Cedric Marks: Escaped MMA fighter wanted over killing of ex-girlfriend found in bin after 9-hour manhunt

Suspected murderer is returned to custody after escaping from prison van during stop at McDonald’s

MMA fighter wanted in killings captured after escaping van (Montgomery County Sheriff's Office)

Police have re-captured an MMA fighter who officers say is facing multiple murder charges, after he escaped a prison van during a stop at McDonald’s and hid in a bin.

Cedric Marks, 44, who is suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott and her friend Michael Swearingin, escaped on Sunday morning in Conroe, Texas, about 40 miles north of Houston.

Following a public appeal and a nine-hour manhunt, he was found hiding in a bin and “surrendered without incident”, Montgomery County sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page.

The force said in a statement: “After an exhausting nine-hour manhunt involving multiple Montgomery County, state and federal law enforcement agencies, Cedric Joseph Marks has been captured.

“Conroe Police located him still within the city and the community can relax as he is now safely in custody.”

Marks was arrested in Michigan in January after being charged with breaking into Scott’s house, in another part of Texas, last August. Authorities said he escaped custody while being driven to face those charges.

On Sunday murder warrants for Mr Marks were issued over the deaths of Scott, 28, and Swearingin, 32, whose bodies had been discovered in a shallow grave in Oklahoma on 15 January – 11 days after they disappeared.

Scott had requested a protective order against her former partner in July 2018, claiming she feared for her life after he allegedly choked her unconscious twice.

“Each time he allowed me to regain consciousness and then he choked me out again,” Scott told authorities in an affidavit. The protective order request was denied.

She also reported the August break-in to police, saying her nine-year-old daughter had been present. She claimed Mr Marks took her mobile phone to prevent her from calling 911.

Mr Marks also remains a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April Pease, who was the mother of one of his children and involved in a fierce custody dispute with him, police in Minnesota said.

Montgomery County sherrif’s office had described Mr Marks as “extremely dangerous” with “three pending murder charges” in an appeal on Twitter, but did not immediately respond to requests for further information about those charges.

Mr Marks is a middleweight fighter known professionally as “Spider Man”. Since making his MMA debut in 1999 he has notched 31 wins.

Additional reporting by AP