KENOSHA — Kenosha Police believe Marckus Plaza killed his estranged wife, former corrections officer Makayla Plaza, Wednesday morning.
Court records obtained by TMJ4 News show that Makayla filed a request for a restraining order back in February. She warned that Marckus had access to knives and feared for her safety.
In the request, Makayla asked for Marckus to be removed from her home permanently or until the divorce was final. She noted she had most recently been a stay-at-home mom with no income who just started a new job ahead of the divorce. She also wrote about being locked out of her home, vehicles, and bank accounts on multiple occasions and said she had filed police reports.
"He has told me on numerous occasions that I am stuck in this marriage until God decides it's over, and I can't leave this relationship," Makayla wrote in her request.
Watch: Kenosha woman killed by estranged husband months after request for a restraining order was denied
"He tells me when I can leave the house and where I can go, he makes it extremely hard to leave the house with the children if he is not coming with," she wrote.
Just days later, her request for that order was denied.
A photo of Makayla was posted to the Kenosha County Sheriff's Office Facebook page in May of 2023, when they welcomed her as a corrections officer.
Marckus was arrested Thursday after a manhunt.
Quinn Gasparo lives across the street from where the arrest happened and shared a doorbell video with TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins.
Gasparo talked about why this story highlights a need for more domestic violence resources in the community.
"I feel like as a community, in a way, we failed her," Gasparo said. "As a female, I've been in a situation in which I've felt unsafe with a partner and I feel like there are more women than not that have been in similar situations that I could see could escalate to the extent that it did so I feel that it's important that everyone is in the need in our community and watch out for each other."
"It makes me sad to see that she was very much aware that her and her children could be in danger and that we had the outcome that we did," Gasparo said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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