They visited Pavlinac that morning, Ingram explained, right after the state crime lab advised them about the fake evidence. The judge refused to vacate Pavlinacs conviction, chastising her for abusing the judicial system. After Wendell Birkland finished his elaborate seven-hour closing argument, McIntyre punched the button on his tape recorder, and once more replayed her words. She walked with him to Vista House, where Bennett was lying in the doorway, laughing, her jeans around her ankles. Before serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known by his nickname "Happy Face Killer," turned himself in, authorities believed they had solved the murder of his first victim Taunja Bennett. You could tell where people had been in and out, the vehicles and everything else, limbs broke. Maybe some folks in their jobs can take a car apart, leave the parts on the driveway. Five years later, Keith Hunter Jesperson confessed to a series of murders, including that of the woman. Combined, it looked mighty compelling. In April 1989 shed called the FBI to say a bank robbers photo resembled Sosnovske. Nor were any of his own lofty, passionate proclamations to Pavlinacs jury. Especially when the police dont want to admit they are wrong., Mike Schrunk decided to take things up a notch. He drove the body out to Crown Point, leaving it in the woods. McIntyre frowned, looking as if he were in pain. Still, McIntyre wondered. More to the point, he accepted the lawyers proposals for how to free them. Then came Sosnovske. "She was that kind of woman. Four days later, Judge Libscomb, in a written ruling, declined to release Pavlinac and Sosnovske. You cant have an advocate whos hesitant, McIntyre liked to say. McIntyre looked back and forth at the two investigators, trying to judge their words. Pavlinac had lied again, McIntyre decided. Goddamn, he fumed. She talked of him being violent during sex and having a thing about knotting rope. Pavlinac strategically phoned the local force with details of a concerning 'conversation'. He provided precise details about each murder, some never released to the public. . Still the judge demurred. Still, McIntyre couldnt help wonder: Why didnt Sosnovske just say What are you talking about, I wasnt there? First he doesnt know Taunja, then he flunks a polygraph, then he says he does know Taunja. 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. Who was this guy Jesperson? Pavlinac would plead guilty and testify against Sosnovske; in return shed get just six to eight years. We have to do something, or we look like idiots. Feeling stuck in an abusive relationship with a boyfriend nearly 20 years her junior, the 57-year-old woman from Portland, Ore.,. Her plan was detailed, yet simple. . Pavlinacs face was not that of a murderer. Id give them accolades. Cant you see this is all bogus? We must undo this wrong. 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. I did not go up to the gorge that night.. Why dont the Electoral College and popular vote always match up? I raped her and beat her real bad . His pager flashed Petersons number. Pavlinac then confessed to her. None of it could be corroborated. At present, both Laverne and John have left for their heavenly abode. Police had never known where even to look for Bennetts purse or its contents. Just as well, he reasoned. Four days later, Pavlinac led the detectives to the trunk of her car. True, shed given three different accounts, but thats how it often works. So I started something I dont know how to stop. After Taunja Bennett, I felt real bad and afraid that I would get caught. 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. Pavlinac retracted her confession, claiming she made it to escape an abusive relationship with Sosnovske . Hed worked as a welder and equipment operator. Though she was legally guilty, though her conviction would stand, Pavlinac could walk free. PDF No charges in murder of JonBenet Why did Karr confess? 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. OK, Det. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? 20/20 'Happy Face Killer' The false confession of Laverne Pavlinac The Craziest False Confessions In History - Grunge Hed fed his children dinner earlier that evening, then left them in the care of his eldest daughter, now 13. 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. Pavlinac had confessed to helping kill Bennett in 1990, then recanted, testifying that she had lied in an attempt to escape her abusive relationship with Sosnovske. He was late, he was busy. When he drew a life sentence, with a 15-year minimum term, that appeared to be the end of the Taunja Bennett murder case. Support The National Registry of Exonerations , The Contribution of Forensic and Expert Evidence to DNA Exoneration Cases, Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States, 2022, Government Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent, Witness Recantations: Preliminary Findings, May 2013, Exonerations in the United States: 1989 - 2012, Tell us about an Exoneration that we missed. Pavlinac's daughters said their mother "was never the same" after she divorced their father after discovering he left her for another woman. There just was no other way. I can see how good, well-intentioned people can screw up. Moreover, during her trial, an unknown person claimed to take responsibility for Taunjas murder through a couple of restroom graffitis. It was true, Pavlinac said, that Sosnovske called her from JBs that night. At one point during the conversation, the icon shared her . . If McIntyre harbored any doubts, they evaporated the next morning, when Corson and Ingram drove Pavlinac out to the Columbia Gorge. Why Did Laverne Pavlinac Come Forward? How, Peterson asked, did you lead us to the exact spot where we found Bennetts body? Well, she said, maybe she only glanced at it. He didnt mind such job requirements; he felt suited for his position. Ingram was right, Pavlinacs story did still fit the facts. Who Killed Her. McIntyre called his boss. Pavlinac remarried, but her second husband died a few years later. OK, she said. . I think that she was at a bad place in her life," said her daughter Darlene Carpenter. . ". She inferred certain information from the questions the detectives asked her. We left her at her daughters home. Nothing had convinced him theyd made a mistake. All manner of commentary has followed in the wake of Pavlinac and Sosnovskes release. In a recent special with ABC that documents the shift in transgender visibility within mainstream American, actress and activist Laverne Cox opened up about her own childhood growing up trans in Mobile, Alabama. "I [had] seen all these tracks and all this and that. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. If we knew then what we know now, we would never have prosecuted these people. 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, . She hadnt bailed them out, she hadnt convinced them. Taunja Bennett Murder: How Did She Die? Who Killed Her? - The Cinemaholic Then on May 5 theyd discovered a letter Jesperson had written to his brother on the day he was arrested. When he did, he started to hear the full story out of Clark County. Few knew he was a highly decorated infantry commander in World War II and Korea, for he talked little of himself. Or was this a setup of some kind, a smoke screen? The walls and ceiling were covered with blood by the time he realized she was dead. . . 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. I'm thinking, 'My God, she is actually involved in this,'" Ingram said. Case tapes reveal woman's incriminating confession to involvement in In 1994 newspapers and authorities began receiving anonymous letters from someone who contended he had killed Bennett. He was not skeptical about the Bennett murder case, though. Judge Paul Lipscomb of the Circuit Court of Oregon agreed to vacate Sosnovske's sentence after ruling his no-contest plea violated his constitutional rights because it had not been voluntary since he was facing the death penalty. Her sister Michelle White said Bennett was a compassionate person who loved everyone.. What a hassle, what an irritation. The Explorer Scouts had found it necessary to crawl and twist through those thick blackberry bushes. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. Mike Schrunk, as a result, no longer was just asking questions. He was divorced, with two children. She found him standing outside JBs, in an adjacent truckstop parking lot, Taunja Bennetts body on the ground beside him. Yes, she overheard him at JBs Lounge, mouthing off to a man she didnt know. By 8 p.m., after a second test, the examiner put it unequivocally: Sosnovske killed Taunja Bennett. Why Did Laverne Pavlinac Come Forward? Why might someone lie about committing murder? - Slate Magazine I was given a ride home with the dead female in the back. He ordered McIntyre to give him daily briefings; he appealed for results; he told reporters, I dont want our office to do wrong. . But at her trial, Pavlinac recanted, saying that she had lied in an attempt to escape her abusive. Hed called around, checked them out. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Listening to Ingram, McIntyre settled into a seat, fighting a vague dread. Maybe Laverne Pavlinac can help us, he finally decided. Now it was another prosecutors problem. Pavlinac could be heard sobbing throughout the courtroom. Hes a news hound; he loves the attention. It's thought that Pavlinac suffered abuse at the hands of her partner, John Sosnovske. Please enable scripts and reload this page. No one really paid attention to this, even though he'd signed the confession with a hand-drawn happy face. The Happy Face Killer is a nickname given to a serial killer who took the lives of at least eight women in the 1990s. After years of alleged abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, 58-year-old grandma Laverne Pavlinac had decided enough was enough. He has to sell the goddamn car. They were forcing him to relinquish his sense of certainty. Weve received some reports, his boss, the Multnomah County district attorney, was murmuring on his voice mail. 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. "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. Both insisted they didnt know each other; neither showed any indication of deception. At 39, he folded laundry and washed dishes most nights now, rather than join colleagues for drinks in downtown Portland. Laverne Pavlinac, right, touches the tear-stained face of her grandaughter, Nicole Sullivan, after being released from prison in Salem, Ore., Nov. 27, 1995. Mike Schrunk was asking questions. The Truth About Keith Jesperson's First Murder - Grunge Returning to get a piece of rope from the car trunk, Sosnovske told Pavlinac to come watch. JUSTICE STORY: Sick smiley face sealed killer's fate Now, she said, she's "proudly 49, about . Hes seen news reports, McIntyre reasoned. Most times, they walk into a house on a case like this, its a filthy toilet. Still, detectives continued to interview Pavlinac. 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. They stopped at his house for money. Nine of the jurors actually wanted the more serious charge of aggravated murder. Didnt talk much at all, in fact, but when he did, Jim thought him well worth listening to. By then, theyd identified the victim as Taunja Bennett, 23, a mildly retarded and emotionally disturbed regular on the local tavern scene. The second letter, sent to the Oregonian newspaper, was a little harder to dismiss. I will say this about McIntyre and Schrunk, they were very dogged, said Phelan. She urged them to sit down; she made them a fresh pot of coffee. They sat down across from each other. Alone in his office, McIntyre wrestled with other news as well. 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. A relative, or a friend of a friend. He placed the body in the cars backseat on top of a shower curtain, then told her to drive out the Crown Point Highway. It was easy, Pavlinac replied. Nor could Schrunk or Meisenheimer. She claimed that she overheard Sosnovske peacocking to a friend about assaulting and killing the 23-year-old. Innocent Couple Released Man, Woman Served 4 Years In 'Happy Face Once at the gorge, he carried the body into the woods, then threw the shower curtain from the car window.
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