Katelyn Markham, left, and John Carter, right (Mug shot from Butler County Jail; victim’s photo from Facebook: In Memory of Katelyn Markham)
The man accused of killing his young Ohio bride-to-be a dozen years ago plans to present an alibi defense, court documents show.
John Carter, 35, accused in the murder of his fiancee Katelyn Markham, 21, plans to offer evidence at his upcoming trial next month that he “was not at the scene of the alleged crime of the alleged offense,” according to the Notice of Alibi.
The two-sentence notice filed on Friday in the Butler County Common Pleas Court redacts the address Carter was at in Fairfield, Ohio, but says he was there from the late hours of Aug. 13, 2011, to the early morning hours of Aug. 14, 2011, when Markham was killed.
“I would assume anybody who is saying they didn’t do something is going to claim that they were somewhere else. That’s fine,” Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said, The Journal-News reported.
As Law&Crime has reported, Carter called 911 on Aug. 14, 2011, reporting Markham missing. He allegedly claimed he last saw her at her home the previous evening before midnight. He said when he went over to her home, her keys and purse were still there, but her cellphone was missing, court documents said.
For months following her disappearance, hundreds of volunteers, some from other states, tried to find her. More than a year passed with no sign of Markham. In April 2013, a man looking for scrap metal to sell in a wooded area in Indiana found a skull in a plastic bag and called 911. Other skeletal remains were found in the same area, which is located about 30 miles from Markham’s home.
Using dental records, a pathologist identified Markham’s decomposed remains and found her death was a homicide. A cause of death has not been determined.
On March 22, 2023, police took Carter into custody. Carter initially agreed to speak with detectives but changed his mind and asked for an attorney. He pleaded not guilty and posted a $1 million bond.
Details, meanwhile, about the long-ago case and the allegations against Carter have been surfacing. Cincinnati Fox affiliate WXIX-TV reported Gmoser saying investigators found an undated typed poem in Carter’s mother’s home, reading, in part, “Deep down I love her. You want to kill her. But I love her. She must die. I can’t kill her. Yes you can. No. Yes.” The prosecutor said it suggests the “conflict and demon within” Carter.
A 25-page affidavit and search warrant also list more than 125 points to establish probable cause that prosecutors said showed Carter was involved in Markham’s murder.
It begins by stating plastic landscaping or construction material was found wrapped around Markham’s remains when they were found and that investigators believed they would find a roll of that plastic at Carter’s mother’s home.
The affidavit states Carter gave different stories about what happened the night of Aug. 13, 2011. Police also noted they observed Carter had red scratches on Aug. 14 when he was interviewed by detectives — he claimed he cut himself with an electric razor.
The affidavit states that Carter described Markham as “huffy” and “upset” the night of Aug. 13. It also claims Carter admitted to deleting text messages between him and Markham between 7:53 p.m. and 11:36 p.m. that night.
The affidavit claims Carter showed signs of deception during two polygraph tests when asked about Katelyn Markham’s disappearance. One was conducted in 2011, and a second in 2014.
The affidavit also quotes a woman who said Markham confided in her that she felt “trapped” in her relationship with Carter and was unhappy with his lifestyle, which allegedly included heavy drug use and viewing of pornography.
Markham, the woman recalled to investigators, was no longer sexually attracted to Carter and felt uncomfortable with some sex acts he wanted her to engage in. This conversation allegedly took place three to six months before Markham disappeared. The woman said Markham told her that Carter was possessive and jealous and became upset when she spoke to other men.
The ensuing years have been painful for Dave Markham and his family as he has waited to see whether an arrest would ever be made in his daughter’s murder.
He remembers his daughter as “bubbly and cheerful” and feels thankful for the people who offered their support and help to find his daughter.
“We still have another year or so left to go, but I know everybody’s going to stick with me and stick with Katelyn. And, you know, justice for Katelyn, it’s coming,” Dave Markham said last year.
The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy contributed to this report.
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