In the early hours of the 12th of May, 2019, police visited a house situated in Milledgeville, Georgia, to discover Marianne Shockley unresponsive and bleeding on the floor. Marianne was later found dead while the officers found out that she had been spending the evening with her boyfriend, Marcus Lillard and her owner, Clark Heindel. “24 Hours: The Unexpected Death of Professor Shockley The film takes the viewer through the tragic incident and describes the impact of the tragedy on Marcus. If you’re intrigued by the case and would like to know what happened to Marcus and where Marcus is now, the answer is here.
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Who Is Marcus Lillard?
Marcus Allen Lillard and Marianne Shockley were long-time friends who first met as undergraduates at Georgia College in Milledgeville. While the two bonded fairly well, life took over and they decided to go to separate places. Then, Marcus became just another acquaintance of Marianne while she enrolled to become a renowned professor of the field of entomology at the University of Georgia. But, a few years prior to Marianne’s tragic death, Marcus reconnected with Marianne, and they began talking about their time.
The two then began dating and were in a long-term relationship when they experienced the tragic incident. There was also a mention that Marcus Lillard had been previously sentenced to a non-related drug conviction and was serving his probation at the time a shocking death slew Marianne. According to the program, Marianne was quite excited about the opportunity to spend the day with Marcus and travelled across Georgia to Milledgeville in Georgia on the 11th of May 2019.
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The two were able to spend the entire day together in clubs and enjoy dinner before Marcus drove his wife to meet his friend’s house, which Clark Heindel owned. When they arrived at the home, Clark, Marianne, and Marcus set out to have an enjoyable evening as well, as well. Reports said that the trio was later drinking alcohol and taking drugs, including MDMA. At some point, Marcus reportedly decided to leave to buy more firewood, while Marianne was enjoying the tub.
While Clark was close by, he did not pay any attention to Marianne, who was nearby, and Marcus returned to find her in a state of unconsciousness and floating face-down inside the pool. Together they took the unconscious woman outside. Marcus even contacted a few of his buddies for guidance, but with nothing. At the time they dialed the 911 number, and emergency personnel arrived on the site, Marianne had already passed in her sleep. The police arrived and found her naked and unresponsive and with a bloody gash in her head. An autopsy showed that she had been choked to death.
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Where Is Marcus Lillard Today?
In the course of questioning, Marcus and Clark claimed that it was too late when they saw unconscious Marianne. But, once the police had finished investigating Clark, the man slipped into the home and died by suicide. The second suicide was shocking, but since Clark’s suicide note contained nothing to do with Marianne’s death The police centered their focus on Marcus. The authorities soon realized that Marcus claims of taking off to get wood for the fire was a bit odd, as the house already had a huge enough inventory, and the wet weather would have caused finding dry wood to be extremely difficult.
So, believing that it was a contradiction in his statements that led to his arrest, police detained Marcus Lillard and charged him with each charge of murder, aggravated assault, reckless conduct, manslaughter involuntary and concealing the death of another. In Court, Marcus Lillard pled not to be guilty of any charge and insisted that he was innocent. While the prosecution claimed Marcus was accused of strangling Marianne to death and even obtained witnesses to prove that he would choke his girlfriend during sexual sex, the jury was convinced the opposite.
In the end, at the close of the trial, Marcus was found not guilty and was cleared of all the charges connected to the death of Marianne in 2022. However, because Marcus was being held on probation prior to the incident, the judge was able to revoke the probation and return him to prison. In the end, Marcus remains in jail at Burruss Correctional Training Center. Burruss Correctional Training Center on an unrelated drug-related charge with a probable day of release in 2030.
