PORTERDALE, Ga. (Court TV) — A woman accused of killing, dismembering and burning a victim found on her ex-boyfriend’s property allegedly confessed to the crime years later after drinking.
Katelyn Goble appears in court on Aug. 25, 2026. (Court TV)
Katelyn Goble, 30, is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of another; she has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Goble’s co-defendant, Jonathan “Alex” Warren, pleaded guilty to the same charges and admitted his involvement in the death of Morgan Bauer.
Bauer, 19, disappeared in 2016, but her remains weren’t found until 2023, when Goble allegedly admitted to having a role in her disappearance. Prosecutors said that Goble tried to convince officers that Warren was the true killer in an effort to minimize her own culpability — she decided to come forward, investigators said, because her ex-husband knew the truth.
David Settles II met Goble in 2016 after Bauer’s death and after the defendant’s relationship with Warren had ended. The two married and divorced but share children together. Settles was named as a key witness for the prosecution after investigators revealed that the defendant had allegedly confessed to him.
Settles testified on Friday that months into his relationship with Goble, the two went on a road trip to California, where they met up with Warren. He recounted a strange conversation between Warren and Goble that he overheard one day, which he described as “hush-hush.”
Warren: “How much does he know?”
Goble: “What we’ve discussed.”
Warren: “So he doesn’t know anything?”
Goble: “Correct.”
Warren: “So I think we got away with it.”
Days later, Settles said that he and Goble came upon Warren fighting with his girlfriend. Warren was yelling, “She’s gonna talk! She’s gonna talk!” While Settles said that he stayed back from the confrontation, Goble allegedly approached Warren’s girlfriend and said, “You better keep your mouth shut, or else you’re gonna regret it.”
Settles had no idea what the conversations were about for months, until Goble called him one evening while she was drunk at the strip club where she worked. “She had called me up one night and was having a really bad night and she had basically confessed everything to me because I guess that she had reached her breaking point. She didn’t want to hold it in anymore,” he testified.
Settles said that Goble blamed Warren for killing Bauer while she was out of the house. “Eventually, she came back to the house,” Settles said. “I’m assuming Alex wanted help with cleanup.”
In interviews with investigators, Settles said that Goble described the grisly way they tried to dispose of Bauer’s body. “She admitted that they had chopped up her body and put it in acid,” he said. “Like, dissolved it.”
In their opening statement to the jury, Goble’s defense attorney conceded that his client had helped dispose of the victim’s body, but maintained she had no role in killing Bauer. He described Goble as “scared of her boyfriend” after Bauer’s death.
A handwritten ‘spell’ allegedly written by Katelyn Goble. (Court TV)
Prosecutors elicited testimony from Settles saying exactly the opposite. “There had been times when Katelyn was talking about what she does for her job, working at the club, and she was talking about how easy it is to manipulate men to get what she wants.”
Part of the manipulation, Settles said, was using spells on people. Settles gave prosecutors a photograph of a “manipulation spell” he said he found in his belongings, which he believed Goble had tried to target him with. When asked whether Goble was “into witchcraft,” Settles responded, “She had an altar in our closet.”
The spell, introduced into evidence, required ingredients including a photo, hair or nail clipping, vinegar, glass and bugs. The instructions recommended that the person who performs the spell follow it with “a cleansing protection spell for self.”
Prosecutors also called Goble’s younger brother, Alexander Stafford, to the stand on Friday to testify that he had never seen his sister be controlled by a boyfriend. “She’s never been, like, the follower of a boyfriend. She’s always been either right there beside them doing what they’re doing or the one making the decisions,” he said. Recalling his sister in high school, he said that she was interested in serial killers and would dress in “all black, dark clothes” with “really dark eyeliner all down her eyes, and just kind of outlandish makeup a little bit.”
Testimony is scheduled to continue on Monday.
