The Murder of Kathryn ‘Kathy’ Odom
Warning, this case does discuss sexual assault, and crimes against a child.
For this case, I watched an episode of Forensic Files. It’s season 13 episode 48, titled ‘Lights Out.’
Background
Kathryn Louise Martin was born on October 25, 1959. Kathy met her future husband, Mike Odom, in high school. They dated, but before they got married, Mike spent two years in jail for selling heroin. They eventually did get married, and had two kids, Tasha and Shawn.
Kathy was described as a loving mother, who would’ve done anything for her kids.
Mike and Kathy Odom, with one of their children
Kathy and Mike, with her parents, Frank and Sharlene
The Murder
On March 3, 1987, Mike decided to go out with friends after work. He contacted Kathy to tell her he’d be late, but was surprised when she didn’t answer the phone.
Mike contacted his neighbor, Tim Robinson, and asked if he could go check on her. Tim agreed. He tried knocking on the door, but there was no answer. Tim found it odd, because he thought that the TV was on inside the house.
Instead of calling 911, Tim drove a few miles until he found an officer, and asked them to go back to the Odom house with him. The front door was unlocked, so the officer was able to enter the house.
On the couch, they found 4-year-old Tasha. She had been beaten, but was still alive. She was rushed to the hospital.
They found 2-month-old Shawn in another room, he was unharmed. Kathy was found naked in another room, and had been stabbed 19 times. She was also bound by a cord from a lamp, and had been sexually assaulted. The police believed Kathy had known her killer. Her clothes had been found in a neat pile on the floor, and the front door had been found unlocked.
The First Suspects
Kathy’s dad, Frank, arrived at the scene. He was told that the children had been rushed to the hospital. He learned of his daughter’s death by seeing it on a TV screen at the hospital.
Mike arrived at the home shortly after. The police were suspicious of him because he was obviously the husband, but he had stains on the shirt he had been wearing. The shirt was sent in for testing.
The police also became suspicious of Tim Robinson, the neighbor, as they had found weird stains on the floor mats of his car.
Kathy’s autopsy put her time of death around 1pm, about 6 hours before her body was found. Both Tim and Mike said they were at work around that time.
The Eyewitness
Tasha was in a coma for about 2 days, but luckily she survived.
The police asked Tasha if she remembered anything from that day. Tasha said that she had seen a man with yellow hair enter the house. Neither Mike or Tim had blonde hair. Tasha had been beaten in the head and face, and it obviously affected her memory. She wasn’t able to tell the police anything else.
Greg had visited Tasha in the hospital. Kathy’s mom, Sharlene, described Tasha as being very afraid that day. Both Frank and Sharlene had suspected that Greg had killed their daughter.
Tim and Mike were eventually eliminated as suspects. The stains on Mike’s shirt were paint, and the stains in Tim’s car were motor oil. They had been both been at work, and had both passed polygraph tests.
The next suspect was someone close to the Odom family. It was Kathy’s brother-in-law, Greg Markwardt. Greg was married to Kathy’s sister, Shelley.
Shelley and Greg
Kathy was afraid of Greg, and told everyone that he had tried to make sexual advances on her in the past. Kathy had also said that Greg was weirdly obsessed with her stomach. Most of Kathy’s stab wounds had been to her stomach.
Greg’s hair and fingerprints were found inside the home. But, Greg was a family member, and had been at the house several times.
A Cold Case
Shelley had told the police that Greg had dropped her off at school on March 3, around 10-10:30am, and picked her up around 2:30pm. Greg had about 4 hours of time where he was unaccounted for.
The police had described Shelley as very co-dependent. Shelley and Greg had both spent time in jail for drug possession, and both had issues with heroin in the past.
Sadly, because this happened in 1987, DNA testing was in its infancy. The DNA testing only was able to show the blood typing of the DNA found on Kathy. It showed the blood type was type O, which was the same as Greg’s.
11 years after the murder of Kathy, a sample of Greg’s DNA was compared to the sample they had collected. It wasn’t able to give them a 100%, but it said that Greg was among the 2% of the population that the DNA could’ve belonged to.
Greg denied being involved, and even said that he and Kathy had a consensual sexual relationship. He claimed he had been with Kathy on the morning of March 3, but that Kathy was alive when he left.
It wasn’t until about 15 years after the crime when the truth came to light due to the help of some new DNA testing.
The Evidence
The investigators worked with a woman named Katherine Long, who worked at Orchard Cellmark, a private forensics lab in Dallas.
Katherine had been doing some experiments to determine if a killer would have left behind skin cells. She and a colleague would put their hands on each other's necks to see if the skin cells would be left behind. The experiment did show that skin cells are really easy to leave behind.
The cord that had been used to bind Kathy’s hands had been stored in a paper bag. The moisture had actually preserved the DNA, much better than a plastic bag would’ve.
The DNA that had been found on the cord was a mixture of Kathy and Greg’s DNA.
In 2002, Greg was arrested, and charged with murder.
The Conviction
While he was in jail, Greg confessed to an inmate. He said he had been high on heroin when he went over to Kathy’s. He said he made sexual advances towards her, but she rejected him.
Greg said he beat Tasha, and threatened to kill the baby if Kathy didn’t comply. Kathy complied to save her children. She was then bound, assaulted, and killed, just inches away from her two children.
In 2004, Greg pled guilty, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He died from liver cancer at 56-years-old, after serving just 4 years.
Greg’s mugshot
FINAL THOUGHTS
I don’t want to say karma’s a bitch, but ya, karma is a bitch. Greg not only took Kathy’s life, but almost killed an innocent 4-year-old because he couldn’t get Kathy. He then threatened to kill an even more innocent 2-month-old. It’s even more sickening that Kathy’s family had to see Greg, and their other daughter be married to the man they knew killed Kathy. My heart goes out to the Odom’s, and I hope they are doing well.
Sources
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76024412/kathryn-louise-odom
http://truecrimediscussions.blogspot.com/2020/07/gregory-markwardt.html
https://www.myplainview.com/news/article/DNA-tests-break-1987-slaying-case-8808032.php
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/article/HCSO-closes-1987-murder-case-with-conviction-9831369.php
