Original subtitles

It all started

that January morning.

When I arrived at the scene,

it was very easy to see the victim's body from the road.

You could equate it to looking at a mannequin.

It... It was ghostly.

There was a rope around her neck.

It was obvious that she was the victim of a homicide

and probably a sex crime also.

It was noticeable that her jeans were down below her knees,

and then, as I got really close...

...I could see that a section of the jeans in the fly area had been removed.

That's the first time I'd seen anything like that.

Well, whoever did it had to be a sick individual,

because he wanted a...

a souvenir of some sort.

Unless you're extremely cold-blooded, when you see something like that,

it has some effect on you.

If it doesn't, in my opinion, you're not human.

We're running now on all cameras and sound.

Here we go.

This goes on TV, right?

I grew up in a... a town called Hamilton, Ohio.

I started out studying business.

Well, to be real honest with you, uh,

in my second semester,

I didn't do very well in my business classes.

I had other interests.

And, uh... ...a lot of it involved partying.

They started a program in criminal justice,

and I thought that sounded kind of interesting,

and so I changed majors.

I started work for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office,

in Portland, on June 23rd, 1969.

And the next thing I knew, I ended up in the Homicide, uh, section.

You'll see headlines in the paper or in the media,

and they're always talking about the suspects

when the victim's the forgotten person.

The police become that victim's voice.

That morning, at the crime scene,

the first big problem was identifying the victim.

There was no identification on or about her person,

in any of her pockets.

We gotta find out who she is.

We had no idea.

So, a sketch was made of the victim's face,

and it was circulated to the news media.

About a week after the sketch had been released,

I was contacted by a woman

who informed me that she believed

that the person depicted in the sketch

was her daughter.

I took a relative to the medical examiner's office...

where he identified the victim as definitely being...

...Taunja Bennett.

Taunja Bennett was 23 years old

and resided with her mother in northeast Portland.

Mrs. Bennett told me Taunja could be

a wonderful, loving person around her family.

But she said Taunja liked the bar scene, she liked to party.

It wasn't unusual for Taunja to meet someone in a bar

and spend a night or two with him.

What I gathered from the interview with Mrs. Bennett

was that Taunja was very naive,

and she was a potential target for violence.

A few days later...

...a phone call comes in to the Detective's section

of the Sheriff's Office.

And it was a female who said that the person who'd committed the crime

was named John Sosnovske.

I ran his name through the databases...

...trying to spell it correctly.

And finally got a hit.

And found out that John Sosnovske was on probation.

So, I phoned his probation officer.

He told me he had also received a phone call

from John Sosnovske's girlfriend,

Laverne Pavlinac.

Ms. Pavlinac told the probation officer...

that she'd overheard John Sosnovske telling someone in a bar

that he had met Taunja Bennett.

He said that he had picked her up,

and he ended up murdering her

and dumped her body up by Vista House in the Columbia Gorge.

Okay, now we've got something to work with here.

Myself and my partner drove to Laverne's house.

My first impression was she was very cordial and very pleasant.

A nice older lady.

I asked her why it took her a couple days to come forward.

She said that she was afraid of John Sosnovske.

That he had abused her.

She said that John was an alcoholic,

and that John would become violent at times during sex.

And he had this strange habit of tying knots into rope.

Uh, she was in her late fifties, uh, 58 or so.

John was around 40 years of age.

I just found it odd that she would,

with the age difference and everything,

that someone would put up with a relationship of that nature.

So, I asked Laverne what she was doing on the night of January 21st,

when Taunja was murdered.

She explained that John asked her to take him to JB's Lounge in Wilsonville.

Laverne said he arrived home around 1:30 or 2:00 a.m...

...and immediately took a shower.

And she found that to be unusual.

The next morning, she noticed that he had a bruise on his left hip,

and he was complaining about his hands and his wrists hurting him.

She seemed to be telling the truth.

So, we ask her if she would consent to a search of her apartment.

And she said yes, she would.

We were hoping to find anything

that may relate back to John having known Taunja Bennett.

As I began to search in the bedroom...

I found an envelope addressed to John Sosnovske.

On the back, I found written...

...the letter "T. Bennett,"

with the notation "good piece."

"P-I-E-C-E."

At that point, it's looking pretty bad for John Sosnovske.

As we were preparing to leave, John Sosnovske arrived home.

We identified ourselves as police officers,

and... he was very cooperative.

He volunteered to go with us

and be interviewed.

I'd like to ask you, do you know Taunja Ann Bennett?

Not... not to my recollection, sir.

We have been to your apartment and retrieved various things,

one of them being a piece of paper

with the name "T. Bennett."

Is that your printing?

I cannot answer that in full honestness.

John Sosnovske was being somewhat evasive.

They were pretty straightforward questions.

Yes or no.

Okay, then once again, I'll ask you,

and this will be the final time I ask you.

Do you have any knowledge of the death of Taunja Bennett?

No, sir.

Of course, I knew that if he had done it, he would deny it.

But we had no probable cause to arrest him at that time,

and he was released.

I felt like I had this inner sense...

...that was telling me, "Don't jump to conclusions."

"You've got to build the case one way or the other."

That's my job.

And that was when Deputy DA Jim McIntyre was assigned to the case.

I think we're ready to roll.

Okay, it's done.

Can we just adjust Jim's tie a little bit, please?

Yeah, cool.

Your generation doesn't appreciate a half-Windsor.

I know I haven't.

His reputation was A-one.

He was an ace, he was a charger,

a go-getter.

Very knowledgeable.

On February 19th, my boss walked into my office

and told me that there had been a body found at the end of January.

He wanted me to get on it to get the investigation moving.

He viewed me as someone who was a little bit reckless,

um, a little bit over the edge,

someone who would start directing people

and pushing people around to get things done in a certain way.

I briefed him on the case and, uh, the... the information I had obtained

to that point.

It struck me that they were

floundering a bit in their investigation.

It seemed as if they were stuck and didn't know which way to go next.

So, I made it clear to Detective Ingram and his partner

that they needed to get some information and some evidence

about whether or not Sosnovske was involved.

They needed to go back

and put this together,

or prove that it couldn't be put together, and we had to move on.

I still wasn't convinced

that John Sosnovske had any involvement in the case.

But then I got a phone call from Laverne

saying that she had found some items...

...which she thought were... would be of value to the police.

She had placed these items in a paper sack and stapled it shut.

In the sack, I found... a purse.

And upon opening the purse,

I found the fly section

from a pair of acid-washed jeans.

I thought, "Okay, wait a minute here."

"Is this really the fly section

from Taunja Bennett's jeans?"

I found it almost too good to be true.

And it did set off some alarm bells.

But, regardless,

we had to interview John Sosnovske again.

I make the above statement freely and voluntarily.

I have been advised of my rights, which I understand.

I have seen T. Bennett at JB's truck stop

on several occasions.

All right.

Now he's claiming that he had seen her at JB's Lounge.

The last time was 21 January, 1990.

I was visiting with Chuck, who was playing darts.

Later on in the evening, Chuck left, and T. Bennett left shortly after.

Now you got John saying...

"Well, yeah. Hey, I knew this girl."

Why would he change his story?

I believe she left to go to a motel room

to have fun with Chuck.

Later that evening, I saw Chuck and asked him for a ride home.

I believe I saw a body in the back of the car.

The hackles on the back of my neck rise up when I hear stuff like that.

I got into the front passenger seat.

The body was wrapped in a blanket.

The body was one of a white female adult.

During this ride home,

the dead female was in the back of his car.

"Oh, sure, just give me a ride home."

"Oh, what's that?" "Oh, a dead woman."

"Oh, no problem." Ahem. "Just take me home and drop me off."

"See you later."

Come on, I ain't buyin' it.

Uh-uh.

John Sosnovske's statement did nothing more than raise more red flags

that he was probably involved.

And why would this somebody

confess to being in the presence of a dead body

if they weren't in the presence of a dead body?

The next morning when I came into work, my partner said

the results are back from the crime lab with regards to the section of jeans...

...that was, uh, found at Laverne's house.

The jeans were not a match to Taunja Bennett's.

I mean, I don't...

I'm befuddled. I'm thinking, "What the hell?" "What's going on here?"

I confronted her with the fact

that the jeans were indeed not Taunja Bennett's.

And Laverne admitted that she had planted them there.

She said, "I really wanted John Sosnovske caught."

"I, uh..."

"I was trying to make it easy for the police."

I was frustrated. I was disappointed.

But I wanted to know the truth.

So, we started again.

Okay.

What happened during the evening hours of January 21st, 1990?

The phone rang.

It was John Sosnovske calling

to tell me he was in trouble and to come fast.

And to bring... bring something large to wrap something in.

What did you take with you

when you went to see John at the J&B Lounge?

A blue shower curtain.

This was a new version of the story.

When you arrive there, Laverne, what did you find?

A female.

She was lying, uh, on her side,

very prone, very quiet.

And John Sosnovske came up to the window,

and I asked...

if she's sick.

He says, "Worse than that, she's dead."

She said that John placed the body into the shower curtain.

At that point, he got into the vehicle,

and she asked, "What do we do now?"

And he said, "Just drive."

I said,

"I think we need to take her to a hospital."

"We need to report this, John."

He says, "No, no, I'll go to death row."

"You will not do it,

because I will kill you...

and harm your family

and your grandchildren."

I was starting to think that, you know, this guy is really a monster.

And I could understand why she would be in extreme fear of him.

He opened the back door on the passenger side

and pulled her out.

He went off into the woods...

...and he was gone about 15 minutes.

I felt sorry for Laverne.

She had gotten herself into something way over her head,

undeservingly.

You know, I had, uh, some feelings, emotionally.

With what we had been told,

we thought we had enough reason to believe

that John Sosnovske murdered Taunja Bennett,

and, therefore, he was arrested on the charge of aggravated murder.

But I wanted to make sure we had enough for a murder conviction.

We had a conversation with Ingram and his partner

that, uh, they should take, uh, Laverne up into the Gorge

and see if they could bolster her rendition of what happened.

We asked if she would be willing to accompany us

to retrace the route that she had taken...

...the night of the murder.

We were anxious to see whether or not she could show us

where the body had been placed by Sosnovske.

So, we proceeded up past Crown Point and Vista House...

to the area where the... the body had been dumped.

We drove on past the area where the body had been found.

We kept on traveling eastbound.

And then, suddenly...

...she said, "Stop the car and turn around."

Laverne said...

"This gives me the creeps."

And she pointed...

almost directly...

...to where that body had been located.

It couldn't have been a distance of more than ten feet off.

My gosh.

She's nailed this.

Five days after John Sosnovske was arrested,

I receive a phone call on my pager at 3:00 a.m.

Laverne wanted to have a conversation with me and my partner.

Oh, crap.

Where are we going now?

When you drove over to JB's from your daughter's house

and you pulled into the lot...

...what did you see, if anything?

Um, I seen John standing with the young lady,

and they appeared to be arguing... in a... playing way.

Wait a minute, now.

You've told us this... this one... this one story

where you said Taunja was dead in the parking lot of JB's Lounge.

Now you're saying that she was alive when you got there.

Now, see, listening to that

makes me question the whole damn thing.

He said to her, "Get in the car, it's cold."

And as you continue to drive,

there was a point that Taunja Bennett apparently agreed

to have sex with John.

Yes, she did.

So, I'm anticipating,

I'm waiting to hear where this is going to lead.

We arrived at Crown Point. They got out of the car.

I remained in the car.

I understand that a short period of time went by,

and John came back to the car.

- Is that true? - That's true.

He went to the trunk, and there was rope in there.

And he took the rope.

I asked him, "Why do you need the rope?" He says, "I'm gonna tie her up, it's...

more of a thrill this way."

Damn.

So...

at that point, you walked with John to where Taunja was?

Where did you see Taunja?

She was laying in a doorway, and she was laughing.

He told me to take the rope...

and, uh...

put it around her neck.

How in the hell could this...

older lady, this grandma...

place a rope around a young lady's neck and draw it tight?

I'm having trouble processing that.

What happened then? Did... Did John have sex with her?

Yes.

And I had my eyes shut...

...because I knew what he was doing, and I didn't wanna observe it.

And he kept saying, "Hang on, hang on."

I must have tightened it as I was hanging on.

He was hitting her in the face.

- What was he hitting her with? - His fists.

And then...

Then she became limp.

Did you realize that Taunja Bennett had expired?

Yes.

You listen to her story, the emotion in her voice and her tone,

and just fact, bam, bam,

and you're thinking, "God, this..."

"Maybe this is... This is sounding like it really happened this way."

Ms. Pavlinac, let me ask you a question.

Do you believe, sitting here today,

that by pulling that rope tight,

that you caused the death of Taunja Ann Bennett?

Yeah.

You do?

I... I feel like it's my fault.

I just couldn't... I couldn't... I just... I couldn't believe it.

And I knew right then that,

at some point, we were going to have to arrest her.

But something was still bothering me.

There must be a side of this woman that I am missing very badly.

I've either terribly misjudged her,

you know, as being this older, grandmotherly type...

or, at some point, she had to have some evil in her,

which was a shock to me, you know.

So, I had two thoughts in my head. Is there a side of this woman I don't see?

Or is it John Sosnovske with this influence over her?

I remember Detective Ingram seeming exasperated,

dropping his notebook on the table and going, "You're not gonna believe it."

And he then walked us through Pavlinac's confession.

At the end of that conversation,

I looked at Det. Ingram and said, "Where is she?"

And I said, "Jim, we didn't arrest her."

And he says to me...

"Well, Jesus Christ, go get her."

"Get her and arrest her and put her in jail."

"You've left the confessed murderer sitting at home,

drinking coffee and tea with her daughter." Um...

"You don't do that."

Myself and my partner drove out to Wilsonville,

and we took Laverne into custody.

Procedure requires me to handcuff Laverne

prior to placing her in the police vehicle.

I didn't do that.

I felt comfortable around Laverne.

And I felt sorry for her.

She had just talked herself...

into a charge of murder.

I remember Laverne turning around

as I was escorting her to the holding cell.

And she looked in my eyes, and she gave me a hug.

I'd never had that happen before. That's for sure.

And I thought, "Wow."

It just made me feel like I was putting my mother

or my grandmother into that holding cell.

And it made me feel sad.

Phew.

I need a break for a minute.

Suck it up, boy.

Laverne Pavlinac had those investigators charmed.

Not only did she have them charmed,

but she had control of them without anybody realizing it.

I think, at one point,

that maybe he was slightly the victim of a Stockholm Syndrome.

From my perspective,

I had sympathy or empathy for her, for the position that she had been in,

but it still did not negate the fact that she had killed Taunja Bennett.

As we were getting ready for the trial,

Laverne was now contending

that her confession was basically a fabrication and a lie.

And that she had done all this

solely for the basis of getting John Sosnovske arrested

and out of her life.

The fact that Pavlinac wanted to recant her confession

was not surprising at all.

So, just prior to the trial beginning...

...I went down

to the District Attorney's office

and I said, "You know,

there's something bothering me about this case."

Jim says, "Well, what's the matter? Don't you believe they're guilty?"

And I said, "There's something in the back of my mind

that keeps telling me that we've missed something here."

He was trying his best to reassure me that,

"Hey, based on those facts, you know, it's... it's there."

"What's wrong?"

The trial was moving along just fine.

I mean, there had been no... no hiccups.

During the closing arguments,

Ms. Pavlinac's attorney was trying to argue

all of the reasons why she would make up the confession

and why she would be so desperate

to get Sosnovske removed from her family and from her life.

My closing argument,

I didn't say anything.

I simply got up,

walked over to the table where I had laid out a tape recorder,

and I let that tape play for the length of her confession.

Ms. Pavlinac, let me ask you a question.

Do you believe that, by pulling that rope tight,

that you caused the death of Taunja Ann Bennett?

Yeah.

- You do? - I... I... I feel like it's my fault.

Um...

And, you know, that... And that was it.

Laverne Pavlinac was convicted by a jury of 12 for felony murder.

After that, Mr. Sosnovske entered a plea of no contest

to the murder of Taunja Bennett.

Every murder case I ever handled,

there was more a kind of a feeling of sadness

than success.

But at least there was some closure

for Taunja Bennett's family.

Want me to read everything?

"I killed Ms. Bennett."

"I cut the buttons off her jeans."

"I left her facing downhill and her jeans down by her ankles."

Now, three years later...

letters started to surface that were written by an individual

claiming responsibility for Taunja Bennett's murder.

"A man and a woman got blamed for it."

"She was my first, and I thought I would not do it again,

but I was wrong."