Deputies in Montgomery County, Texas say they’re looking for escaped inmate Cedric Joseph Marks, 44. Authorities describe him as “extremely dangerous.” They say he faces three pending murder charges, and is an MMA fighter.
Investigators say he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Law enforcement discovered it after he fled. Marks ran off from a private prisoner transport when he was left unattended at a stop to eat at a McDonald’s, sheriff’s authorities said in Houston Chronicle report.
Marks was being brought in to Texas from Michigan this week in connection to the deaths of his ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott, 28, and her friend Michael Swearingin, 32. Investigators said their bodies were found in shallow graves in Oklahoma, according to a Temple Daily Telegram report. As of Thursday, the defendant only faced a count of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit other felony, for allegedly breaking into Scott’s home last August.
The deaths followed months in which Marks allegedly stalked and harassed his ex, telling her he had friends in law enforcement, and that “your entire family and all of your friends will need witness protection if you call the police.” She put a protective order out on him.
The defendant was arrested January 8 in Kent County, Michigan at the home of his wife Ginell McDonough, 37. She allegedly hid Marks and 26-year-old Maya Maxwell in her home. Both women were charged for allegedly interfering in the investigation.
[Mugshot via Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office]