Bloomington police on Thursday announced a $2,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the remains of a woman who was killed in 2009 allegedly by a man who is on death row in Texas for a double murder.
Reward posted in hopes of finding remains of woman allegedly killed in ’09 by man on Texas death row
Despite the lack of a body, two people have been charged with murder.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
June 6, 2024 at 5:04PM
April Pease was 30 years old and living in a Bloomington homeless shelter when she disappeared on March 16, 2009, according to charges filed against two people in Hennepin County District Court.
One of them is Cedric Joseph Marks, 49, the father of one of Pease’s children and sentenced to death in his native Texas for killing a former girlfriend and her friend in 2019.
Also charged in connection with Pease’s death is Kellee Kristine Sorensen of Lynden, Wash., 38, who has a hearing scheduled in July to determine her mental capacity to participate in her defense.
Bloomington police said Marks has ties to Clearview, Okla., and the “department strongly feels April’s remains are in the Clearview area, and we are seeking any information from the community.
“Several searches have been conducted in around the Clearview area hoping to locate April’s remains so she can appropriately be laid to rest and bring healing to her family and friends,” police said.
Police said anyone with information about the case can contact detective George Harms at 952-563-4689. Callers can remain anonymous.
Marks has written to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office from prison in Texas at least three times since 2021 professing his innocence and demanding that the case be dismissed.
“I am NOT guilty ... and have maintained my innocence since the allegation was levied against me,” read a letter from September 2021, which was filed in court with the others.
According to the second-degree murder charges:
Bloomington detectives went to Washington state in January 2020 and interviewed Dottie Pease about her daughter. She said Marks abused April after she left him.
Marks and Pease were involved in a fierce custody dispute in Washington, and Pease, who had a drug problem, moved to a Bloomington women’s shelter because, she said, she was afraid of Marks, a former mixed martial arts fighter who went by the nickname “Spider-Man.”
Investigators also spoke to Sorensen, who was described then as one of Marks’ girlfriends. She confessed to helping him find Pease by calling airlines and shelters around the country and posing as her to try to track her down.
With Sorensen’s help, Marks appeared at the Bloomington shelter, attacked Pease outside the facility and forced her and their 4-year-old son into her car. However, Sorensen grabbed the boy and returned him to the shelter. Marks, Sorensen and Pease then headed south on Interstate 35.
Eventually, Marks turned onto a gravel road and stopped beside an abandoned shack, telling Sorensen to stay in the car. He dragged Pease behind the shack and killed her. Marks told Sorensen he removed her hands and teeth to thwart the body being identified.
Marks was convicted in Texas of killing ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott, and her friend Michael Swearingin. The pair disappeared from Scott’s Texas home in January 2019. Their bodies were later found in a shallow grave in eastern Oklahoma.
