When an art student vanished 12 years ago, her fiance had a "gut feeling" she was alive. He's now been charged with her murder.
The fiance of Katelyn Markham — an Ohio art student who went missing nearly 12 years ago — has been indicted on two counts of murder in her death.
John Carter, 34, was arrested Wednesday and remains in the Butler County Jail. The indictment against him was unsealed Thursday morning, and it wasn't clear if he has retained an attorney.
The charges stem from the August 2011 disappearance of Markham, who was last seen at her home in Fairfield. At the time, Markham was a few weeks away from finishing her graphic arts degree at the Art Institute of Ohio-Cincinnati, and Carter has said they were planning to move to Colorado later that year.
After Markham went missing in 2011, Carter told ABC News that he had a "gut feeling" that she was still alive.
"I have to believe she's alive," he told ABC News. "I have to believe that I'm going to have her in my arms soon."
Skeletal remains identified as Markham's were found in 2013 in a wooded area in Cedar Grove, Indiana, about 20 miles west of her home in Fairfield. Authorities ruled her death a homicide.
In February, Jonathan Palmerton was arrested in connection to Markham's death on a felony perjury charge. That case remains active, authorities said, but specific details on why he was charged have not been disclosed.
Markham's father, Dave, told CBS affiliate WHIO-TV that he was contacted by Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser about the arrest.
"All I could do was just cry, a huge weight off my shoulder," he said.
Markham's father told WHIO that he still regularly thinks about his daughter.
"I often wonder what she'd be doing with her art and her career, and I think she would just be just an amazing woman," he told the station. "And it does make me a little angry that he lived for 12 years scot-free thinking he got away with it. And a lot of us have missed Katelyn tremendously every day for 12 years. And it's not fair, and it's not right. And hopefully, it's going to be made right."
