BUTLER COUNTY — The man accused of killing Katelyn Markham more than a decade ago entered a not guilty plea during his first court appearance on Monday.
John Carter, 34, was scheduled to appear in Butler County Common Pleas Court at 10:30 a.m.
His bond was set at $1 million dollars.
During Carter’s court appearance, Butler Co. Prosecuting Attorney Mike Gmoser read sections of writings that talked about death.
“Deep down I love her. You want to kill her, but I love her. She must die. I can’t kill her. Yes you can. No. Yes. How do you talk me into all these things? I’m just that good,” Carter allegedly wrote.
Gmoser said what he believed the written ramblings revealed.
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“The struggle— the demon within, it would be asserted, between the defendant and himself,” Gmoser said.
News Center 7 asked Gmoser where the documents came from.
“They were found at Carter’s residence where he used to live,” he said. “They were in a binder with his name on them. Some had his name on, some did not.”
Gmoser confirmed they found the binder and the paperwork in it when they went into Carter’s mom’s house with a search warrant last month. He was living there when Markham disappeared.
There was also new information Gmoser revealed about the details in a forensic anthropology report he referenced, saying Markham’s remains may have been moved from where someone originally dumped her body to where her remains were found.
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Gmoser said that same report showed evidence of “three or four” “sharp instrumental trauma” injuries to Markham’s left wrist bone, a detail given in another passage he read.
“I slit your wrist with the key to your heart,” Gmoser read.
Carter’s defense lawyers and his mother declined comment at the courthouse Monday.
Carter was indicted on two counts of murder earlier this month, according to court documents that were unsealed Thursday.
He is accused of killing Markham “on or about August 13, 2011 through August 14, 2011.”
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser told the I-Team’s John Bedell Thursday that there wasn’t a firearm alleged to have been used in the case, so the charges don’t include firearm specifications.
Carter’s arrest came a little over a month after Jonathan Palmerton — a close friend of Carter — was arrested at his Fairfield home and charged with perjury in connection with the investigation into Markham’s disappearance.
Markham was 22-years-old when she was last seen in August 2011. Carter was the one to call 911 to report her missing.
Her remains were found in 2013 in Cedar Grove, Indiana.
Carter remains booked in the Butler County Jail. His next court date is next week.
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