Fiance indicted on murder charge in death of Katelyn Markham

The fiance of Katelyn Markham has been indicted on two counts of murder in the 2011 killing, according to court records.

John Carter, 34, of Hamilton is currently being held at the Butler County jail after his arrest on Wednesday. The indictment against him was unsealed Thursday morning.

In August 2011, Markham disappeared after she was last seen leaving her Dorshire Drive home in Fairfield.

At the time of her disappearance, she was a month away from finishing her graphic arts degree at the Art Institute of Ohio-Cincinnati, according to a 2013 Enquirer article. She was also days from her 23rd birthday and her first anniversary of being engaged. Carter said he and Markham were planning to move to Colorado that November.

Friends, relatives, local authorities and even a national search group from Texas conducted dozens of searches for Markham. They combed local parks, waterways and areas in Butler and Hamilton counties but found no sign of her.

Nearly two years later, the Fairfield woman's remains were discovered near Big Cedar Creek in Indiana by a couple looking for aluminum cans. Authorities ruled her death a homicide.

In February, Jonathan Palmerton was arrested in connection to Markham's death on a felony perjury charge as a result of the homicide investigation.

The indictment states in one charge that Carter "purposefully" caused the death of Markham. The other charge states he caused her death as the "proximate result" of committing a felony of violence.

The case has been assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Daniel E. Haughey.