A 29-year-old Anchorage woman was charged with murder Wednesday in the killing of her 5-year-old son, who was stabbed and found dead at her home in late November, according to charging documents.
Charging documents detailed erratic behavior from Marley Joli Marque — who is also accused of stabbing her brother — and multiple run-ins with police in the days leading up to the discovery of her son’s body. Police have not identified the child.
Marque’s first encounter with police during that time frame occurred early on Nov. 18. Officers were called to the area outside Marque’s home on the 4200 block of Reka Drive because a partially clothed man was walking in the street with a stab wound to his upper body, according to charges.
Officers visited nearby houses to find where the man had come from, court documents said. Police spoke with Marque, who is the man’s sister, and she showed them a long knife with a red handle when they asked about him, the charging documents said.
There was no blood on the knife and police had no probable cause at the time to arrest Marque, according to charging documents. But during an interview with her brother the following week, police learned that Marque was the one who stabbed him, charging documents said. He didn’t tell police that at the time because he didn’t want his sister to go to jail, the charges said.
Officers at the time of the stabbing investigation saw her son inside the home and noted that Marque “exhibited signs of mental health issues,” charging documents said.
Two days later, on Nov. 20, police were called to a gas station in South Anchorage because a woman had reportedly been sleeping at the wheel of her Toyota Tacoma for more than two hours, according to charging documents. When police arrived, they confronted Marque in her vehicle, and she became aggressive and threatened two officers with a knife, according to charging documents. Police eventually shocked Marque with a Taser stun gun and she was arrested that day on two charges of third-degree assault and resisting arrest.
Officers again noted that Marque seemed to be struggling with her mental health during that interaction.
She was granted $500 unsecured bail on Nov. 21, which meant she was free to leave custody as long as she agreed to follow the court’s conditions and appear for her next hearing. But the charges said Marque refused to sign the paperwork necessary for her release, leaving her in custody, and corrections officials told police that she was not responsive.
Then, late on Nov. 24, the paternal grandparents of Marque’s 5-year-old son reported him missing to police.
When officers arrived at Marque’s home in the early hours of Nov. 25 to search for the boy, they forced entry into the home, according to a sworn criminal complaint signed by Anchorage Detective Jeffrey Elbie.
“Police discovered the lights on, the residence to be both extremely warm and humid,” the complaint said. “Water ran continuously in the bathroom and onto the floor.” The detective wrote that Marque’s son was found inside the bathtub.
State Medical Examiner Dr. Kristin Rolf later determined the boy died from “stab wounds to neck and/or probable drowning,” the charges said. He had died about five days before his body was found, police wrote in the charges.
When detectives tried to interview Marque at the jail on Nov. 25, after her son’s body was found, she was “unable to speak, non-responsive verbally and physically, and appeared generally catatonic,” according to the charges.
She told detectives during a Dec. 2 interview that she was incarcerated because she “had a psychotic break when I got here or something,” according to the charges.
“Detectives informed her of (her son’s) death, Marley Marque began crying, and said ‘I tried to resuscitate him,’” police wrote in the charges.
On Wednesday, a charge of first-degree murder, two charges of second-degree murder and a charge of manslaughter related to her son’s death were filed against Marque. She was also charged with first-degree assault on Nov. 26 in her brother’s stabbing.
Marque has been incarcerated at Hiland Correctional Center since Nov. 20. As of Wednesday afternoon, online court records did not show a hearing scheduled relating to the latest charges.