Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos

April Lee Pease









Pease, date, approximate 2009; Tattoo on Pease's abdomen; Cedric Marks
Date Missing 03/17/2009
Missing From
Bloomington, Minnesota
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 02/15/1979 (43)
Age 30 years old
Height and Weight 5'3, 120 pounds
Medical Conditions Pease has a long-term substance abuse problem. She was clean at the time of her disappearance, however.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Pease has a mole near her right eye. She has a tattoo of a small butterfly on her left buttock and a tattoo of a swirl design on her abdomen around her navel. A photo of the abdomen tattoo is posted with this summary.
Details of Disappearance Pease was last seen in Bloomington, Minnesota on March 17, 2009. She has never been heard from again. She had recently moved to Minnesota to get treatment for her addiction and to get away from her former boyfriend, Cedric Joseph Marks. Her mother said she had gotten clean and seemed to be doing well. She was not reported missing for several months.
Peace was in a bitter custody dispute Marks at the time of her disappearance. When she failed to show up for court about the custody issue on March 20, three days after her disappearance, Marks speculated she had relapsed. He was awarded custody of their four-year-old son and wasn't considered a suspect in Pease's disappearance at the time.
In January 2019, another of Marks's former girlfriends, Jenna Scott, disappeared with her friend Michael Swearingin from Temple, Texas. Scott had gotten a protective order against Marks, saying he had threatened her and her family and had choked her and thrown her out of his car. The order was not made permanent, however.
In August 2018, Marks had been charged with burglary after he allegedly broke into Scott's house. Marks was arrested in Michigan on the outstanding burglary charge. A photo of him is posted with this summary. His current girlfriend, Maya Maxwell, was arrested on the same charge, and his wife, Ginell McDonough, was arrested for harboring a fugitive; she allegedly helped Marks hide from the police.
Two weeks after they vanished, Scott and Swearingin's bodies were found buried in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. Marks was charged with their murders and extradited to Texas. Authorities began reinvestigating Pease's disappearance in light of the later homicides.
One of the people they interviewed was a Belton, Washington woman named Kellee Kristine Sorensen, who had been one of Marks's girlfriends. When Sorensen was interviewed in 2019, she admitted she'd helped Marks find Pease in Minnesota after Pease left him in 2009, by calling airlines and shelters across the country and even posing as Pease. She further admitted to playing a role in the abduction of Pease.
Sorensen stated she and Marks had traveled to Minnesota and found the women's shelter where Pease was staying with her son. They parked across the street from the shelter and waited for her. When they saw Pease drive up and get out of her car with her son, Marks punched her and forced her into his vehicle.
Sorensen dropped the child at the shelter, then they drove away with Pease. Marks drove south on Interstate 35, and at first Pease screamed and yelled for help, but eventually she fell asleep. At some point, Marks turned onto a gravel road and stopped beside a shack that appeared to be abandoned. This was possibly somewhere in North or South Dakota.
Sorensen stated Marks took Pease out of the car, and as she begged for her life he put her in a chokehold and dragged her out of sight behind the shack. Sorensen waited in the car during this time. When Marks returned he was alone and crying, saying he'd murdered Pease and removed her hands and teeth to prevent her body from being identified.
Another witness police spoke to about Pease's was Marks's wife, McDonough. She said Marks had admitted to her that he'd killed Pease so he could get custody of their son. He gave her a CD which he had made for his son to watch when he grew up.
The CD contained two videos, in which Marks spoke to his children and said he was "about to go and do something that could either get him locked away for the rest of his life or get him killed." Speaking directly to his and Pease's son, Marks said he was going on a road trip to save the boy's life because Pease had kidnapped him.
In March 2020, the 11th anniversary of Pease's disappearance, Marks and Sorensen were charged with second-degree murder in her . The suspects are awaiting trial. Pease's body has not been recovered, but foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Bloomington Police Department
952-888-4401
Other
NamUs
KWTX 10
KXAN
KARE 11
East Texas Matters
Fox 9
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos