KILLEEN, Texas — Wednesday, May 24 was a day many have been waiting for - a verdict in the Cedric Marks capital murder trial.
The jury found Marks guilty of capital murder in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, and her friend Michael Swearingin. The murders took place back in Jan. of 2019 inside a Killeen home, according to prosecutors.
The owner of that home testified twice in trial. Rebecca Adney sat down with 6 News to shed light on her experience throughout the lengthy case.
Adney knew Marks for several years but says she never expected something like this to happen.
Adney testified she was in Wyoming during Jan. of 2019. She said Marks was supposed to pick her up at an airport in Austin after her vacation but never did.
When Adney came back from her trip, she says items were missing from her house in Killeen, including a hand towel, trash bags, blankets, electrical tape and a mop head.
According to Adney, only one person had a spare key to her house, and that was Marks.
Later in the trial, Marks' accomplice, Maya Maxwell, revealed that he killed Swearingin and Scott inside Adney's home.
For information on Maxwell's complete testimony, click here.
For information on Adney's complete testimony, click here.
Here's what Adney had to say in her interview:
How did you first get involved in the case?
I was on vacation, and I was found out that he had, you know, took them to my home and used my vehicles possibly. I kind of didn't know what was going on back then. That is actually how I got, I'd like to say dragged into the case.
How did you and Cedric meet?
He was my trainer, and then we dated on and off and then you know, we were friends in between that so that's how I know him.
How was the testifying in trial twice? What emotions are you feeling today?
I've been waiting pretty much since the end of January 2019 for this to actually happen. Now that it's all over with, I kind of had mixed feelings. I kind of detached myself a while ago from, you know, all of it just so I could be okay because I needed to kind of move on and not let it control my life. I'm glad it's over with.
After learning everything that you did, what initial reaction did you have?
I was extremely confused because you know, initially I was still talking to him. I was hearing from him, and then I was hearing stuff from investigators. I kind of didn't really know what to believe, you know? After knowing someone for seven years, it's really hard to sit there and have someone tell you those things.
Did you ever see something like this coming?
I'm the type of person, I always like to see the good in people. Even after all this time, there was still a part of me that was like 'there's no way that he could have done this because I never knew him to be that person'. I never saw him angry, like none of it. I knew he was extremely depressed after him and Jenna went through everything... that's probably the most emotion and like, sad I've seen him the whole time I had known him, but I would have never thought anything like this would happen.
Did you have contact with Marks after testimony? What was that like?
He did message me and extremely apologized for making, not him making me cry, but that's probably the most emotional he's ever seen me in my life on that day, so he apologized for that. I don't remember what else he said in that message, but he just felt sorry for even putting me in the situation that he put me in.
How will this trial impact you?
I've been through a lot in my life. I was super close to him, so when I say I have trust issues, it's just really hard to like meeting new people. Like how do I really know if someone's who they say they are, or that's kind of like my worry and with all that that happened? I'm a lot more on edge when I'm out by myself because I do a lot on my own. It happening, it's kind of like well, it can happen to anybody.
How did you hear about the verdict and what were your overall thoughts?
I got out of my massage last night from one of my friends who I'm really close with, and she was like he was found guilty. I was gonna look it up. She had texted me and let me know and at first I kind of felt nothing but then on the way driving home I kind of just like felt I don't know I feel like all emotions. I think it's mainly because like, okay, it's over with but then again like, this is someone I knew for seven years like I don't think it's an easy pill for anybody to swallow. There was still like a tiny little hope like that maybe it wasn't him, but I'm really glad it's, you know, over for the family and they kind of got closure and I'm glad that I was able to provide what I could in the case.