MrBallen

Tell me the story of why you believe John killed Tanya.

Now, at first, Laverne just continued to squirm in her seat, and she was, you know, obviously very nervous, but eventually, after Ingram told her to just, you know, take a breath, calm down, it's okay, we just want to hear your story, eventually, with a shaking voice...

She told them that on the night of the murder, John had come home around maybe one or two in the morning and immediately got in the shower.

Now, this was unusual.

I mean, this is not something that he typically did.

He didn't shower at two in the morning, but Laverne really hadn't thought much of it until the next day when they went to a local bar

and she'd literally overheard John bragging to somebody about murdering Tanya, describing how he had picked her up at a truck stop, killed her, then took her to the highway by Columbia River Gorge to dump her body by the scenic overlook.

As Laverne spoke, I mean, Ingram and his partner were shocked.

I mean, basically, Laverne had overheard, effectively, a confession, and the details of that confession did seem to line up with what they had heard so far.

Tanya had been seen out late at night with some man, although nobody could really describe the man.

And also, where her body was found, you know, it was near the scenic overlook, something that was, you know, publicly known.

But still, I mean, that's what Laverne heard John say.

It lined up.

But he kept a poker face and just told Laverne to please keep going, keep elaborating.

And so Laverne, she continued speaking and she went on to say that the reason she didn't come forward right away was because she was scared of John.

He was a violent alcoholic who abused her, which is also part of the reason why this seemed real to her.

I mean, she was totally not shocked at the idea that maybe John killed someone.

But she was basically fearful that he might kill her too.

And so she had kept it to herself until she had seen the article in the paper and also saw the picture of the girl.

And she just looked so young and innocent and she just couldn't help but feel like she owed it to that girl to come forward.