John Carter was desperate to find his missing fiancée, Katelyn Markham. However, over a decade after her remains were discovered, Carter was indicted on two counts of murder in her death. However, prosecutors agreed to drop the charges in exchange for a plea of involuntary manslaughter. Carter was sentenced to the maximum three years in prison.
There were doubts about Carter’s account of the night Markham disappeared. Witnesses reported seeing his car at odd hours, conflicting with his alibi, and his online search history raised suspicions that he was trying to build an alibi. Carter had written disturbing poems indicating violent thoughts towards Markham in his journal. There were also indications of a possible motive in her death, as Markham had expressed unhappiness in her relationship with Carter.
Despite the evidence being mostly circumstantial, Carter chose to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter rather than face trial for murder. Prosecutors believed that getting a guilty plea was more important than the length of the sentence. Markham’s father, while initially shocked by the plea deal, understood that a conviction may have been uncertain with a jury trial. The case still has many unanswered questions, such as where Markham was killed and how she died. Gmoser, the prosecuting attorney, believed that getting some form of justice for Markham was the priority, even if it meant accepting a plea deal for a lesser offense.
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