MMA Fighter Cedric Marks, Girlfriend Maya Maxwell Indicted For Murder

Professional MMA fighter, Cedric Marks, known as Spider-Man, and his girlfriend, Maya Maxwell, were indicted Wednesday on capital murder charges in Texas, after the athlete’s former girlfriend and her male friend were found dead in January.

According to the indictment record, Marks, 44, and Maxwell, 26, “intentionally and knowingly” caused the “death of Micheal Swearingin [32] by asphyxia by strangulation” and also killed “Jenna Scott [28] by homicidal violence.” The autopsy report of Scott was still pending, following the discovery of the victims’ bodies Jan. 15 in a shallow grave at an abandoned property near Clearview, Oklahoma. Scott and Swearingin were reported missing Jan. 4.

The athlete has maintained that he was innocent of the murder charges brought against him. His girlfriend, who is currently pregnant with his baby, on the other hand confessed she was with Marks in a home in Killeen, Texas, in which Scott and Swearingin were kept in separate rooms. She said she heard each of the victims struggle as Marks entered one room at a time. When he exited the rooms, the victims were both dead. Maxwell also admitted to accompanying her boyfriend when the bodies were buried in a single grave.

Before Wednesday’s indictment, Maxwell was charged with evidence tampering for allegedly helping Marks dispose of Swearingin’s car, which was found dumped in Austin.

Marks was arrested Jan. 8 on the charge of robbery with a firearm. A manhunt was launched for him when he escaped from a private prison van while being transported from Michigan to Texas. He was recaptured nine hours later and taken to the Bell County jail. He was charged with capital murder Feb. 3.

He is currently being held on a $1.77 million bail, while Maxwell’s bail is set at $500,000.

Scott’s family members confirmed she and Marks were in a relationship in the past but she broke it off because he had turned abusive. After he tried to break into her house in August, she tried to get a protective order against him – which was denied by the Bell County court, Statesman reported.

“We have good days and bad days of course, but we are healing," Jonathan Scott, the female victim’s father, told local news media Centrex Proud. “I hope that the DA is planning on pursuing the death penalty, that's pretty much what's on my mind right now. There will always be a void, you know, our new reality is pretty hard to adjust to. It's taken its toll, we rely on our faith and our love for one another and we just keep moving forward, Jenna would have wanted that, and so would have Michael."

"I hope that they prove that they have enough, that the evidence is valid, it's a solid case and that they are able to move forward, the DA is able to move forward and pursue the death penalty," he added.

Marks is also being investigated for the disappearance of his former girlfriend, April Pease, the mother of one of his sons. Pease, who was 30 years old at the time, went missing from Bloomington, Minnesota, on March 17, 2009, and has not been found since.