Newton County Trial Weighs How Much Katelyn Goble Knew in Morgan Bauer’s 2016 Death

A Newton County jury began hearing opening statements this week in the trial of 30-year-old Katelyn Goble, the last defendant standing in the decade-old case of 19-year-old Morgan Bauer, whose remains were found buried and burned outside Porterdale in 2023. Defense attorneys conceded on Tuesday that Goble helped dispose of Bauer’s body but argued she took no part in the killing itself, saying she acted out of fear of her then-boyfriend and co-defendant.

The concession came during opening statements on Tuesday, according to WSB-TV Channel 2, which reported that Goble faces charges including malice murder and concealing a death. Prosecutors, meanwhile, argue Goble actively participated in the strangulation, dismemberment, and burning of Bauer’s remains, a case they say was fueled in part by her fascination with the occult, per Court TV.

Judge Allows Occult Evidence Ahead of Trial

Days before opening statements, a Newton County judge ruled that prosecutors could present Goble’s social media activity touching on Satanism, the occult, and serial killers, allowing the evidence to be used to show motive and to counter the defense’s claim that she acted solely under her co-defendant’s control. The same Court TV report notes that defense attorneys had dismissed the posts as irrelevant “cosplay,” a characterization prosecutors rejected in arguing the material speaks directly to Goble’s state of mind.

Bauer, who grew up in Aberdeen, South Dakota, according to 11Alive, had lived in metro Atlanta for only two weeks before she vanished in February 2016. She disappeared shortly after leaving her job as a dancer at an Atlanta adult entertainment club, and was last seen near a park in Porterdale, according to Atlanta News First. She was 19 years old, and her disappearance went unresolved for seven years.

A Divorce Confession Cracked the Cold Case

The case sat cold until 2023, when Goble’s estranged husband told investigators during divorce proceedings that Goble had confessed to helping dispose of Bauer’s body, per the same Court TV account. That tip led Goble to direct police to the location where charred remains were buried, breaking open an investigation that had stalled for years.

The renewed search effort brought FBI agents and local law enforcement to a property on Broad Street in Porterdale along the Yellow River in July 2023, where grid-formation searches with cadaver dogs recovered bone fragments and other evidentiary items, according to reporting cited by the same account. Porterdale sits roughly 35 miles southeast of Atlanta. Goble was arrested that year in Peoria, Illinois, while her co-defendant, Jonathan Alexander Warren, was arrested in Los Angeles, according to Atlanta News First.

Co-Defendant Already Sentenced to Life

A Newton County grand jury indicted Goble in October 2023 on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and concealing the death of another, alleging that both she and Warren strangled Bauer to death on February 26, 2016. That marked an escalation from initial police warrants issued in August 2023, which had charged her only with concealment and tampering.

Warren’s case was resolved before Goble’s trial began. He pleaded guilty in January 2024 to malice murder, necrophilia, evidence tampering, and concealing a death, and requested a sentence of life with the possibility of parole. The court instead granted a request from Newton County District Attorney Randy McGinley for life without parole, as Hoodline reported in coverage of Warren's sentencing. Warren's guilty plea and sentencing resolved his own liability in the case, leaving Goble to stand trial alone.

What Georgia Law Says About the Charges

Under Georgia Code § 16-10-31, concealing the death of another person in a way that hinders discovery of whether the victim was unlawfully killed is a felony punishable by one to ten years in prison, a fine between $1,000 and $5,000, or both, according to legal reference cited in court filings. That statute applies regardless of whether the person charged actually committed the underlying killing.

Separately, tampering with evidence in a felony investigation carries a sentence of one to three years under Georgia Code § 16-10-94, rising to one to ten years when the underlying crime is a serious violent felony. Warren’s necrophilia count, to which he pleaded guilty, falls under Georgia Code § 16-6-7 and likewise carries a one-to-ten-year term. Goble’s trial in Newton County was set to continue this week, with the extent of her involvement, and the relevance of her online history, at the center of what jurors must decide.