Convicted killer dies in Carson City hospital
An inmate serving time for the first-degree murder of his wife died at a Carson City hospital, the Nevada Corrections Department said.
Manuel Marques, 58, died about 4:30 a.m. on May 20, according to a statement from department spokeswoman Brooke Keast. Marques was at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center before his transfer to the hospital.
Marques, who was imprisoned in November 2004, was serving a sentence of 40 years to life for the murder and a consecutive sentence of 20 years to life for the use of a deadly weapon.
Marques shot his estranged wife, Candace Weckhorst, 35, in an alley behind the east Las Vegas auto repair shop where Marques worked.
About 20 hours after the shooting, Marques attended mass at Christ the King Catholic Church, 4925 S. Torrey Pines Drive, to tell the priest of the murder before turning himself in.
A parishioner was reading from the Bible when Marques approached the altar, revealing a loaded handgun and admitting to the murder of his wife.
“I murdered my wife. I want a blessing from you and forgiveness from God,” Marques said.
Prosecutors had cast Marques as a man who was verbally abusive to his wife, and couldn’t accept that she was going to divorce him and might date other men.
“My blood started pumping … right there, that’s it. I’m taking her out. I’m going to shoot my wife,” Marques told police in a confession.
From behind bars, Marques even denied the cremation of his wife, who was the mother of two young children at the time of her death.
Marques had served about 13 years of his life sentence at the time of his death.
The Carson City Sheriff’s Office coroner will determine his cause of death. No relatives have been located.
Reporter Max Michor contributed to this article. Contact Dana Rutkin at drutkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @DanaRutkin on Twitter.
