MMA fighter, girlfriend indicted in Texas for capital murder

BELTON, Texas – An MMA fighter and his girlfriend were indicted on capital murder charges in Texas in the killings of two people whose bodies were found in a shallow grave in Oklahoma.

Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza on Wednesday announced the indictments for Cedric Marks, 44, and Maya Maxwell, 26. The couple was also charged with tampering with evidence in the deaths of Michael Swearingin and Jenna Scott.

Swearingin, 32, was strangled and his death was ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy report the Oklahoma’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released Wednesday. Scott’s autopsy has not been completed, but the indictment said the 28-year-old died from “homicidal violence,” according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Marks prompted a manhunt in February when he escaped from a private prison van that had stopped at a Texas McDonald’s while transporting him from Michigan, where we was arrested. He was recaptured nine hours later and taken to the Bell County jail.

Marks has denied killing Scott, his ex-girlfriend, and Swearingin. They were found buried in Clearview, about 80 miles (129 kilometres) east of Oklahoma City, on Jan. 15.