A Jackson County woman who sought to divorce her husband last year citing his violent behavior, then changed her mind this past July, was killed by her husband on Tuesday, according to law enforcement and court documents.
In what law enforcement described as likely a murder/suicide, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified Thomas Edward Markee, 60, as the husband, who killed his 56-year-old wife, Alison Redmond Markee in their home on Azalea Drive in Arcade.
Arcade Police Chief Michael Adams said Thursday the investigation was turned over to the GBI shortly after his officers and Jackson County sheriff’s deputies found the bodies in a bathroom of the house. The manner of the deaths has not been disclosed.
Jackson County deputies were initially dispatched to the house for a domestic dispute at about 1:20 a.m. Oct. 15, after a call from Alison Markee telling dispatch that deputies should use the backdoor as the front door was blocked, according to the sheriff’s report. However, when officers arrived, they found the backdoor locked.
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The officers had no contact with the wife, but Thomas Markee spoke to deputies through a window telling them “he knew we were going to arrest him if he came outside.”
After negotiating with the suspect for “an extended period of time,” Markee agreed to come outside, but only after he used the bathroom, according to the report. However, when he never complied, Arcade police had arrived and police forced the door open.
Deputies reported seeing “large amounts of blood” on a bed, floors, and furniture.” At this point, the officers forced open the bathroom door and found both bodies, the report shows.
Court records show allegations of physical and sexual violence in their relationship.
The couple had married on July 21, 2022, in Hall County. Then about six months later in January 2023 she separated from her husband citing a history of physical violence and a fear that he “will engage in further acts of violence,” according to the filing in Jackson County Superior Court.
The separation occurred after Thomas Markee was arrested on felony aggravated sexual battery charges in January 2023 after his wife alleged in the court filing that he physically abused her.
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She also reported that her husband, a former prison corrections officers, threatened that if she called police he would “take her down” like he did the inmates. She was able to obtain a family violence protection order that gave her exclusive use of the home. He was ordered to stay away from the house.
At some point during the separation the court records show Thomas Markee moved for a period of time to Port St. Lucie, Florida.
She filed the divorce proceeding in May 2023. Unable to afford an attorney herself, she obtained legal representation to handle the divorce through the Georgia Legal Services Program in Athens, according to the court documents.
Thomas Markee was able to dispose of the criminal charges in June this year when prosecutors in the Piedmont Judicial Circuit agreed not to prosecute the felony sexual assault charges and allow him to plead guilty in Jackson County Superior Court to misdemeanor sexual battery and two counts of invasion of privacy. As a result of the plea negotiations, he was sentenced to 10 years on probation.
As part of his probationary status, the judge ordered him to have no contact with Alison Markee.
However, about two weeks later for reasons not specified in the document, the order was modified allowing him to have “non-violent contact with Alison Marker.” Then for some undocumented reason, another order was signed on July 25 by the couple to dismiss the divorce proceedings.
The dismissal reads that the “parties recognize that they will continue to be legally married upon this court’s order of dismissal.” Then less than three months later, the non-violent modification to the order was violated as law enforcement reported that Thomas Markee violently assaulted and killed Alison Markee.
While the GBI has not released how the deaths occurred, a gun was not used in the slayings. The bodies were sent for autopsies.
The murder/suicide was the second in the Athens area this month. On Oct. 7, in Colbert, Madison County sheriff’s deputies said Ricky Kelley, 48, shot his estranged wife to death in their home, then turned the gun on himself. April Marie Kelley, 45, was a paraprofessional in the Clarke County School District.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is observed nationwide. This is a time when victim advocates, survivors of abuse and others come together to mourn the lives lost to domestic violence, according to the U.S. Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services.
Various organizations and agencies are urged to raise awareness for domestic violence to help bring about change.
In Athens, Project Safe offers numerous services including an emergency shelter. Project Safe can be reached at 706-543-3331. The national hotline for domestic violence is 800-799-7233.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Domestic violence at Arcade home ends with wife and husband dead
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