Marks’ wife admits hiding him during manhunt
Cedric Marks was charged with two counts of homicide in 2019.
[CW: The following story discusses suspected domestic violence]
KCENTV reports that Ginell McDonough, 37, plead guilty to allowing her husband Cedric Marks, 44, along with his girlfriend Maya Maxwell, stay at her house in Michigan while they were wanted for the murders of Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin last year.
McDonough will be sentenced on November 13th. She could receive up to nine months of jail time. McDonough’s attorney said he will ask the court to sentence his client to probation.
Officials in Muskegon County, MI said that Marks and Maxwell stayed with McDonough from January 5th to January 9th in 2019. Police in Temple, TX started looking for Marks and Maxwell after Scott and Swearingin were declared missing on January 4th. Marks was arrested in Grand Rapids, MI on January 8th over a warrant stemming from a 2018 burglary at Scott’s home. Maxwell and McDonough were arrested on January 11th.
Scott and Swearingin’s remains were discovered near Clearview, OK on January 15th. Marks and Maxwell were then extradited from Michigan to Texas. During this process Marks escaped a prisoner transport vehicle, which lead to a nine hour manhunt close to Conroe, TX. After he was re-captured he was charged with two counts of capital murder.
Maxwell was charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence after she admitted to moving Swearingin’s vehicle. Maxwell has also told detectives that she witnessed Marks go into rooms where Scott and Swearingin were being held, alive. And that when he exited those rooms both Scott and Swearingin were dead. Maxwell gave birth to a child, believed to be fathered by Marks, behind bars on June 4th, 2019.
Prosecutors in Bell County, TX have stated they will seek the death penalty if Marks is convicted of killing Scott and Swearingin. Scott and Swearingin were killed after a judge turned down a restraining order application from Scott. In that application Scott accused Marks of repeatedly choking her unconscious. She also claimed Marks threatened her life and the lives of her family.
Marks is a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April Pease, whose last known location was a women’s shelter in Minnesota. Before Pease went missing she was awarded custody of a child fathered by Marks. When Pease disappeared, custody was briefly transferred to Marks. The child was then taken into custody by the state.
Marks is a veteran of almost 60 professional MMA bouts. Between 1998 and 2018 he competed in Bellator MMA, Shamrock Fighting Championships and Extreme Challenge.