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  1. #1
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Cedric Joseph Marks - Texas Death Row


    Michael Swearingin, 32, and Jenna Scott, 28









    January 17, 2019

    Bodies found in Oklahoma are those of missing local man, woman

    By John Carroll
    KWTX 10 News

    TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office Thursday confirmed that two bodies recovered Tuesday in rural Okfusee County, Okla., are those of Jenna Scott, 28, and her friend Michael Swearingin, 32.

    Information about the cause of their deaths wasn't released.

    Police earlier said they believed the bodies were those of the missing friends.

    Scott and Swearingin, 32, were last heard from at 3 a.m. on Jan. 4.

    The remains were recovered from a clandestine grave after Oklahoma investigators went to the property at the request of Temple police, who are investigating the disappearance of the two Temple residents.

    “Investigative information led investigators to rural Okfuskee County, where a homicide investigation is underway,” the OSBI said in a press release Tuesday.

    “The identity of the victim(s) and cause(s) and manner(s) of death will be determined at autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner,” the bureau said.

    “The OSBI continues to assist Temple Police Department in this active investigation.”

    Texas Rangers were in Oklahoma, assisting with the investigation.

    Cedric Marks, 44, whom police identified as Scott’s ex-boyfriend, was arrested on Jan. 8 in Kent County, Mich., on the Temple burglary warrant.

    He remains in custody there pending his transfer back to Bell County.

    Scott filed for and was granted a temporary protective order against Marks in July 2018.

    The order barred Marks from communicating or having any contact with Scott and also barred him from possessing a firearm.

    But on Sept. 17, 2018, after a hearing on Aug. 15, 2018, Bell Country State District Judge Paul LePak issued a ruling denying Scott’s motion to make the temporary order permanent.

    The burglary warrant on which Marks was arrested stems from an incident on Aug. 21, 2018, six days after the Aug. 15 hearing on the protective order, in which Scott found Marks in her house after an alarm sounded.

    Scott told officers she had her phone in her hand, but said Marks took it and “threw it out of reach,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

    Scott “yelled for her daughter to call 911,” the affidavit says, and the girl did place the call.

    “Officers collected information from 911 dispatch, and it confirmed that (the girl’s) phone made a 911 call on August 21 2018 that was dropped,” the affidavit says.

    Temple police have not identified Marks as a suspect or person of interest in their investigation of the disappearance of Scott and Swearingin.

    But police in Bloomington, Minn., say he will be looked at in connection with the March 17, 2009 disappearance of another former girlfriend, April Pease.

    “We will be reopening the case of April Pease and we’ll be looking at Marks,” Bloomington police Sgt. Jeff Ratzloff told KWTX Tuesday.

    Records show that Pease and Marks had been in a bitter child custody dispute for months before she disappeared.

    Court records obtained by KWTX show Pease, who was from Washington State, had a child with Marks.

    She fled to Bloomington for her safety according to court statements, but was dealing with a long term drug problem.

    When she failed to show up for a court appearance on the child custody issue on March 20, 2009, three days after she disappeared, Marks wrote in a statement to the judge, "She's probably relapsed into drug activity."

    Marks was awarded custody of the child.

    Pease has never been found.

    Marks' name came up in the investigation of the disappearance, but at the time he wasn't considered a suspect, police said.

    Pease’s mother, Dottie Pease, made an impassioned to police Wednesday to bring her daughter home.

    "I still hold out hope that April can be found and brought home. I'd like some closure like the Texas families have received."

    "I certainly know what the Swearingin and Scott families went through these past two weeks,” she said.

    The now 13-year-old who was at the center of the child custody fight between Marks and Pease had been living with Marks in Texas until recently and “is somewhere in Michigan right now,” Pease said.

    “I'd like to find him and see him," Pease said.

    Marks won’t fight his return to the state after his arrest in Michigan on an outstanding local burglary warrant.

    Marks waived extradition, Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza said Monday, and “will be returned to Bell County in the immediate future.”

    “The investigation by the Temple Police Department and other authorities into the search for Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin is active, fluid and continues,” Garza said.

    “Marks has terrorized and hurt our family for several years now. We are not surprised that he may be involved in the disappearance of a former girlfriend in Minnesota," Scott’s father, Jonathan Scott, said Tuesday.

    "This was so unnecessary," he said.

    "My daughter had all the information they needed to stop this and it was provided in the hearing for the protective order."

    https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Ex...504339371.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Ginell McDonough (left) and Maya Renee Maxwell. (Jail photos)



    January 30, 2019

    Woman facing charges in death of Temple couple extradited to Texas


    By Tulsi Kamath
    KXAN News

    AUSTIN (KXAN/ KWKT) -- The woman facing charges in connection with the disappearance and deaths of two friends from Temple has been extradited to Bell County, officials say.

    Maya Maxwell is now in Texas and faces tampering with evidence charges.

    This case stretches across three states, but it started in Temple on Jan. 4 when friends Michael Swearingin, 32, and Jenna Scott, 28, were reported missing. Swearingin's car was found abandoned in Austin a day later and authorities thought they may have been in the Texas capital.

    But Scott and Swearingin's families were convinced there was foul play involved in their disappearance. Nearly two weeks later, the bodies of Swearingin and Scott were found in a shallow grave in Ofuskee County, Oklahoma.

    Scott's ex-boyfriend Cedric Marks, 44, was arrested on Jan. 8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan on an outstanding warrant out of Temple. He is accused of breaking into Scott's Temple home in August.

    Maxwell is Marks' current girlfriend. She is accused of stealing Swearingin's car and bringing it to Austin. She was arrested in Michigan on Jan. 11 and is facing tampering with evidence charges. She was also named as a person of interest in the duo's disappearance and deaths.

    On Tuesday night, Maxwell was extradited from Michigan and booked into the Bell County jail at 10:45 p.m. The charge she faces is a third-degree felony.

    Marks wife, Ginell McDonough was also arrested on Jan. 11 and is facing different charges.

    McDonough was charged with harboring a fugitive after she was accused of allowing Marks to stay with her from Jan. 5 to Jan. 8 before he was arrested, all while knowing Marks had a warrant out for his arrest in Texas.

    https://www.kxan.com/news/local/aust...xas/1738887250
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
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    Cedric Marks MMA fighting as Cedric "Spiderman" Marks


    MMA fighter Cedric 'Spiderman' Marks captured after jail van escape: Texas authorities

    By Julia Jacobo
    ABC News

    A mixed martial arts fighter suspected of murder after he was captured after escaping from a jail transport van on Sunday.

    Cedric Joseph Marks fled from a private prisoner transport in Conroe Sunday morning, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office wrote on Twitter. The Conroe Police Department announced that he was captured later in the afternoon, but it was not immediately clear how.

    Marks, 44, was arrested by U.S. Marshalls in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on a charge of burglary with the intent to commit another felony, Conroe Police Lt. Dorcy McGinnis said in a press conference Sunday afternoon. He was being extradited back to Bell County by Texas Prisoner Transport Services, McGinnis said.

    Marks fled on foot after the van stopped at a McDonald's in Conroe Sunday around 7 a.m., McGinnis said. Nine other inmates were in the van at the time, and the van -- which had two transport guards -- had recently stopped in Louisiana on its way to Texas, she added.

    Marks has warrants for his arrest in Temple, Texas, for the deaths of Jenna Scott, 28, and Michael Swearingin, 32, McGinnis said. They were reported missing on Jan. 9 and their bodies were found in Oklahoma on Jan. 15, according to the Temple Police Department.

    Scott was Marks' ex-girlfriend, and the burglary charge he was picked up on was related to her, ABC Killeen affiliate KXXV reported.

    Scott had filed a protective order against Marks in Bell County on July 27, court documents show. They began dating in August 2015 after meeting on Tinder, according to the order.

    In a sworn affidavit filed on July 30, Scott described Marks as a "master manipulator" and said she "became aware of his manipulative and deceitful nature" as their relationship progressed, the court document shows.

    "I believe he is a pathological liar," Scott said, according to the court document. "I also believe he is a psychopath. He told about me killing pets when he was a child in Oklahoma and that he was in and out of psychiatric facilities during his childhood. He told me he had killed someone in Oklahoma but that he was able to cover it up and that he could do the same here in Texas."

    Marks would threaten Scott every time she tried to break up with him and even choked her until she lost consciousness on two occasions, she said in the affidavit.

    "Each time he allowed me to regain consciousness and then he choked me out again," she said, according to the court document.

    Marks allegedly broke into Scott's home and threatened her on Aug. 21, KXXV reported, citing an arrest affidavit. After the incident, Scott told police she hadn't given Marks consent to be inside her home and that he took her phone out of her hand and threw it, according to the station.

    When Scott yelled for her daughter to call 911, Marks then instructed Scott to make her daughter hang up the phone, KXXV reported.

    Marks allegedly said, "You know what I am capable of ... your entire family and all your friends will need witness protection if you call the police," KXXV reported, citing the arrest affidavit.

    Two other members of Scott's family were also listed in the protective order, the document shows.

    Marks, who fights under the nickname "Spiderman," according to mixed martial arts website Sherdog, stands at 5-foot-11-inches tall, and weighs 185 pounds.

    Marks is considered to be "extremely dangerous." Authorities do not believe he is in any kind of restraints, McGinnis said, warning residents to stay indoors and not to make contact with him.

    Marks may not be wearing a shirt, the sheriff's office said, adding that deputies found his shirt after he fled.

    Investigators used detector dogs and drones in their search for Marks, video taken on the scene in Conroe shows.

    ABC News' Matthew Furhman contributed to this report.

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-auth...ry?id=60814646
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Cedric Marks' bond raised to $1.75 million in connection with Scott, Swearingin killings and other charges

    Marks was booked into the Bell County Jail Sunday night after leading 17 law enforcement agencies on a manhunt for 9 hours.

    MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas — Cedric Marks' bond has been raised to $1.75 million in connection with the deaths of Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin, who were found dead at a home in Oklahoma in January.

    Marks was booked into the Bell County Jail at 11:07 p.m. Sunday after leading police on a 9-hour manhunt in Montgomery County. He is charged with capital murder of multiple persons and other charges.

    The other charges listed on the Bell County Jail Log include interference with an emergency call, false reporting to a law enforcement agency employee, violation of a protective order, and burglary of a habitation and committing a crime.

    Marks' bond amount was raised on Monday from $16,500 to $250,000 for the charge of burglary of a habitation and $1.5 million for the charge of capital murder of multiple persons.

    Conroe police said Cedric Marks hid inside of a 55-gallon trash can for as long as nine hours while authorities from 17 agencies searched for him.

    Marks escaped from a Texas Prisoner Transport van at 7:20 a.m. Sunday when the guards stopped at a McDonald's to get food, according to police.

    Marks was wanted on two murder warrants for the deaths of his ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott and her friend Michael Swearingin.

    A massive manhunt began with authorities receiving tips from the community, some of which turned out to be untrue, according to Conroe Police Chief Jeff Christy.

    After an extensive search with K9 units, Christy said new surveillance footage emerged, allowing authorities to get a better idea of where Marks was hiding.

    Marks was found a little before 5 p.m. in a trash can in the 1000 block of Windswept Dr. Christy said Marks surrendered without incident. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail.

    Among the agencies that helped in the search for Marks were, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshals, the Gulf Coast Task Force, Texas Department of Safety Criminal Investigation Division, Texas Rangers, Texas Highway Patrol, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Harris County Sheriff's Office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice K9 Division, Harris County Precinct Two, Three and Four Constables, Conroe Fire Marshal's office, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Christy said the two guards, and the 10 prisoners in the transport van would all be interviewed by authorities.

    Christy said Marks had leg restraints, hand restraints and a restraint around his waist to connect them all. Christy said it was unknown if any of those restraints were connected when he escaped or how he was able to remove any of them.

    KCEN Channel 6 reached out to Texas Prisoner Transport Monday. A representative of the company, who would only give the name Lisa, would only say that an internal investigation was being conducted.

    Christy said some of the incorrect information they received from the community led them in different directions. He said one tip they received said Marks changed clothes, which Christy said was not true.

    Christy said they believe Marks was in the trash can all day long. He said Marks did not contact anyone during his escape.

    "We're really excited for all the assistance we received from other law enforcement across South Texas," Christy said.

    Christy and Montgomery County Sheriff Scott Spencer confirmed the two murder warrants were issued by the Texas Rangers.

    An initial press release just after Marks' escape said he was wanted on three murder warrants. Christy could not provide details on the third murder investigation.

    You can see the full press conference with Chief Christy below.

    Maj. TJ Cruz with the Bell County Sheriff's Office said the sheriff's office was still working on the logistics of when and how they would bring Marks back to Bell County.

    KHOU reporter Matt Dougherty tweeted video of Marks being taken into custody Sunday evening.

    Marks was being extradited from Michigan to face a burglary charge in Bell County. Temple police said Marks broke into Scott's home in August 2018.

    Montgomery County sheriff officials said dispatch received the call about Marks' escape around 7:20 a.m. Sunday.

    Conroe police gave a press briefing around 1 p.m. You can watch the full press conference below.

    Video taken just before 11:30 a.m. from reporter Matt Dougherty, from Channel 6 sister station KHOU showed authorities searching an area along I-45 North.

    Dougherty also tweeted video of police searching the area around Walmart in Conroe.

    Cruz said the Bell County Sheriff's Office was notified around 8 a.m. that Marks had escaped.

    Cruz could not say why Marks was taken to Montgomery County, but he said at the time Texas Prisoner Transport was on its way to Bell County.

    Marks was picked up from the jail in Grand Rapids, Michigan Jan. 31 to be brought to Bell County.

    Scott was found dead with Swearingin on Jan. 15 in Clearview, Oklahoma. They had been missing since Jan. 4.

    Marks was arrested in Grand Rapids, Michigan Jan. 8, four days after Scott and Swearingin were last seen.

    The Bell County District Attorney's Office said on Jan. 10 it was in the process of extraditing Marks from Grand Rapids. Marks wasn't picked up from the Michigan jail until Jan. 31

    Two more women entered the scene when Marks' wife and mother of two of his children, Ginell McDonough, and another woman, Maya Maxwell, were arrested in Muskegon County, Michigan on Jan. 11.

    McDonough was charged with harboring Marks and Maxwell at her home between Jan. 5 and Jan. 9. During her arraignment Jan. 16, a judge set McDonough's bond at $75,000 for harboring felons.

    Maxwell proved to be the first direct connection to the disappearance of Scott and Swearingin.

    According to a Temple arrest affidavit, Maxwell told detectives in a voluntary interview she took Swearingin's vehicle to Austin in an attempt to hide it from law enforcement. The vehicle was found Jan. 6 in an area of Austin that Swearingin's mother said her son would never go.

    Maxwell was brought back to Bell County Jan. 29 and booked into the Bell County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

    https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/...f-b232f2651835
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  5. #5
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    Affidavit of Murder of Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin



    https://twitter.com/alcaprari23
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #6
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    MMA fighter who escaped prison van denies killings

    By Associated Press

    CONROE, Texas – An MMA fighter facing murder charges who prompted a nine-hour manhunt when he escaped from a prison van said he had "nothing to do with" the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her friend.

    During a Thursday video call from a Texas jail, Cedric Marks told TV station KPRC2 that he did not kill Jenna Scott or her friend Michael Swearingin. The pair had been missing from their Texas home for more than a week when their bodies were found in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, on Jan. 15.

    "I can only imagine what's going on with their family and I am so sorry for their losses, but I did not and had nothing to do with this," Marks said.

    Marks was arrested in Michigan last month on a Texas charge alleging he broke into Scott's home on Aug 21. He somehow got free from a private prison van that was bringing him from Michigan to Texas on Sunday, the same day Texas officials issued murder warrants. Authorities recaptured him nine hours later.

    But Marks, 44, said he "was not trying to escape" from the van that stopped outside a McDonald's near Houston. "I was actually in fear and I was not going anywhere at all," he said.

    Neither police nor the company that was transporting Marks, Texas Prisoner Transportation Service, have explained how he managed to get loose while wearing leg, hand and belly restraints. Marks declined to discuss his escape with the TV station. The middleweight fighter was found hiding in trash can in a residential neighborhood less than a mile (1.61 kilometers) from the McDonald's.

    In the interview with KPRC2, Marks also challenged the account of the woman who appears to be the primary witness against him, Maya Maxwell.

    Maxwell told police that she was there when Marks allegedly killed Scott and Swearingin in a Texas house on Jan. 3, according to an affidavit Temple police filed Tuesday in Bell County District Court. She also said that she was present when their bodies were moved more than 350 miles (563 kilometers) north and buried in Oklahoma, but she did not make clear what role she or Marks played in these actions.

    Maxwell is being held on a felony charge of tampering with evidence in the Bell County Jail, which does not list an attorney for her.

    Marks said he believes police forced Maxwell's statements. "I believe that they coerced her and scared her and forced her to say some things, but none of this has involved me," he said.

    Marks is being held on a more than $1.75 million bond for charges including capital murder.

    He is also a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April Pease, the mother of one of his children, according to police in Bloomington, Minnesota. The couple had been involved in a custody dispute in Washington state when Pease, who had a drug problem, went to live in a Bloomington women's shelter because she said she was afraid of Marks, according to court documents.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/mma-fight...enies-killings
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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