Carter’s attorneys left the Butler County courthouse without comment, but attorney Chris Pagan told the Journal-News: “No motions to suppress.”
No additional hearings have been scheduled.
Carter is accused of killing Fairfield’s Katelyn Markham, his fiancé in 2011. In March, Carter was indicted by a Butler County grand jury on a single count of murder.
He is free after posting $1 million bond, and the four-week trial is scheduled to begin June 24 in Butler County Common Pleas Court.
Prosecutors have turned over six rounds of discovery to Carter’s defense team, including more Tuesday morning That includes hundreds of items, some obtained as recently as last summer and fall.
Markham, a free-spirited art student, was days away from her 22nd birthday when she vanished in August 2011 from her Fairfield townhouse. Her skeletal remains were found April 7, 2013, in a remote wooded area in Indiana about 30 miles from her home. Her death was ruled a homicide, but the cause of death has not been determined.
It remained unsolved until March 2023 when an 18-month investigation by the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office resulted in Carter’s arrest.
The “bill of particulars” filed by the prosecution involve Carter’s changing statements about scratches on his face and the determination from Markham’s remains that she had sharp force trauma to her left wrist.
Specifically, the bill of particulars states: “During the late hours of Aug. 13, 2011, through the early morning hours of Aug. 14, 2011, starting in the area of 5214 Dorshire Drive in the city of Fairfield, Butler County, Ohio, John Carter by physical violence and by force did cause the death of Katelyn Markham.”
The bill continues with: “Around 8 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2011, the Fairfield Police responded to the report of a missing person and saw multiple scratches on John Carter’s neck. When John Carter was confronted about the scratch marks he told officers that they came from shaving with his electric razor attachment. Later John Carter said he scratched himself on the neck and then said he doesn’t know how the scratches happened. On April 7, 2013, the remains of Katelyn Markham were discovered with incised wounds from sharp force trauma to the left wrist area.”
About the Author
