BELL COUNTY, Texas — The mother and best friend of murder victims Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin were on the witness stand on Tuesday, April 18, marking the second day of testimony in the Cedric Marks capital murder trial in Bell County's 426th District Court.
Marks is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott and her friend Michael Swearingin, who were both reported missing from Temple on Jan. 4, 2019. Their bodies were found days later in Oklahoma.
Jenna Scott's mother Karen Scott continued her testimony on Tuesday. She testified on Monday, telling the courtroom about how her daughter was "scared" of Marks.
She explained how the two were dating for nearly three years after they met on the dating app Tinder. She said though Marks was kind in the beginning, he became physically and emotionally abusive and that Jenna Scott tried to file a protective order against him in 2018, but a judge denied it.
Marks, who won the right to represent himself, continued to cross examine Karen Scott on Tuesday. He asked her if she was aware Jenna Scott was reportedly charged with domestic abuse and making terroristic threats in 2011, but Karen Scott said she wasn't aware.
"I would like to remind you, you're under oath," Marks told her.
Karen Scott did confirm her daughter was arrested in 2011, but said the charges were dropped.
In cross examination, Marks also brought up that he taught self defense classes and is an advocate against domestic violence. He says Jenna Scott took those classes.
When Jenna Scott's mother stepped down from the witness stand, she broke out in tears, hugged her husband and other family friends.
Swearingin's best friend Corey Cross was called as the next witness. Cross is just one of the friends who helped access the security footage from Swearingin's home as well as track down his phone location history.
6 News watched the footage in the courtroom and saw Swearingin leaving his house at 4:10 p.m., that was the last time he would ever be seen.
Jenna Scott then runs into Swearingin's house at 4:38 p.m. There is another person who rings the door bell around 7:15 p.m. When Marks questioned Cross about the person at the front door, he asks if this hand was a black man's hand or if the bone structure was similar to his.
Cross fired back and said you cannot tell skin color from the security footage because it is nighttime and the footage is gray.
The two went back and four and debated the matter for over an hour. The judge said they needed to move along.
After the door bell ring from the unknown person, reports show that motion detection was activated throughout the rest of the evening. However, the log shows the footage was accessed and deleted around 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2019. The next video footage is Michael's girlfriend, Rachel Foster, ringing on the doorbell around 10:39 p.m. that same night. At 10:46 p.m., Foster knocks again.
There isn't much activity throughout the rest of the night, but reports show text messages from both Jenna Scott and Michael around 3:00 a.m. to their friends.
Flash forward to 8 a.m. and there is a text message exchange between Jenna Scott and her mom. Jenna Scott said that she is going to a doctor's appointment and is planning on heading back from Austin, which is allegedly where her and Swearingin were headed the night before.
Around 8:15 a.m. on Jan. 4, 2019 is when Deborah Harrison, Swearingin's mom, was notified that alarms are going off in her son's house. However, Swearingin isn't there and neither is Jenna Scott.
After going through and analyzing the phone history tracking, Cross and his friends were able to locate Swearingin's car in Austin, Texas near a barbeque restaurant on the same day. They were not able to locate the two.
When Marks continued to cross-examine Cross, he brought up video that he wanted to submit into evidence. It contained video of parts of Jenna Scott and Marks' relationship.
Prior to Tuesday's testimony, the judge denied Marks' request of submitting it as evidence. Marks said to the judge, "We may as well not have a trial if I can't present evidence."
However, because Cross mentioned Marks' video evidence, Marks again requested it be submitted as evidence. The judge still said the evidence is not admissible.
Court ended around 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday April 18, 2023 and will resume tomorrow morning at the Bell County Justice Center.
6 News will continue to update this web story with the events that take place in the courtroom. You can also watch updates on this trial on 6 News at 5, 6 and 10.