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Texas police capture MMA fighter facing murder charges after he escaped custody

Posted at 7:47 PM, Feb 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-03 19:47:46-05

An MMA fighter facing murder charges escaped custody for nine hours before being caught Sunday.

Police in Conroe, Texas, just outside Houston, said Cedric Joseph Marks, 44, ran away from a Texas Prisoner Transport Services van while it was stopped at a McDonald's. Marks was being taken from a prison in Michigan after being captured by US Marshals on a warrant for burglary of a home.

Marks was in restraints, according to CNN affiliate KPRC-TV , but after he escaped, he was able to get out of his shackles. Lt. Dorcy McGinnis with the Conroe Police Department said during a news conference Sunday that two employees from the transport service and nine other inmates were in the van at the time.

"We do believe there was still one (guard) in the van or near the van," McGinnis said when asked whether Marks was being supervised. Police described Marks as extremely dangerous.

Lt. Scott Spencer with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office tweeted Marks had been captured "after an exhausting 9-hour manhunt involving multiple Montgomery County, State and Federal Law Enforcement agencies."

Marks faces charges in multiple killings, officials said, including the deaths of Michael Swearingen, 32, and Jenna Scott, 28, in Temple, Texas, in January, according to Conroe police.

Marks has been an MMA fighter for more than 19 years, according to an MMA fighter database . A middleweight fighter who also goes by the name "Spider Man," Marks has a record of 31 wins, 28 losses and zero draws.