What Happened to Bethany Markowski?

On March 4, 2001, 11-year-old Bethany Markowski vanished. She never returned home to her mother or the family members who loved her dearly. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain suspicious, and her whereabouts in the hours leading up to her disappearance have never been verified.

Who Was Bethany Markowski?

school photo of Bethany Markowski at age 8 — *A school photo of Bethany Markowski around the age of 8.*

Bethany Markowski was a typical pre-teen. Sweet but sassy, with a sharp wit and a strong will, she was the kind of girl who could light up a room. Her mother, Jonnie Carter, describes her as smart and confident, but also vulnerable due to a difficult home life.

Bethany was living in Gleason, Tennessee, with her mother and father, but as her father’s abuse escalated, Jonnie knew she had to leave. One day, while Larry was at work, Jonnie took the opportunity to flee their home with Bethany and move in with her sister’s family in Hermitage, Tennessee.

Shortly after, Jonnie enrolled Bethany in a new school and obtained an Order of Protection against Larry. Despite the abuse allegations, a judge granted Larry unsupervised weekend visitation with Bethany.

The Weekend Bethany Disappeared

Bethany went to visit her father the weekend of March 2–4, 2001. Jonnie’s sister Lori was scheduled to pick Bethany up at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday at their usual halfway meeting point off the Waverly exit in Tennessee. But Bethany and her father never arrived.

What We Know:

On Friday, March 2, Larry and Bethany traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, to visit Larry’s friend, Harold Roberts.
On Saturday, March 3, Bethany spoke to her mother on the phone and said Larry had promised to take her ice skating the next day.
On Sunday morning, Bethany called her mom again. The call was strange—she repeatedly asked if she would be picked up at 5:00 and said, “Dad knows you have a boyfriend.”
That afternoon, Lori waited at the Waverly exit, but Bethany and Larry never arrived.

Larry’s Story:

Larry claimed that around 2:00 p.m., he took Bethany to Old Hickory Mall in Jackson, TN, about an hour away from both Gleason and Waverly. He said he let her go inside alone while he napped in his car, then went looking for her when she didn’t return. At 5:00 p.m., he alerted mall security. At 6:00 p.m., he notified police.

However, no surveillance footage of Bethany has ever been found at the mall. No witnesses reported seeing her there that day. There is no confirmed evidence that she was ever at Old Hickory Mall.

Bethany Markowski on her 11th birthday, blowing out candles on a birthday cake, surrounded by her mother, grandmother, and aunt at a large dining room table — *Bethany with her family at her 11th birthday party, February 2001—just one month before she went missing.*

Eyewitness Sightings and Leads

The first major lead came in April 2001, when a girl resembling Bethany was seen with an unidentified woman in Cleveland, Tennessee. Witnesses say the woman:

Appeared to be in her 40s
Had unkempt hair and dark circles under her eyes
Attempted to enroll the girl in school without records

The same woman and girl were spotted at a local café for three consecutive days. Witnesses later reported seeing them board a bus to Moline, Illinois. The bus depot was searched, but no trace of the girl or woman was found.

Sketch of the woman suspect who was seen with a girl resembling Bethany in a cafe in Cleveland, Tennessee in 2001 — *A sketch of the unidentified woman seen with a girl resembling Bethany in April 2001.*

The Last Verified Sighting

The last person besides Larry to confirm seeing Bethany was Harold Roberts, Larry’s friend in Little Rock. He told investigators that Larry had mentioned wanting to flee to Mexico with Bethany. Larry denies ever saying this.

To this day, Larry Markowski has not been ruled out as a suspect. He maintains his innocence and has made repeated public accusations against Jonnie, despite no evidence ever implicating her.

Advocacy and Legacy

Bethany Markowski as a toddler in the arms of her mother Jonnie Carter — *Bethany in her mother’s arms as a toddler.*

Since Bethany’s disappearance, her mother, Jonnie Carter, has worked tirelessly to advocate for missing children. She has volunteered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and The Ride for Missing Children, and was instrumental in helping pass legislation declaring March 4 as Tennessee Missing Children’s Day—a date chosen to honor the anniversary of Bethany’s disappearance.

The Bethany Markowski Project was created by her family to continue fighting for justice in Bethany’s case and to support other families of missing children.

How You Can Help

💌 Join our newsletter to follow our crowdsourced investigation and receive campaign updates.
📣 Share Bethany’s story on social media using our Share Kit.
💰 Donate to support advocacy projects like Tennessee Missing Children’s Day.
🕵️‍♀️ Submit a Tip anonymously here or email us at tips@findbethany.org

If you know anything—no matter how small—please come forward.
Bethany has been missing for over 23 years. Someone knows something.
Help us bring her home.

Suggestions