0:00
you heard that uh her body was found have you been over
0:05
to the where she was found no I don't want to go there I don't want to go to
0:10
that place and be like oh this is where she died that's wonderful like why would I want to see that we going to do this
0:16
now or we going to do it now okay is that something that's okay yeah I mean I
0:22
know I didn't do anything so it should be good Caitlyn Markham was a gentle sweetheart who One Summer Night would
0:28
suddenly vanish with out of Trace her fiance would report her disappearance the following day citing that he had
0:35
seen her the night before but when she failed to text him good morning and then failed to make it to work all of her
0:41
loved ones knew that something terrible must have happened the problem is Caitlyn's case was allegedly never
0:48
addressed sufficiently with private investigators claiming that law enforcement was slow and unresponsive
0:55
and sadly eventually her case would indeed turn cold that would be until the
1:00
year 2023 when all of a sudden groundbreaking discoveries were made so
1:06
would Caitlyn Markham and her family ever received the Justice they deserved and what precisely happened to
1:14
her good morning good afternoon or good evening folks my name is Adrien and welcome or welcome back to Coffee House
1:21
crime now this story took more than an entire decade to write itself and those who knew the victim were waiting for 13
1:28
grueling long years but but finally I can share this solv story and also just to mention if you like True Crime and
1:34
strange or dark stories then please do consider subscribing I post up to twice a week here and now with all of that
1:40
said please grab yourself a coffee take a seat and get ready for the Deep dive this is the case of Caitlyn
Ohio
1:55
marham welcome to Ohio folks located in the northeast of the United States
2:00
This Charming state shares a border with Canada along the shores of one of the Great Lakes Lake Erie if you step away
2:06
from the shoreline and travel Southwest you will eventually find yourself in Cincinnati sitting right next to its
2:12
neighboring state Kentucky and only a ston throw away from Indiana this city has quite a strong country Vibe
2:19
particularly in the South that said it is also a city that doesn't quite know what it is rather famous for its
2:26
friendliness and Hospitality Cincinnati hosts various events yearly in combination with this the abundance of
Katelynn Markham
2:33
breweries in the city makes it the perfect place for its annual October Fest event and of course you can't
2:39
forget about Finley Market which makes it a bustling place to be in the spring and summer and one of those living in
2:45
the area of Cincinnati in a small town named Fairfield was Caitlyn Markham born
2:50
In The Heat Of Summer on August the 16th 1990 to her parents Dave Markham and charma Raider Caitlyn was born and bred
2:58
to be a true Cincinnati ever since she was a baby she was highly well loved and grew up as a bubbly young
3:05
girl followed by her sister Ali who is 4 years younger it is said that Caitlyn
3:10
took to being an older sister just like a duck to water and the pair would grow increasingly close over the years
3:16
relishing in the shared experience of growing up with both of their parents now although their parents would sadly
3:23
eventually split up during their childhood the Two Sisters would remain very close to both of their parents and
3:29
both their mother and father would continue to support and raise their family with a lot of love it is also
3:35
noted that Caitlyn was incredibly close with her father which is evident through the many photographs of the two of them
3:42
together she was increasingly close with him throughout her teenagerhood where her unique and lovable personality Shone
3:48
through Caitlyn was described as one of the most likable people that you could ever meet always making sure that even
3:55
in a crowded room everyone knew that she was paying attention to them brighter their days with Goofy Antics and vibrant
4:02
laughter in her teenage years she grew into her passion for Arts focusing on her school education and always
4:09
volunteering to create pieces for murals and public events those who knew her said that she had a flare for color to
4:15
match her bright personality it was with this personality that Caitlyn would attract her first long-term boyfriend at
4:22
the end of high school he was a local boy and 18 years old and his name was
4:27
John Carter so it was in in August of 2011 that much like the rest of
4:32
Cincinnati the outer suburb of furfield was well underway with Summer celebrations this included both Caitlyn
4:39
and John who would often go for walks to enjoy the summer warmth however after a
Missing
4:44
long day of festivities Fairfield Police received a disturbing phone call from a very distressed and worried man the
4:52
phone call was made by no one other than John Carter and he was calling to report that his fiance Caitlyn Markham was was
5:00
missing hi my name is John Carter I am calling um I I know that you're not
5:05
supposed to report a a missing person after before 24 hours um but uh my my
5:12
fiance is missing I I can't find her anywhere okay where did you see her last
5:19
um I saw her at like 12:00 last night she stays in a house by herself um so she I'm just I'm really
5:27
nervous her car is still there where she at midnight last night when you she was
5:32
at her house she was going to bed she wasn't going out to do anything so she
5:38
would she would have been in her in her bed and mean I've been with her for six years she's not deceiving you know she
5:46
doesn't okay and you guys didn't have an argument or anything not at all the only
5:52
thing that's not there is her cell phone which is positive but she's not answering it so I'm going to take her
5:59
Heart Festival is going on right up the street and there's a lot of questionable
6:04
people there and it's just kind of I'm sorry now according to John he
6:10
hadn't actually seen Caitlyn since the previous evening around midnight apparently he then left a home found on
6:16
dare drive to return to his mother's when asked if the two had any arguments that evening he strongly declined
6:23
apparently it was just a very typical evening before he returned home now John claimed that after returning home both
6:30
he and Caitlyn shared several messages with each other over the following hours however by the morning she had stopped
6:36
responding to make matters even worse Caitlyn's phone had now run out of battery meaning he couldn't message her
6:42
and as the hours passed by he was growing increasingly concerned silence may be concerning dependent on the
6:48
person for Caitlyn she never had her phone off and she would always message John in the morning so yes this was
6:55
unusual for her now while alarming this was not necessar uncommon for police to
7:01
hear Caitlyn was a 21-year-old woman and was plenty capable of looking after herself and so with less than 24 hours
7:09
having passed between her disappearance and John reporting her missing very little was initially done to locate her
7:16
however JN was not convinced because Caitlyn would never just blank him and
7:21
leave I mean even at the end of this story and in hindsight that is true
7:27
moving into the next day and as the news of her disappearance spread around town friends family and peers all began to
7:33
worry they all agreed that this was not like her and when she failed to show up to work the following day everyone knew
7:41
that something abnormal had happened you see Not only was Caitlyn a very punctual
7:46
worker but she would often show up early or give plenty of notice when her plans changed and so upon hearing this Jon
7:54
decided to return to her residence and see if he could do any investigating of his own after arriving all appeared to
8:02
be as it should have been her car was in the driveway her dog was running around in the yard as usual and nothing seemed
8:09
out of place but again there was no sign of Caitlyn I mean her dog alone in the
8:16
yard was just another red flag too because being Caitlyn she would have
8:21
never left him unattended something was very very wrong here and so with time
8:27
passing by the authorities finally deemed it to be time to treat her disappearance as an official missing
8:33
person's case naturally the investigation began at the last place that she was seen including an
8:40
investigation into the last person she was seen by stating the obvious here that meant that John Carter and her door
8:47
Shire Drive townhouse were two key elements of Interest beginning with her home nothing seemed out of place
8:54
excluding the Eerie silence left in her absence her phone was also missing suggesting that she may have gone with
9:01
it however her purse keys and dog all remained in the property as for John
9:07
well his Alibi was actually quite Rock Solid his mother would confirm that on that night he had returned home to her
9:13
rather than staying at Caitlyn's now she did admit that this was rather unusual for him but definitely not unheard of
9:22
with little to no lead suggesting as to where Caitlyn could be a public plea was spread around the town looking for any
9:29
helpful information and as it would happen a significant public movement was then established to help try and find
9:35
her family friends and the community would all come together here determined for answers however before we continue
9:44
let's first talk about the relationship between John and Caitlyn the pair were
9:49
described as being joined at the hip and were both quirky and very likable teens with their relationship surviving past
9:56
the end of high school and well into adulthood after graduating from Fairfield High
10:01
School Caitlyn further pursued her passion for art and enrolled at the Art Institute of Ohio to further her studies
10:08
in the field and while here she would continue to grow her Friendship Circle and deepen her relationship with John as
10:15
for John well he too was also born in Cincinnati saying hi to the world in the
10:20
year 1988 he had a very comfortable upbringing and that was thanks to his father who owned a fair amount of
10:27
property in the area John was was noted as being a jolly happy go-lucky young boy and grew into an eccentric and
10:33
friendly teenager before meeting Caitlyn just before turning 18 years old now as
10:39
far as anyone could tell their relationship was seemingly going swimmingly not only did Caitlyn's family
10:45
loved Jon but they also seemed to take their partnership very seriously so
10:50
seriously in fact that the pair would go on to get engaged in early 2011 where
10:55
they planned to get married in the following 2 or 3 years with her studies well underway and a wedding to plan and
11:02
say for Caitlyn also worked on the side at a bridal shop to try and get Buy and
11:07
Save money not only for her but Jon's future too she worked at David's Bridal
11:13
the same bridal shop that she failed to show up at as expected on that fateful morning and with all of this happening
11:20
only a few days before her 22nd birthday it is no wonder that many of her family
11:25
and friends were extremely concerned this of of course also meant her fiance
11:31
who had now been together with her for six long years the public reaction to Caitlyn's disappearance was one of
11:37
confusion and great turmoil she was never one to just simply go off on her own or to act out in defiance and so
11:45
fearing something malicious may have happened to her the general public conducted several search parties
11:51
spreading out far and wide from her Fairfield townhouse and into the rural lands around them Parks forests and
11:58
waterways and Butler and Hamilton counties were all scoured by anyone and everyone from local neighboring
12:04
authorities right through to the general public and even a Mounted Police Force who took to the Wilderness to search for
12:11
her but sadly all efforts were to no avail and again no sign of Caitlyn was
12:17
ever found it was if she had simply vanished Into Thin Air As Time passed by
12:23
the pressure would gradually build up televised pleas from her worried friends and family and of course her fiance were
12:31
broadcast throughout the state in an effort to gather any information regarding her disappearance and through
12:37
the reports and the rumors which were all going around you could just tell how frantic everyone was
12:44
becoming I keep believing that if she is somewhere in the worst case scenario
12:51
that she fights her way out I keep wanting to believe that because she's strong I know she's strong
12:58
so so she's got to manage to make her way out but sadly all of these efforts would be in vain days turned into weeks
13:06
weeks into months and months into an entire year meanwhile Caitlyn hadn't
13:11
been seen once no substantial leads were uncovered in her townhouse and there didn't seem to be any particular Persons
13:17
of Interest to officers and so naturally this really infuriated her family who
13:23
just seemed to be adamant that malice was involved pretty much everybody seemed to be stumped here and of of
13:29
course there were rumors circulating around the community some believed it could have been a random stranger While
13:35
others started to look at Caitlyn's boyfriend but John well he simply pushed his allegations to the side I mean he
13:42
was literally engaged to her so why would he want to harm her no news of her disappearance would come for a very very
Discovery
13:49
long time that was until April the 7th 2013 which by the way was a solid 20
13:55
months since she had vanished it was on that day that a young couple
14:01
was scouring a creek which could be found along Big Cedar Road in Cedar Grove Indiana the creek was located
14:08
roughly 40 km or 30 m east of Fairfield which in other words was only a short
14:15
drive away from Caitlyn's home when it came to the Wilderness the couple were quite familiar with various animals and
14:22
Wildlife that could be found in the area so when they came across several scattered Bones on their search they
14:29
initially assumed them to be that of an animal however upon closer inspection and the discovery of a skull it became
14:36
quite obvious that they were dealing with something far more suspicious and when they found even more bones all of
14:43
which resembling a human in the creek it all but confirmed their morbid suspicions that is when they called 911
14:51
now the news would unfortunately get out rather quickly however it would take
14:56
some time to confirm who the body belonged to to Via forensic evaluation I mean they did seem to fit Caitlyn's
15:03
profile and sadly their fears were not wrong either that is because only 2
15:09
weeks later the confirmation would come through these bones did in fact belong
15:14
to Caitlyn Markham this of course would destroy all hope for Caitlyn's friends
15:19
and family who were all now forced to accept that they would never see her alive again and despite knowing that she
15:26
was now dead nobody knew how she had died or what had killed her with that
15:32
said the authorities were now faced with a new task not to locate Caitlyn Markham
15:37
herself but to provide Justice and closure to those who loved her and so
15:42
with that said they began their work on tracking down her killer forensic analysists were faced with a very
15:49
difficult challenge here with Caitlyn passing more than one year prior only her bones were left behind leaving
15:55
little evidence to Aid in their investigations the only notable marks left on The Remains were on her left
16:01
wrist bone which were four sharp blunt force trauma wounds and despite these
16:06
marks it was concluded that they were not enough to cause her death it was also determined that at the point of
16:14
discovery of her remains that her body was likely moved for a second time after initially being dumped elsewhere as a
16:21
result the coroner kept Caitlin's remains for several months therefore delaying her funeral this means that it
16:27
wasn't until August of 2023 that her family could finally officially mourn
16:32
their loss friends family teachers and colleagues would hold a memorial at
16:38
Fairfield High School where many others turned up to pay their respects towards Caitlyn the town banded together to
16:44
remember her with many tears and smiles along the way with Caitlyn's funeral now over the
16:52
only thing left to find out was how she had died and more specifically who had murdered her nobody believed this was an
16:59
accident and by nobody I mean absolutely nobody however with so much time passing
17:05
since her death people did start to fear that they would never find out who and so it was at this moment that Caitlyn's
17:12
father made the smart decision to Lobby the Butler County Sheriff's Office to reexamine the case after all Dave knew
17:19
that there was far more to this story and that his daughter did not put herself in that Creek he just believed
17:25
at this point in time that the case had been poorly handled I mean Caitlyn was happy and she talked to her father about
17:31
everything and it didn't seem like she was particularly anxious because in fact she was looking forward to her future
17:38
with JN but on the subject of JN well he had turned very silent in the months after Caitlyn's death in fact by the
17:45
time her body had been discovered he had basically cut all contact from her family and yes they did find this
17:52
extraordinarily suspicious the lack of motivation from officers frustrated her
17:57
family quite sign significantly imagine losing a loved one and then watching all efforts dry up I mean her remains had
18:05
been found but that simply wasn't enough not only did the Markham family want
18:10
justice but they deserved it too 3 years later they were still fighting and
18:15
searching in the year 2016 a documentary titled taken too soon the Caitlyn
18:20
Markham story was released to the public in hope that it would spark some new motivation and then in 2017 Ryan green
18:29
who was a private investigator was hired to examine the case sadly he would
18:34
eventually come out with no additional information instead he deeply criticized Fairfield and Butler County officials
18:41
slow and sloppy progress on the case the question is would we have had more
18:47
answers if serious action had been taken as soon as Caitlyn had disappeared as
18:52
recently as the year 2020 Caitlyn's death was featured on Discovery ID on the show still a mystery in what would
18:59
be the markham's family most prolific attempt to try and catch her killer now
19:04
you may be thinking at this point with kin's Case C for a total of 9 years that
Looking at John
19:10
I may be bringing you an open-ended story today although work was slow progress is still progress especially
19:17
when a positive outcome is found and as it turns out the authorities had been
19:22
Gathering Snippets of evidence for a very long time but it wouldn't be until a staggering 12 years after her her
19:28
murder that one key piece of information would find its way to detectives
19:34
information which cast a very harsh Spotlight on the man who seemed to be both the most and the least likely
19:40
person to cause harm to Caitlyn and of course I'm talking about John Carter but
19:47
before officers made it to him they would have to make one additional arrest first and here we will meet another John
19:54
named Jonathan palmon Jonathan was John Carter's friend and former roommate and
20:00
after making it into detective sites for all of the wrong reasons he was finally arrested on February the 17th 2023 under
20:08
perjury charges with a successful charge officers had the right to search his home a home that just so happened to be
20:16
where JN was living at the time that Caitlyn disappeared it seemed that whoever was now working on Caitlyn's
20:22
case was now on the right track you see back when her remains were discovered
20:27
officers ini ially interrogated Jonathan and although he may have slipped away from their radar in the year 2013 he was
20:35
once again under fresh suspicion now although Jonathan became a key suspect
20:40
in the case he wasn't actually the main guy that detectives were going for in
20:45
fact it was John Carter they wanted instead you see throughout the years
20:51
small pieces of circumstantial evidence was slowly adding up against him and
20:56
although they were individually never enough to build a solid case against John Carter they were definitely enough
21:02
to keep him at the Forefront of their minds with Jonathan successfully caught lying to officers which we assumed to be
21:09
a misalignment between his story and confirmed information police now believed that all of these lies were to
21:16
protect JN from being found responsible and so ultimately on March the 22nd 2023
21:23
John Carter who was now 34 years old married and with children was finally
21:28
arrested on suspicion of being involved in The Disappearance and eventual murder of Caitlyn marham we got nothing El
21:52
on his bond was set at $1 million while authorities had the chance to compile
21:58
all evidence against him as mentioned unfortunately their proof was not as
22:03
robust as a typical case of homicide but it did strongly allude to his motives
22:09
and his actions to begin with it was noted that in his initial interview officers observed scratch marks on his
22:16
neck which at the time he blamed on shaving interestingly he would then
22:21
later change his story and claimed that he couldn't remember how he got them to add to this officers would also note a
22:28
passive slip of tenses during his interviews with officers and then the media and even in private conversations
22:36
John would refer to Caitlyn in the past tense only a few days after she went missing an innocent person would hold
22:43
out hope and not assume she was dead so why was he referring to her as if she
22:48
had now passed away of course with this case taking so long all forensic Avenues
22:54
had been explored and exhausted this included the controversial use of polygraph tests which John had conducted
23:01
in 2011 2014 and 2021 interestingly not
23:06
one or two but all three of them had alluded that JN had given deceptive
23:12
responses when asked if he was involved it was also revealed that digital forensics conducted on John's phone
23:18
stated that on the night of August the 14th he was inactive for 15 hours from
23:24
the early morning to the midafternoon it is noted that this is the most lik L window of time when Caitlyn was murdered
23:31
and then her body was concealed and although JN claimed that he and Caitlyn had been texting the night prior well
23:39
there was no digital evidence to back that up telephone operators could not confirm that either of them were busy on
23:45
their phones and John had claimed that he had accidentally deleted those messages well isn't that
23:54
convenient the last piece of circumstantial evidence to come forward was actually from Caitlyn's neighbor who
24:00
claimed that on the night that she disappeared she heard some sort of muffled dialogue coming from the house
24:06
apparently it sounded rather confrontational and that furthermore she would hear the words no repeated over
24:13
and over again however it wouldn't be until a private investigation was conducted and several role changes were
24:19
made in the police department that an arrest was finally made and that would be John palmton in 2023 with Jonathan
24:27
now behind bars he would now become more susceptible to revealing multiple holes in John Carter's story and thankfully
24:34
that is precisely what would happen while all of this was going on investigators made their way to John Carter's house to see what they could
24:41
find and honestly what they found was not only surprising but very stupid too
24:47
I'm talking crude drawings poetry and even notes all of which were alluding to the murder of his own fiance I mean how
24:54
dumb can you be Jon's notes and drawings alluded to an angel in the woods with
25:00
one passage writing I slit your wrists with the key to your heart it is noted
25:05
that this passage is linked to the only known injury found on Caitlyn's remains
25:10
John's haunting Journal painted the picture of a man who was fighting with the fantasy of taking his Lover's life
25:17
with a recovered poem reading deep down I love her you want to kill her but I
25:23
love her she must die I can't kill her yes you can no yes all of this fresh
25:31
evidence which had only surfaced after JN was arrested and his home surged helped build an even stronger case
25:38
against him it's one of those situations where you can't simply rummage around someone's home on a mere weak assumption
25:44
however if you are correct with those assumptions they really can pay off they
25:50
were also kind of lucky here I mean what kind of intelligent person in their right mind would even think about
25:57
writing these fantasies down for the whole world to find out I guess you could say that John Carter was not the
Legal Proceedings
26:03
brightest crayon in the Box he was to pennies short of a nickel and that elevator in his mind never really made
26:10
it all the way to the top throughout legal proceedings Jon
26:15
actually managed to post his $1 million Bond and was able to return home under GPS tracking while he waited for his
26:22
trial this was scheduled for June of 2023 where he was to go on trial for
26:27
murder and although prosecutors wanted to enact further charges such as abuse of a corpse Ohio's statute of
26:34
limitations would ultimately deny it this was because Caitlyn's corpse was only found after 2 years after her death
26:42
therefore diminishing any convincing evidence towards any of these additional charges after lawyering up and receiving
26:48
legal advice from his team John Carter's tune changed despite initially claiming
26:54
that he was innocent he would then go on to plead guilty to invol AR murder before his trial could even take place
27:01
this was actually quite smart from his defense team because it meant that it prevented him from standing trial for
27:08
murder the prosecution concluded that coupled with the neighbors testimony John and Caitlyn must have gotten into
27:14
an argument on the night that she was murdered and although they seemed happily engaged and had plans to move
27:20
away friends did come forward to claim that their relationship was strained behind closed doors Caitlyn's friends
27:27
testified that in the months leading up to her death she felt increasingly trapped in her relationship and perhaps
27:34
this could have been the subject of their argument on the Fateful night that she lost her life John then admitted to
27:40
disposing of her body in an area that he was familiar with that being Cedar Creek
27:45
where his family used to own some property he told this story to the judge before then admitting that he panicked
27:51
after accidentally killing Caitlyn leading to his guilty plea of involuntary manslaughter unfortunately L
27:58
his plea would ultimately be accepted by the courts meaning that he would not have to go ahead with trial for murder
28:06
and so on July the 18th 2023 John Carter was sentenced to a
28:11
ridiculous and measly 3 years in prison even worse johon showed no remorse
28:17
during his sentencing he didn't speak showed no emotion and hardly reacted to
28:22
any comments made by the judge unfortunately the judge's hands were also tied in the the situation his
28:29
3-year sentence was the maximum permitted in a case of manslaughter if you ask me or anyone else on the streets
28:37
this seems like a terribly small punishment after murdering someone and then keeping it a secret for 13 long
28:44
years it is infuriating to say the least not only had a woman lost the best part
28:50
of 60 years of her life but her entire family were left suspended in absolute
28:55
agony for 13 long years and as a result all this man gets is a slap on the wrist
29:01
and only 3 years in a prison cell well that is just an
29:07
insult needless to say while Caitlyn's family are relieved to finally have answers to their burning questions they
29:14
feel that Jon never got the punishment he thoroughly deserved the fact that he had been roaming free for over a decade
29:21
alongside them has left them extremely angry in fact Caitlyn's younger sister
29:26
had even passed John multiple times while he was out in public with his family living his life as if nothing had
29:33
happened Caitlyn was a much-loved member of the Fairfield Community by friends and family alike and her story has been
29:41
circulating for over a decade in the town the community banded together to find her and once she was found they
29:49
banded together to mourn their loss at her funeral memorials and even in courts
29:55
her friends and loved ones wore butterflies on their shirt in honor of her her father reminisced about his lost
30:01
daughter saying Caitlyn loved butterflies they remind me of her I
30:06
often wonder what she'd be doing with her art and her career and I think she would just be such an amazing woman and
30:13
it does make me angry that he lived for 12 years scotf free thinking he got away
30:18
with it I do not feel that 3 years is Justice not for Caitlyn not for her
30:23
sister not for me her friends or the entire community that has achd and
30:29
grieved alongside us not a day goes by that I don't think about Caitlyn Dave
30:34
Markham and his family are working to set a new set of legislation called Caitlyn's law a law that would allow
30:41
prosecutors to bring more charges forward in cases of involuntary manslaughter Caitlyn was taken from her
30:47
family far too soon and is remembered as her bubbly smiling Goofy and artistic
30:53
self by those who continue to remember her alongside Caitlyn's family we can
Outro
30:58
all only hope that one day John will pay for the pain caused through death and
31:04
through concealment and with that said I think
31:10
I'll leave this case here today folks a case that I find incredibly frustrating
31:15
however what I will say is at least we have some sort of closure before I go though I do have a couple questions for
31:21
you to begin with do you think that this was a planned murder or merely an accident and also what do you think
31:27
about about John sentence as always please share your thoughts in the comments section down below now
31:33
personally I do have a feeling that he had planned this but whether it was an accident or not he should definitely
31:38
have more time behind bars as mentioned in the recent video I don't yet have my studio set up so at the moment it's this
31:45
kind of crude recording setup however in about two or three videos I should be good to go if you want to support me in
31:51
the channel in the meantime please check out my patreon here or alternatively follow me on social media here most
31:57
notably Instagram as always folks thank you so much for watching today I really do appreciate it and thank you for your
32:03
patience I'll see you again very very soon for another video however until that moment arrives remember to look
32:08
after yourself look after each other and as always stay safe thank you and
32:14
goodbye