CLEARWATER, Fla. (Court TV) — Prosecutors say they plan to present evidence that a woman accused of dismemberment and cannibalism was interested in Satanism and the occult.
Katelyn Goble appears at a hearing on Aug. 21, 2026. (Court TV)
Katelyn Goble, 30, was indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of another in the death of Morgan Bauer, 19. Bauer disappeared in 2016, but charges in the case didn’t come until 2023, when Goble allegedly approached investigators, saying that she had information about a murder.
Prosecutors said Goble initially didn’t implicate herself and tried to claim her ex-boyfriend, Jonathan Warren, was solely responsible for the crime, but investigators said Goble was just as guilty as her co-defendant. In interviews with police, Goble allegedly said she was present for the murder and helped cut up the victim before putting the remains in a suitcase and setting it on fire in the backyard.
Warren pleaded guilty at his arraignment and requested the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Warren told investigators that Goble was obsessed with the occult and the underworld, and alleged that her interest in forensic pathology and desire to cut up a body was the motive for Bauer’s killing. Warren said that after strangling the victim, they cut off her limbs; he admitted to having sexual intercourse with the victim’s remains.
Investigators later found Bauer’s remains in the area where defendants said they burned her body; her jewelry was also found in the vents of a room where the couple had stayed.
While Goble’s defense has argued that she was manipulated by Warren, prosecutors said they plan to present evidence that the defendant was interested in Satanism, murder and serial killers, as evidenced by her social media activity. On the night of the murder, one of her posts read, “This is Bob. Bob kills people.” Prosecutors successfully moved to introduce the social media activity at Goble’s upcoming trial, over the defense’s objections.
At a pretrial hearing on Friday, Goble’s attorney and the prosecution worked out final issues ahead of jury selection, including what to redact from the defendant’s police interviews. Both sides agreed to redact all mentions of character evidence relating to Warren’s past. Judge Joe Bishop granted the defense’s request to redact portions of the video referencing Goble’s drug use as well.
Despite Goble’s statements that she was under Warren’s control at the time of the murder, her defense said on Friday that it will not pursue a battered person syndrome defense or insanity defense.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday morning.
