Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘The Demon Within’: Disturbing Murder of College Student Katelyn Markham

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Katelyn Markham was a college student just weeks away from finishing her graphic arts degree in Ohio when she went missing in 2011. Two years later, her body was found badly decomposed in a wooded area across state lines in Indiana. The case went cold until March 2023 when authorities arrested Markham's then-fiancé, 34-year-old John Carter for her murder. Investigators discovered disturbing writings from Carter, showing his struggle with “the demon within,” between loving Markham and killing her. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy breaks down the horrifying and tragic case with Markham’s father, Dave Markham, and Ohio-based criminal defense attorney James Bogen. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&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 Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. She was just a wonderful exuberant person. She liked everybody to be in a good mood and happy. Caitlin Markham's father, Dave, remembering her nearly 12 years after she disappeared. Now her fiancé is charged with murdering her as new details about the investigation come to light, including the suspect's dark poetry about love and murder. Welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Today we're taking a closer look at the death and disappearance of Caitlin Markham. She was a young woman who disappeared on

August 14th, 2011. Caitlin was living in Fairfield, Ohio, north of Cincinnati. She was in school studying graphic arts and working at a bridal shop, she and her fiance, John Carter, were planning to move to Colorado after she graduated. Now, I covered Caitlin's disappearance from the very beginning when she went missing in 2011. And this is a case that really touched people. People came out in droves, hundreds of people over many, many months. There were people who came from other states to help search for her. Now, we had heard at the time that Caitlin was thinking about breaking things off with her then-fiance, John Carter. They'd been together for six years and engaged for one. The search for Caitlin started on August 14th, 2011, when her fiance, John Carter,

called 911 and said that she was missing. Careful, 911, where is your emergency? Hi, my name is John Carter. I am calling, I know that you're not supposed to report a missing person after, 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. Like I've 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. What's her name?

Caitlin, Helene, Markham. Where was she at midnight last night when you last night? She was at her house. She was going to bed. She wasn't going out to do anything. So she would have been in her bed. And I mean, 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 then 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.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, this was a case that really touched people. This could have been anybody's sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter. People really cared about this case, and they came out searching wooded areas, all kinds of places, and she was never found over those many, many months of searching. Then in April of 2013, a man looking for scrap metal in Indiana found a plastic bag that contained a skull in a wooded area. It was in Indiana about 30 miles from Caitlin's townhome. The coroner labeled Caitlin's death a homicide,

but the cause of death, as far as we know, has never been determined. A forensic anthropologist found sharp force trauma on Caitlin's left wrist that could have been caused by an attempt to dismember her remains. Years would pass without an arrest until March 22nd of this year. Take a look. You got his copy? He's in custody. You got nothing else on you?

Now that's body camera footage of John Carter being taken into custody after he was indicted by the grand jury for the murder of Caitlin Markham. I was told initially during his arrest, he said that he would talk to detectives but then changed his mind and said that he wanted a lawyer. Carter has pleaded not guilty and is currently free on a $1 million bond. The prosecutor in this case said that there were a number of writings found in John Carter's home that talked about love and death. One of the passages that detectives found read, deep down, I love her. You want to kill her, but I love her. She must die. One message found scribbled on a door read, I slit your wrists with the key to your heart. There is another

man involved in this case. So far, he has been charged with lying to the grand jury investigating the murder of Caitlin. His name is Jonathan Palmerton, and he's expected to go to trial later this year. Joining me to discuss the very latest in Caitlin Markham's case is her father, Dave Markham, who's waited so many years for answers about what's happened to his daughter. Dave, thanks for joining us here. Tell me first how you're doing, how you're feeling. good excited um relieved 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 there was some news about a search that had happened before the arrest did you have any inkling that an arrest

was coming or did you think they were just still investigating? Honestly, I didn't know anything. I didn't know they were investigating. I was not kept in the loop with anything until I got a call from the prosecutor's office stating that they were going to make arrest and they were going to make, you know, do some searches. So I literally found out maybe maybe 20 minutes prior. But they did.

They do like to keep me informed of things that's going to happen. That was very much of a shock. A good shock. It was surprising because I had no idea the, you know, Butler County prosecutors were investigating and doing what they were doing. You know, it's been a long time coming. I mean, it's been 12 years. I mean, that's a really long time to have to wait. So I know this has been painful. You've tried to make the very best of it. I mean, you joined the Texas Equalsearch team. You tried to help other families. I mean, I know you've tried to make something good come out of this. I have. You know, so many people helped me, helped Caitlin. And it just seemed like the right thing to do.

You know, strangers, the country has really taken to Caitlin. And so that was the least I could do. Everybody needs that help. Sure. What do you want people to know? A lot of our viewers might be familiar with Caitlin in her case, but what would you like our viewers who may not be familiar? with her and her case to know about her? Well, the obvious, but people don't know just how bright and bubbly and cheery. And she was just a wonderful exuberant person. She liked everybody to be in a good mood and happy. And it's just that's what breaks my heart is that, you know, what she would have been done,

what she would have accomplished 12 years later, where she would be in her career. in her life. And a lot of people are going to mess out of something that she had to offer. I know you probably weren't surprised that John Carter was the person who was later charged with her murder. 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. Back then, I'm sure you talked to him about, you know, whether or not he had seen Caitlin when he'd last talk to her. Do you remember any of those conversations? I really limited my conversations with him because I could not believe him and I did not trust him. He was certainly not going to get my feelings and my thoughts. So like I said, I did not believe him from the beginning from the time that he yelled into my ear when he told me she was missing.

She's missing. She's missing. I can't find her anywhere. You know, he didn't say, have you seen Caitlin? Is Caitlin with you? perfectly, you know, reasonable explanation why her keys and her phone and purse were in her car, or in her room, was that maybe I stopped by and picked her up and said, let's go grab a bite to either. Let's go shopping. She wouldn't need her keys. I had keys to the condo. She wouldn't need her driver's license or anything. But he'd never asked, had I seen her head. I talked to her. He immediately knew that she was missing and screamed it in in my ear through the phone. So right there, I was very hesitant to believe anything that he said. There's been some information that's come out, particularly this week, about there was a search warrant affidavit that was released that was unsealed. There's some really disturbing things in there. I mean, you know, Mike Mosier, the Butler County prosecutor at one of the hearings quoted from some of his poetry. I mean, this is some really dark stuff. It's scary.

It's very scary. And, you know, Caitlin, she wanted to move away and go to Colorado. So, 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 had enough. And I think she wanted to be done with him. He was causing her way too much pain and trouble and headache. Then he was not, he was not holding up to his end of the bargain. And I think she was getting very frustrated with it.

Well, Dave, we're going to continue to follow Caitlin's case. And we really appreciate you coming on to talk with us. And I know this has not been easy. But we're glad that you're finally starting to get some of the answers that you've deserved for so long. Thanks so much. Is there anything you want to add? No, I just want to thank everybody again who's supported Caitlin and me and kept her story alive. And we still have another year or so left to go, but I know everybody's going to stick with me and stick with Caitlin and, you know, justice for Caitlin.

It's coming. Thank you, Dave. Joining me to talk about the details in this case, James Bogan, he is a Cincinnati area defense attorney and a new guest here on Sidebar. So James, thanks for joining us. I want to dive right in to the probable cause affidavit for this search warrant. And it really starts point number one. And it talks about this issue of John Carter or the claim that John Carter and a person whose name has been redacted blacked out in the search warrant affidavit disposed of the body

of Caitlin Markham. And they were looking, the police were looking for a search warrant so they could find black plastic or construction and landscaping sheeting material that they believed would be found at his mother's home, they said that in the paperwork that Caitlin's body was wrapped in that same material. Your thoughts on that? Well, that's what they found. And it's something that people typically buy in bulk. I mean, that by itself, that's not something that's completely dispositive, in my opinion, but it's a piece of the puzzle. When you put that together with other piece of the puzzle, it definitely fits with the prosecution's case. I mean, I was just at the gym the other night

talking to a colleague. He's like, hey, I got that. that stuff. That doesn't make me guilty of the murder. But at the same time, it's just one piece of the puzzle. Sure, just one item. And, you know, in a case like this, that's an older case, it's been going on since 2011, almost 12 years now. It's often circumstantial evidence. And prosecutors always talk about putting those puzzle pieces together to really have a clearer picture of what happened. The next bullet point that I found interesting was the fact that when police said that they interviewed John Carter the day that Caitlin Markham was reported missing and then the day after, they said that they saw red vertical scratches on John Carter's neck.

He claims that was from shaving. Your thoughts on that? Well, it was actually, I think it was in the, over a couple of days after they noticed these. There were some friends who said they were with them at night and did not notice any scratches on John Carter. He said it was from an electric razor. Having had an electric razor myself at one point, I have a hard time believing that, but at the same time to say anything conclusive, I wouldn't need to see the razor and see a picture of these scratches.

Yeah, and let's hope, you know, we get to see those eventually at some point in time. There's also some information, I guess, that could be called circumstantial evidence or eyewitness type of testimony. It's not pertaining to the homicide, the death of Caitlin Markham, or her disappearance, but it was just the fact that around the time that she disappeared during that year, there were plans for she and John to move to Colorado. And we had heard at the time that she probably was beginning to cool on being involved with John Carter, that the relationship was probably not in the best of shape. There's talk about her not being her bubbly self, you know, her John's mother telling her you're stuck. I'll help co-sign this credit card application

for you. If you take him to Colorado with you, it sounds like she didn't want to do that and didn't end up going through with the credit card application. So just that helps paint a picture of what was going on between these two at the time that she disappeared. Yeah, she confided to friends that she felt trapped. She wasn't attracted to him anymore. She was very concerned about his drug use is viewing pornography and wanting to do how shall I say unusual things when they were having sex she wasn't attracted to him anymore and let's talk now just about the night that katelyn disappeared there's discussion in this affidavit of two teenage boys sneaking out of the house and they were on john carter street and they saw two vehicles including a red ford focus

that he was believed to have been driving at the time pulling into the driveway into the garage of his mother's house. It's two in the morning or so. Lights on the cars, the headlights are off. They're in the garage and then they pull out a short time later. How do you view that piece of evidence? That's very suspicious. Whenever you see people driving purposely with their lights off, that's one of those things that would make any police officer suspicious. And those circumstances definitely don't look good for John Carter. The Red Ford Focus, which belonged to John Carter, proven by registration and his admission, was in the garage for five to 15 minutes, then came out and then drove back in the direction

to Caitlin Markham's home. That's something that the defense is definitely going to have to address if they go to trial. Also, something I found interesting, James, was this discussion about polygraph tests. Now, polygraph tests, as you and I know, are not admissible in court. They can't be used at trial, but it was determined that John Carter, through these tests, and they're used by police as an investigative tool. It indicated that he was being deceptive when he discussed the night that Caitlin disappeared and also whether or not he disposed of her body. So, you know, I'm thinking to myself, yes, you can probably use that for probable gauze to get a warrant.

But, you know, I have a lot of mixed feelings about polygraphs because there are a lot of people who would say they are incredibly unreliable. Yeah, there are nothing more than an investigative tool. You're right. They're not admissible in court. So I really am not giving this any more weight for the merits of the case. How do you view the fact that Caitlin's remains were found basically in the same area or along the way or along a route from John Carter's what could be coming from Fairfield where John Carter and Caitlin lived and then going along certain routes that were on the way to John Carter's father's home? I mean, he would have crossed the road where her remains were later found. That's definitely another piece of the puzzle that fits with the prosecution's case. His father's home is right up is, you know, further down the way that's on the route. And again, that's not something that you can consider in a vacuum.

But when you put together other pieces, you know, things start adding up. And there's been some discussion too. It's mentioned, there's a little bit of it mentioned. in this document, this affidavit, but there's been some discussion. I know Mike Mosier, the Butler County prosecutor, read from some of the poetry they recovered from John Carter's belongings in his home. I mean, at one point, there's something on a door seized from the house talking about an angel in the woods, something about I love her, I have to kill her, slitting a throat with a key. I mean, is this just part of the puzzle? Will the

this be something that the defense challenges in your view? You know, I'm sure the defense will question and challenge is this something that John Carter definitely wrote? I mean, some of it appears to be typewritten. I don't know if it's typewritten or written. I don't know if there's maybe handwriting experts. I don't know. But you have things in there like on the door he wrote, I slit your wrist as a key to your heart, and you had cut marks on the wrist, bones. And he also said things like, I know, how do I kill you? You can't. You're right.

About what? Nothing. You know, deep down, I love her. You ought to kill her. But I love her. She must die. Like he's having a conflict with a demon within himself. That's what the prosecutors are trying to paint that as.

And, yeah, that's something the defense is definitely going to have to address. by the ways that I mentioned. I want to go back to the name in that first bullet point where it talks about the disposal of Caitlin's body. It says John Carter and Black Space, redacted name, disposed of her body. Does that indicate to you this person is cooperating, is a cooperating witness, or I don't know, maybe could even possibly be the person Jonathan Palmerton who was. charged with lying to the grand jury in this case.

That's what I suspect. Obviously, I can't say for sure because I'm not on the inside on this case. But I suspected the beginning of this that Jonathan Palmerton flipped on him and is cooperating because shortly after he gets charged with perjury for lying during the investigation, suddenly they have the search warrants and everything else. and the indictment against John Carter. And I can't help suspecting that. But again, that's just speculation.

Sure. Well, you know, it's interesting to me. You know, you and I both are from the area where this occurred. You know, just tell us this was a big deal. I mean, I think back to when it happened, Caitlin Markham's disappearance was a big deal. There were searches for months for her. Search parties fanning out over different areas.

people were really concerned and came out in mass to try to find her. Yeah, I mean, first of all, when you have a missing person like that, that tends to get media attention. But when these could be the people next door and John Carter on the surface looked like the guy next door and stuff like that tends to capture the public's attention. Yeah, no doubt. Well, we hope that the Markham family gets the answer. that they're entitled to and that they deserve. We want to be clear. John Carter has pleaded not guilty.

At this point, he's saying he didn't do this. He is free on a $1 million bond. And at this point, his trial is set for June of 2024. And he should be back in court sometime soon for some type of, you know, just status hearing or something to that effect. So James Bogan, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Oh, thank you for having me.

And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar, podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Jeanette Levy, and we will see you next time. Apple Podcasts or Spotify.