 It was August of 2011, when Caitlin Markham was last seen. She'd been working on her laptop on the evening of August 13th, with a friend noting that she wasn't her usual happy-go-lucky self. She was very reserved and may have even seemed as though something was bothering her, but we don't know for sure. Caitlin was last seen alongside her fiancé just before 11pm that evening, but by the following morning she was gone. Her fiancé reported her as a missing person, but her case went cold almost as quickly as it had begun. Her remains would be found two years later and the state of her body was, well, confusing. The crime scene just didn't make sense, and worse yet, police were at a loss for who could have been responsible, until they uncovered a shocking clue in the investigation. Before we dive into today's story, I want to let you know about today's sponsor, AG1. AG1 is a nutritional supplement that helps with immune support, focus, recovery, and energy. AG1 is an all-in-one powder that is great for helping fulfill your daily nutritional needs, as every serving contains 75 ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and so much more. I've given AG1 a try personally and the results have been great so far. The flavor is surprisingly solid and it's not at all what you'd expect. Unlike taking pills every day, AG1 is super easy to use every day. Just add water to the powder, mix it up, and you're ready to go. AG1 is designed to be used straight out of the packet or container, but one of my favorite things to do is mix a bit of peppermint with mine. When you give it a try, be sure to let me know some of the unique ways and comments you mix up AG1. I'd love to hear some of your favorite recipes. If you're ready to support both your performance and your immune system, click the first link in the description and give AG1 a try. For signing up using my link, you'll get a year's supply of vitamin D3K2 and five travel packs for free with your first purchase. Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring today's video. Caitlin Markham was described as being highly energetic, bubbly, and maybe even a bit weird but not in a bad way. Oftentimes, when cases like this pop up, families tend to tell the exact same story, saying that their loved ones lit up the room, loved everyone, and so on and so forth, but in Caitlin's case, that really does appear to have been true. She was a very quirky young woman who wasn't afraid to be herself. Caitlin lived alongside her family and fiancé in Fairfield, Ohio. Fairfield is a rather popular city just 25 miles away from Cincinnati. With a population of around 42,000 people, it's certainly not a small town, but it's not a very big town either. It's largely made up of suburbs and young families, and it seems to be a great place to be. I've seen mixed reports when it comes to how safe Fairfield may be. Some sources claim that it's incredibly dangerous and that crime rates are remarkably high, though other reports say that crime isn't really any higher here than anywhere else in the country. I'm not sure what to make of this, but if you want my personal opinion, it seems like a great place to be. There's a heck of a lot to do in Fairfield. There are heaps of attractions for young families to visit, more parks than I could count, and tons of great restaurants to see. The only real trouble with Fairfield is that it's a fairly lengthy drive to get anywhere, with the average work commute being up to 88% higher than in other parts of the state. Caitlin had been attending college as an art student, and this seems to have been the perfect career path for her. We don't know for sure just how long she'd been dating her fiance, John Carter, but the two appeared to have been together for quite a while. I can't tell if they met at college or if they may have been together much longer than that, but whatever the case may be, the two were inseparable, and it was clear that they were deeply in love with one another. Caitlin had been living in a small condo in Fairfield, and her fiance would often stay over with her. She didn't plan to live here very long, though, as Caitlin and John had plans to move to Colorado in the fall of 2011. But unfortunately, these plans would never be carried out. That's not because the two suddenly decided not to leave Fairfield. Rather, it's because Caitlin would become caught up in a haunting crime that she wouldn't survive. It was August 13th, 2011. It was a day like any other for Caitlin and John. The two had been spending most of the evening at Caitlin's condo in Fairfield. Caitlin had been busy with schoolwork, trying to get everything filed away before she missed her deadlines. On this particular evening, a friend of the couple had been hanging out at the apartment with them. Later on into the night, the friend decided to leave and head to a nearby party that was just a few miles away. Both Caitlin and John decided to stay home, and the friend left some time around 10.45 that night, saying goodbye to the two for what would unknowingly be the last time. As the friend left the home, he noticed that Caitlin wasn't acting like her usual self, while she was normally smiling from ear to ear and making jokes and generally being a pleasant person to be around. This evening was much different. The friend mentioned that Caitlin seemed reserved, distant even. He said that she stayed on the couch the entire time he had been there, and this appears to have been for several hours. The entire time she never really moved or got up at all, she just sat there working on her laptop. When the friend left that evening, he recalled that Caitlin and John were the only two people left in the condo. John decided to leave the condo soon after, heading out around 11 p.m. He headed off to a party in Hamilton, then went home sometime around 2 a.m. and remained there for the rest of the night. He woke up around 2.30 p.m. the following day, then made it to work at Papa John's around 5 p.m., leaving just two hours later around 7. While this was a fairly normal schedule for John, there was one big problem. His soon-to-be wife was nowhere to be found, and he couldn't get in touch with her. John claims that he hadn't been able to get in touch with Caitlin since he left her condo the evening before. He called 911 shortly after arriving for his shift at Papa John's, telling the dispatcher everything that he knew. He explained that he didn't want to report her missing so soon, but he was getting worried after he hadn't been able to find her. Just hours later, Caitlin would fail to show up for her job at David's Bridal, and this is when investigators knew something was very wrong. They collected all the information that they could from John, but considering he'd been asleep for most of the day, he really wasn't much help. Several friends and family members were also interviewed, but no one had any idea where Caitlin could have gone, but one thing was for sure. Wherever she had gone, she hadn't gone willingly because she left behind her purse, keys, and her dog. Mysteriously, her cell phone was missing, but it appears to have been turned off. Police say that volunteers began searching for Caitlin almost immediately. Her family printed out missing person flyers in record time and began handing them out all throughout the Fairfield area and other nearby towns, as far as police could tell, no one had seen Caitlin since the evening of August 13th, meaning John, her fiance, was the last person to see her alive. After coming to this conclusion, John was called in for a polygraph test, and the results were interesting. Police got to work right away, trying to track down Caitlin, and one of the first people they brought in for questioning was John Carter, Caitlin's fiance. After determining that John was the last person to see Caitlin alive, they certainly had a few questions to ask him. Unfortunately, John didn't have many answers. They asked John all the obvious questions. Where did you last see her? What was she wearing? Did anything seem wrong? John was seemingly answering everything honestly, but then the questions got a bit more specific. Detectives asked John if he knew anything about Caitlin's disappearance. John claimed he didn't, but the polygraph operator claimed that was a lie. When they asked if he was involved in her disappearance, he said he wasn't. That was also a lie. Police soon noticed that John also had several scratch marks on the side of his neck. When he was questioned about where these had come from, he claimed they were from a razor, but investigators didn't believe scratches like this would come from any razor. When police spoke with a friend of John's, the friend said that he didn't notice the scratches until the day after Caitlin had vanished. Over the coming weeks and months, John was asked to speak with police on at least three occasions, with them using a polygraph during each of these sessions. Now, while these machines aren't exactly reliable, they can certainly provide investigators with some good information, and that's definitely what they did in this case. Police say that in all three sessions, John was caught telling lies about where he was the night that Caitlin disappeared. Well, they couldn't prove it just yet. Investigators knew something was up, and they were determined to prove it, but that was a lot easier said than done. That's when investigators uncovered two key witnesses that would help blow the case wide open, as it would turn out two teenagers who were just 15 years old at the time of the crime had been walking by John's home on the evening of Caitlin's disappearance. The two teens had snuck out of their homes that night, planning to attend a party that was taking place a few miles away. As they waited outside for another friend to pick them up, they noticed two cars drive up to John's mother's house. One of the cars was a red Ford Focus, and the other was a dark colored sedan with a male driver. The man in the Ford Focus pulled into the driveway, then opened the home's garage. He rummaged around inside for a few minutes before getting back into his car. It's unclear if he removed anything from the garage, or if he just looked around and left. Police were later able to confirm that John had a red Ford Focus registered in his name, and they presumed he had been the driver that evening. The man in the other vehicle wasn't immediately identified. The teens say that when the men arrived, they were coming from the direction of Caitlin's house. When they left, they headed back in that same direction. Mind you, all of this took place just after 2 a.m. But according to John's statements with police, he had been in bed by this point after having been at a party. Things only got worse for John from here. When police spoke with one of Caitlin's friends in the days after her disappearance, the friend had a pretty interesting encounter with John that she was itching to share with detectives. At this point, Caitlin had been missing for just over 48 hours, as far as I can tell. But the friend explained that when she spoke with John about Caitlin's disappearance, she noticed he kept speaking about her in the past tense. Now, for any investigator, this is always a massive red flag. If this isn't an obvious sign of guilt or some sort of concealed knowledge of a crime, then nothing is. To top this off, when police asked for more details about John and his relationship with Caitlin, the friend explained that John had always seemed incredibly possessive of Caitlin. Well, it's only natural for someone to have a healthy amount of jealousy when it comes to their partner or spouse. The friend says that John's jealousy was to the point of being aggressive. She says that Caitlin would often complain about how insecure John was, and that he would get very upset if she even talked to someone of the opposite gender. This all grew very concerning for detectives, when the friend finally revealed that Caitlin had been considering breaking off their engagement. Caitlin had confided in her friend that she was incredibly unhappy with John's lifestyle and she couldn't support his decisions anymore. He supposedly had an addiction problem and would also look at adult content online, something that Caitlin wasn't comfortable with. Worse yet, John would repeatedly pressure her into doing things in the bedroom that she just wasn't interested in and she was tired of satisfying his strange fantasies. Now, if you recall, I mentioned that the couple had plans to move to Colorado in a few months. Well, it seems that John was the main one who was wanting to move to Colorado and Caitlin doesn't appear to have been completely on board with this plan. John mentioned in an interview that he never wanted Caitlin to feel forced to move, which is a pretty strange choice of words, if you ask me. In my own opinion, this proves that John probably knew he was being a bit pushy about things, but others may disagree. Having been an inconsiderate jerk in the past, I've gotten pretty good at spotting people like this and John ticks all the boxes in my book. In the end, the two repeatedly delayed their plans to move and this seems to further the idea that Caitlin simply didn't want to go, but haven't been able to confirm whether or not this is entirely true. It's just what the evidence and witness statements seem to allude to. After several more months had passed, police had still found no leads in the search for Caitlin. They reached one dead end after another. While they certainly had enough evidence to suggest that John was involved, they didn't have enough info to prove it or even charge him with anything. But that's when things took a dramatic turn, one that no one hoped for and certainly not one that anyone expected. It was the spring of 2013. The flowers were in full bloom and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. But for the Markham family, perfect was far from what they had been feeling. It had been nearly two years since their daughter had gone missing and they'd spent every moment they had searching for her desperate for answers. A couple had been visiting Cedar Grove, Indiana, wandering through the woods in search of scrap metal or other valuables that may have been dropped or left behind. Little did they know that their hobby would soon lead to a massive breakthrough in the investigation for Caitlin's whereabouts. As they were scavenging through the area with their metal detectors, they came across a strange looking rock unlike anything they had seen before. But they soon realized this was no rock. This was a human jaw bone. Police were called to the scene of the crime immediately. A team of researchers cordoned off the area and began an investigation into the remains. Before long, the discovery was tied to the disappearance of Caitlin and investigators were forced to make the call to Caitlin's parents that every parent and family member dreads in a situation like this. In this particular case, all this did was reopen the family's wounds as officers didn't really have any good information to share with the family. There was no silver lining because they had no leads, no proof and virtually no evidence. When the coroner examined the bones, things only got worse. The bones had been left in the weather for so long there was no way to tell what had happened to the victim or who had put them there. There wasn't any way to tell how Caitlin had lost her life but there was one particular detail that was fairly strange. Now, I don't know the specifics of how the coroner determined this but the investigator had a reason to believe that Caitlin hadn't been buried in these woods for all this time. According to a more thorough examination, Caitlin had been buried for a while, then dug up and then moved to a new location where this original location may have been no one knows for sure. However, some speculate that it may have simply been an alternate location within the same patch of woods but that's just a guess. The only thing to mention about the state of the remains is that there was evidence to suggest that Caitlin had been wounded on her wrist around the time that she lost her life but the coroner couldn't be certain about this either. The coroner noted three to four wounds on her wrist but it was never determined what may have caused these wounds. Though the reports that I found online suggest that they may have been caused by some sort of blade but even that isn't known for certain. But here's the real kicker. No sooner than these remains were uncovered, the case went cold yet again. By 2015, Caitlin's father had urged the police to continue with the investigation and the local police, after much pushback, finally agreed. They brought in new investigators to take a fresh look at the case. While they admit that they did have a suspect, they still didn't have enough evidence to pursue anyone legally. A few suspects were questioned but everyone was set free without charges. It would be another eight years until police would make any more progress in the case but finally in March of 2023, an arrest was made. By March of 2023, police announced that they had detained yet another suspect in Caitlin's disappearance. By this time, they felt confident that they could secure a conviction. I'm sure most of you expected this outcome by now but their new found suspect was none other than John Carter, Caitlin's fiance. See, when the coroner was examining Caitlin's remains, investigators uncovered that Caitlin had been wrapped in a sheet of plastic as well as a garden weed barrier. We know the black fabric that you put down when setting up a flower bed to avoid like weeds popping up everywhere. Well, as luck would have it, police were able to secure a search warrant for John's mother's shed. Inside the shed, they found a gardening fabric that was an exact match to the fabric that had been found around Caitlin's remains. Police also found a list of other items that they believe were connected to the crime but this list has never been made public in the hope of protecting the integrity of the investigation. During their search, police also uncovered several other key pieces of evidence and inconsistencies in John's alibi as well as discrepancies in the stories that he told officers about the night that Caitlin vanished. Cell phone records from both John and Caitlin show that both of their cell phones returned off around midnight on August 13th, the evening that Caitlin vanished. John claimed he had been at a party at this time but police felt it was a bit suspicious that both of their phones had been shut off at the exact same moment that evening. If this weren't strange enough, John claimed that he hadn't texted Caitlin at all the evening that she disappeared. However, phone records prove that this was a lie. He sent dozens of messages to her leading up to around 11.36 p.m. When the messages abruptly stopped and their phones were shut off just minutes later. When police requested to look at John's phone, the texts between himself and Caitlin from that specific evening were mysteriously missing. Every other text they had shared was still there but this specific block of text messages from that night had vanished. Police wanted to check Caitlin's phone as well but it was never located. It was believed to have been left inside of her car on the night of her disappearance but this was never confirmed and all these years later, her phone has still never been found. When asked about these text messages, John initially claimed he didn't text Caitlin that evening at all. But when investigators revealed that they had phone records that proved otherwise, he said he deleted the messages by accident. Then he claimed he deleted them to make room for new texts as he was getting flooded with texts from friends on the day that Caitlin was reported missing. This man just couldn't keep his story straight. But all of this leads up to one final revelation that took place after the search warrant was issued for John's mother's home. Inside, they found a notebook, a diary of sorts I guess you could say that included a few notes from John. The notebook was filled with various ramblings and unimportant writings, but one page in particular caught the attention of investigators. Researchers say that the entry appears to have been a conversation between John and what they call a demon of sorts. The note reads as follows. Deep down, I love her. You ought 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. But you're bad. I know. How do I kill you? You can't. You're right. About what? Nothing. This was followed by a single sentence that read, I slit your wrists with the key to your heart. I don't know about you, but that final sentence sounds like a confession if I've ever heard one, especially considering the wounds that were found on Caitlin's wrists. Needless to say, the future is not looking great for John Carter. John was arrested and held on $1 million bail. Somehow, he was able to make this payment and he's currently a free man. His trial is set to take place next year in 2024 and investigators have every reason to believe he will be found guilty. John has never made any comments about what this note could mean. So is he mentally ill? Does he really believe he was speaking with a demon? We just don't know at the moment. However, all of this will be answered at trial, but as it stands, the case is still technically unsolved but don't imagine it will stay that way for long. Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Stories. If you wanna see more True Crime documentaries like this, be sure to hit that like button and subscribe. If you'd like to help support the channel, the best way you can do that is simply by leaving a comment below, any comment at all. It helps out the channel a lot more than you may realize. If you wanna help out financially, you can do that by clicking the blue join button below or picking up a True Crime Stories mug from tieknots.com. But with that, my name is tieknots and I'll catch you guys in the next video.