John Carter, a 36-year-old Ohio man, has been sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of his fiancée, Katelyn Markham, who disappeared more than 13 years ago. The maximum sentence was handed down Thursday, July 18, in Butler County.
Carter initially faced two murder charges following his arrest in March 2023. However, he accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in June, just weeks before his murder trial was set to begin, according to the Associated Press.
During the court proceedings, Markham’s family and friends wore butterfly pins in honor of the 22-year-old art student. Carter declined to comment during the sentencing. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Katelyn,” said her father, Dave Markham. “I don’t think three years is justice — not for Katelyn, not for her sister, not for me, not for her friends, not for the entire community that has suffered and suffered along with us.”
Katelyn Markham 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 was planning to move to Colorado with Carter. The night she disappeared, Carter was the last known person to see her alive and reported her missing after she failed to show up for work. Her keys, purse and wallet were missing from her apartment, but her phone was turned off, making it impossible to track her location, it was reported. The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Following a lengthy search in which Carter was actively involved, Markham’s remains were discovered in April 2013 in a landfill in Cedar Grove, Indiana, about 30 miles (48 km) from his home. His death was ruled a homicide, although the cause of death remains undetermined. A forensic anthropology report suggested that his remains may have been moved from their original location.
Butler County prosecutors said Carter killed his fiancée by “physical violence and force.” Despite his guilty plea, Carter never explained how or why he killed Markham. A witness statement said Carter pleaded guilty to avoid a harsher sentence and still maintains his innocence.
“It’s not over and no, it’s not closure, but it’s the beginning of something else to come,” Dave Markham said. “I don’t know the whole story yet. Even if (Carter) writes a confession in prison, it’s going to have to be more compelling than it has been over the last 13 years.” As the community and family continue to search for answers, Carter’s sentencing marks a significant, if incomplete, chapter in the long quest for justice for Katelyn Markham.
