What happened to Katelyn Markham? Details explored ahead of Dateline on NBC

The upcoming new season of Dateline on NBC is all set to cover the brutal murder of Katelyn Markham, which, despite being solved, left a lot more to be desired. The case dates back to 2011 but the resolution came quite recently after the case initially went cold. After over ten years after she went missing, it was revealed that Katelyn was murdered by her fiancé, John Carter.

The premiere of Dateline season 33 will cover this case in detail when it premieres on NBC at 9.00 PM EST. The synopsis for the episode reads:

"A young Ohio woman vanishes one summer night, prompting her community to conduct a massive search. When she’s found dead, investigators work to uncover her killer."

The case had to travel a long way before it was finally solved and the perpetrator was apprehended and sentenced.

Ahead of the new season's premiere of Dateline, let us go over the circumstances surrounding the murder of Katelyn Markham.

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Who was Katelyn Markham and what happened to her?

Katelyn Markham was born on August 16, 1990, to Dave Markham and his wife. She was followed by a younger sister and grew up in a loving household that encouraged her to pursue her dreams.

She studied at Fairfield High School and after graduating, went on to study at the Art Institute of Ohio in Cincinnati, where she pursued a graphics design degree. Around this time, she also met John Carter, and the two fell in love. Before long, while still in their early 20s. Carter and Markham got engaged.

The duo were reportedly planning to move to Colorado and start a new life together after Katelyn Markham graduated, but weeks before she could complete her degree, something astonishing happened.

Katelyn reportedly went missing from her Fairfield home on August 13, 2011. The following day, a worried John Carter reported that his fiancee was missing, kickstarting the investigation.

When the authorities arrived, they found Katelyn's car and phone still at the house but found no trace of her. Over the next few months, the search for Katelyn continued across Butler and Hamilton counties, with even her friends and loved ones often helping the authorities, but nothing concrete was found.

The only thing that the police could point out in the initial part of their investigation was the odd behavior of John Carter, who sometimes addressed Katelyn Markham in past tense and even mentioned terms like "circumstantial evidence."

But it was two more years before a couple collecting aluminum cans found Katelyn's partially decomposed remains in a wooded area at Big Cedar Creek in southeastern Indiana’s Cedar Grove. The bad shape of the body meant that the authorities could not really decipher how Katelyn died but it was affirmed that it she was dead.

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Who killed Katelyn Markham?

The case went cold due to lack of evidence and it was nearly ten years later that the detectives once again pushed to find the killer. They soon started singling out John Carter, who seemingly diverted the questions at his polygraph test and was also found with some scratch marks on his neck around the time Katelyn disappeared.

Moreover, authorities also found that John and Katelyn's relationship was far from perfect. With all the circumstantial evidence, the police arrested John Carter and charged him with the murder.

But ahead of the trial, he took a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter and claimed that Katelyn Markham accidentally died while they were fighting. He was sentenced to three years in prison, which thoroughly displeased Katelyn's family members.

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The upcoming premiere of Dateline will cover this case in more detail.