John Carter (Butler County Prosecutor’s Office).
In a recorded interrogation session, video footage shows an Ohio man engaging in a heated argument with investigators who confronted him with a murder indictment relating to the death of his fiancée. During the encounter, John Carter, aged 36 at the time, vehemently maintained his innocence and expressed bewilderment over the circumstances surrounding the death of Katelyn Markham, who was 21 years old at the time of her demise. With his arms folded defensively, Carter declared, “I don’t know what the heck happened.”
Significant developments have transpired since the aforementioned interrogation that took place on March 22, 2023, in Butler County. In July 2024, Carter opted to plead guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter, resulting in a three-year prison sentence.
The disappearance of Markham occurred nearly 12 years before the aforementioned indictment was brought against Carter. On August 14, 2021, Carter contacted 911 to report Markham as missing, claiming that he had last seen her at her residence the previous evening before midnight.
In April 2013, a man searching for scrap metal to sell discovered her skull in a plastic bag in an Indiana wooded area. Then other skeletal remains turned up about 30 miles from her home. Though investigators determined she died of homicide, they could not figure out her cause of death.
According to authorities, evidence against Carter included him admitting to deleting texts between him and Markham from the night of the disappearance, and also investigators noting him having scratches the day after.
Details about the long-ago case have surfaced over the years. Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said an undated typed poem found in Carter’s mother’s home suggests the “conflict and demon within” Carter, local Fox affiliate WXIX reported.
“Deep down I love her,” the poem read, according to the outlet. “You want to kill her. But I love her. She must die. I can’t kill her. Yes you can. No. Yes.”
On March 22, 2023, Carter agreed post-Miranda to speak to investigators “for the time being.”
“You need to come clean,” an investigator said, telling Carter no one believed his cover stories.
Carter maintained he never lied.
“Your story has evolved constantly over the past almost 12 years,” the investigator said.
“Because it’s been 12 f—ing years,” Carter, obviously annoyed, said.
“Yeah, but it’s never the same story twice,” the investigator said. “That’s the best part about all this. It’s never the same story twice.”
