A Georgia woman who killed and dismembered her friend after fulfilling her desire to cut somebody up will spend the rest of her life in prison.
On Sep 1, Newton County Judge Joe Bishop handed 30-year-old Katelyn Goble a life term in prison without the possibility of parole for the brutal death of 19-year-old Morgan Bauer. After deliberation for about 30 minutes, Goble was found guilty and convicted by a jury of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death, and tampering with evidence.
In March 2016, Bauer was reported missing by her mother, Sherry Keenan, after the former exotic dancer moved from her home in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Atlanta a month prior to her disappearance. Despite the search efforts of law enforcement agencies, family, and volunteers, the victim remained missing.
Seven years later, authorities discovered Goble had broken up with Johnathan Alexander Warren, her boyfriend at the time Bauer went missing, and had married David Settles II. According to prosecutors, the defendant had confessed to her husband how she and Warren had killed Goble, dismembered her body, and dissolved her body in acid.
Later, authorities arrested Warren in Los Angeles, who testified that the defendant instigated the killing and told him, ‘I want to cut somebody up, look what’s inside of them, know what it does. I want to cut somebody up,“ reported Court TV. Hence, Goble and Warren befriended the victim, then lured her to their Porterdale home before strangling her, dismembering her, and disposing of her body.
Goble’s defense team admitted the defendant was in the room when Bauer was killed, but pointed the finger at Warren as the killer. They claimed she didn’t say anything over the years because she was afraid of Warren, so she should receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors told the judge the defendant was not remorseful. They played a jail cell recording in which Goble bragged that the prosecution had only seen the monster beneath the surface, while she had created two more monsters through her children.
The judge agreed with the prosecution.
“May she reside in a personal hell that she created, so she cannot harm another living soul,” stated Bauer’s mother during the victim impact statement, according to True Crime News.
Warren pleaded guilty to malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death, and tampering with evidence. In January 2024, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
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