BELL COUNTY, Texas — Day 12 of the Cedric Marks capital murder trial resumed on Tuesday, May 2 after Marks told the courtroom the day before he was too sick to continue. The jury learned that Marks' wife, Ginell McDonough, assisted police by giving up the locations of Jenna Scott and Michael Swearingin's bodies.
Marks is accused of killing both Scott and Swearingin in 2019. Their bodies were discovered in a shallow grave in Clearview, Okla., just south of Tulsa, in early Jan. of 2019.
McDonough was one of the two women arrested on Jan. 8, 2019 for reportedly harboring Marks and Maya Maxwell -- the woman who moved Swearingin's vehicle to Austin during Scott and Swearingin's disappearance -- from Jan. 5 to Jan. 9 in 2019.
Before McDonough took the stand, prosecutors called Kennedy Ring to testify. Ring is an audio and video specialist at the Regional Organized Crime Information Center in Nashville.
Ring amplified, magnified and clarified audio and video footage including clips from Swearingin's neighborhood, First Baptist Church, Las Cruces, Whataburger and Walmart per Temple Detective James Powell's request.
In the enhanced Whataburger footage, a white Toyota RAV4, similar to the one registered to Rebecca Adney, one of Marks' girlfriends, is in the drive-thru with a driver resembling Marks. There also appears to be two figures in the car.
Marks says in cross examination the license plate isn't clear, so there is no way to prove whose car that is and who was in it.
In the Walmart surveillance footage, video shows a man resembling Marks and his alleged accomplice Maxwell in the store. They purchased shoes, clothes, a towel and shovel.
When Ring finished testifying, McDonough took the stand.
Her testimony started with the two children she and Marks were raising together; one of the children is their own and the other child belonged to April Pease, whom Marks is accused of second-degree murder of back in 2009.
McDonough told the court during the last week of Dec. 2018, Marks "changed" in that he was quiet and to himself.
"I only saw him like that back in 2009," she said.
She also gives background on their open relationship. She says Maxwell was pregnant with Marks' baby, was in a relationship with Adney and Scott all throughout their marriage, and they were both okay with it.
Later in her testimony, she confirmed to the jury the people in the Walmart videos were Marks and Maxwell. She also pointed out a Title Boxing sweatshirt Marks is wearing in the Walmart clips which is where he worked at the time.
McDonough says on Jan. 1, 2019, Marks left with Maxwell to Texas because he was going to turn himself in on his burglary arrest warrant.
Phone data extractions revealed multiple call logs between Marks, McDonough and Maxwell from this point leading up to Marks' arrest on Jan. 8, 2019. McDonough told the courtroom multiple times she did not remember what any of these calls consisted of.
On Jan. 5, 2019, McDonough testified she took Marks to a hospital for his injuries. When checking in, Marks used his middle name instead of his first because he was afraid of getting arrested.
On Jan. 7, 2019, McDonough says Marks and Maya stayed at her work office because Marks was still scared. In her work office, there was a suitcase with a pistol, clothes, Marks' fighter ID, a debit card and other miscellaneous items.
The last four digits on the debit card in Marks' name are identical to the last four digits on the Walmart receipt showing the purchase of a shovel in Henryetta, Okla.
On Jan. 9, 2019, McDonough had dozens of web articles open about Marks and what all happened over the course of the past few days. She later learned he was actually in Oklahoma after his arrest at a Michigan mall.
When Michigan police first came to her home, she confirmed she lied to police about Marks' whereabouts and what she knew because Marks told her to.
It wasn't until her her second interview with police that McDonough says she and Maxwell both told police where the bodies Swearingin and Scott were located.
McDonough says she told police the bodies were near Henryetta, Okla. near an area where Marks' family held reunion gatherings.
Trial resumes Wednesday, May 3 at 9 a.m. inside of the Bell County Justice Center. Marks will start by cross examining his wife and claims it will be lengthy.