[CW: The following story discusses alleged domestic abuse, harassment, and murder]
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Cedric Marks found guilty of capital murder
A court in Bell County, TX found former MMA fighter Cedric Marks guilty of two counts of capital murder this week (per KWTX). Marks was convicted of killing his former girlfriend Jenna Scott, 28, and her friend Michael Swearingin, 32.
The jury delivered their guilty verdicts after around four hours of deliberation.
During the trial, in which Marks was representing himself, the jury heard from Marks girlfriend Maya Maxwell who said that she witnessed Scott and Swearingin being brought, alive to a residence in Killeen. She said that Marks entered rooms containing each victim and that, after he had left, they were deceased.
Maxwell would later guide authorities to the location of Scott and Swearingin’s bodies, on property connected to Marks’ family in Okfusee County, OK.
The jury also heard that DNA, cell phone records and camera footage corroborated Maxwell’s statement.
On June 5 Marks will learn if his sentence is life in prison or death.
Cedric Marks is accused of a separate murder
Marks is also accused of murdering April Pease, a woman who disappeared in Bloomington, MN in 2009. Pease was in a relationship and had a child with him and was staying at a women’s shelter at the time of her disappearance.
Kellee Kristine Sorenson, another former girlfriend of Marks, told investigators that she helped Marks abduct Pease from the shelter and that the abduction happened when Pease was with her child (per FOX9). Sorenson said she took the child back to the shelter, but was with Marks when they drove Pease to another location. At that location, Sorenson claims Marks choked Pease and dragged her out of sight.
Sorenson said that Marks later told her that he had killed Pease and removed her teeth and hands to prevent her remains being identified.
Before Marks killed Scott, she attempted to file multiple protective orders against him. In 2018 she told a court that Marks had choked her unconscious multiple times and threatened to kill her. In his threats, Scott claimed, was the boast that Marks knew how to get away with murder.
Support for survivors of domestic violence can be found from the following organizations:
- USA – The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
- Canada – DAWN-RAFH Canada
- UK and Ireland – Women’s Aid: 0808-2000-247
- Rest of the World – HotPeachPages
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