Ketchmark received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, in 1986, from the University of Oklahoma.

She received a Juris Doctor in 1990 from the University of Kansas School of Law.

From 2001 to 2015, she served as an assistant United States attorney in the Western District of Missouri.

[1][2][3] On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Ketchmark to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, to the seat vacated by Judge Gary A. Fenner, who at the time was going to assume senior status on a date to be determined.

[4] On December 16, 2014 her nomination was returned to the President due to the sine die adjournment of the 113th Congress.