Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Man Accused in Girlfriend's Murder Plans Alibi Defense

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

Katelyn Markham vanished from her home in Fairfield, Ohio in August 2011. Her remains were found nearly two years later in Indiana. Now, nearly 13 years later, the trial of Markham's boyfriend, John Carter, is scheduled to begin. Carter has filed a notice that he plans to use an alibi at trial. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with a supporter of Markham's family and a defense attorney about using an alibi in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Caitlin left this world, and the world did keep going, but we haven't forgotten her. And we're working to make sure that she is remembered for who she was. Caitlin Markham, a promising young art student, vanished nearly 13 years ago. She was just a wonderful, exuberant person. She liked everybody to be in a good mood and happy.

Now the trial for Markham's then-boyfriend is scheduled to begin for her murder. I have the details about what new court documents reveal about John Carter's defense. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Caitlin Markham was a beloved daughter and sister, and she was a friend to many. She was a hardworking art student studying graphic design and working at a bridal shop part-time in Fairfield, Ohio, north of Cincinnati. So in August of 2011, when Markham's boyfriend,

John Carter, called 911 and reported her missing, it was shocking. Careful 911, where's your emergency? Hi, my name is John Carter. I am calling. I know that you're not supposed to report a missing person before 24 hours, but my fiance is missing. I can't find her anywhere. Okay. Where did you see her last? I saw her at, like, 12 o'clock last night. She stays in a house by herself. So I'm really nervous.

Her car is still there. I, like, have been trying to get a hold of her, and I decided to go by her house to see if she was okay. And her car was still there. She would be at work right now with her car, which is why I'm like really freaking out. Where was she at midnight last night when she was at her house? She was going to bed. She wasn't going out to do anything. So she would she would have been in her in her bed. And when I've been

with her for six years, she's not deceiving, you know, she doesn't. Okay. And you guys didn't have an argument or anything? Not at all. The only thing that's not there is her cell phone, which is positive, but she's not answering it. So, and the Sacred Heart Festival is going on right up the street and there's a lot of questionable people there and it's just kind of, I'm sorry. After this 911 call, Caitlin Markham's family and friends went into overdrive searching for her. I covered this case when I worked in local news and I can tell you that people fanned out across the area trudging through woods as they tried to find her. Caitlin Markham just wasn't the type of girl who would take off.

She didn't get into trouble, so this was really out of character. Everyone could imagine her being their daughter or sister, so people in the community came out to search for her, people like Tina Barrett and her daughter. She was, you know, she was the same age as my daughter, and she laid down her head at night, you know, a mile and a half from where we lived. So we identified with her and her life was like so many other young people's. And she was working very hard. And suddenly she was in our lives too. And we felt ownership and

responsibility and fear and panic and sorrow and all of those things. And over time, it became anger and frustration. So, you know, I came to know, I never physically met Caitlin, but I came to know Caitlin and I came to know her family. And I mourned for Caitlin. And so she's been a part of my life since that time. Months passed with no sign of Caitlin. And then in April of 2013, a man looking for scrap metal found a skull in a plastic shopping bag in a wooded area in Indiana, about 30 miles from Caitlin's townhouse. The coroner labeled her death a homicide. But the cause of death, as far as we know, has never been determined. A forensic anthropologist found, quote, sharp force trauma marks on Caitlyn's left wrist that could have been caused by an attempt to dismember her

remains. Years would pass without an arrest nothing else on you? Police took John Carter into custody while he was at work. He's been charged with murdering Caitlin Markham. I was told he initially told detectives that he would speak with them, but then asked for an attorney. The arrest was a relief to Caitlin's father, Dave, when I spoke to him last year. Waited a long time for this, and I know we've got a long ways to go, but I think we're on the right track. We're going places now. And it is such a relief. Yes. Carter has pleaded not guilty and is free on a $1 million bond. The prosecutor in the case said there are writings that were found in Carter's home talking about struggling with a demon within. Another passage from some poetry

read, deep down, I love her. You want to kill her, but I love her. She must die. And a message, according to the prosecutor, found on a door in his mother's home read, I slit your wrists with the key to your heart. I want to take a quick break from this update on the Caitlin Markham case to tell you about something that can help you learn more about the people in your life. It's a great website and it's called truthfinder.com. Truthfinder is one of the world's largest public record search services. Truthfinder has just one goal, and that is to help you and me learn the truth about the people we meet each day.

Here's how it works. Simply log on to truthfinder.com and put in a name. Within minutes and sometimes even seconds, you will get reports that include phone numbers, addresses, friends, family, criminal records, and more. It will also show you sex offenders who might live in your neighborhood. The cases that I cover make it clear that you have to do everything you can to keep you and your loved ones safe. So right now, Crime Fix listeners and viewers can get 50% off of confidential background reports at truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Just log on to truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix and start accessing information about almost anyone.

When John Carter was arrested, what did you think? Well, I thought what everybody else did. Finally, finally, John Carter, John Carter made the 911 call. And I live in Fairfield, I work in Fairfield, and he was the topic of conversation and that 911 call. And it just sounded hokey. The whole thing sounded hokey. Every time he had a public speaking engagement, I suppose, it just sounded trite and hokey. And we kept waiting for someone to do something about that. That kind of story just didn't make sense. This girl is gone. She's not coming home. This guy's got a weird story. He's the last person to see her alive that we know of.

And he's the first person to recognize that she's gone. And he's saying strange things. And his story is not making sense. And so we were all waiting. We were all waiting. Surely he is going to be taken to task over the story. And it didn't seem like that was ever happening. And so after a decade, I lost hope. I mean, I didn't think he would ever be held accountable for anything to do with Caitlin's disappearance, whether it was murder or anything else, I really had given up hope that he would be tried or even charged with anything. I never lost hope that we would find out what happened because I really did believe that people would start talking sooner or later. But when he was arrested, it was, I hate to say, but a gratifying moment that something was actually happening,

that finally, in a very formal way, society was saying, no, that doesn't make sense. And we're going to look into this a lot more carefully than we have. The nearly 12 years that it took to make an arrest in Caitlin Markham's murder was frustrating. But the fact that Carter was arrested? No, I wasn't surprised. I think some people were surprised. I'm disappointed that it took 11 and a half years and that he got to be free, decide what he was going to wear that day or do whatever he was going to do that day. And Caitlin did not have that opportunity. It is kind of a relief that my suspicions weren't, you know, that they were warranted.

I don't want to put anybody in the position that, you know, crucify him, but there's a lot of evidence against him and I'm glad it's coming out. And, you know, Caitlin, she wanted to move away and go to Colorado. You know, that was something she wanted to do. And I think we had heard at the time that she didn't necessarily want to go with him or to have him go with her. She was starting to feel burdened by him. She was doing all the planning. He was still spending money.

He wasn't saving money. And the search warrant and some of the affidavits had mentioned that she was not happy anymore. She did not want to take out a credit card loan. I think she'd had enough, and I think she wanted to be done with it. He was causing her way too much pain and trouble and headache. He was not holding up to his end of the bargain, and I think she was getting very frustrated with it. John Carter's trial is scheduled to begin later this month. His attorney filed a notice of alibi.

The address is redacted, but it says it's in Fairfield, Ohio. And we know from other court documents that that address is likely John Carter's mother's home. Carter lived 0.2 miles from Caitlin's townhouse, and he had previously told police he went to a party after leaving Caitlin's house and then to his mother's home. In Ohio, a person only has to provide an address of where they were if they're going to use an alibi. Carl Lewis is a criminal defense attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. So Carl, alibi defenses, you don't see those a lot. True. I mean, I've been practicing 34 years now, and I think I probably have filed in my entire career five, four or five, gone to trial on two. Most of the times the cases that are out.

So you're right there. They're rare, but the rules are there just in case there that you feel that you have a case that warrants it. So how hard can it be for someone to show that they have an alibi? Lewis says it's all about the evidence. For example, all of my witnesses for my alibi client are his mother, his brother, his sister, his son, his daughter. Jurors are smart enough to know that anyone would shade the truth, if if you will for their loved ones now that alibi is someone who does not know you and i don't know who the guy was but i can tell you that he and i were at a steak and shake in tri county or in another part of town and i saw him because i remember that distinct bow tie and that bald head yes i saw I saw him there. So again, it goes back to what evidence that is going to be presented in support of the alibi.

Remember the notice of alibi under our rules require that you put the prosecutor on notice that you intend to present evidence of an alibi. So once you're into trial and evidence is presented, depending on the weight of it and how strong it is, that person's alibi could be sufficient enough to warrant an acquittal or it could just be another piece of evidence that you put on the file for the jury to question or ponder. As the trial date approaches, there's an event being planned to remember Caitlin and to celebrate her on June 8th. Dave Markham has said from the very beginning that when he sees a butterfly, he is reminded of Caitlin. Butterflies are colorful, they're free-spirited, and they're

always on the move. And that, based upon what I've learned about Caitlin, pretty much embodies who she was. And so when he sees a butterfly, he thinks about her spirit coming to visit him. And so we've always honored the butterfly, but we are gonna have an event where we hand out the butterfly pins. We would like everybody to wear a butterfly in some mode from June 24th onward through the trial, whether they're at the trial or just working

and living their normal daily life, we would like them to wear the butterfly. It's sort of a sign of solidarity with Caitlin's family and Caitlin, justice for Caitlin, the whole process. And we're going to hand out those butterflies that day. We'll probably have some plants that we will offer for sale that are butterfly friendly and offer that to a local charity that we've selected. This will be a way to remember Caitlin before the start of the trial, which will be long and painful for her family and friends. John Carter, as I mentioned, has pleaded not guilty and a friend of his, Jonathan Palmerton, had been accused of lying to the grand jury about the case,

but that charge was dropped. The prosecutor, Mike Mosier, has said in the past that he plans to re-indict Palmerton after Carter's trial. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.