Kent County Jail, Kent County, MI
MMA veteran Cedric Marks is charged with murder in connection to a 2009 abduction.
[CW: The following story discusses alleged domestic abuse, harassment, and murder]
Cedric Marks,45, is currently on trial in Temple, TX for the double killing of Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin. Marks faces the possibility of a death sentence if he is found guilty of their murders.
Scott and Swearingin were reported missing on January 3rd, 2019. In 2018 Scott filed a protective order against Marks, accusing him of choking her unconscious on multiple occasions and threatening her life and the lives of those around her. In those court hearings Scott also said that Marks had told her that he knew how to cover up a murder.
Scott and Swearingin’s bodies were found in shallow graves near Clearview, OK on January 15th, 2019. Marks, who was arrested in Michigan on suspicion of burglarizing Scott’s Texas’ home, was transported to Texas soon after. During this journey Marks escaped his prison transport and lead authorities on a nine hour manhunt before he was recaptured.
Arrested with Marks was his girlfriend Maya Maxwell, who has since given birth to Marks’ child while in custody. Maxwell is accused of tampering with evidence, specifically that she moved a vehicle belonging to Swearingin to prevent it being found by police.
Maxwell has since told investigators that she witnessed Marks enter rooms containing Scott and Swearingin, who were alive at the time, and then exit those rooms. She said that both Scott and Swearingin were dead when Marks left the rooms.
According to WCCO in Minneapolis, MN Marks has just been charged with another murder, unrelated to the Scott and Swearingin case.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced on Monday that Marks and Kellee Kristine Sorensen, 34, have been charged with murder in connection to the 2009 abduction of April Pease.
Pease and Marks had a child together when they both lived in Washington. In 2009 Pease and her four-year-old child had to relocate to a refuge for domestic assault victims in Bloomington, MN after several suspected domestic assaults by Marks. Pease was then transferred to a facility in Washington.
Investigators state that in March 2009, Marks and Sorensen traveled to Washington to find Pease. After she was located, authorities allege that Marks and Sorenson abducted Pease and drove her to an unknown location. Investigators believe Marks killed Pease at that location while Sorensen sat in a vehicle. Pease’s body was never found.
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