FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Prosecutors continue to turn over evidence in the John Carter murder case ahead of the Jan. 5 deadline for motions to be filed. As of Wednesday, Carter’s defense team had filed nothing.
Carter is accused of killing Fairfield’s Katelyn Markham, his fiancee, 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. A pre-trial hearing has been set by Judge Dan Haughey for Jan. 16.
Prosecutors have turned over five rounds of discovery to Carter’s defense team including hundreds of items, some obtained as recently as this summer and fall.
On Dec. 21, more discovery was filed that included subpoenas for cell phone records, a TikTok video, Carter’s jail booking video, screenshots of text messages between “K.W.” and prosecutor’s investigator Paul Newton, Yahoo service records for Carter and response to a subpoena for Carter’s bank records, according to court documents obtained by the Journal-News.
“As these cases start spinning, there is more material that comes about as the result of the charge having been brought,” Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said in September. “Just because there is an indictment doesn’t mean that we stop our investigation.”
Gmoser declined to comment on the most recent discovery. Carter’s defense attorney Chris Pagan did not respond to a request for comment.
In November, the prosecution turned over discovery to Carter’s defense team that included 33 items.
Included in the November discovery are screenshots of text messages and Facebook social media messages identified by initials to prosecutor’s office Investigator Paul Newton. Also included are subpoenas for bank statements and cell phone records, audio interviews with witnesses identified by initials and photographs of properties where Carter and Markham lived in 2011, and for an Indiana farm owned by the Carter family as well as building permits and designs for that property on Kokomo Hill Road.
Also included are a “Facebook search warrant for Michael Strouse,” “email from J. Ryan Green about Michael Strouse” and “screenshots from Facebook of Michael Strouse provided by J. Ryan Green.”
Green is a private investigator hired by Markham’s family to investigate her disappearance and death.
Strouse was convicted in 2019 of the death of 23-year-old Ellen “Ellie” Weik at his Liberty Twp. home. Within hours after Strouse’s arrest, Fairfield police, who initially investigated the Markham case, confirmed a meeting with the West Chester Police Department, which investigated the Weik case.
A photo also surfaced in 2019 of Strouse at a gathering picturing him with Markham and others.
Gmoser has said the photos listed in discovery are part of the investigation by his office and others for any connection to Markham’s death. He declined to comment any further.
Strouse is in prison and is not charged with any crime in the Markham case, so it is likely the prosecutor’s investigation eliminated Strouse as a suspect. Prosecutors often investigate to eliminate any other possible suspects, especially before seeking an indictment.
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 involves 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.”
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