Although they’ve been a sort of comfort entertainment for years, true-crime stories can often be more terrifying than anything in fiction. In building a massive catalog of investigative journalism, ABC‘s long-running newsmagazine 20/20 has covered some truly horrifying stories of murder, disappearances, and more over the years. Their in-depth work has spanned from the interrogation room, revisiting some of the most grueling sessions in history with notorious criminals, to cold cases and stomach-churning scenarios like that of the Turpin family, where the children were held captive under torturous conditions by their parents. This week’s episode will once again dive into a story that, at first glance, seemed like it was pulled out of a horror movie and involved a multi-year search for justice.
Season 49, Episode 3, “Born to Kill,” recounts what happened to 22-year-old Cati Blauvelt in her hometown of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Her loved ones are immediately alarmed by her sudden disappearance and file a missing persons report while scouring the town for any signs of her. It’s not long before they find the horrifying answer to her whereabouts when two male friends enter an abandoned house and find her stabbed to death in the basement. Not convinced that they’d just immediately find her in the first place they’d look, authorities eye the two men as suspects, though when both are cleared, they instead turn to other people in her life, and, more specifically, her estranged husband, Army recruiter John Blauvelt. His behavior set off a ton of red flags, but their questioning hit a dead end when John went AWOL, leaving behind his 17-year-old girlfriend as he went on the run for years.
Before the episode airs, Collider can exclusively share a sneak peek revisiting the crime scene where Cati Blauvelt’s body was found. The house is described as being “out of a horror scene,” appearing overgrown and deep into the wood line, where it was practically invisible from the street. A peek inside reinforces that description, as the walls are filled with holes, the floor is covered in dirty mattresses and trash, and Satanic graffiti can be found on nearly every surface. For high schoolers at the time, it was a local haunt where they could smoke, drink, and hang out without fear of being caught, but after what happened to Blauvelt, that all changed. The footage turns to static before descending into the basement, further driving home how heinous the scene was.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child’s Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
A Nightmare on Elm Street · Since 1984
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage.
These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Child’s Play · Chucky · Since 1988
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too.
The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults.
By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream · Ghostface · Since 1996
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party.
You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films.
The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring · The Warren Files · Since 2013
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
’20/20′ Continues to Be Television’s Most-Watched Newsmagazine
The David Muir and Deborah Roberts-hosted series will span the years-long process of bringing John Blauvelt into custody for what he did to Cati. Although he had been in hiding for so long, the search finally ended when a tip led to his arrest in Medford, Oregon, and he was eventually tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, though he is appealing the outcome. 20/20 approaches the case with its typical hard-hitting journalistic approach, speaking to investigators and those close to the victim to tell the full story behind the disappearance and murder. Season 49 keeps the same award-winning team together, with Janice Johnston executive producing. Coming off a broadcast season in which it topped all newsmagazines in viewership in the Friday primetime slot, the series is far from slowing down as it nears its 50th anniversary.
20/20 Season 49, Episode 3 airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
