Still, people were asking questions. . Shed found a purse there that didnt belong to her. Bennett's body was found dumped near a local highway after the young woman had been seen out at the local bars the night before. Talking about some dead girl. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. But when investigators were unable to match the purse and denim piece to Bennett, they confronted Pavlinac about fabricating evidence. This time they brought machetes and clippers. The judge insisted, "Pavlinac has selfishly engaged in an obsessive and persistent obstruction of justice which deflected the investigation at an early stage, causing it to focus on her boyfriend, Sosnovske, while the real killer remained free to kill and kill again". Was he trying to protect Jesperson from the death penalty? He has to sell the goddamn car. There just was no other way. It wasnt Multnomah Countys case. Especially when the police dont want to admit they are wrong., Mike Schrunk decided to take things up a notch. They told her they were going to have to release him. I wanted him caught.. 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. When she recanted, Pavlinac said she falsely confessed because she was stuck in a volatile relationship with Sosnovske, desperately seeking a way out and wanting him in prison. Then he turned on the tape recorder. I have been taking it out on different people . Could a journalist have fed information to Jesperson? Her first husband divorced her after 26 years and four children, her second died of cancer. Not until the spring of 1995, almost a year after the Happy Face Killer letters arrived, did McIntyre once again hear about a serial murderer. Schrunk put McIntyre on it right away, gave him Keith Meisenheimer as his second-chair prosecutor. Sitting in the sheriffs station that night, a thirsty, cantankerous drunk, he looked weak, mean and ravaged. I'll hurt your family.'". McIntyre glared. What a nightmare it has been. Before him, a jumble of letters and documents spilled across his desk. Shes tormented by guilt, thats why she confessed. In the 11 months between then and her trial, they only multiplied--as various defense lawyers and investigators more than once pointed out. 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.. Then, one day in mid-November, Birkland suddenly announced they were rejecting the plea deal. Punched her, slapped her. She talked of him being violent during sex and having a thing about knotting rope. Her own daughter. Shes 18 years his senior, shes an enabler, she wants to be free of him. Taunja Bennett Murder: How Did She Die? She was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 10 years. . He was divorced, with two children. Yes, he said. . Jesperson, he saw, had told his attorney everything right from the start. 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. She previously claimed to the FBI that he was a wanted bank robber and frequently complained to Sosnovske's probation officer that he was drinking too much. I didnt plan to kill her, Pavlinac sobbed. When do you ever see two different people confessing to the same crime, both with facts only the killer could know? Convicted murderer Keith Jesperson, right, shown here at a Nov. 2, 1995, court appearance in Portland, Ore., with attorney Thomas Phelan, has recanted all his previous murder admissions. Then theyd search the bare ground. Yes, he acknowledged. Or was this a setup of some kind, a smoke screen? The thing is, she didnt just say all that to us. Hardheaded, volatile, a pit bull, but honorable and conscientious--that was McIntyres professional reputation. McIntyre felt angry. They stopped at his house for money. Once you make the decision to enter a battle, you damn sure better be ready to fight it. McIntyre recoiled, but forced his hand up; he needed this mans cooperation. As she walked, she spoke over her shoulder. Why, take Jesperson out of the picture, they still had a convincing case. 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. Yes, that fact did demonstrate how hard it was to know the truth. When Jesperson began talking, McIntyre thought he sounded ill-educated, but not stupid or delusional. He recalled each of them; all presented certain challenges. . She told her daughter the same exact story. Even at the time of her arrest, McIntyre had to admit, Laverne Pavlinacs story presented certain nagging problems. 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. On Oct. 24, to see if Jesperson somehow knew Pavlinac and Sosnovske, FBI agents called in by the district attorneys office administered independent polygraph exams to Jesperson and Pavlinac. 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. Well, she said, maybe she only glanced at it. Laverne Pavlinac, right, touches the tear-stained face of her grandaughter, Nicole Sullivan, after being released from prison in Salem, Ore., Nov. 27, 1995. 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. McIntyre, reeling, had to admit: Here was the key, here was evidence that put Jesperson in while taking Pavlinac and Sosnovske out. Now Jesperson had led them to it--several miles from where theyd found Bennetts body. Hed called around, checked them out. The day after the Pavlinac visit, detectives wired Jesperson to a polygraph machine. On Oct. 4, Det. Why on Gods earth? She has changed her confession many times, and there is not a shred of physical evidence tying either of the two to the crime, but a jury convicts her. Police had never known where even to look for Bennetts purse or its contents. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. Even after the convictions, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and the police were sure they got the correct people. Pavlinacs eyewitness account, Sosnovskes polygraphs, Sosnovskes handwritten statement. So they ran Sosnovskes name on the computer, saw he was on probation. A similar obsession seems to have led crime-novel buff Laverne Pavlinac to implicate herself and her boyfriend in an Oregon murder in 1990. To find out, McIntyre examined defense attorney Tom Phelans notes from his earliest conversations with his client, before the press contacts began. Jim was 14. Pavlinac told police she had helped her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, kill Bennett and move her body. He needed an income; the Multnomah County district attorneys office was offering a $13,000-a-year internship. In 1990, Taunja Bennett was found dead near a scenic overlook at the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. McIntyre wished this whole affair would go away; he wished he could call the whole thing off. Listening to Ingram, McIntyre settled into a seat, fighting a vague dread. Chris Peterson visited her at the Oregon Womens Correctional Institute in Salem. In 1995, Bennett's real killer revealed himself to the authorities. . 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. Why Did Laverne Pavlinac Come Forward? It was in those statements--expanded upon at trial and amplified by her defense attorney Wendell Birkland--that Pavlinacs last story gradually emerged. Sometimes he thought he should have been a Jesuit. Meisenheimer shook his head. That's whyall ofthis doesn'tmake sense. Refreshing because the prosecutors for once admitted and undid their own wrong, rather than dig in their heels. . He described Bennetts underwear and shirt incorrectly. As they drove out there, she just watched the odometer. But a few days later, they got another call from Pavlinac. In mid-March, theyd found the nude body of Julie Ann Winningham, dumped down a scenic bank off a Columbia Gorge highway. I want to be released.. She was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison with a 10-year minimum served. The judge refused to vacate Pavlinacs conviction, chastising her for abusing the judicial system. On the line, Ingram sounded baffled. Pavlinac had lied again, McIntyre decided. Some details were incorrect, others you could glean from old newspaper articles. According to 20/20, Laverne Pavlinac passed away in March 2003 due to heart failure. I got exposed to liars. He ordered McIntyre to give him daily briefings; he appealed for results; he told reporters, I dont want our office to do wrong. How we can build a clean and renewable future. I used a 1/2 inch soft nylon rope, burnt on one end, fraid cut on the other and tied it around her neck . Despite defense pleas, the judge had barred the message from the trial, ruling it to be hearsay with no indication of reliability. McIntyre saw nothing to apologize for. . . At a second hearing on Nov. 27, Judge Libscomb finally relented. But Pavlinac claimed she knew where she and Sosnovske had left Bennett's body in the Columbia Gorge outside of town, and took investigators to the exact remote wooded area where Bennett was found. Same old bull, McIntyre thought. Mike was in grade school at the time. I think youve got the wrong people.. Maybe she can take us out of this. He kept saying hang on, hang on. In midsummer of 1994, McIntyre put the case file on the Bennett murder back into storage. Minutes later, they brought in Jesperson. Jim McIntyre winced, for hed heard this song before. Pavlinacs house was different. It's thought that Pavlinac suffered abuse at the hands of her partner, John Sosnovske. If I could do anything to get them out, I would., McIntyre, although obviously bothered, did not permit himself to sound quite as disturbed as the others. "The greatest human tragedy is that Laverne Pavlinac derailed the investigation in 1990, and in four years, Keith Jesperson killed more women," said Jim McIntyre, the Multnomah County, Oregon, prosecutor who handled the cases. 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, . By 10:30 p.m., Sosnovske was writing out a seven-page personal statement. Only occasionally does someone--as Wendell Birkland did recently--suggest that this isnt an isolated case, Laverne is not the only innocent person convicted by people of goodwill.. Then came Sosnovske. Oh, Ellis said, when told Jesperson was in jail for murder. Her conduct has been an affront to our entire criminal justice system. The cost to taxpayers has been enormous, the cost to Sosnovske incalculable. Yet to continue to imprison a factually innocent person would violate Oregons constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. I dont know what happened.. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, U.N. envoy says Sudans warring sides agree to negotiate, Yellen says U.S. could hit debt ceiling as soon as June 1, U.S. says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, Speaker Kevin McCarthy addresses Knesset amid fraught U.S.-Israel ties, First Republic: Cheap, interest-only jumbo mortgages to Silicon Valleys elite fueled the banks failure. What the hell, he decided. It didnt faze him, though. It was nice and neat. He wanted newspapers to print his letters in full. And it was a reminder that in our heads, we might have shame about something and no one really cares.". 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. She recanted her confession and said that she had made it up to escape from Sosnovske. According to Laverne, the couple then dragged the young girl into the Vista House Museum in Multnomah County, Oregon. McIntyre didnt know many details. They never came up with anything, though. First they would hack away the blackberry bushes. He was 40. Not until early July could McIntyre even look up from his desk. Police determined these were planted. It's thought that Pavlinac suffered abuse at the hands of her partner, John Sosnovske. Even in honorable hands, the criminal system could convict the innocent. Could someone else have put Taunjas stuff out there? The last thing I want to do is have the wrong person in prison.. With Laverne implicating herself in the crime, both she and John were arrested and charged with Taunjas murder. Moreover, during her trial, an unknown person claimed to take responsibility for Taunja's murder through a couple of restroom graffitis. She had been beaten, raped and strangled. information about the Registry. Even if he had more or less stumbled into it. The dates of her trucking haul, the B&I; Tavern, even the mattress--Ellis account fit all the facts. Additionally, the show and reports mention Johns passing, but the exact date and reason behind it are still unclear. As she and Sosnovske started their life sentences, one of the United States' most notorious serial killers continued his murder spree. You know what happened? he started asking his colleagues. Sosnovske pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and kidnapping charges to avoid the possibility of a death sentence and was sentenced to life in prison. Most of what Jesperson related, hed already told the news media. Early in the investigation into Bennett's murder, a woman named Laverne Pavlinac came forward to confess, saying she murdered Bennett with and at the direction of her abusive boyfriend, John Sosnovske. Most times, they walk into a house on a case like this, its a filthy toilet. Theres no longer any doubt that these two individuals are innocent. Sosnovske pleaded no contest to the killing of Taunja Bennett, believing it would steer him clear of the death sentence. Most critical, the logistics didnt seem right. The walls and ceiling were covered with blood by the time he realized she was dead. How could this not be true? he asked. Jesperson, also called the "Happy Face Killer", who is serving two life sentences in Oregon in connection with guilty pleas to two murders. McIntyre labored to digest what hed just heard. Three times before making the anonymous calls about Bennetts murder, shed tried to pin other things on Sosnovske. It looked obvious to him. We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. Yes, Im sick, but I enjoy myself too. When he did, he confessed to Bennett's murder. In January of 1991 she was convicted of felony murder by a jury in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Had they all suffered from tunnel vision once they started hearing Pavlinacs stories? After the verdict, though, it matters little what a Mike Schrunk or a Jim McIntyre thinks of his own 5-year-old murder case. . Like the Happy Face Killer, he claimed to have started killing five years before. Phelan looked back and forth at these two prosecutors. 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. Reports about two anonymous letters. Now I have to get them out.. Certainly this was terribly upsetting, certainly this has shaken all of us who work within the legal system. But no, no. . Laverne Arlyce Pavlinac ( ne Johnson; December 19, 1932 - March 4, 2003) [1] was an American woman who falsely confessed to assisting in the 1990 murder of 23-year-old Taunja Bennett of Portland, Oregon; she also implicated her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, in Bennett's murder. Sosnovske instructed Pavlinac to tie the rope around Bennetts neck. Instead, Judge Libscomb looked up from the documents. In 1994 newspapers and authorities began receiving anonymous letters from someone who contended he had killed Bennett. It appeared to McIntyre that she was making cow eyes at her former roommate. Whoever wrote them says he killed Taunja Bennett. After Pavlinac confessed to investigators, her daughter said she got a call from the detectives asking her to come to her mother's house right away. "I thought the sky was going to fall," she said, "But it was like nothing. I used to support the death penalty. 10 Laverne Pavlinac Breaking up with someone can be tough, but there aren't too many people that feel the need to falsely confess to a murder to get out of a relationship. As she started to fall asleep that night, Jesperson told her that while she was gone, hed met a girl at the B&I; Tavern, brought her home, then killed her. All calls are toll-free and confidential. If Jesperson is telling the truth, he declared, heres where the purse is.. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Pavlinac and Sosnovske were both arrested on March 5, 1990, and both convicted of the murder on Feb. 8, 1991. From news articles, she knew the spot was 1.5 miles from Vista House, before Latourell Falls. McIntyre glowered at the phone, sport coat in hand. When Jesperson finished, McIntyre considered. He liked to think he moved cautiously while deciding what to believe. We have the right people in jail. His people arent cowboys; his people dont charge up.. It wasnt, though. A detective had talked to the local Vancouver, Wash., newspaper. Thats what his boss Mike Schrunks message was about. How to know the truth, how ever to know for certain? Laverne Pavlinac's mug shot Confessing to a crime you didn't commit can be dangerous, especially if the true murderer is a serial killer. "[He said] I better not open my mouth. 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. After Jesperson came forward in March 1995, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges for Bennett and Winningham of Camas, Washington, his last known victim. Hed quickly switched to an English major, figuring hed go to law school and become a criminal defense attorney. Laverne even took the police to the exact spot where Taunja was found. 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. Eventually, the case was turned over to prosecutors and Pavlinac and Sosnovske were arrested in February, 1990. But it was earlier, about 10:30 p.m., and Taunja was alive still. Whatever the reasons, McIntyre had to admit: Theyd all been utterly, colossally mistaken. Then you tell us how you think it happened. Had the detectives, regarding her as a victim, drinking her coffee and driving her around, grown too close and unguarded? Still the judge demurred. Others involved practical limitations--it was hard to imagine Sosnovske, a frail drunk with bad knees, carrying a dead body down a steep embankment. First, she told investigators that she knew Sosnovske did it because she saw Bennett's body, said Ingram. No one at JBs or the adjacent Burns Brothers truckstop had seen Taunja; no one at the B&I; had seen Sosnovske. But it was all a lie. For weeks, investigators had been searching for the girlfriend Keith Jesperson had lived with at the time of Taunja Bennetts murder. They were both convicted and sent to prison in 1991, based almost completely on Laverne's accusations and the fact that she had correctly identified the area where the body had been found. Jims favorite story about him concerned the seventh game of the 1971 World Series, Pittsburgh at Baltimore.
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