Scotland Yard agents arrested a 46-year-old English poker champion Wednesday for the 1997 murder of his wife in Garfield county, authorities said today.
Marcus Bebb-Jones was arrested at about 7 a.m. at his home at 41 Merton Close, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England, on a charge of murder in the first degree, concealing death and domestic violence, said Tanny McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
Members of an extradition unit of the New Scotland Yard in London arrested Bebb-Jones in the murder of his wife, Sabrina Bebb-Jones, McGinnis said.
After allegedly killing his wife, Bebb-Jones then used her credit cards to lead a “playboy lifestyle” in Las Vegas, according to a report in the London Telegraph.
Since then he has reinvented himself as one of this country’s top professional poker players, winning hundreds of thousands of pounds at tournaments across Britain, the newspaper reported.
A few days later her husband apparently attempted suicide by firing a gun into his open mouth but miraculously escaped without serious injury, U.S. prosecutors told a preliminary extradition hearing in London.
The arrest comes following an extensive, 12-year investigation by several law enforcement agencies including the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, McGinnis said.
Bebb-Jones is in custody awaiting extradition to the United States to stand trial.
The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office has notified the family of the victim and will remain in close contact with them, McGinnis said.
Sabrina and Marcus Bebb-Jones once owned the Hotel Melrose in Grand Junction. Her husband, who was then 34, told police his wife left the city with the couple’s then-3-year-old son after the couple argued at Mesa Mall.
He later told guests at the hotel that he was headed to Las Vegas to look for Bebb-Jones, who grew up in the area.
The couple’s son was found alone in a Las Vegas motel room Sept. 21, 1997. The next day, Marcus Jones apparently tried to kill himself. He shot himself in the head, but the wound was not life-threatening, police said then.
He was granted conservatorship of Bebb-Jones’ possessions in May 1998 and sold the hotel. He moved back to his native England to be with his son and mother.
A rancher discovered a skull Oct. 2, 2004 near the summit of Douglas Pass in western Garfield County. Dental records were used to identify it as that of Sabrina Bebb-Jones, 31.
Read more about Colorado cold case mysteries in .
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
