Reward now at $100K in Katelyn Markham case

A substantial reward for information about the death of Fairfield’s Katelyn Markham has been increased to $100,000, her father announced Friday on the four-year anniversary of her disappearance.

The 22-year-old art student went missing from her Dorshire Drive residence during the early morning hours of Aug. 14, 2011. Police and volunteers looked for months to find the young woman who vanished leaving behind her purse, keys and her dog.

The case gained national media attention as days turned into months with no news on Markham’s whereabouts.

Then on April 7, 2013, Markham’s skeletal remains were found in a remote wooded area in Cedar Grove, Ind. Within days, confirmation came that the remains were Katelyn’s, and the Franklin County Coroner Wanda Lee ruled her death a homicide. However, the exact cause of death could not be determined.

That is where the investigation seems to have stalled, but an anonymous donor has increase the reward amount by $25,000 for information leading to the arrested and conviction of her killer. The reward was previously increased in January to $70,000.

Katelyn’s father, Dave Markham, said both January’s donor and the one that came forward about two months ago stating they wanted to up the ante by $20,000, want to remain anonymous.

“It does appeal to the greed in people, but anything to get information,” Dave Markham said. “I am always hopeful.”

Markham said he has always believed someone killed his daughter by accident or in the heat of the moment, and that there was a cover up.

Indiana State Police, the Fairfield Police Department and a retired Butler County Sheriff’s Office detective are all working on the case.

Michael Crisp, a filmmaker based in Georgetown, Ky., is also directing a documentary about Katelyn’s life called “Taken too Soon: The Katelyn Markham Story.”

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