Katelyn Markham vanished from her Ohio residence in August 2011

Apr 24, 2014 17:19 GMT  ·  By
A new set of bones were found in the area where Katelyn Markham's remains were discovered last year
   A new set of bones were found in the area where Katelyn Markham's remains were discovered last year

Residents in Franklin County, Indiana, have found a new series of skeletal remains and police believe they belong to Katelyn Markham, an art student who vanished from her Ohio residence in August 2011 and whose remains were discovered in the same spot last year.

Markham, from the northern Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield, Ohio, had been missing for 20 months before some of her remains were found in the same area, an unofficial dump site, last April. Her death was classified as a homicide, but investigators didn’t manage to determine how she died or who killed her, although almost three years have passed since her disappearance.

According to Cincinnati.com, Indiana State Police officers and the Franklin County Coroner's Office responded to Big Cedar Road, near the town of Cedar Grove, about 30 miles northwest of Cincinnati, on April 10 after they received a call about some human remains found in the area.

Authorities said an official identification of the remains has not been made yet, but the newly discovered bones have been taken to Indianapolis for a forensic examination, which will reportedly take about six to eight weeks to be completed.

Katelyn was reported missing on August 14 by her fiancé John Carter, who told local police he hadn’t been able to reach the young woman throughout the day. He also said Katelyn’s purse and keys were found in her apartment, while her dog was locked in a bedroom.

Police, firefighters and volunteers participated in an intensive search to find Markham. They scored through local parks, waterways and forests, but found no sign of her. Some of her remains were only found more than a year and half later, but didn’t disclose too many details about the circumstances of her suspicious death.

Even if the new remains do belong to Markham, it’s highly unlikely they would reveal new clues about how she died, and investigators say that finding the killer mainly depends on a witness coming forward.

“You never know what you could find that could hold that key,” Dave Rader, director of the Ohio branch of search and rescue organization Texas EquuSearch, stated.

However, he added that “It's going to have to come from somebody who knows what happened that night. That's just all there is to it,” according to Daily Mail.

Rader’s team has spent countless hours searching for clues in the case since the student was reported missing.