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U.S. NEWS Monday 4 February 2019

MMA fighter wanted in killings

captured after escaping van

CONROE, Texas (AP) — An MMA fighter suspected of kill-
ing two people, including an ex-girlfriend, was captured
Sunday after escaping from a prisoner transport van in
Texas, authorities said.
Cedric Marks was taken into custody after a nine-hour
manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies,
Conroe police Lt. Scott Spencer said in a tweet Sunday
evening.
Marks escaped from the private prison transport van dur-
ing a stop at a McDonald’s in Conroe about 40 miles (65
kilometers) north of Houston, police Lt. Dorcy McGinnis
said.
McGinnis said murder warrants were issued Sunday for
Marks in last month’s killings of an ex-girlfriend, Jenna
Scott, and a friend of hers, Michael Swearingin, who dis-
appeared Jan. 4 and were found buried in a shallow
grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, on Jan. 15.
Marks was arrested in Michigan last month on a Bell Coun-
ty, Texas, charge alleging that on Aug. 21, he broke into
Scott’s home in Temple, which is about 60 miles (100 kilo- In this photo provided by the Kent County Michigan Sheriff’s
meters) north of Austin. Authorities say he escaped while office, Cedric Marks is pictured in a booking photo in Grand
being transferred to Bell County to face that charge. Rapids, Mich., dated Jan. 8, 2019.
Scott requested a protective order against Marks last July, Associated Press
accusing him of choking her unconscious twice, Temple
television station KCEN reported.
“Each time he allowed me to regain consciousness and
then he choked me out again,” Scott said in an affidavit.
The protective order request was denied.
She also reported to police that Marks had broken into
her home in August while her daughter, who was 9, was
there. She said he took her cellphone to prevent her from
calling 911.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office’s initial tweet
about the escape said Marks was facing three “pending
murder charges,” but it didn’t immediately respond to re-
quests for further information about those charges.
Police in Bloomington, Minnesota, say Marks remains
a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April
Pease, who was the mother of one of his children. The
two were involved in a fierce custody dispute in Wash-
ington state and Pease, who had a drug problem, went
to live in a Bloomington women’s shelter because she
said she was afraid of Marks. Like Scott, Pease alleged
that Marks had choked her unconscious on more than
one occasion, according to a court custody investigator.
Pease went missing in March 2009 and Marks got custody
of their son.
Pease’s mother, Dottie Pease, told KCEN last month that
she had believed her daughter might have had a drug
relapse, but that given the developments in Texas, she
thought it was possible that Marks might have had some-
thing to do with her daughter’s disappearance.
Two women were arrested in Michigan on charges relat-
ed to Marks.
Maya Maxwell is charged with evidence tampering and
is jailed in Bell County, Texas, on $150,000 bond. Accord-
ing to an arrest affidavit, she told detectives that she
drove Swearingin’s vehicle to Austin in an attempt to hide
it from investigators. It was found abandoned in the city
Jan. 6.
Ginell McDonough, who is Marks’ wife and the mother
of two of his two children, is jailed in Muskegon County,
Michigan, on an obstruction of justice charge. She is ac-
cused of allowing Marks and Maxwell to stay in her home
between Jan. 5 and Jan. 9.
Jail records do not list an attorney for either woman.
Marks compiled a record of 31-28-0 during his profes-
sional MMA career, which began in 1999, according to
mixedmartialarts.com . His last fight was in September.q