know that a detective up there is shooting his mouth off. It wasnt his custom to try to convince people of a clients guilt. Sosnovske would later plead no contest to the murder charge. McIntyre quickly authorized a polygraph exam. It was easy, Pavlinac replied. Then theyd search the bare ground. He described Bennetts underwear and shirt incorrectly. On those occasions, Jim McIntyre more often than not bristles. These people came in believing one thing, did a complete 180, and werent afraid to say so. I feel like its my fault., When the tape ended, Ingram cleared his throat. Although the judge vacated Johns sentence, the show mentions that he refused to overturn Lavernes conviction claiming that she had abused the system and obstructed justice which allowed the real killer to roam free. In February 1987 shed called county probation to report he was drinking. He knew that now. So I started something I dont know how to stop. After Taunja Bennett, I felt real bad and afraid that I would get caught. First, just before it began in late January, Pavlinac officially recanted her confession. If McIntyre harbored any doubts, they evaporated the next morning, when Corson and Ingram drove Pavlinac out to the Columbia Gorge. McIntyre called his boss. From where he sat, he could see the radiant bronze statue of a woman, perched gracefully on a terrace by the Portland City Hall. Just minutes later, right in front of us. Ingram leaned toward McIntyre. Theyd also fixed on a suspect. As they passed where Taunjas body was found, Pavlinac pointed to almost exactly the precise spot. Thus, believing her statement to be correct, officers immediately arrested John. Jim was four rows back when Roberto Clemente went up and over the fence to make the final, glorious series-winning out. More than noises, really. Punched her, slapped her. He considered his dad a great man. In 1994 newspapers and authorities began receiving anonymous letters from someone who contended he had killed Bennett. Pavlinac and Sosnovske's arrests for the murder thoroughly angered Keith Jesperson. Just days before, hed won custody of his three children after one final, brutal hearing. I am sure they will kill me for this. She did well at identifying the place where the body had been found, but failed to accurately identify places where personal items belonging to Bennett had been located. . Portlandia, they called this symbol of the town. Thats why Phelan had been so eager to deal. His attempted murder trial lasted four weeks. Jim was 14. In 1990, 23-year-old Taunja Bennett was beaten, raped, and strangled to death not far from Portland, Oregon, and Laverne Pavlinac started down the bizarre road of false . A jury had convicted a Portland woman named Laverne Pavlinac based on her detailed confession to police that she helped her boyfriend John Sosnovske rape and kill the 23-year-old. Her murder case struggled to gain momentum at first, due to a lack of leads. . You want to deal before your client has even been charged?, It seemed weird to Phelan, too. If the defense arguments were so strong, they reasoned, why then was Wendell Birkland, one of the best in the state, making noises about a possible deal? I think youve got the wrong people.. He provided precise details about each murder, some never released to the public. After both got into Pavlinacs car, they started arguing. If nine jurors were inclined to put a grandmother on death row, what would they do with an abusive drunk? She went on to say that all three were in Johns car when he suddenly punched Taunja unconscious. Like the Happy Face Killer, he claimed to have started killing five years before. I beat her to death, raped her and loved it. Even a baby, she observed, could have found the location of the body out in the gorge. And that's how I remember her," said Melissa Gavin, her longtime friend. cannot later be simply set aside by some other judge. . It is difficult to turn yourself in for murder, Jesperson told him. She was found dead just one day later, beside the Old Columbia River Highway in Portland, Oregon. He talked of seeing the dumped body from the far side of a hairpin turn, which was physically impossible. She told her daughter the same exact story. I must have tightened it as I was hanging on., Did you pull the rope tight? Corson asked. By late afternoon, Corson and Ingram were rolling to the lumber mill where Sosnovske worked as a sawyer. Everyone was joining hands, everyone was singing let these people go. Hed been avoiding that event for two years, ever since the separation. Per Murderpedia, the first message Jesperson wrote to make his crimes public was found on a restroom wall at a truck stop in Oregon. He was still willing to rise, point to a defendant, and declare this--this--to be the face of a murderer. Funny, the probation officer advised. She walked with him to Vista House, where Bennett was lying in the doorway, laughing, her jeans around her ankles. A Canadian-born long-haul truck driver and divorced father of three, Jesperson carried out his killings over the course of five years until he turned himself in to authorities in 1995. Bennett was dead. Shes been convicted legally, Libscomb declared. In mid-February, the cases two lead investigators, Al Corson and John Ingram, came to brief them. Four days later, Pavlinac led the detectives to the trunk of her car. He has to sell the goddamn car. Yes, shed planted those items in the trunk, Pavlinac admitted. "To come clean get it all over, the record straight. He was living with a girlfriend, Roberta Ellis, but she was out of town driving a long-haul truck. Id give them accolades. He couldnt, though. On the same day the crime lab report arrived, so did a deadly, unexpected diagnosis: His father had liver cancer. They sat down across from each other. She'sgiveher the shirt off her back," McAlpine said. View more 10.Laverne Pavlinac - PeoplePill. In mid-October of 1995, two days after finding Bennetts ID card along a Sandy River bank, they finally tracked down Roberta Ellis. Ingram and Corson needed to meet with him, as soon as possible. A disturbing case indeed--but also a refreshing one. When Jesperson began talking, McIntyre thought he sounded ill-educated, but not stupid or delusional. Could he have made a monstrous mistake? On January 21, 1990 the body of 23-year-old Taunja Bennett was found in a remote area of the Columbia Gorge, just outside Portland, Oregon. Reluctantly, McIntyre reached for the phone. Helping victims felt good. . They had no physical evidence, no fingerprints, DNA or blood. There is no room to believe that these two people had anything to do with the murder., If the criminal justice system cant allow for the release of an innocent person when all agree she is innocent, said Pavlinacs attorney, Wendell Birkland, then the criminal system is broken., Sitting over lunch at his local Elks Club, Det. McIntyre still remembered the detectives expressions that gloomy afternoon. On Oct. 14, 1995, after checking with McIntyre, Peterson ordered the Explorer Scouts back out to Sandy River. At home, he had carpools to drive, soccer games to coach. He alone killed Bennett, he declared. ". Pavlinac then confessed to her. Her sister Michelle White said Bennett was a compassionate person who loved everyone.. Before him, a jumble of letters and documents spilled across his desk. Laverne Pavlinac is seen here showing investigators where Taunja Bennett's body was found, even though she had nothing to do with the crime. But there are conditions.. Pavlinac would plead guilty and testify against Sosnovske; in return shed get just six to eight years. Read More: Taunja Bennett Murder: How Did She Die? The states memo, he explained, while troubling, is not conclusive in establishing either the guilt of Keith Jesperson or the innocence of Pavlinac and Sosnovske .