And it was a reminder that in our heads, we might have shame about something and no one really cares.". They went to her home first thing that morning. "She was very giving. She wanted to see him behind bars - and when details of an unsolved murder case were made public knowledge, she found her chance. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. McIntyre now felt certain Jesperson was involved in the crime. Particularly since they had not one scrap of evidence pointing in any other direction. We have made a mistake, McIntyre and Schrunk declared, standing before Presiding Circuit Judge Paul Libscomb. In November 1995, Jesperson pleaded no contest to murdering Bennett. This time they brought machetes and clippers. 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. Why, take Jesperson out of the picture, they still had a convincing case. But I was wrong . 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? How can you absolutely know what the truth is? McIntyre reviewed all they had. Detectives first became aware of Pavlinac when she anonymously called them to report that she overheard Sosnovske at a bar bragging about killing Bennett. Keith Jesperson proved even more eager than Pavlinac to confess. Laverne Pavlinac paged him late last night, Ingram reported. She found him standing outside JBs, in an adjacent truckstop parking lot, Taunja Bennetts body on the ground beside him. Virtually everyone observes that at least this mistake got corrected. McIntyre quickly authorized a polygraph exam. None of it could be corroborated. But Im sorry. . 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. "I thought the sky was going to fall," she said, "But it was like nothing. Laverne claimed that she had overheard her then-partner brag about killing Taunja and even went so far as to confess to helping him dump the body. He was one of Schrunks top lieutenants, a senior deputy district attorney in charge of the violent crimes unit. She also seen tire tracks and broken branches. Hed called around, checked them out. When investigators asked him why he decided to come forward, Jesperson listed two reasons. The day after the Pavlinac visit, detectives wired Jesperson to a polygraph machine. Bennett. McIntyre recoiled, but forced his hand up; he needed this mans cooperation. Trials and cops were better than writing briefs. Yes, shed planted those items in the trunk, Pavlinac admitted. Once he tried prosecuting, he found he enjoyed it. We must undo this wrong. She hadnt bailed them out, she hadnt convinced them. She knew from news reports and a search warrant receipt that it was 1 1/2 miles east of Vista House, below an embankment, in a loop between switchbacks before Latourell Falls State Park. We have to do something, or we look like idiots. There had, of course, been that one peculiar moment midway through Pavlinacs trial. Nor could Schrunk or Meisenheimer. . I always have wanted to be noticed . "Her persistence in this manipulation resulted in her own conviction.". Why did she confess? Peterson asked his second question: Why did you confess? 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 . Pavlinacs description of tire tracks and broken branches didnt fit with photographs or the detectives recollections. . Chris Peterson to the Clark County Jail. Meanwhile, the real killer carried out a series of murders over five years. Nine of the jurors actually wanted the more serious charge of aggravated murder. She made it all up, she said, to escape Sosnovske. He liked to think he moved cautiously while deciding what to believe. Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske are seen here in this 1985 family photo. McIntyre was not in a good mood. Her sister Michelle White said Bennett was the only one in their family who graduated from high school, someone who read a lot and loved music. "She was that kind of woman. Hed spoken that day with certitude. Within an hour, the detectives had Sosnovske hooked to the box. . In 1994 newspapers and authorities began receiving anonymous letters from someone who contended he had killed Bennett. Catching Killers is available to stream now. . Phelan agreed so quickly, it startled McIntyre. I feel like its my fault., When the tape ended, Ingram cleared his throat. During intercourse, he told Pavlinac to hang on to the rope. Theyd never revealed publicly that the fly area of Taunjas jeans had been cut out. Jumping out of planes, driving fast cars, having patrol dogs as partners--what more could a 19-year-old want? Was he trying to protect Jesperson from the death penalty? According to Pavlinacs account, the murder happened at the Burns Brother Truckstop, which is in Washington County, not Multnomah. 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. Episodes three and four of Netflix's Catching Killers details the story of the 'Happy Face' murders, including the elderly couple who spent four years in prison for a crime they didn't commit. During intercourse, she said something insulting to him about getting it over with. Just like his ex-wife used to say. It was easy, Pavlinac replied. 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. Just after McIntyres impassioned final argument, just hours after he once more played Laverne Pavlinacs taped confession, 12 Multnomah County citizens proclaimed the defendant guilty of felony murder. She took other things from the search warrant. Most of what Jesperson related, hed already told the news media. . We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. But a few days later, they got another call from Pavlinac. How to know the truth, how ever to know for certain? Hes seen police reports, he wants 60 Minutes, he wants Gerry Spence. Some details were new, though. The second letter, sent to the Oregonian newspaper, was a little harder to dismiss. Could he have put the wrong people in jail? The lady who opened the door looked like someones grandmother. The anonymous writer now claimed Taunja Bennetts was the first of five murders hed committed while working as a long-haul trucker. Chris Peterson who decided they should once more search the Sandy River area where Keith Jesperson claimed to have scattered the contents of Bennetts purse. After contacting police, Ms. Pavlinac and Mr. Sosnovske were charged with the murder, the latter eventually pleading guilty to avoid the death penalty. McIntyre thought the two men complemented each other. The thing is, she didnt just say all that to us. For the good part of a month, prosecutors and defense attorneys, scrambling to find a solution, wandered through a legal Twilight Zone. After Keith Jesperson on Nov. 2 pleaded no contest to the murder of Taunja Bennett, drawing a life sentence, Oregon officially had two separate parties in jail for the same homicide--put there under two entirely different theories about the crime. Late that night--and then almost every night--Pavlinac paged Ingram and Corson with new information: reports on Sosnovske, expressions of fear, memories of past events. Case tapes reveal woman's incriminating confession to involvement in 1990 murder case Laverne Pavlinac claimed she was involved in Taunja Bennett's death. Then his pager flashed and beeped. Were going after a serial killer. Truth, so elusive during an investigation, becomes fixed by a jurys verdict. McIntyre frowned, looking as if he were in pain. Pavlinac told police she had helped her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, kill Bennett and move her body. The further he delved, the murkier everything looked. Even a baby, she observed, could have found the location of the body out in the gorge. Dad always has worried about me because of what I have gone through in the divorce finances etc, hed written in various letters. I dont want to hear this.. "I don't remember going to no gorge, dumping no body for God's sake. But shes still credible. On Jan. 10, 1990, shed again called county probation about his drinking. But in the process, she also falsely implicated herself. Sosnovske carried Bennetts body like a baby into the woods. 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. Knowing Taunjas jeans had been cut, she produced a replica--a replica that closely matched the real patchs shape. At the trial, McIntyre had gone up against Wendell Birkland, one of Oregons top criminal defense attorneys. On the way home, he threatened to kill Pavlinacs whole family if she told anyone. . It had never been an obvious or uncomplicated murder case, but then, few are. cannot later be simply set aside by some other judge. Despite a gag order, he was still talking to journalists. Chris Peterson visited her at the Oregon Womens Correctional Institute in Salem. Investigators installed a hidden recording device in their home hoping to catch Sosnovske making incriminating statements. Why on Gods earth? Laverne Cox Opens Up About Suicide Attempt, Being Bullied As A Child. Over the years, Mike Schrunks staff had earned uncommonly high regard in Portland. Now it was another prosecutors problem. At 39, he folded laundry and washed dishes most nights now, rather than join colleagues for drinks in downtown Portland. It doesnt make sense, the defense team argued. It was true, Pavlinac said, that Sosnovske called her from JBs that night. He slapped her. When the Bend mans lawyer finally told them to put up or shut up, McIntyre backed off. "To come clean get it all over, the record straight. She's told her own daughter the same story, very convincingly.' Pavlinac then confessed to her. She would pop in and pop out, and over the years, She was that type of person.". The womans voice he heard sounded earnest, genuine, emotional. Schrunk put McIntyre on it right away, gave him Keith Meisenheimer as his second-chair prosecutor. "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. In the 11 months between then and her trial, they only multiplied--as various defense lawyers and investigators more than once pointed out. It was, undeniably, an implausible story. Jims favorite story about him concerned the seventh game of the 1971 World Series, Pittsburgh at Baltimore. I was doing what I was told. "Now, I'm thinking, 'She's confessed she's pointed out the dump site, she's confessed to us on tape. Yet thats what he felt obliged to do. Down the street, on this dreary morning in early May 1994, his divorce trial had just started. information about the Registry. Cant you see this is all bogus? Then, one day in mid-November, Birkland suddenly announced they were rejecting the plea deal. But it was all a lie. At a second hearing on Nov. 27, Judge Libscomb finally relented. I feel badly that I couldnt see through this, he said. Pavlinac was credible, McIntyre decided. If McIntyre harbored any doubts, they evaporated the next morning, when Corson and Ingram drove Pavlinac out to the Columbia Gorge. Phelan wouldnt do anything against his clients best interests. She had reason to know. Which meant they had a case. . Helping victims felt good. Yes, she admitted, shed made the anonymous calls. Pavlinac planted that evidence in her car trunk. In February 1987 shed called county probation to report he was drinking. Pavlinacs house was different. Then his GI bill ran out at the end of his second year. . Her first husband divorced her after 26 years and four children, her second died of cancer. Hed lived most of the time in central and eastern Washington. Please enable scripts and reload this page. McIntyre saw nothing to apologize for. What the hell, he decided. . Investigators had been trying to nail down a suspect for weeks when Pavlinac brought Sosnovske to their attention. OK, Det. So thats where they formally arraigned Sosnovske that evening. No one really paid attention to this, even though he'd signed the confession with a hand-drawn happy face. Portlandia, they called this symbol of the town. With the statement remaining as shed previously told it? On the line, Ingram sounded baffled. When he returned home at 4 p.m., he headed for the shower. That, in fact, was the widespread judgment about the entire Multnomah County district attorneys office. McIntyre wished this whole affair would go away; he wished he could call the whole thing off. She opened her door, greeted them warmly--and sighed deeply at what they had to say. Watch the full story on "20/20" THIS FRIDAY at 9 p.m. 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. ". You could tell where people had been in and out, the vehicles and everything else, limbs broke. Corson invited. But the judge did not overturn Pavlinac's conviction, writing he did not find a constitutional defect with her trial since she had been convicted by a jury of her peers. Whered you put her?, The detectives shifted in discomfort. I cant undo what I did, Pavlinac told Sosnovske. Cigarette butts everywhere, messy, stinky. Following the news of Pavlinac and Sosnovske's arrests, authorities found another confession written on a restroom wall in a Montana Greyhound bus station. They appeared to be almost in a state of shock. What shed seen was some red paint or tape, two spots marking the area. Combined, it looked mighty compelling. Pavlinac had lied again, McIntyre decided. I dont know what those letters are about, he told his boss. Likewise, following conviction and sentencing, the prosecutor loses nearly all power to cause any verdict to be set aside.. If I killed her, I didnt mean to . She was wrongly convicted after falsely confessing that she and her then boyfriend Sosnovske strangled and disposed of the body of Taunja Bennett. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. He sat down on his bed and picked up a phone. 2nd Impeachment Trial: What this could mean for Trump, Presidential transition of power: Examined, How Donald Trump spent his last days as president, How Joe Biden's inauguration will be different from previous years, Trump challenges the vote and takes legal action, 2020s DNC and RNC are different than any before, Power Trip: Those Who Seek Power and Those Who Chase Them, Leave No Trace: A Hidden History of the Boy Scouts, Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, The Orphans of COVID: America's Hidden Toll, X / o n e r a t e d - The Murder of Malcolm X and 55 Years to Justice, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. "She slapped him. Alone in his office, McIntyre wrestled with other news as well. They couldnt blow this off. 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. Sometimes Jesperson got details right, often he did not. She had been beaten, raped and strangled. McIntyre threw up his hands when he heard this. She was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison with a 10-year minimum served. Do you believe that by pulling that rope tight that you caused the death of Taunja Ann Bennett?, Yeah, Pavlinac said. Well, there was a case where a woman named Laverne Pavlinac claimed she and her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, murdered another woman named Taunja Bennet in 1990. I wanted to get those two people out of prison," he said in 1995, referring to Pavlinac and Sosnovske. His dad, a Pirates fanatic, let him and a buddy use his two bleacher tickets while he sat out in the parking lot, listening to the radio. OK, she said. Then you tell us how you think it happened. Why would Ingram and Corson make such comments to her? . Yes, some stuff she could get from the newspaper articles, but not everything. She left with his friend Chuck Riley to have fun. Later he saw Riley in the parking lot, so he asked for a ride home. Once at the gorge, he carried the body into the woods, then threw the shower curtain from the car window. When he walked into the B&I;, Bennett hugged him. Where do you have her? To McIntyre, it looked as if she were playing craps. 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. Even if he had more or less stumbled into it. For various reasons, his ex-wife couldnt function correctly; all involved in the settlement conference had recommended he take the kids. Yes, he acknowledged. 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.. Police interview tapes obtained by "20/20" show the lengths Pavlinac went to convince investigators she and Sosnovske were the killers responsible when they weren't. 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 cant drop a case, he figured, just because someone writes on a bathroom wall. Not only did they have an airtight eyewitness, not only was Sosnovske already in jail--he was in another countys jail. Laverne Pavlinac, 57, a plump, gray-haired hospital worker, confessed to helping her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, 39, attack the girl. They stopped at his house for money. Goddamn, he fumed. It's thought that Pavlinac suffered abuse at the hands of her partner, John Sosnovske. . Hed heard good things, but hed also been told McIntyre was hardheaded. . . Pavlinac remarried, but her second husband died a few years later. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. Then they all rolled to the Salem courthouse. 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. This discovery at the Sandy River put Jesperson in, he told himself. Birkland asked her one day. The body of 23-year-old Taunja Bennett was found in this remote woodland near the Columbia Gorge in 1990. In late March, detectives had arrested Keith Jesperson, a long-haul trucker whom Winningham had been dating. We have the wrong people in jail, he told Schrunk. I have information about the Bennett murder, he told Schrunk. 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. More to the point, he accepted the lawyers proposals for how to free them. A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? Shed been desperate. How we can build a clean and renewable future. "Then it becameserious,a seriousargument. When Jesperson finished, McIntyre considered. 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. Sosnovske commanded Pavlinac to drive to the Vista House monument, overlooking the gorge. McIntyre wished that were the case now. When he did, he started to hear the full story out of Clark County. Before the return of a jurys verdict, a district attorney has almost complete discretion over how and whether to prosecute a criminal case. The grandma's story was believable enough for a jury to convict. Pavlinac answered through sobs. Theyd received two anonymous calls, the detectives explained. He knew nothing about these anonymous letters, but he knew all he wanted about the Taunja Bennett murder. . By late afternoon, Corson and Ingram were rolling to the lumber mill where Sosnovske worked as a sawyer. How could this not be true? he asked. Four days later, Judge Libscomb, in a written ruling, declined to release Pavlinac and Sosnovske. 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. Both were convicted of the crime but were released five . Funny, the probation officer advised. The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law. More than 25 years have passed since the ordeal, and in that time, both Sosnovske and Pavlinac have died. On the last day of the trial, McIntyre watched Wendell Birkland beseech the jury for seven hours--Its not logical to assume that this 58-year-old grandmother strangled a girl to death--before finally sitting down. Police thought that the murder of his first victim, Taunja Bennett, had been. To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders, Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications, .css-o3g03s{color:black;}Published14:12,08 November 2021 GMT.css-1aaqh7x{color:#666666;}@media (min-width:1024px){.css-1aaqh7x{color:#666666;}}| Last updated14:12,08 November 2021 GMT. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? He then wrote a confession on the wall of a truck stop he was passing through, but to no avail. Still, McIntyre wondered. Still, Ellis was an ex-girlfriend; Ellis didnt like Jesperson anymore. He kept saying hang on, hang on. Have a nice day from Happy Face.. Pavlinac shook her head. The real killer, however, was still a free man. . He wasnt headed for just any hearing; this was a motions hearing on an attempted murder. . . Feeling stuck in an abusive relationship with a boyfriend nearly 20 years her junior, the 57-year-old woman from Portland, Ore.,. Mike Schrunk was asking questions. She inferred certain information from the questions the detectives asked her. Pavlinac had been with Sosnovske, a farmhand 18 years her junior, for a decade when the Bennett case caught her attention in 1990. 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. Keith Hunter Jesperson - more widely known by his nickname - turned himself in after committing a further six murders. For days on end in May 1994, Corson and Ingram scrambled across eastern Oregon, tracking the Bend man whose wife thought he might be the Happy Face Killer. Pavlinac retracted her confession, claiming she made it to escape an abusive relationship with Sosnovske . That irritated him. Little by little, they admit more. McIntyre still remembered the detectives expressions that gloomy afternoon. She was very co-operative with the police. All manner of commentary has followed in the wake of Pavlinac and Sosnovskes release. 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. Why was he screwing up their case? Men werent generally taught how to be single parents, but he would have to learn. This has been an awful three months, McIntyre allowed; just ask his family and colleagues. So they ran Sosnovskes name on the computer, saw he was on probation. Jesperson refused. Go arrest her, McIntyre said. She hadnt been able to see the odometer. No way. They sat down across from each other. He said he dragged the body down the embankment, but thered been no disruption to the foliage. At 62, afflicted by heart disease and diabetes, she still remained an enigma to all in the courtroom. Shes been convicted legally, Libscomb declared. There Sosnovske and Bennett exited the car, leaving her view. Sosnovske called her from JBs Lounge late that night, Pavlinac began. "He says, 'Because I choked her' I said, 'I think weneed to take her to a hospital. . The Explorer Scouts had found it necessary to crawl and twist through those thick blackberry bushes. But at her trial, Pavlinac recanted, saying that she had lied in an attempt to escape her abusive. Hoping to un-fix it, Schrunk arranged for an expedited hearing at the Marion County Circuit Court in Salem, near where Pavlinac and Sosnovske were imprisoned. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. . . Laverne Pavlinac is seen here showing investigators where Taunja Bennett's body was found, even though she had nothing to do with the crime. She'sgiveher the shirt off her back," McAlpine said. In 1995, Bennett's real killer revealed himself to the authorities. Before him, a jumble of letters and documents spilled across his desk. Hardheaded, volatile, a pit bull, but honorable and conscientious--that was McIntyres professional reputation. Police determined these were planted. Bennett was found strangled to death near a scenic overlook at the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Nor were any of his own lofty, passionate proclamations to Pavlinacs jury. In late March 1991, Sosnovske, looking bewildered, pleaded no contest to a charge of felony murder. I can see how good, well-intentioned people can screw up. He liked the political aspects of the law, he liked the idea of working for himself. I wanted him caught.. This case hasnt made him gunshy about his job. The truth must be told on this case as God is my witness, he wrote. Jim was four rows back when Roberto Clemente went up and over the fence to make the final, glorious series-winning out. Fearing Sosnovske would retaliate against her, she decided to implicate herself. Then, on Aug. 17, McIntyre received a state crime lab report that commanded his attention. The first search just hadnt been done to his liking. Knowing this, Sosnovske and his attorney had little appetite for a trial. Hed been lead prosecutor on that case; hed put two people in prison for killing that young woman. Report an error or add more information about this case. Could a journalist have fed information to Jesperson? After both got into Pavlinacs car, they started arguing. A funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8, 2003, in Valley Christian Church. Pavlinac and Sosnovske had nothing to do with it. More than noises, really. On Oct. 14, 1995, after checking with McIntyre, Peterson ordered the Explorer Scouts back out to Sandy River. She started offering the detectives whatever she thought they wanted, whatever would make them believe her. Hed quickly switched to an English major, figuring hed go to law school and become a criminal defense attorney. "I said 'Why is she dead?'" "[Julie] was beautiful inside as well as outside. She also got her geography right. . Here, after all, was an unprecedented scene: Oregons most prominent district attorney rising to confess error. I used to support the death penalty. Weve received some reports, his boss, the Multnomah County district attorney, was murmuring on his voice mail. Most times, they walk into a house on a case like this, its a filthy toilet. "John That's the worst thing you've ever gotten yourself into," she told him. I am a good person at times? he wrote. Corson, with the Oregon State Police, was the more hardnosed; some in the district attorneys office even called him a right winger. He believed people should go to jail, he was a sniper on the state SWAT team, he pursued suspects relentlessly. All during the negotiations, hed been telling Meisenheimer they were giving away too much. I didnt murder anybody in 1990, he said. Summary of Case: "Laverne Pavlinac was the codefendant of her then boyfriend John Sosnovske. . Pavlinac would plead guilty and testify against Sosnovske; in return shed get just six to eight years.

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