June 8 – Dave Markham sat with his daughter Ally at the front of a Butler County courtroom Friday morning, overcome with grief and a little anger, as John Carter – the man who was once his eldest daughter Katelyn’s finances – admitted his part in her death .
It took 13 years from her disappearance to a guilty plea, with two of those years not knowing whether his 21-year-old art student was dead or alive after disappearing from her Fairfield townhouse in August 2011.
Her remains were found dumped in Indiana in April 2013, not far from a farm owned by the Carter family.
No arrest was made, despite years of investigation by police, private investigators and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. That ended in March 2023, when Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser announced the murder charge against Carter after an 18-month investigation by his office.
Gmoser said after Friday’s plea: “(This) brings absolute undeniable finality to the question of who is responsible and liable for the disappearance and death of Katelyn Markham.”
Gmoser said the investigation into Markham’s death was “frozen in time” until his cold case investigator, Paul Newton, noted that the crimes of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse had expired due to the statute of limitations.
Carter, who was scheduled to appear in court in about a week, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a felony of the third degree. He faces up to three years in prison, but could receive community control. He remains free on the $1 million bond he posted after arraignment in April 2023.
The charge is a third-degree felony because prosecutors say the underlying crime is a misdemeanor.
‘Hardly feels like justice’
Dave Markham met with prosecutors Thursday and said he understands the plea deal.
“I have so much to say… I don’t know where to start. It hardly feels like justice for Katelyn. His plea is up to three years. Not happy, but I understand and support Butler County prosecutors,” Markham told the newspaper. Magazine-News.
Dave Markham left without comment after the hearing, but the family noted that a gathering for Katelyn was planned for Saturday in Fairfield.
Butler County Sgt. Rob Whitlock and Detective Joe Nerlinger attended the hearing, but no Fairfield officers were present. Police Chief Steve Maynard told the Journal-News that all investigators directly involved “had conflicts and were unable to attend.”
Maynard said: “We are pleased that the matter has been concluded and that Mr Carter has accepted responsibility for his actions. This case, which has haunted our community for many years, has finally been brought to a resolution, hopefully providing closure for the family. and loved ones of Katelyn.”
Whitlock was emotional when he saw the plea and in his comments afterward.
‘It was always Jan’
“There was no doubt in either of our minds who was responsible for her disappearance and death. It’s a good day; it’s a great day,” Whitlock said.
He and Nerlinger said they eliminated 20 people of interest in their four-month investigation.
In December 2015, Dave Markham called a press conference and begged the sheriff’s office to investigate his daughter’s case. The plea came more than four years after she disappeared and two years after her remains were found without arrest in Indiana by Fairfield detectives.
“It was always John,” Whitlock said.
He said Carter failed to pass multiple polygraphs during years of investigation.
It would take another seven years before the largely circumstantial case without a “smoking gun,” as Gmoser said, would result in an arrest after an investigation by the prosecutor’s office.
Speaking after the statement
Carter pleaded guilty Friday to Judge Dan Haughey, who set the sentence for July 18.
Prosecutors said Friday that Carter caused the death of Katelyn Markham by committing a crime on August 13, 2011 or August 14, 2011. His attorney, Lawrence Hawkins III, said he stood by that statement of facts about the crime.
Katelyn Markham was days away from her 22nd birthday when she disappeared.
Carter was quickly herded out of the courthouse after the hearing, flanked by two of his attorneys. A third attorney, Chris Pagan, was not present.
Hawkins said the defense had no comment at this time, but, “I think after the sentencing, I’m confident that John and his mother will have things they want to say – once we get past the sentencing.”
Indirect evidence
Gmoser told the Journal-News the case was largely circumstantial, but pointed the finger at Carter. That included previously available evidence, new evidence collected by prosecutor’s investigator and assistant prosecutor Brad Burress, plus homes searched by officials, including Carter’s mother’s home in Fairfield.
“The case presented the most extensive and challenging collection of circumstantial evidence never before seen in this office to reach a guilty plea,” Gmoser said.
A big part of the case was the anthropology report that concluded Katelyn Markham — who was several days shy of her 22nd birthday — had suffered trauma and said her remains were not originally at the Indiana location where they were found.
The report was not new to law enforcement, but it was new to the prosecutor’s investigator. It is dated June 8, 2013 and written by Dr. Stephen Nawrocki of the University of Indianapolis Archeology and Forensics Laboratory. It’s likely why, even without a cause of death, Franklin County, Ind., Coroner Wanda Lee ruled Katelyn Markham’s death a homicide in 2013.
Nawrocki, along with forensic scientists Jessica Campbell and Madison Earll, first examined the remains on April 19, 2013, days after they were found on Big Cedar Road in Cedar Grove, Indiana.
According to the report, the skull was found in a knotted plastic shopping bag. There was very little soft tissue, decomposition fluid, or stains in the bag, “indicating that the head had not decomposed in the bag, but that it was placed there after the head had already undergone significant decomposition,” Nawrocki reported.
The state of decomposition “broadly” indicated that Katelyn Markham died one to two years before recovery, the report said.
Three small incised wounds or lacerations caused by sharp force trauma were found on Markham’s left wrist, according to the report. One wound is described as a V-shaped incision where a layer of bone is shaved off. The report said the cause was caused by a weapon.
“The instrument that caused these cuts cannot be identified from the available evidence, but it is clear that the weapon had at least one sharp, knife-like edge,” Nawrocki said in the report.
Plea agreement
The two sides appeared headed to trial this month, with Carter’s defense team filing an alibi charge last month after prosecutors issued more than 80 subpoenas for witnesses and each side determined the authenticity of documents.
Prosecutors have turned over hundreds of documents, reports, photographs, maps, cellphone and computer records, search manifests, witness statements and work product in the case from police and a private investigator.
However, Gmoser said Friday that the plea deal was offered by the defense and accepted by his office “to reach the guilty plea today and put an end to the defendant’s hypocrisy and his alibi, which has gone on for far too long.”
