PHOTO: MIAMI VALLEY JAIL;FACEBOOK
An Ohio man, John Carter, has been sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of his fiancée, Katelyn Markham, who went missing over 13 years ago.
On Thursday, July 18, Carter, 36, received the maximum prison term possible for involuntary manslaughter in Butler County. He first reported Markham missing in 2011, according to the Associated Press.
Originally charged with two counts of murder in March 2023, Carter eventually pleaded guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge in June, just weeks before his murder trial was set to begin, as reported by the Enquirer.
During the court proceedings, Markham’s family and friends showed their support by wearing butterfly pins in memory of the 22-year-old art student. Carter declined to make any remarks at the sentencing.
“Not a day goes by that I do not think of Katelyn,” her father, Dave Markham, said during the proceedings, per the newspaper. “I do not feel three years is justice, not for Katelyn; not for her sister; not for me, her friends, or the entire community that has ached and grieved alongside us.”
Markham, then 22, was last seen on August 13, 2011, at her home in Fairfield, Ohio. She was weeks away from graduating from the Art Institute of Ohio-Cincinnati and planning to move to Colorado with Carter before her death, according to the Associated Press.
Carter was the last known person to see Markham alive and called 911 to report her missing after she didn’t show up for work. Several of her belongings, including her keys, purse, and wallet, were gone from her apartment, but her phone was missing, and the GPS location data was turned off.
After a long search, in which Carter was heavily involved, Markham’s remains were found in April 2013 at a dump site in Cedar Grove, Indiana, about 30 miles west of her home. Her death was ruled a homicide, but the cause of death has never been determined. A forensic anthropology report indicated that her remains may have been moved from their original location, the Enquirer reported.
Butler County prosecutors stated that Carter killed his fiancée using “physical violence and by force.” However, Carter has never explained how or why he killed Markham, according to the AP.
Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said that a witness claimed Carter only pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter to avoid a harsher sentence and still maintains his innocence, as reported by WKRC.
“It’s not over and no, it’s not closure, but it’s a start of something else to come,” Dave Markham said, per the Enquirer. “I still do not know the whole story. Even if [Carter] writes a confession in prison, he’s gonna have to be more convincing than he’s been the past 13 years.”
