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The premiere of Dateline's 33rd season is all set to cover the murder of Katelyn Markham and the involvement of John Carter in the same. The case dates back to 2011, but it took over a decade to solve the murder. However, though the killer, who also happened to be Katelyn's fiancee at the time, was arrested; his sentence was less than satisfactory for Katelyn's family.
Dateline season 33 episode 1, titled The Butterfly, will cover this case in detail when it premieres on NBC at 9 p.m. EST. The synopsis for the case 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."
John Carter, who was his fiancee at the time, was charged with the murder based on circumstantial evidence nearly a decade later. He took a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter ahead of his trial and was sentenced to only three years in prison.
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He remains incarcerated now but will be out of prison in July 2027.
What happened between John Carter and Katelyn Markham?
Katelyn was a bright college student studying at the Art Institute of Ohio when she met John Carter, and soon their love blossomed. Before long, though still in their early 20s, John and Katelyn got engaged.
They even started planning for the future and ascertained that when Katelyn finished college, they would move to Colorado and start a life together. However, there were cracks in this relationship that not many knew about, and some that would only come out after it was too late.
On August 13, 2011, Katelyn reportedly went missing. John waited a day before he contacted the authorities, and a months-long search began for Katelyn.
After months of searching, where Katelyn's friends, family members, and well-wishers all joined the police to help, her body was still not found. The case eventually went cold before her decomposed remains were spotted in a wooded area in Cedar Grove, Indiana.
No physical evidence could be deciphered from the state of the body, and the only suspicion the police had was on John Carter, who seemingly did some things that were out of the ordinary. For instance, he addressed Katelyn in past tense from before her remains were found, and he gave twisted answers in his polygraph tests.
Anyhow, without any physical evidence, the police could not pursue this lead and the case went cold.
Where is John Carter now?
After the case was reopened nearly a decade later, the police found some more clues. One of them was markings in the home John and Katelyn shared. These markings seemed to indicate that something was wrong with John.
Moreover, when he was held at the county facility, another inmate claimed he confessed to killing Katelyn Markham. With all the circumstantial evidence against him, Carter was arrested and charged for the murder.
However, before his trial, he took a plea deal for one count of involuntary manslaughter. He claimed that he had caused her death in the heat of the argument but didn't kill her.
Due to the plea of involuntary manslaughter, he was sentenced to only three years in prison. He remains incarcerated at the minimum and medium-security North Central Correctional Institution in Marion, Ohio, where he will remain till July 2027.
The upcoming episode of Dateline on NBC will cover this case in detail.
