The Butterfly

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Speaker 8 Tonight, on the season premiere of Date Live.

Speaker 10 Hi, this is Caitlin Margaret. She was bubbly.
She was artistic, a butterfly coming out of her shell.

Speaker 11 My dad called me and he asked, Have you heard from Caitlin?

Speaker 12 I was getting worried. It was not normal.

Speaker 11 I thought high school would be hard.

Speaker 15 And then my sister goes missing.

Speaker 16 People came out in droves.

Speaker 17 Hundreds.

Speaker 18 You're looking for someone in her world.

Speaker 8 Absolutely.

Speaker 10 You were hearing early on that there was this close group of friends.

Speaker 19 That was the biggest part, was trying to interview everybody who knew her.

Speaker 20 I'm extremely nervous. I have anxiety problems.

Speaker 21 Only thing I can tell you for certain is what they saw didn't involve me. Proximity is not evidence of guilt.
And just because I'm near somebody does not mean that I murdered somebody.

Speaker 24 It was a shouted, like, stop it, stop it.

Speaker 10 I definitely heard that.

Speaker 26 There's a big twist in this case.

Speaker 10 Another murder.

Speaker 15 Right.

Speaker 10 There was another young woman found. They were strikingly alike.

Speaker 27 All the elements for a killer are in this guy.

Speaker 11 She was like, Oh my god, this is it.

Speaker 7 A young art student disappears.

Speaker 8 Did someone design the perfect crime? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Daydeline.

Speaker 2 Here's Andrea Canning with the butterfly.

Speaker 29 It was supposed to be one of the most carefree days of the year.

Speaker 31 A summer Sunday at the Sacred Heart Festival in Fairfield, Ohio.

Speaker 33 I've been to these festivals in the Cincinnati area.

Speaker 32 There are, you know, lots of fun and a lot of food,

Speaker 33 games, raffles.

Speaker 11 Little kids play the games and the rides, teenagers just stand there, and then the adults drink.

Speaker 30 But on August 14th, 2011, it was the place where Allie Markham's world turned upside down.

Speaker 39 Life changed so quickly in your household.

Speaker 40 Yeah.

Speaker 17 Very quickly. It was

Speaker 11 very

Speaker 11 different

Speaker 28 after that day.

Speaker 43 She was 15 years old at the time, hanging out with friends when her phone rang.

Speaker 11 We were just eating some food and playing games. My dad called me and asked if I had talked to Caitlin or knew where she was.

Speaker 35 Caitlin, her older sister, was a student at the Art Institute of Cincinnati.

Speaker 46 She lived nearby.

Speaker 11 I was like, no, not recently. I saw her the morning before.

Speaker 10 Why?

Speaker 11 And he was like, well, nobody knows where she is.

Speaker 47 Are you worried at all?

Speaker 39 Or are you thinking, oh,

Speaker 33 she'll call us. She's

Speaker 33 fine. She's somewhere.

Speaker 11 At that point, I was thinking that everything would be fine. She probably just, you know, went out to go grab a bite bite to eat.

Speaker 49 But her father, Dave, wasn't so sure.

Speaker 44 He'd received a call from Caitlin's fiancée, John Carter, who told him, Caitlin's missing.

Speaker 12 I can't find her anywhere. She's missing.

Speaker 44 John said he hadn't seen her since they hung out at her place the night before.

Speaker 54 Now, she wasn't picking up her phone, and she wasn't at the house.

Speaker 38 Dave drove over to Caitlin's to see what was going on.

Speaker 31 He noticed her car was out back.

Speaker 32 Do you go inside?

Speaker 56 I went inside.

Speaker 30 And what do you see?

Speaker 12 There was dog poop in her bedroom because her dog Murphy had been locked in the bedroom. He had gone twice, so he was in there for a while.

Speaker 29 Caitlin's purse was on her bed.

Speaker 58 Her house keys were there, too.

Speaker 46 Where would she have gone without those?

Speaker 29 Are you starting to feel a little panicky that this is not normal?

Speaker 12 I was.

Speaker 12 I mean, I didn't know what to think, but it...

Speaker 60 Didn't feel right.

Speaker 12 It wasn't. No, it did not feel right.

Speaker 61 It didn't feel right to her fiancé, John, either.

Speaker 36 He called 911.

Speaker 62 Hi, my name is John Carter. I am calling.

Speaker 62 I know that you're not supposed to report a missing person after before 24 hours,

Speaker 62 but

Speaker 62 my fiancé is missing. I can't find her anywhere.
And the Sacred Heart Festival is going on right up the street, and there's a lot of questionable people there, and it's just kind of...

Speaker 62 I'm sorry. Okay, well, we'll go ahead and we'll have somebody meet you there.

Speaker 25 Fairfield Police Patrol Officer Sandy Sears arrived at the scene.

Speaker 50 You pull up into the neighborhood. Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 65 What do you see when you go in there?

Speaker 67 I mean it's fairly clean. The coffee table is actually pushed up against the couch.

Speaker 53 That struck her as unusual.

Speaker 29 She also noted a few things out of place upstairs.

Speaker 68 Her art supplies on her desk were knocked over. She also had a poster bed and there were some hats that were knocked off.

Speaker 39 Did anything appear to be stolen?

Speaker 68 I walked John Carter, Dave Markham through the townhouse and specifically asked them, is there anything missing? And I was told no.

Speaker 71 A check of Caitlin's wallet revealed more than $200 cash still inside.

Speaker 69 The only thing that wasn't there was her cell phone.

Speaker 31 Officer Sears wanted to know when the phone was last used.

Speaker 73 She had a dispatcher contact Caitlin's cell phone carrier.

Speaker 68 They told me that Caitlin Markham's phone had been turned off shortly after midnight.

Speaker 61 By now, some of Caitlin and John's friends had shown up at the house.

Speaker 31 One of them caught the officer's eye. He was very pale, he was disheveled, and not speaking.
Just standing off to the side.

Speaker 48 Were you feeling like there's something suspicious here with this guy?

Speaker 75 Absolutely.

Speaker 69 Officer Sears says the whole scene left her uneasy.

Speaker 58 She called in her concerns and as night fell, escorted everyone, including that questionable friend, to the station.

Speaker 29 From there, the detectives took over the case. Caitlin's dad was placed in an interview room.

Speaker 33 What was happening at the police department that first night?

Speaker 12 They're just trying to get, you know, habits, patterns. When was the last time I talked to her? When was the last time I'd seen her?

Speaker 79 But if Caitlin's disappearance had been alarming to Officer Sears, Dave says the detectives didn't seem nearly as worried.

Speaker 81 So were the police suggesting to you, then, that she'll probably turn up, she probably just needed a break.

Speaker 33 Is that what they're saying?

Speaker 12 Kind of, yeah.

Speaker 29 Had she ever done that before?

Speaker 33 Just taken a break, you know, to get away from it all?

Speaker 12 Not without telling me, not without somebody knowing.

Speaker 11 Caitlin would always leave notes. She always had a sketchbook and markers with her.

Speaker 11 So if she was leaving, she would write a note like, hey, I'm running to the store, or hey, I'm taking Murphy on a walk.

Speaker 28 So

Speaker 11 it wasn't like she would just run away for a weekend trip.

Speaker 79 Her fiancé John was telling everyone the same thing. The entire situation felt wrong.

Speaker 84 Something happened.

Speaker 12 Something bad happened, and I was pretty convinced of that.

Speaker 60 But in those early hours, Dave didn't know yet just how wrong it was.

Speaker 55 As the investigation unfolded, detectives would look at everyone.

Speaker 20 Tell me why so many people are interested in you.

Speaker 86 It has nothing to do with me.

Speaker 6 If you know something, you need to tell us.

Speaker 88 I mean, are you asking that like you think I did it or?

Speaker 89 I want this case to be solved. I want people to stop looking at me weird.

Speaker 53 They'd even wonder if she wasn't the only one.

Speaker 10 The similarities, they were strikingly alike.

Speaker 91 All in a relentless search to find out what really happened to Caitlin.

Speaker 33 You weren't gonna stop until you figured it out?

Speaker 19 Nope, I don't stop.

Speaker 19 You know, I just don't do that.

Speaker 29 Within 24 hours of Caitlin Markham's disappearance, the investigation was in the hands of the Fairfield police.

Speaker 53 Word began filtering out to Caitlin's friends.

Speaker 40 Got a call while I was at work. Have you seen Caitlin or talked to Caitlin?

Speaker 38 Michelle Feist couldn't comprehend what she was hearing.

Speaker 61 Her best friend, Caitlin, missing?

Speaker 40 I'm like, what do you mean you can't find her?

Speaker 33 Like, what does that mean? Did this sound like Caitlin?

Speaker 55 No.

Speaker 48 That she would just disappear, leave her keys, the dog.

Speaker 40 Yeah, no, not at all.

Speaker 10 Hi, this is Caitlin Markham.

Speaker 45 This is my very professional webpage. I hope you enjoy it because I enjoyed making it.

Speaker 94 Colorful.

Speaker 95 Quirky.

Speaker 46 Creative.

Speaker 31 Just a few of the words Caitlin Markham's tight-knit group of friends might use to describe her.

Speaker 72 But irresponsible?

Speaker 96 No way.

Speaker 69 She had plans, big ones.

Speaker 12 The sky was the limit.

Speaker 86 There was no limit.

Speaker 58 Not without incredible talent.

Speaker 91 Her doting dad spotted it early on.

Speaker 12 You know, you ask a four-year-old or a five-year-old to draw a face and it's circle and eyes and a mouth.

Speaker 12 Now, she had eyebrows and eyelashes and dimples, and so she was very on it from the very beginning.

Speaker 55 Dave and his wife had struggled for years to have children.

Speaker 90 So it was serendipity when they learned of a pregnant mother looking to give up her child for adoption.

Speaker 12 And got to hold her 20 minutes after she was born.

Speaker 98 Six years later, Sister Allie arrived.

Speaker 30 Did you look up to her?

Speaker 11 Yeah, she could always make anyone laugh. She could turn in any situation funny.

Speaker 11 She was bubbly, bold. She did what she wanted, and she didn't care if other people liked it.
She would just open up her closet, her drawers, and pull things out.

Speaker 11 She would do different eye makeup all the time. Lots of like really bright colors, like blues and reds, like usually the colors that you don't use on an eyeshadow palette.
She would use those.

Speaker 65 I always wonder who buys those.

Speaker 11 Yeah, she did.

Speaker 78 As Caitlin grew, so did her artistic ability.

Speaker 11 She told me that she struggled with drawing eyes, and so she would just like fixate on drawing any type of eyes.

Speaker 29 Caitlin's parents separated when she was a teenager, and Dave was mostly raising the girls on his own.

Speaker 44 He encouraged Caitlin to focus on art and design in high school.

Speaker 100 Always very vibrant, just kind of bold with color.

Speaker 31 Her teacher, Dave Geiser, said Caitlin took creative risks with her art.

Speaker 100 Sometimes students are scared, but not Caitlin. Caitlin was always just ready to see what happens.

Speaker 101 And not just with art, Caitlin also found love

Speaker 61 with John Carter.

Speaker 45 Me and John are making a baby for you.

Speaker 102 They were always laughing and smiling together.

Speaker 61 Amber Morgan was close with Caitlin and John.

Speaker 102 They seemed perfect for each other. Super happy and loving.

Speaker 41 Typical teenage romance.

Speaker 102 Yeah, yep, puppy love.

Speaker 74 After high school, laid-back John took glass-blowing classes and worked as a pizza delivery guy.

Speaker 55 Hey, John.

Speaker 10 It's Caitlin.

Speaker 38 While the ever-driven Caitlin studied full-time at the Art Institute of Cincinnati, had a job at the campus bookstore, and worked as a sales clerk at David's Bridal.

Speaker 38 It was an opposites-attract relationship, but they shared an appreciation for art and had the same sense of humor.

Speaker 105 Say something funny.

Speaker 10 Something funny.

Speaker 42 Were some people almost envious of what John and Caitlin had?

Speaker 102 I think so, yeah.

Speaker 102 I know. I always wished I had that, you know.

Speaker 46 After five years together, John proposed.

Speaker 55 Caitlin said yes.

Speaker 31 They planned to move to Colorado together.

Speaker 40 She already had her wedding dress.

Speaker 45 And by August of 2011, she was just weeks away from her art school graduation, finishing up her final project.

Speaker 12 She's just like, dad, it's not good enough. And I'm looking at it thinking, it's wonderful.

Speaker 5 It's beautiful.

Speaker 12 It's missing something.

Speaker 9 Where did this drive come from?

Speaker 15 Not me. I don't know.

Speaker 12 She just wanted the best out of life. She wanted anybody around her to have the best out of life.

Speaker 58 Dave says his daughter always loved butterflies.

Speaker 65 Perhaps because they were a lot like her.

Speaker 91 Captivating, colorful.

Speaker 31 Caitlin was just beginning to spread her wings.

Speaker 29 But now she was missing.

Speaker 12 Some people would say, like, well, maybe she just needed a break. Maybe she was starting to crack.

Speaker 13 Maybe the pressure of school. And

Speaker 13 like, no, that's not Caitlin, no.

Speaker 31 The day after police responded to Caitlin's house, her family and friends began scouring the neighborhood, looking for any sign of her.

Speaker 12 I participated, but I had to stop because I realized I had walked 50 yards and not paid attention

Speaker 12 to where I was walking, because my mind was just.

Speaker 91 You were in such a bad place.

Speaker 12 Yeah, so I said, you know, I might have stepped on her phone and wouldn't have noticed, so I stopped.

Speaker 30 Although Officer Sears had handed off the case to detectives, she still followed up with a neighbor who'd noticed something strange.

Speaker 68 She did see some folks in the parking lot that were suspicious earlier in the week.

Speaker 39 How did she describe them?

Speaker 39 Tattooed,

Speaker 68 older car, not a fit for the area, which kind of, you know, drew her attention.

Speaker 13 It worried her.

Speaker 68 Yes, yes, it did.

Speaker 58 And of course, there was the festival in town that weekend.

Speaker 68 There were a lot of festival workers that are transient in town.

Speaker 45 But Sears had also noticed there were no signs of forced entry at Caitlin's townhouse, nor were there any obvious signs of a struggle, Meaning that if something had happened to her inside, either she opened the door for a stranger or this was someone she knew.

Speaker 12 Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 58 She was a smart girl.

Speaker 102 She wouldn't have just opened the door for someone she didn't know.

Speaker 49 So if it was someone Caitlin knew, who?

Speaker 20 Anyone there have any issues with you or Caitlin?

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Speaker 37 In her two decades covering the Cincinnati area, reporter Karen Johnson has seen more than her share of missing persons cases.

Speaker 29 But she says Caitlin Markham's sudden disappearance in August 2011 just felt different.

Speaker 10 Usually you hear, oh yeah, they've been depressed lately, suicidal thoughts, they were addicted to drugs. This one wasn't like that.
This was a young woman who had so many goals set for her.

Speaker 92 She was engaged.

Speaker 10 She had a bright future ahead of her, and she was nowhere to be found.

Speaker 71 Concerned neighbors started calling Karen Station, NBC affiliate WLWT.

Speaker 10 It was more of neighbors saying, what's going on? There's police in our neighborhood, and now there are people putting up missing person posters.

Speaker 25 The young woman on those posters spoke to people.

Speaker 10 They started to learn about her personality. She was referred to many times as like a butterfly coming out of her shell.

Speaker 10 For some reason, people, strangers, were just drawn to her without even knowing her.

Speaker 29 By August 16th, three days after Caitlin was last seen, Fairfield police ramped up the search effort.

Speaker 49 So did friends, family, and neighbors.

Speaker 10 Bringing their ATVs, bringing their walking sticks, they started off focusing around Caitlin's townhome and they spread out from there.

Speaker 29 That day also happened to be Caitlin's 22nd birthday.

Speaker 46 Her close friends made sure they were there to support her family and her fiancé John.

Speaker 33 How did he seem?

Speaker 102 Worried and concerned. He wanted to find her.

Speaker 33 Your friend group was just trying to be there for John as best they could. Yeah.

Speaker 102 We all, you know, wanted to be there for him.

Speaker 37 For his part, John was out there talking to everyone he could.

Speaker 114 Caitlin is the love of my life. I've been with her for six years.
We've been engaged for a year. Today would be exactly a year.

Speaker 31 John cooperated with police and sat down with them numerous times.

Speaker 20 And she's never done anything like this before? No.

Speaker 20 No, I've.

Speaker 87 This is completely out of character. Okay.

Speaker 72 John took police through the last day anyone had seen Caitlin.

Speaker 50 That Saturday night, he said their friend Brad had come over to Caitlin's house for a while.

Speaker 115 Then he left and I hung out with her for a little bit after he left.

Speaker 58 John wasn't ready to call her tonight.

Speaker 31 Some friends of his were having a gathering. He said Caitlin wanted to stay home.

Speaker 87 She had to go to bed to get to work

Speaker 87 and to do her homework and stuff, so I was like, all right, why don't you stay here and I'll just go over there.

Speaker 29 He recalled leaving around 11.30 and he said he and Caitlin texted back and forth a few times.

Speaker 99 After a couple of hours with friends, he left the gathering around 2 a.m.

Speaker 63 He said he went back to his mom's house where he lived and watched some episodes of the show White Collar on his computer.

Speaker 116 Before going to sleep at 4 a.m., he sent Caitlin a good morning message.

Speaker 20 Did you expect that she would be up at that hour?

Speaker 112 No.

Speaker 115 Okay, it's just something, it's something when she wakes up.

Speaker 87 So she wakes up and she reads it. You know, it gives her...

Speaker 20 But you were back home at that point.

Speaker 112 Absolutely.

Speaker 45 When he woke up mid-afternoon, John said he was concerned when he didn't see a response from Caitlin.

Speaker 31 He texted multiple times, called.

Speaker 96 Nothing.

Speaker 45 He went to his pizza delivery job later that afternoon, but eventually asked his boss if he could go check on his fiancée.

Speaker 115 I went over to her house to see if her car was there, because if her car is there, then she should be there.

Speaker 87 And if her car is not there, then she's at work and I'm okay.

Speaker 115 But her car was there, and then I immediately went into her house to see if she was there and she was not.

Speaker 29 He said that's when the panic set in.

Speaker 45 He called Dave around 7.30 p.m.

Speaker 50 to tell him that Caitlin was missing.

Speaker 54 and made that 911 call half an hour later.

Speaker 62 My fiancé is missing. I can't find her her anywhere.

Speaker 31 John told investigators his feelings of concern had not abated in the hours since.

Speaker 87 All I can think about is

Speaker 117 her.

Speaker 61 Of course, John was the last known person to see Caitlin that night, so they had to ask him some tough questions.

Speaker 20 When is the last time you guys had an argument?

Speaker 112 I don't remember.

Speaker 4 Was it recent?

Speaker 87 I mean, kind of recent, like two weeks ago, maybe.

Speaker 20 What were you arguing about?

Speaker 18 Um.

Speaker 87 i really can't remember john insisted he had no involvement i have no idea where caitlin is and i have nothing to do with her disappearance okay

Speaker 85 detectives needed to dig into whether john was telling the truth they theorized something must have happened to caitlin around midnight when her phone turned off John said he was already at his friends gathering by then.

Speaker 37 Police spoke with his friends who confirmed, yes, he'd been there with them.

Speaker 36 They also checked his computer, which had records of the show White Collar playing in the early morning hours, just as John had said.

Speaker 38 His story seemed to check out, and police asked John if he could think of anyone who might be involved in Caitlin's disappearance.

Speaker 97 One name came to mind: somebody who was already in trouble with the law.

Speaker 20 Tell me why so many people are interested in you.

Speaker 119 I don't know.

Speaker 49 One week passed.

Speaker 61 Then two, and still no sign of Caitlin Markham.

Speaker 70 Thursday, volunteers covered dozens of locations around Fairfield.

Speaker 83 The waning days of an Ohio summer marked by volunteers searching far and wide, all trying to solve the mystery of what happened to Caitlin.

Speaker 10 They were walking on train tracks. They were looking in abandoned buildings.

Speaker 72 A group called Texas EquaSearch even traveled in to help.

Speaker 122 There is no boundaries right now, whether we go out all the way up to Lake Michigan. If that's what we have to do, then that's what we're going to have to do.

Speaker 16 People came out in droves

Speaker 47 to search for Caitlin.

Speaker 17 Hundreds a day.

Speaker 29 At a vigil for Caitlin, her dad embraced John, his future son-in-law.

Speaker 2 I'm so very proud to be her father.

Speaker 72 Behind the scenes, investigators were following up on whatever leads they could find.

Speaker 61 And there was one name that kept popping up, a guy from Caitlin's past.

Speaker 102 I know there were a few, like, at least one guy that was a little interested in her.

Speaker 103 Interested, like, in a weird way?

Speaker 85 Yeah.

Speaker 102 And then I found out he got in trouble with the law for

Speaker 102 harassing a girl.

Speaker 61 John mentioned the same guy to detectives.

Speaker 69 There's a

Speaker 87 very creepy kid named Ryan Ball who likes to

Speaker 21 freak women out.

Speaker 49 Ryan Ball was one of Caitlin's former classmates.

Speaker 115 They knew each other in high school and then he would contact her over Facebook and talk to her that way and has

Speaker 115 made advances on Caitlin in a very awkward way.

Speaker 20 What do you mean?

Speaker 114 text

Speaker 87 sending her Facebook messages like can I get your number can I we should hang out let's get together, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 115 He knows I'm with her.

Speaker 30 Investigators needed to talk to Ryan Ball.

Speaker 29 They didn't have to look very far to find him.

Speaker 31 Ball was in jail, arrested a week after Caitlin disappeared for violating his probation. He was a registered sex offender who'd been convicted of soliciting sexual activity with a minor.

Speaker 30 He came to the Fairfield Police Department in his orange jumpsuit.

Speaker 20 Print your name right here for me.

Speaker 31 Ball told the investigator about the last time he saw Caitlin.

Speaker 124 Last time I'd actually physically seen her that I'm aware of was high school graduation.

Speaker 20 What's the last time you saw who?

Speaker 124 Caitlin.

Speaker 31 The investigator told Ball about those rumors he'd been hearing.

Speaker 20 Well, tell me why so many people are interested in you.

Speaker 124 I don't know, to be honest. I really don't.
It's kind of honestly part of my life. It's pissing me off.
I've had three detectives come talk to me. All three of them have gotten the same thing.

Speaker 124 I don't know why I'm still involved in this in the first place. I don't know why at all.

Speaker 124 You know, I understand understand you guys are doing your job, but I have nothing to hide.

Speaker 112 You know, they thought I used to have a crush on her or something like that.

Speaker 87 And I told him, I was like, I think I did at one point in high school, but like, it was nothing, you know.

Speaker 91 The investigators kept pushing.

Speaker 66 They gave him a voice stress analysis test similar to a polygraph.

Speaker 20 Do you know the whereabouts of Caitlin Markham?

Speaker 21 No.

Speaker 20 Did you kill Caitlin Markham?

Speaker 21 No.

Speaker 123 Ball showed no deception.

Speaker 53 Police discovered he'd had little contact with Caitlin over the years and didn't even own a car.

Speaker 38 They had no evidence linking him to Caitlin's disappearance.

Speaker 125 This morning, it's just over two weeks since Caitlin Markham was last seen.

Speaker 29 By now, the case was making national headlines.

Speaker 29 Dave spoke with the Today Show.

Speaker 121 I want to hug her so bad.

Speaker 27 I want to see her.

Speaker 29 With no answers from police, people online and in the community started doing their own detective work, picking apart John's TV appearances.

Speaker 10 There was definitely a switch. Outside John's inner circle, people were skeptical.
They were analyzing his every move, his every sentence. People started pointing fingers at John.

Speaker 108 But Caitlin's friend Amber stood by him.

Speaker 102 It seemed unfair, and it seemed like people were attacking him when they didn't know him and know the situation.

Speaker 29 Michelle said everyone had always liked John.

Speaker 40 I mean, he was a great guy. I mean, mean, it's like good old Johnny Z.
Like, he's hilarious. It's not in him.
It's not his character at all.

Speaker 60 John brushed the rumors aside and continued to keep Caitlin's name in the news.

Speaker 117 I hope.

Speaker 117 That's all I've been doing, is hoping.

Speaker 25 I just hope.

Speaker 10 He did not shy away from the cameras. He wanted to set the record straight that he had nothing to do with Caitlin's disappearance.
He was very adamant about that.

Speaker 105 I'm not going to acknowledge the ridiculous things that people are saying because I know that I would never hurt Caitlin ever in a million years.

Speaker 9 By the end of August, Fairfield Police were no closer to finding Caitlin.

Speaker 126 I've been doing this for 40 plus years and I can't recall a case where there simply was no evidence whatsoever to give you a direction to go in.

Speaker 29 Hope was dwindling for Michelle.

Speaker 40 I'm just like, she's freaking gone. And like, I just, you felt that.
I couldn't stop crying. I was just, I was like, I was already like mourning her.

Speaker 53 Like, When you say gone, you mean you felt that she had died.

Speaker 32 Yeah.

Speaker 40 Even though, yeah, I thought she was gone and she wasn't going to come back.

Speaker 30 But the detectives hadn't given up.

Speaker 50 They were about to take a closer look at the friend who visited Caitlin's house the night she disappeared.

Speaker 26 Brad.

Speaker 63 What would he have to say?

Speaker 6 The way that they showed just shows you're a little bit nervous.

Speaker 20 I mean, I'm extremely nervous.

Speaker 25 Nature always takes its course.

Speaker 29 Summer rolling into fall with its golden leaves and cool breezes.

Speaker 118 But for Caitlin Markham's family, that September of 2011, life was anything but certain.

Speaker 11 I was just starting high school until I thought, you know, high school would be hard.

Speaker 13 And then

Speaker 28 my sister goes missing.

Speaker 33 The hardest thing you'd ever faced was now in front of you.

Speaker 11 It was weird walking through the halls

Speaker 11 knowing that everyone knew

Speaker 92 everyone knew what was going on.

Speaker 11 Everyone saw the news.

Speaker 112 It was like my whole life was

Speaker 11 on TV.

Speaker 29 And as sure as the change in the seasons, the TV cameras eventually moved on.

Speaker 25 The searchers left too, according to reporter Karen Johnson.

Speaker 10 There was just a moment where

Speaker 94 the

Speaker 10 hundreds of people turned into dozens, and it just got smaller and smaller and smaller.

Speaker 31 Caitlin's dad felt helpless.

Speaker 85 Did you think she willingly disappeared or that someone had her?

Speaker 56 I hoped, I think Maura was it.

Speaker 12 I hoped that she was still alive and I hoped that she wasn't being harmed and I hoped that we would get her back and I hoped that we would see her.

Speaker 12 I didn't really feel that way.

Speaker 104 Your mind was going to a darker place.

Speaker 12 I just, yeah.

Speaker 120 The rumor mill in town continued to churn.

Speaker 70 Some stories even involved John and Caitlin's friend Amber.

Speaker 31 Amber says she and John had grabbed a bite to eat a few times.

Speaker 82 People made a comment about that.

Speaker 53 Yeah.

Speaker 33 Online that they thought maybe you and John had something to do with this together.

Speaker 102 Somebody said that they had seen us together in public holding hands and kissing, which was not true. I was like, you know, we've never done anything but hang out.

Speaker 48 Was that hurtful to you at all that people were saying that?

Speaker 123 That you two could be in cahoots?

Speaker 102 Yeah, it was very hurtful because I,

Speaker 102 you know, just wanted nothing more than to be there for Caitlin and the best way I felt that was possible was to be there for John.

Speaker 85 As for John, Dave says police told him John had been cleared.

Speaker 29 John continued to cooperate with investigators, and during one of their meetings, he mentioned he'd been thinking a lot about Brad von Vargen, the friend who'd hung out with John and Caitlin the night she disappeared.

Speaker 111 He said Brad had seemed uncompassionate about Caitlin's disappearance.

Speaker 115 He hasn't come to any of the searches.

Speaker 31 And that Brad had a strange reaction when John asked him to speak to a private investigator who was looking into the case.

Speaker 115 Which is why I kind of was skeptical when I had called him and asked him to talk to the private investigator and then he flew off the handle and then suddenly this whole scenario played out of my head and it was just like I never expected Brad prior to that but once he started overreacting like the way he was, it was like, oh my god, it actually could be him.

Speaker 31 Fairfield detectives had already talked to Brad early in their investigation. They'd asked him to tell his version of events that night.

Speaker 53 Brad said John greeted him at the door when he arrived at Caitlin's place around 9.30.

Speaker 20 It's like I go up, hey man, what's going on?

Speaker 114 You know, the old

Speaker 20 handshake and haven't seen you in a month or two, like,

Speaker 56 how's it been?

Speaker 38 He said they'd smoked some pot, watched a movie, and chatted about the glass-blowing class John was taking.

Speaker 20 He's kind of giving me the lowdown of how you blow glass.

Speaker 44 But Brad remembered something seemed off about Caitlin.

Speaker 20 Normally, she's Brad!

Speaker 20 What's up? I mean, she's just bubbly, happy, positive. She almost didn't even greet me.
And it's just like she's just like distant.

Speaker 20 She stayed in the same spot on the couch, that same spot, didn't move, and had a computer, a laptop in her lap the whole time.

Speaker 20 She did not move from that spot, which was just, which again was just weird.

Speaker 66 Brad told detectives he didn't know what was going on with Caitlin.

Speaker 31 But he had plans to visit visit another friend that night, so he left around 10.45, stopped home, and then went to the friend's place.

Speaker 20 I was probably back home at around the 1 o'clock in the morning time.

Speaker 50 Now, six months into the investigation, they brought Brad in for another interview.

Speaker 85 They spoke with him about that private investigator.

Speaker 41 Brad said he didn't feel like he needed to talk to her because he'd already told the police everything he knew.

Speaker 20 So I was like, I'm just, no, I'm not talking to people like this that are going to like go to the media and misconstrue things and good call. I'll be more than happy to talk to the proper authorities.

Speaker 73 They decided to give Brad a voice stress analysis test and he didn't ace it.

Speaker 31 In fact, Brad's test results showed stress when the police asked him questions about Caitlin's disappearance.

Speaker 55 Brad insisted he was just a worrier.

Speaker 20 I'm extremely nervous. I have anxiety problems.

Speaker 45 Detectives did some digging. Brad's alibi seemed to check out.

Speaker 91 His friend and roommates backed him up.

Speaker 53 Police moved on.

Speaker 36 A year went by.

Speaker 33 So frustrating waking up every morning with the same result. No Caitlin.

Speaker 102 Yeah, every day you're hoping for something.

Speaker 92 And day by day,

Speaker 102 you know, there's nothing.

Speaker 53 And you know that somebody out there knows something.

Speaker 102 Yep. And it makes you beyond angry.
You know, that not only am I suffering, but her father and her sister and her other friends.

Speaker 50 And then suddenly, a big break in the case from across state lines.

Speaker 48 Could you tell if it was man or woman?

Speaker 57 It appeared to be a woman.

Speaker 3 Hey, everybody, it's Rob Lowe here.

Speaker 1 If you haven't heard, I have a podcast that's called literally with Rob Lowe.

Speaker 129 And basically, it's conversations I've had that really make you feel like you're pulling up a chair at an intimate dinner between myself and people that I admire, like Aaron Sorkin or Tiffany Haddish, Demi Moore, Chris Pratt, Michael J.

Speaker 3 Fox.

Speaker 106 There are new episodes out every Thursday. So subscribe, please, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 14 Cashflow Crunch, Ondeck's Small Business Line of Credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it.

Speaker 14 Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat with flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently.

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Your future self will thank you. Your pet won't.

Speaker 132 They don't know what insurance is.

Speaker 9 August of 2012 marked one year since Caitlin Markham disappeared.

Speaker 25 For her father, Dave, it meant a year without her bright spirit.

Speaker 37 The pain you felt just waking up every day with no answers.

Speaker 42 And more and more days are going by, months are going by.

Speaker 12 I have another daughter that needed my attention.

Speaker 13 So I couldn't wallow.

Speaker 12 I had to take care of her, too.

Speaker 39 You kept him going.

Speaker 48 Did it bring you two closer together?

Speaker 40 Yeah, he was still always

Speaker 11 a great dad.

Speaker 85 While Dave tried to be strong for his family, he worried Caitlin's case was no longer a priority for investigators.

Speaker 48 Were the Fairfield police getting anywhere with this case?

Speaker 12 No, it seemed like they were not doing anything.

Speaker 80 It seemed the case was at a standstill

Speaker 118 until one Sunday in April 2013.

Speaker 53 Indiana state police detective Vance Patton was on call when he was asked to report to a location about 25 miles west of Fairfield.

Speaker 15 You had gotten a call from

Speaker 9 dispatch.

Speaker 63 He was directed to this country road in Indiana.

Speaker 85 A man searching for scrap metal made a grim discovery at a makeshift dump site.

Speaker 48 You walk down there. What do you see?

Speaker 57 There was a lot of garbage down there. Somebody dumped garbage.
And

Speaker 57 they pointed out the other officers some of the skeletal remains down there.

Speaker 72 Investigators said the remains looked as if they were from someone small probably female they were covered with a black tarp but there was nothing to help id the partial set of bones no wallet or clothing

Speaker 57 one of the other officers he pulled up just google searched women missing in the area and the first one that we came up was caitlin markham

Speaker 57 and uh her She had a tooth that was crooked. And as soon as you look at the picture of Caitlin, I mean, that's the skeletal remains, the skull, it looked just like her.

Speaker 113 Dental records officially confirmed the remains were Caitlin's.

Speaker 53 It wasn't long before a car pulled into Dave's driveway.

Speaker 107 Two police officers

Speaker 12 and

Speaker 12 preacher

Speaker 12 get out. I saw them coming up the door and

Speaker 12 I knew what they were going to say.

Speaker 12 It was positively identified as Caitlin's remains.

Speaker 34 Even though you suspected that

Speaker 55 hearing that it's official, that it's confirmed,

Speaker 59 how do you handle that?

Speaker 13 Not very well.

Speaker 12 I was really angry at how they treated Caitlin

Speaker 12 to toss her. Off the side of the road in garbage.
They treated her like garbage. Whoever put her there treated my daughter like trash.

Speaker 12 And that infuriated me and it still does to this day.

Speaker 12 You know,

Speaker 17 nobody treats them like trash.

Speaker 31 Now he had to tell Allie who was with her grandmother.

Speaker 11 We just see like four cars coming down the driveway and

Speaker 11 she was like, oh my god, this is it.

Speaker 11 My dad came out of the car and came over and hugged me.

Speaker 55 And I still

Speaker 11 didn't really know.

Speaker 11 He just kept saying, they found her. They found her.

Speaker 49 It was an awful moment, but one they hoped might finally lead to answers.

Speaker 128 You got your baby back.

Speaker 32 Now it was about finding out who killed her.

Speaker 31 The case had gone from a missing person investigation to a homicide.

Speaker 48 Was there any evidence of that she had been shot or stabbed or that there was maybe some type of a weapon in the area.

Speaker 57 No evidence at all.

Speaker 66 Caitlin's skull was covered by a plastic grocery store bag.

Speaker 32 Why do you think the head was bagged?

Speaker 57 The theory was,

Speaker 57 possibly, if she was brought here, already deceased, the person that brought her here knew who she was and didn't want to look at her face.

Speaker 66 There was also a cut on her left wrist.

Speaker 48 By like a knife or something?

Speaker 57 Yeah, that's what we assume.

Speaker 29 Indiana State Police joined the Fairfield PD's investigation.

Speaker 72 Detective Patton and a fellow investigator started conducting interviews.

Speaker 134 Nice to meet you, you too.

Speaker 58 And one of the first people they sat down with was the very person who'd been pushing for answers, Dave Markham.

Speaker 88 I'm sure things are going to be a little difficult for you to talk about. That's a good guy.
Actually, I'd rather you guys start from scratch.

Speaker 4 Okay, good. Good.

Speaker 57 Typically, what we find is it's a family member. Fairfield didn't look at him.

Speaker 57 So we wanted to talk to him and see.

Speaker 61 Dave began to tell the whole whole awful story again.

Speaker 88 She had to walk away. She had to just walk down the street, or she went to visit her friend, or her friend came and picked her up because

Speaker 88 it was just too weird.

Speaker 17 It's that, you know.

Speaker 31 But pretty soon, the questions heated up.

Speaker 134 I want to ask you a tough question

Speaker 134 because I'm kind of under the impression that it's not happened yet. Okay.
Has anybody asked you if you know what happened to her?

Speaker 99 Dave Markham was caught off guard.

Speaker 50 Now he was the one across the table from investigators.

Speaker 31 What would he have to say?

Speaker 29 Dave Markham had spent the past two years agonizing over who was responsible for his daughter's disappearance.

Speaker 37 Now he found himself in unfamiliar territory, at the center of a renewed investigation into her death.

Speaker 134 Has anybody asked you if you know what happened to her?

Speaker 135 Not

Speaker 88 in those words, but you know, the media is like, do you have a theory?

Speaker 88 You know, but nobody's ever asked, do I know what's happened to her?

Speaker 88 No, I don't know what's happened to her other than I think she's been murdered

Speaker 88 I mean, are you asking that like you think I did it, or?

Speaker 134 Well, you can take my question for however you want, seriously.

Speaker 85 The Indiana State Police asked Dave where he was the night Caitlin disappeared.

Speaker 134 What can we do in the process of logically coming to a conclusion, take a marker, and take you right off the list?

Speaker 134 I don't think that's been done yet, has it?

Speaker 134 Do you understand what I'm asking you?

Speaker 29 Dave said he'd been with his girlfriend that night.

Speaker 135 Yeah, I mean, I've always, it's kind of been a thought in the back of my head this whole time, too.

Speaker 4 What's that?

Speaker 135 You know, does anybody suspect me?

Speaker 88 I mean, nobody's ever asked me like he has.

Speaker 82 Then investigators asked him to take a polygraph.

Speaker 88 I would rather have taken this two years ago when she first went missing. It's going to help get this case rolling, sure.

Speaker 53 They hooked him up to the machine.

Speaker 88 Did your actions cause that girl's death?

Speaker 122 No.

Speaker 57 If he passed polygraph, he really wasn't on our radar any after that.

Speaker 97 You okay?

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 49 To Dave, the whole thing seemed a little absurd.

Speaker 26 But at least he thought Indiana investigators were now rattling cages.

Speaker 31 They also asked to speak with John Carter.

Speaker 57 Sounds like things are going well.

Speaker 127 Yeah, I mean, considering.

Speaker 31 He told the Indiana investigators the story he'd told the Fairfield police about the night Caitlin disappeared.

Speaker 115 I uh went home after my friends. I watched some

Speaker 87 TV, which was like on my computer.

Speaker 5 I just watched some,

Speaker 136 I think I watched White Collar.

Speaker 31 They pressed him on his relationship with Caitlin.

Speaker 119 She ever smack you, kick you, never.

Speaker 126 Did you ever bunch her? Never.

Speaker 13 Kick her?

Speaker 17 Never.

Speaker 13 Poor hair?

Speaker 12 Twister here.

Speaker 119 That's intense. Yeah.

Speaker 126 But no,

Speaker 126 we never got physical.

Speaker 31 John insisted he wanted nothing more than to see justice for Caitlin.

Speaker 12 I really just want that person to rot in jail.

Speaker 63 A few months after Caitlin's remains were found, Dave held a memorial service for his daughter at the local high school.

Speaker 48 What kind of things did you hear people say about Caitlin

Speaker 85 on that day?

Speaker 12 Just how lovely she was and bright and happy and cheery.

Speaker 116 John was there too, his voice breaking.

Speaker 53 Cincinnati's ABC station, WCPO, filmed his remarks.

Speaker 62 We would have had our kiss.

Speaker 5 We would have had our marriage.

Speaker 5 We would have had our hunting room.

Speaker 52 Caitlin's friends were wrestling with their own grief.

Speaker 29 Eight months after the memorial service, Amber and another friend of Caitlin's visited the site where her body had been found to pay their respects.

Speaker 97 But instead, they made a horrible discovery.

Speaker 44 They found more of Caitlin's bones in the ground.

Speaker 102 We both thought her whole entire, you know, body had been found.

Speaker 48 Were you losing it?

Speaker 81 A little bit.

Speaker 102 I almost felt like I was in a lifetime movie or something. Like, there is no way this is happening.

Speaker 29 Amber called the police and they came to the site.

Speaker 98 So did Dave.

Speaker 73 He showed up with a stack of strainers to help sift through the dirt.

Speaker 44 Reporter Karen Johnson was there.

Speaker 10 I'll never forget the image that I have of Dave on his hands and knees with a rake raking in the dirt, trying to find his daughter's bones.

Speaker 12 Kind of that saying, if, you know, you want the job done right, do it yourself.

Speaker 33 That should not apply to finding your daughter's remains. I don't think so either.

Speaker 53 Dave had hoped the Indiana State Police lending a hand would jumpstart the investigation. Now he decided it was time to do something bold.

Speaker 29 You went to the Fairfield chief with a plea to the police chief.

Speaker 12 Yeah, I was not happy with who was in charge of the investigation. Obviously nothing was going, so I did ask him to swap out his team, to get a different set of eyes on it.

Speaker 31 When the chief told him the lead detective was doing the best job she could, Dave was at a loss.

Speaker 92 The investigation seemed like it was at a dead end.

Speaker 73 Then one day, a stranger called.

Speaker 33 Someone got involved in the case that you didn't know.

Speaker 10 A wealthy benefactor that took an interest

Speaker 40 and hired a private investigator.

Speaker 59 How did you feel when that happened?

Speaker 12 Very grateful for the generosity that people have shown with not just their time, but their money.

Speaker 31 He told Dave he wanted to remain anonymous and would pay to hire this man, former Florida detective turned private investigator, J.

Speaker 113 Ryan Greene.

Speaker 108 To him, it all felt personal.

Speaker 27 I saw her dad talk on TV. I could see the pain in his eyes.
I'm a father. I wanted to do this for Dave.
I wanted to do this for Caitlin.

Speaker 29 Green got straight to work and would make a stunning discovery.

Speaker 93 Are you thinking that this could be it?

Speaker 55 We could get a match to Caitlin's DNA.

Speaker 19 I did.

Speaker 27 I was extremely excited.

Speaker 2 Hey, everybody.

Speaker 3 It's Rob Lowe here.

Speaker 1 If you haven't heard,

Speaker 1 I have a podcast that's called Literally with Rob Lowe.

Speaker 129 And basically, it's conversations I've had that really make you feel like you're pulling up a chair at an intimate dinner between myself and people that I admire, like Aaron Sorkin or Tiffany Haddish, Demi Moore, Chris Pratt, Michael J.

Speaker 3 Fox.

Speaker 106 There are new episodes out every Thursday. So subscribe, please, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 14 Need to restock inventory, cover seasonal dips, or manage payroll? OnDeck's small business line of credit provides immediate access to funds up to $200,000 exactly when your business needs it.

Speaker 14 With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and full control over repayment, you can tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat.

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Speaker 14 OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

Speaker 131 Just got a new puppy or kitten?

Speaker 14 Congrats!

Speaker 131 But also, yikes! Between crates, beds, toys, treats, and those first few vet visits, you've probably already dropped a small fortune, which is where Lemonade Pet Insurance comes in.

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Speaker 132 Your pet won't. They don't know what insurance is.

Speaker 29 Private investigator J.

Speaker 60 Ryan Green was looking into the death of Caitlin Markham.

Speaker 45 He traveled numerous times from his home in Florida to Ohio and conducted countless audio interviews with people connected to the case.

Speaker 121 When was the last time you actually saw her before she disappeared?

Speaker 27 A day, two days? I think

Speaker 27 four or five days.

Speaker 18 You're looking for someone in her inner circle or in her world.

Speaker 8 Absolutely.

Speaker 78 That included Brad von Bargen, the friend who hung out at the townhouse with Caitlin and John on the night she disappeared.

Speaker 20 I was probably back home at around the one o'clock in the morning time.

Speaker 31 Brad wouldn't agree to be recorded, but he told Green the same story he told the Fairfield detectives.

Speaker 27 How do we know that Brad is innocent?

Speaker 15 Okay.

Speaker 27 Do we take him at his word on the story he's telling? No, you trust, but you verify. Let's trust and verify.

Speaker 99 Green wondered if Brad had come back to the house later after John left and on an instinct.

Speaker 33 You find a way to track down Brad's car.

Speaker 94 Old car. I did.

Speaker 92 Where was it?

Speaker 27 It was in Ohio still. He sold it to an acquaintance.
He said he was in a hurry to get rid of it. And I said, great, I want to buy it.

Speaker 73 With funding from the benefactor, Green bought the car.

Speaker 55 He worked with police to conduct forensic testing.

Speaker 133 A long shot, but it seemed to pay off.

Speaker 27 I was told that there were traces of blood that

Speaker 27 they got out of the trunk of Brad's car.

Speaker 9 Wow.

Speaker 93 Are you thinking that this could be it?

Speaker 55 We could get a match to Caitlin's DNA.

Speaker 27 I did. I was extremely excited.
I know David Markham was

Speaker 13 hopeful.

Speaker 85 Brad had always insisted he had nothing to do with Caitlin's death.

Speaker 31 Green needed to get more sophisticated testing to come to any conclusions.

Speaker 111 In the meantime, Green had grown close with Caitlin's dad, who confided in him.

Speaker 31 Dave said he'd always harbore doubts about someone else, John Carter.

Speaker 12 I just felt he knew something.

Speaker 30 Truth be told, Dave had never been John's biggest fan.

Speaker 12 I'm a dad, and I didn't think John was good enough for Caitlin, but he seemed to be a little sloppy,

Speaker 12 you know, slack.

Speaker 64 He kept thinking about the phone call he got from John saying Caitlin had disappeared.

Speaker 29 He remembered John had been so worked up.

Speaker 12 It was just so bizarre.

Speaker 107 And the way he screamed at me that he knew she was missing.

Speaker 12 How do you know she was missing? You never asked me. What if she was sitting at my kitchen table with me? No, she's not missing John.
She's here. Well, he was so adamant that she was missing.

Speaker 70 Another person who confided in Green was Caitlin's best friend, Michelle.

Speaker 38 She told him she also had long-simmering suspicions about John, starting with his early TV appearances.

Speaker 40 I was watching some of his interviews and stuff, John's interviews.

Speaker 40 It just felt totally off and like totally strange.

Speaker 114 I just want to find Caitlin and celebrate her birthday with her and go to Red Lobster like she was planning.

Speaker 40 You had a nagging. It was just a feeling.
I mean, I don't have any proof. Just something about his voice just sounded so like

Speaker 13 rehearsed.

Speaker 72 She'd heard John's 911 call on the news, and that also troubled her.

Speaker 62 You guys didn't have an argument or anything? Not at all.

Speaker 31 She says that didn't add up because the night before Caitlin disappeared, they'd all been at the Sacred Heart Festival together and she'd seen them fighting.

Speaker 40 She was just upset that he spent $100 on raffle tickets. I mean, at the festival.
And, um...

Speaker 60 Money that

Speaker 33 they didn't have to spend because they're trying to save. Right, right.

Speaker 44 But perhaps the thing that bothered Caitlin's family and friends the most was the location of her remains in Indiana.

Speaker 51 The place she'd been found was not far from property owned by John's father.

Speaker 40 You have to like know that area to like because it's like it's like in the middle of nowhere. Like it's all like country roads and stuff.

Speaker 40 I mean, like, what are the chances that some random person like picked her out of her townhouse and just so happened to dispose of her

Speaker 40 right en route to where his dad's property is?

Speaker 48 Too big of a coincidence.

Speaker 40 Yeah, it's just, yeah.

Speaker 96 Convinced John was responsible, Michelle broke down one day and called him.

Speaker 40 I was very emotional and I I was just like, screw it. What did you say to him? I was just like, like, look, like, I don't know if it was an accident, but I think you guys got into a fight.

Speaker 53 Did he have any words?

Speaker 40 I mean, I think he managed to get out like a, Michelle, I didn't do anything. He, like, scoffed almost as if, like, I can't believe you just like said all that.

Speaker 79 Someone else doubting John was his once close friend, Amber.

Speaker 102 I definitely started to feel like I had been betrayed and Caitlin had been betrayed and all of the friends had been betrayed.

Speaker 80 Green's investigation was leading him in the same direction.

Speaker 72 But what about those forensic results from Brad's car?

Speaker 104 Is there enough to get a match to get a viable DNA sample?

Speaker 27 There was not any DNA that could be extracted from the samples.

Speaker 85 In fact, they couldn't even tell if it was blood at all.

Speaker 51 Green's focus narrowed to John Carter.

Speaker 70 But another killing in the area was going to put his hunch to the test.

Speaker 97 Another Another young woman found with a bag over her head and a possible connection to Caitlin.

Speaker 10 We have another young woman, 23 years old, almost the same age as Caitlin. They were strikingly alike.

Speaker 29 Private investigator J. Ryan Green was hearing lots of stories about John Carter from Caitlin's family and friends.

Speaker 73 He asked John to meet, and he agreed.

Speaker 76 In fact, the two would end up speaking four times.

Speaker 27 Are you aware that this interview is being tape recorded?

Speaker 21 Yes, I am.

Speaker 29 John took him through the now-familiar story of the night Caitlin disappeared.

Speaker 50 But then he revealed something new.

Speaker 21 I said I wanted to go do something.

Speaker 21 She said she had to stay home. She was a little upset and she got a little huffy.
And then I said, I love you. Sorry.
I got all kinds of sarcastic attitude sort of thing.

Speaker 21 And she always laughed at that stuff. So she laughed.
I gave her a kiss. I left.

Speaker 21 I kind of felt bad because I had

Speaker 21 left it like that.

Speaker 53 John had always maintained the couple was getting along that night.

Speaker 92 This is big.

Speaker 27 Yeah, it's real big. Because if you're not fighting versus fighting and then you lie about it,

Speaker 27 you know, yeah, it's big.

Speaker 36 John explained why he'd never mentioned the argument before.

Speaker 95 I'm not going to say publicly to anyone that I was

Speaker 95 in a fight with her in any way. I'm going to tell you because you're interviewing me and you're looking for answers.

Speaker 29 And as for Caitlin's remains being found near his family's property.

Speaker 21 Proximity is not evidence of guilt. And just because I'm near somebody does not mean that I murdered somebody.

Speaker 21 And just because she was found near a property that my dad lives does not mean that I killed her.

Speaker 31 In their last meeting, John met Green at his hotel just outside of Fairfield.

Speaker 27 He starts to

Speaker 27 kind of get a little more aggressive and his tone and his voice starts to get a little louder and I can tell that I'm kind of getting under his skin.

Speaker 95 You gotta understand at a certain point I want my life.

Speaker 94 Okay. Okay.

Speaker 95 And I need it. Or five years later and nobody,

Speaker 95 all of these agencies, all of these people I've been on top of this for five years and they're still coming to me as if I have the answer.

Speaker 95 I don't. I have no answers.
I have nothing that's going to lead you in that path.

Speaker 63 After almost a year of investigating, Green sent his findings to the Fairfield police.

Speaker 27 I felt John knew a lot more than he was telling.

Speaker 27 I felt he knew a lot more about what went on with Caitlin.

Speaker 64 It was the same thing Dave Markham had told them.

Speaker 48 Did you say to the police, like, he's your guy?

Speaker 78 You need to be, like,

Speaker 59 fixated on John Carter.

Speaker 12 Yeah.

Speaker 91 And what kind of response would you get?

Speaker 57 Oh, he's, you know, we've cleared him.

Speaker 31 According to an investigative report from the Time, police thought John was accounted for the night Caitlin disappeared. Green's investigation wound down.

Speaker 53 The money from the benefactor had run out, and he'd spent some of his own, too.

Speaker 43 Months passed, then years.

Speaker 54 John moved on with his life.

Speaker 82 He got a new girlfriend, had a baby, and became a glass-blowing instructor.

Speaker 104 Caitlin's sister Allie graduated from high school and went to college, but the grief was always there.

Speaker 131 I think about how if I have kids, they won't have hurt.

Speaker 131 Yeah.

Speaker 11 And now

Speaker 10 it's like

Speaker 11 I'm an only child.

Speaker 13 You know,

Speaker 11 I have to eventually

Speaker 11 deal with all the things

Speaker 11 all my own siblings would do together

Speaker 44 caitlin's father along with a group of supporters held events for caitlin every chance they could

Speaker 46 they planted a butterfly tree in her memory

Speaker 12 and there were often times that butterflies would fly around particularly monarchs a really bad day and one would flit around and

Speaker 13 that was caitlin that was caitlin and it would hang around and

Speaker 13 think on its way

Speaker 73 And then in the summer of 2018, seven years after Caitlin's death, police made another terrible discovery not far from where Caitlin lived.

Speaker 75 23-year-old Ellen Ellie Wyck just disappeared weeks ago. Her body found Friday.

Speaker 41 A man named Michael Strauss was arrested for killing a young woman named Ellie Wyck.

Speaker 104 The case was eerily similar to Caitlin's.

Speaker 10 I do remember saying, oh, we have another young woman, 23 years old, almost the same age as Caitlin.

Speaker 10 They were strikingly alike and when you were talking to this young woman's loved ones they described her as a butterfly very bubbly uh artsy

Speaker 10 ellie's body was also found in a wooded area and like caitlin her head was covered with a plastic bag strauss pleaded guilty to the murder and what's more he reportedly bragged behind bars that he had another victim In court documents that were filed, he had mentioned, allegedly, to another inmate that he had killed before.

Speaker 50 But what really got people talking was this photo and two of the men in it.

Speaker 10 There was a photo that started circulating, and in the photo, there's Michael Strauss and John Carter. So people were like, wait a second, these two people knew each other?

Speaker 31 Someone Caitlin knew reached out to private investigator Green.

Speaker 116 He was no longer working the case, but it turned his investigation into a podcast.

Speaker 27 Welcome to Gone It 21. I get a call and he says, this guy that was arrested for Ellie's murder hung out with the crew when Caitlin was still alive.

Speaker 27 He would go to fires, he would go to parties, he would go to festivals.

Speaker 33 How promising is this as a lead?

Speaker 27 I think it was one of the best leads that the police had since Caitlin went missing, honestly. They needed to jump on this.

Speaker 103 Did you think you were wrong about John all along?

Speaker 80 That maybe he really didn't do it.

Speaker 27 Made me question. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Let me make this very clear. Michael Strauss was like the answer to an investigator's prayer.

Speaker 27 He knew these people. He's killed somebody.
The method of operation with the plastic around their head.

Speaker 37 You weren't convinced.

Speaker 12 Everything just seemed to, you know, at that time, just to keep circling back to John.

Speaker 29 Was it John?

Speaker 108 Michael Strauss, or someone else?

Speaker 90 While it seemed the case might be gaining traction, it would take yet another investigator to finally get justice for Caitlin.

Speaker 33 You weren't going to stop until you figured it out? Nope.

Speaker 19 I don't stop. You know, I just don't do that.

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Speaker 31 Caitlin's case had been through its share of investigators.

Speaker 31 In early 2020, nine years after her disappearance, it would once again be in the hands of someone new, Paul Newton, an investigator for the county prosecutor's office.

Speaker 31 The case came to him through a tip that didn't pan out, but his interest was piqued.

Speaker 33 You have a thing for challenging cases.

Speaker 19 Yes, I love doing them. I like the challenge.
And once I get challenged, I don't stop until it's resolved.

Speaker 33 This case was perfect for you.

Speaker 56 Yes.

Speaker 31 Newton got permission from his boss to dig in.

Speaker 123 He spent more than three years working the case and kept hearing one name.

Speaker 19 And everybody around the tri-state area kept mentioning Michael Strauss. Michael Strauss did this.
And even some of the police departments were saying this.

Speaker 50 Michael Strauss, the man who committed a murder that seemed so similar to Caitlin's.

Speaker 108 To Newton's knowledge, no one from law enforcement had ever asked Strauss about Caitlin's case.

Speaker 72 So Newton brought him from prison to the prosecutor's office for an interview.

Speaker 139 Everybody keeps connecting you to Caitlin Mark.

Speaker 139 I mean, they are deep, whined repeatedly that you've connected this girl.

Speaker 26 Strauss said he had nothing to do with Caitlin's death.

Speaker 36 And despite that photo with John, he didn't really know him or Caitlin.

Speaker 139 I don't think we ever met this young lady here again.

Speaker 139 If he did, she might have been at a party.

Speaker 139 And the only reason I recognized him is because I've never had any other picture of me.

Speaker 31 Michael Strauss said he couldn't remember where he'd been the night Caitlin disappeared, but the investigator eventually tracked down friends of Michael's who did remember.

Speaker 19 I found out that Michael Strauss that night was at a party in Westchester. So he's on the opposite side of the county.

Speaker 104 Did they remember how long he stayed?

Speaker 19 To at least four o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 45 Newton found this photo on Facebook of a guy wearing a lampshade on his head at the party.

Speaker 104 And right behind him, there's Strauss.

Speaker 140 So it wasn't adding up nope not at all

Speaker 79 newton also went to see brad von bargain the friend who was at caitlin's that night brad had been given a voice stress analysis test early on and the results showed stress i'm extremely nervous i have anxiety problems i mean now newton convinced him to take a polygraph

Speaker 19 how did he do passed i kind of felt bad after the polygraph because i said see brad was it that bad and he looked at me with sad eyes he goes yeah it was he goes i still miss my friend So you scratch him off your list then and there?

Speaker 19 Yeah, he had nothing to do with this.

Speaker 29 Which left one obvious person of interest, John Carter.

Speaker 103 According to Dave, he'd been cleared by the Fairfield police.

Speaker 43 Newton says he spoke to the lead detective who pointed out John's alibi, that his computer record showed he was home that night.

Speaker 53 But Newton also discovered not everyone in the department was convinced.

Speaker 25 The first officer on the scene, Sandy Sears, found John suspicious from the start.

Speaker 68 Very nervous, very antsy, and just over the top with information. It was like he had rehearsed what he was going to say.

Speaker 31 Newton found plenty of reasons to be suspicious of John in the case file, too.

Speaker 79 Starting with something Fairfield detectives brought up during John's first recorded interview.

Speaker 20 While I've been sitting here talking to you, I've noticed you had some scratches on the left side of your neck.

Speaker 115 Shaving, I mean, if you want to examine it, I'm not sure.

Speaker 20 No, I was at least asking you what it was from.

Speaker 19 John said he had done it using the electric razor, but it wasn't along his jaw, it was along his neck. So it was a little bit lower than what somebody would normally shave.

Speaker 101 Newton also learned that within days of Caitlin's disappearance, John deleted the text Caitlin had sent him that night.

Speaker 26 Fairfield police questioned him about it at the time.

Speaker 141 And the last text messages that the love of your life has sent you, you've deleted.

Speaker 141 It makes no sense to me.

Speaker 115 And I know what you're saying, and I really wanted to save it, but I did it by accident.

Speaker 43 And there was no evidence John sent Caitlin that text message saying good morning either.

Speaker 123 What's more, Newton discovered that over the years, John had failed two polygraph tests.

Speaker 29 So a year into his investigation, Newton called him into his office for a meeting.

Speaker 19 I said, I'm on the fence with you, John. I said, I'm on the fence.
I said, I'm trying to rule you out. Well, how do I rule you out? He goes, I said, take a polygraph and pass one.

Speaker 36 John agreed.

Speaker 89 I want this case to be solved. I want people to stop looking at me weird

Speaker 89 at the store.

Speaker 120 Did he take it?

Speaker 56 Yes.

Speaker 89 Did you dispose of that woman's body?

Speaker 59 No.

Speaker 59 And what happens?

Speaker 19 He fails it miserably.

Speaker 89 It's been a long time since I had somebody do this poorly on a polygraph. See, and I don't understand.

Speaker 33 Were you convinced now, after talking to him, that he did it?

Speaker 56 Yes.

Speaker 69 So now you got to catch him.

Speaker 19 Got to catch him.

Speaker 61 The investigator started reaching out out to Caitlin's friends.

Speaker 79 He learned that though Caitlin and John's relationship looked strong from the outside, Caitlin was having doubts.

Speaker 19 She's starting to question, hey, I love this guy, but do I really love him?

Speaker 33 Things were starting to unravel. Yes.

Speaker 19 People are going different directions.

Speaker 104 She's driven, he's driving pizzas around.

Speaker 103 Yes.

Speaker 33 These two aren't on the same

Speaker 19 wavelength.

Speaker 50 Caitlin's co-worker at David's bridal told him Caitlin was starting to second-guess her decision to get married.

Speaker 141 I said something to the effect of like, well, what about your wedding plans? Are you going to get married to Colorado? And she kind of waffled and got a little cagey and she said,

Speaker 141 I'm not sure if we're going to get married.

Speaker 79 Newton says the tension in the relationship seemed to bubble over the weekend Caitlin disappeared.

Speaker 26 Friday night, they'd had that fight at the festival over raffle tickets.

Speaker 31 Michelle wasn't the only one who'd seen it.

Speaker 19 A friend of John's states that something's wrong between John and Caitlin. And he tells me to the point where, this was his words, it looked like like they were going to break up.

Speaker 123 Maybe that explained why Caitlin had been so distant the next night with Brad.

Speaker 20 Like she just wasn't talking too much. She stayed in the same spot on the couch, which was just, which again was just weird.

Speaker 53 Newton wondered, had Caitlin decided to end things with John after Brad left?

Speaker 63 Because if she had.

Speaker 19 Someone inside John's in core group made the statement to me that if Caitlin was to break up with John, it would be catastrophic to John.

Speaker 26 Was he known to have a temper?

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 19 Not in public, but we did come to find out that John's got a heck of a temper.

Speaker 81 Go ahead and do whatever the f you want.

Speaker 29 Newton got his hands on a video taken by John's new girlfriend.

Speaker 31 It captures them in a blistering fight.

Speaker 94 You should be a finger every fing day.

Speaker 19 There's two guys inside John. There's a John that you see every day out in front, in front of the public, fine, and there's a side of John you don't want to know.

Speaker 43 There was more damning info on John's cell phone, too.

Speaker 61 Remember, Caitlin's phone had been turned off around midnight the night she disappeared.

Speaker 101 Turns out John's phone had also gone dark.

Speaker 19 Her phone goes dark at 12:06. His goes off like at 12:04, inactive at 12.04.

Speaker 31 And John didn't use his again until the next afternoon.

Speaker 104 Law enforcement doesn't believe in coincidences.

Speaker 56 Not that many.

Speaker 19 I mean, that's another red flag, okay?

Speaker 19 You start filling the flags up.

Speaker 29 The case against John Carter was getting stronger.

Speaker 82 But the investigator still had a big hurdle to clear.

Speaker 31 John's alibi.

Speaker 16 He was about to hear a lot more about that.

Speaker 85 Because hiding in the shadows that night, unseen figures were watching John's house.

Speaker 66 And they saw something.

Speaker 84 They pulled back out of the driveway without lights.

Speaker 127 And then I think they flipped them on as soon as they turned that corner.

Speaker 29 Dave Markham had spent more than 10 years waiting for justice for his daughter, Caitlin.

Speaker 61 Remarkably, he hadn't lost hope.

Speaker 12 I've had faith that the answers are going to come out in God's time.

Speaker 78 You learned the art of patience.

Speaker 12 I guess I did.

Speaker 72 Dave didn't know it at the time, but behind the scenes, investigator Paul Newton was slowly building a case against John Carter.

Speaker 33 Maybe there's no smoking gun, but there sure are a lot of pieces that are coming together.

Speaker 19 And it's come together and it's fitting.

Speaker 29 But were they the right pieces to convince a jury?

Speaker 69 The investigator asked an assistant prosecutor in his office, Brad Burris, for guidance.

Speaker 117 His words to me were, you know, I have a lot of information here, but I don't know exactly what it is that you need in a courtroom to be able to go in and prove your case.

Speaker 66 Burris could see right away that John's alibi could be a problem for the prosecution.

Speaker 31 John had that gathering with friends, then home for the night on his computer.

Speaker 69 But in the Fairfield case files, he noticed something.

Speaker 72 Statements from two teenagers that seemed to call that story into question.

Speaker 96 They'd come forward after Caitlin's body was found in 2013.

Speaker 48 This puts a big hole in his alibi, if these boys are right.

Speaker 117 That is correct.

Speaker 31 He suggested Newton tracked the boys down.

Speaker 19 Today is Saturday, April the 9th.

Speaker 46 In separate interviews, the boys said about 2 a.m.

Speaker 70 that night they were walking through John Carter's neighborhood.

Speaker 121 We knew that my dad goes to sleep and we were kind of notorious for sneaking out of the house and going to parties and such.

Speaker 66 They were standing on the corner across from John's house when they saw two cars pulling up with their lights off.

Speaker 100 We thought they were police, so we hid.

Speaker 121 Right to our left was a pine tree or evergreen, you know, thick, thick tree that we could hide behind. We darted right behind that tree.

Speaker 53 They watched through the foliage as one of the cars went into John's garage.

Speaker 119 Can you describe the cars as one being a red four focus? Red Ford Focus.

Speaker 33 What kind of car does John Carter have?

Speaker 19 He has a red four focus.

Speaker 58 The other car, which was blue, parked outside John's house.

Speaker 127 Several minutes passed, and then they pulled back out of the back without lights, and then I think they flipped them on as soon as they like turned that corner.

Speaker 70 Based on what the boys were telling Newton, the cars headed in the direction of Caitlin's house.

Speaker 80 He may not have been home the whole night, as he said, and he might have had help.

Speaker 19 Yeah, it was like, okay, this is, this is huge. That night, but I do remember.

Speaker 72 Of course, the next question was, help from whom?

Speaker 119 Can you describe what you seen the driver in the blue car?

Speaker 121 Yeah, just had, you know, long hair to his shoulders, pulled away, and then just unmanicured facial hair.

Speaker 17 Okay.

Speaker 116 Newton thought he knew exactly who it was.

Speaker 67 He was very pale. He was disheveled.

Speaker 29 That same friend who gave Officer Sears the bad feeling the first night at Caitlin's.

Speaker 43 John's friend, John Palmerton.

Speaker 73 Newton slid Palmerton's picture across the table.

Speaker 119 Does he have this kind of hairstyle?

Speaker 84 Yes.

Speaker 119 Is that similar to what you've seen that night to the person individual in that car? Yes.

Speaker 86 Okay.

Speaker 33 You need to talk to John Palmerton.

Speaker 19 They talked to John Palmerton.

Speaker 119 You go by John, Jonathan, or...

Speaker 22 John or Jonathan.

Speaker 53 In the interview room, Newton asked Palmerton where he'd been that Saturday night.

Speaker 83 He said he'd worked at a restaurant until 11, then hung out with a co-worker.

Speaker 19 What time did you guys leave the bar?

Speaker 84 About four in the morning.

Speaker 33 Do you confront him with that information from the teenage boys that they saw you there at John's?

Speaker 119 These two individuals were pretty damn sure what they seen that night, real sure.

Speaker 19 Does that sound familiar to you?

Speaker 84 What? That incident happened?

Speaker 17 Yeah.

Speaker 84 No.

Speaker 19 Never happened?

Speaker 84 I was at the bar.

Speaker 19 You could tell he's being evasive, don't want to answer the question,

Speaker 140 very

Speaker 19 fidgety. But you've been seeing like it's a little strange what these kids seen.

Speaker 22 Oh, I get what you're saying, yeah, but the only thing I can tell you for certain is what they saw didn't involve me.

Speaker 90 Newton pushed harder.

Speaker 19 Driver, matching your description. You live right around the corner from John.
You know, John says you were seven years old.

Speaker 56 If it goes bad, who's he going to turn to?

Speaker 86 Not me.

Speaker 22 He doesn't call me anymore. He occasionally calls me.

Speaker 140 anymore he doesn't call you anymore do i think you killed kaitin no i don't i truthfully don't i will tell you that now would you help a buddy yeah i think you would now something like that hell no i'm not

Speaker 22 risking my ass i don't care how good of a friend you are

Speaker 22 i've not riskied myself for something like that and being that

Speaker 69 after palmerton's interview newton felt sure he was on the right track a belief that got stronger when palmerton's co-workers at the restaurant disputed his story.

Speaker 19 The people John Palmerton wanted me to talk to to solidify his alibi that night were like, no, that's not how it went.

Speaker 29 A theory of Caitlin's murder was now forming in the investigator's mind.

Speaker 101 He believed John Carter had killed Caitlin before he left for the gathering with friends, then returned afterward with his friend John to move the body.

Speaker 19 Then people go, why didn't he move the body right then and there?

Speaker 19 One answer. What's going on across the street?

Speaker 82 The sacred heart festival so john can't move the body until after everybody's gone but his theory still had a big problem john's computer how could he be moving caitlyn if his laptop showed he was home watching that tv show between 2 and 4 a.m

Speaker 74 newton had an explanation for that too just because he downloaded and it's plain doesn't mean he's watching and you find out something that suggests he may not have been watching white collar correct a review of john's computer search history revealed that when he woke up the next day, he searched for summaries of those episodes.

Speaker 19 He'd read the synopsis of two of those episodes the next day.

Speaker 29 Newton Burris brought this new piece of information to Butler County prosecutor Mike Moser.

Speaker 6 I did my happy dance at that point because it explained an awful lot.

Speaker 33 You think this was a piece of his alibi that he was building?

Speaker 4 I think that he, very early on,

Speaker 6 From the time that he caused her death, started a construct for an alibi

Speaker 31 with that and all the other findings the prosecutor made his first public move

Speaker 50 john palmerton was charged with perjury and in february 2023 he was arrested at the restaurant where he worked

Speaker 41 dave markham was floored he hadn't heard from anyone in law enforcement in more than three years your mind must have been spinning oh it was not not john carter but his friend Yeah.

Speaker 31 Michelle's mind was spinning, too.

Speaker 104 Caitlin's friend thought she knew where the investigation was headed.

Speaker 40 The fact that Palmerton is involved just screams that they know that it's John. I know how close they are.

Speaker 61 Caitlin's loved ones wouldn't have to wait much longer for another arrest.

Speaker 83 You guys got me, he's in custody.

Speaker 66 On March 22nd, 2023, Paul Newton showed up at a glass blowing class John was teaching.

Speaker 19 I put the custom and I said, you're under arrest.

Speaker 111 Oh my goodness.

Speaker 34 Can you imagine being in that glass blowing class?

Speaker 19 Well, there was a bunch of elderly old women in there.

Speaker 33 And that sounds like something relaxing.

Speaker 19 It wasn't that day. They got a show.

Speaker 104 John was driven to the county sheriff's office and booked into the jail.

Speaker 12 My chest just kind of fell. My shoulders just dropped.

Speaker 17 It just was like, oh,

Speaker 12 what a relief that this weight was lifted off my shoulder.

Speaker 33 What's that moment like when you find out that he's been arrested for the murder of your sister?

Speaker 11 Something is finally happening. Hopefully

Speaker 11 we'll come to an end.

Speaker 41 After almost 12 years, it seemed like justice for Caitlin was finally on the way.

Speaker 25 But prosecutors still faced a big challenge.

Speaker 31 With no DNA and no forensics connecting John to the crime, the evidence was circumstantial.

Speaker 117 I felt like that in order for us to win the case, we were going to have to try a perfect case.

Speaker 118 But before that could happen, you get some news that will change everything.

Speaker 117 It was very surprising to me.

Speaker 114 Caitlin is the love of my life. I've been with her for six years.

Speaker 104 12 years after pleading for Caitlin's safe return, John Carter was in jail charged with her murder.

Speaker 40 It's disgusting. It's so phony.

Speaker 102 I didn't know he was such a good actor. I always felt that he was so genuine.

Speaker 113 John pleaded not guilty.

Speaker 29 In court, the prosecutor revealed disturbing new evidence against him.

Speaker 10 It was poems that he said his investigators found in John Carter's mother's house, and they were so dark.

Speaker 86 Deep down, I love her.

Speaker 6 You want to kill her, but I love her.

Speaker 6 She must die.

Speaker 33 Were you just floored?

Speaker 11 Yeah, I felt sick.

Speaker 104 Investigators also found writings scrawled atop a basement door.

Speaker 25 I slit your wrists with the key to your heart.

Speaker 10 If you remember, they did make reference to sharp force wounds in her wrist.

Speaker 49 Do you think Caitlin will finally

Speaker 111 get justice?

Speaker 12 I'm counting on it, and I think the prosecutor's office has a lot.

Speaker 74 Prosecutors did have a lot, but they also also knew getting a guilty verdict wouldn't be easy.

Speaker 10 Things looked bad for John Carter, but at the same time, this is a circumstantial case.

Speaker 117 This 100% was going to be a circumstantial case. There was no DNA.
There was no fingerprint. We did not have a cause of death in this case.

Speaker 31 Another challenge was the timeline.

Speaker 38 Some friends placed John at the gathering around the time prosecutors believed Caitlin was killed.

Speaker 115 He was there, released around like 11.

Speaker 5 It was right there. I want this case.

Speaker 31 Then there was the fact that John had always cooperated with police.

Speaker 136 I'm here to help you in the way I can.

Speaker 117 He never once lawyered up. Every single time he was asked to come in, he came in.

Speaker 29 But perhaps prosecutors' biggest challenge came from within the investigation itself.

Speaker 45 That report stating police believed John had been accounted for the night Caitlin died.

Speaker 91 The Fairfield lead detective had also cast doubt on the neighborhood boys who'd seen John's car that night.

Speaker 33 She found their stories stories to be, quote, suspect.

Speaker 117 That was something that was going to be very difficult for us. Combating that the lead detective from Fairfield did have some doubts.

Speaker 41 Which can lead to reasonable doubt with the jury.

Speaker 69 Yes.

Speaker 47 The original detective certainly paved the way for reasonable doubt.

Speaker 6 Well, she made statements that she thought that John Carter was not guilty.

Speaker 6 She was convinced that he was not involved. She was wrong.

Speaker 41 Sandy Sears, who left the Fairfield Police Department in 2019, thinks John should have been investigated more thoroughly.

Speaker 31 You feel this case could have been solved a long time ago?

Speaker 85 I do.

Speaker 102 I think basic following of the evidence would have gotten this case solved a lot earlier.

Speaker 25 The Fairfield Police Department disagrees with that.

Speaker 35 The current police chief told us the lead investigator, as well as her supervisors, always considered John a suspect and never cleared him.

Speaker 31 They just didn't uncover sufficient evidence to conclude he killed Caitlin.

Speaker 53 He also told us several outside agencies reviewed the case and came to the same conclusion.

Speaker 29 As prosecutors continued to grapple with the case, they suddenly got an unexpected boost.

Speaker 112 Today's date is Tuesday, April 23rd.

Speaker 36 Just two months before jury selection, Hall Newton interviewed a woman who'd lived in the townhouse right next door to Caitlin's.

Speaker 55 She spoke to police early on, but says she'd been asked about the wrong night.

Speaker 31 Now, she told them that the night Caitlin disappeared, she heard an altercation through the wall.

Speaker 24 It was a shout of like, stop it, stop it.

Speaker 10 Right. I definitely heard that.

Speaker 24 Then I heard a sound that just kind of reminded me of like a,

Speaker 24 like something hitting a wall or

Speaker 24 a loud bang of sorts.

Speaker 104 It's not an eyewitness, but it's an ear witness.

Speaker 117 It is an ear witness.

Speaker 29 They disclosed her interview to the defense. A few weeks later, one of John's attorneys waved Burris down in the courtroom.

Speaker 117 Defense counsel came up to me and said, hey, is there something that we could

Speaker 117 possibly work out in this case?

Speaker 31 He was stunned.

Speaker 54 A plea deal?

Speaker 41 Did John's defense team then tell your team what he was willing to plead guilty to?

Speaker 117 The offer became he's willing to enter a plea of guilty to involuntary manslaughter, which is a felony of the third degree.

Speaker 31 Meaning John was finally willing to admit he caused Caitlin's death.

Speaker 83 He wouldn't say exactly what happened that that night or why, but he would be taking responsibility.

Speaker 41 Given the challenges of the case, Prosecutor Mike Moser decided to go forward with it.

Speaker 6 We'll do it.

Speaker 128 Like, just like that.

Speaker 6 It was almost that quick.

Speaker 36 A week later, Dave and Allie found themselves in a Butler County courtroom preparing to hear one word they never thought John would say.

Speaker 6 What is your plea to count one involuntary manslaughter a felony of the third degree?

Speaker 104 It's like you're holding your breath, right?

Speaker 92 Like, absolutely. You're going to say it, right?

Speaker 56 Right.

Speaker 57 Yep. And he did.
And he did.

Speaker 21 Guilty.

Speaker 32 And then you can take a deep breath.

Speaker 15 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 5 In this case, and the result was for her, for justice, for Caitlin, and for her father.

Speaker 50 But would the punishment fit the crime?

Speaker 54 In Ohio, involuntary manslaughter of the third degree carries a maximum penalty of just three years in prison.

Speaker 82 John could also get probation, no prison time.

Speaker 31 And there weren't any other charges prosecutors could tack on because the statute of limitations had run out.

Speaker 61 For Dave, the thought of John not going to prison at all was deeply upsetting.

Speaker 17 That's going to really feel like a letdown if he doesn't get time.

Speaker 33 It's, of course, very satisfying to hear John Carter take responsibility for this crime.

Speaker 104 What's not satisfying for a lot of people is when you hear the sentencing guidelines, zero to three years.

Speaker 101 Man, that sounds light.

Speaker 6 Well,

Speaker 6 don't kill the messenger.

Speaker 6 The state of Ohio legislature decided what the penalties would be for this type of offense. But to me, whether it's one day

Speaker 6 or six days or six months or six years, it was more important to me to get justice by an admission of guilt. for Caitlin Markham.

Speaker 128 And I would imagine that you don't make that call lightly.

Speaker 6 I didn't make the call lightly in this case, examining every piece of circumstantial evidence on how it would be attacked, how I would have attacked it as a defense attorney. I knew what was coming.

Speaker 23 Please be seated.

Speaker 29 At John's sentencing six weeks later, his attorneys asked the judge for leniency.

Speaker 53 But the prosecutor argued for the max, saying John's refusal to give any details of Caitlin's death showed a lack of remorse.

Speaker 60 The judge agreed.

Speaker 23 Anything short of the maximum sentence would demean demean the seriousness of the offender's conduct and its impact upon the victim.

Speaker 12 One of the best noises in my sound is his handcuffs.

Speaker 12 Boy, I felt good.

Speaker 12 And when he was walked away, I went like this.

Speaker 24 Oh, you gave him a wave, huh?

Speaker 13 I did. I waved him goodbye.

Speaker 113 John Carter was sentenced to three years in prison.

Speaker 98 As for John Palmerton, The perjury charge was dropped, but the prosecutor has a message for him.

Speaker 6 If he's watching Dateline when this thing is aired i want him to know that i am still looking at him he should watch out that's a fact

Speaker 31 john palmerton's attorney told us that's just rhetoric he says his client has always cooperated with the investigation and is innocent

Speaker 104 dave markham is grateful to investigator paul newton and the prosecutor's office for not giving up on the case And after 13 years, both he and Ali are trying to turn the page.

Speaker 63 Allie graduated from college and is a teacher now.

Speaker 104 Dave is engaged to be married and is pushing for legislation called Caitlin's Law that would extend the statute of limitations for crimes related to missing persons cases.

Speaker 33 You want Caitlin's death to mean something, to help other families, other cases.

Speaker 12 That's been Caitlin's personality helping people. She always wanted people to smile and be happy.

Speaker 11 I want them to remember she was bubbly and bold and

Speaker 84 bright.

Speaker 64 And I love you.

Speaker 41 Caitlin Markham, a creative, colorful free spirit who was just beginning to spread her wings.

Speaker 12 She comes and visits still with the butterflies.

Speaker 48 The butterflies are still coming.

Speaker 5 They're still coming.

Speaker 48 She'll always be with you.

Speaker 17 Always.

Speaker 8 That's all for this edition of Dateline. Check out our Talking Dateline podcast.
Andrea Canning and Josh Mankowitz will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode.

Speaker 8 Available Wednesday in the Dateline feed wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at 9-8 Central.

Speaker 112 I'm Lester Holm for all of us at NBC News.

Speaker 8 Good night.

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