A man in Houston man is looking at up to a decade in prison for bigamy after one of his wives found two others.
Houston man can’t get enough of marriage
Marcus Andra Shorten, 53, is accused of being married to at least two women the same time, when his third wife, Tammie, discovered her beau’s other spouses while scrolling through social media.
Tammie and Shorten were wed in 2012, but broke up without divorcing in 2019. She said that they never legally dissolved the marriage because Shorten was afraid of being seen as a ‘failure.’
Even though they were still tied by matrimony in the eyes of the law, Shorten took a new wife at the beginning of 2024.
Tammie figured out about her hubby’s new spouse when she stumbled across the happy couple’s wedding registry in December and was humiliated. “I was made a fool of,” she told ABC13.
She spoke to her current husband about his upcoming nuptials right after finding the gift registry, and refreshed his memory that they were still married.
Houston man ignored his first wife’s warning
However, Shorten went through with the wedding anyway, much to Tammie’s frustration. “You can’t go around lying and misleading individuals at your self-satisfaction,” she remarked.
“Before you let the whole world know what you’re doing, make sure your business is right,”‘ she told him before he tied the knot again.
“It’s not like you don’t know what a divorce is because you’ve been married several times before,” she said to Shorten.
The latest woman in Shorten’s life remains unidentified, and there’s no indication she knew about his other marriages.
Cops are currently searching for Shorten, after discovering two marriage of his marriage licenses but no divorce records.
He now faces bigamy charges, which is a third-degree felony with up to ten years in prison in Texas and a potential $10,000 fine.
Elderly woman sentenced after cold-case solved decades later
A cold-case was solved when an elderly woman murderously motivated by love was charged with taking out her romantic rival nearly four decades after committing the crime in Wisconsin.
Mary Jo Bailey, 81, was taken into police custody in Arizona last year and charged with first-degree murder for killing Yvonne Menke, 45, outside of her apartment in December 1985, while her children were inside the residence.
Prosecutors alleged that the women were simultaneously in a relationship with the same man, and that Bailey had permanently got rid of Menke on cold winter morning as she was heating up her car.
A jury found Bailey guilty of murder in May, and a Polk County judge sentenced her to life in prison, with parole eligibility only after she turns 100.
The judge highlighted the cold-blooded nature of the crime, noting how Bailey shot Menke twice in the head after she fell to the ground.
Menke’s daughter recalled hearing gunshots when her mother went out to start the car that ill-fate morning, and saw someone in a gray coat running away from the scene
Menke was later found dead at the bottom of the stairs. An autopsy revealed that she had been shot three times with a .22 caliber gun.
At the time, investigators discovered Bailey-sized boot prints in the snow at the murder scene, and found a note in Menke’s purse that had information about Bailey’s vehicle.
At the time, Bailey told police she owned a .22 caliber pistol but said her boyfriend had sold it off. She also had a .22 caliber rifle in her possession, but claimed that she didn’t know how to fire it.
The man they were both involved with, Jack Owen, was interviewed by police at the time and admitted to dating both women, but said his relationship with Bailey had ended weeks earlier.
Though no additional evidence surfaced when the cold case was investigated again nearly 40 years later, authorities built a stronger case relying on old interviews, a motive, and the existing evidence.
Bailey, who is wheel-chair bound was arrested at her Maricopa County home last year.
