'Glad they got him': Kenosha homicide suspect arrested, charged with estranged wife's murder

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A tense manhunt in Kenosha is now over and a homicide suspect is in custody following a shelter in place order Thursday, April 2. 

The scene has now cleared, but earlier Thursday, law enforcement packed the area near 75th Street and 23rd Avenue in Kenosha searching for homicide suspect Marckus Plaza. 

Plaza is now in custody, but for area residents, the moments leading up to that arrest were intense, unfolding right in front of their eyes. 

For hours, residents near 75th and 23rd were told to stay inside as police searched for 33-year-old Plaza.

That search came to a head at Salon Suites, where neighbors say officers rushed in as people inside ran out. 

"They evacuated the salon across the street," Kenosha resident Elizabeth Gardner said. "All of the police went running in, armed."

Moments later, cellphone video captured by a witness shows Plaza carried out from the back of the building on a stretcher. 

"I saw the ambulance was going back and they brought in a stretcher," Kenosha resident Madeline Lucci said. "And a few minutes later, they came out with the stretcher, and he had a white cloth over his face."

Investigators say the manhunt began Wednesday morning when officers responded to a disturbance at a home. They say Plaza gave a fake name, then ran, jumping a fence to get away. 

"While looking through a basement window, they observed Marcus dragging an adult, lifeless female body across the basement floor," said Chief Patrick Patton at a press conference Thursday afternoon. 

Inside the home, officers say they found a woman dead in the basement with a knife in her eye. A family friend identified her as Plaza's estranged wife, 28-year-old Makayla Plaza. 

Police also rescued their children, a 2-year-old and 4-year-old, who were in the basement at the time Marckus took off. The children were not physically harmed, according to police. 

The discovery sparked a massive search, with officers going door to door, checking homes and garages in the neighborhood. Using drones, K-9s and concentrated search teams to comb streets and yards throughout the day. 

Police later zeroed in on this area, prompting a shelter in place order.

Nearly 30 hours after he fled, Kenosha police had Plaza surrounded. New intelligence information Thursday said he might be in a business in the area of 75th St. and 23rd. Ave. 

When tactical officers went in, Plaza was hiding in the basement. Police say Plaza put up a fight, injuring himself and two officers with a knife in the struggle. 

Officers stabilized Plaza at the scene before he was taken to a hospital. The officers received minor injuries. 

Now, with Plaza in custody, neighbors say they're relieved. 

"I'm glad they did something. I'm glad they got him and the community feels safer," Kenosha resident Jaylen Harper said. 

"I'm happy," said Gardner. "I'm more happy that her family is going to get justice and that he's going to have to pay for what he did."

Plaza is set to be in court on Monday.