'He was my person': Former North Port police officer's wife remembers husband killed in crash

NORTH PORT, Fla. (WINK) — Shannon Marier says she and her husband thought they had decades ahead of them.

Instead, just a few years after walking out of the courthouse as husband and wife, she's now planning life without him.

Former North Port police officer Christopher Marier and his younger brother, Tyler Marier, were killed Tuesday in Seminole County after investigators say a man fleeing deputies crashed into their SUV.

Speaking exclusively with WINK News by phone, Shannon said the grief is still too overwhelming to appear on camera.

"He was my person," she said. "He was my partner. He was kind. He was patient, honest."

The couple had dreamed of something simple.

"All we ever wanted to do was to grow old together and play pickleball and just sit," Shannon said. "We wanted to have a long, boring life together, where we bicker over dishes and stuff like that."

Investigators say deputies tried to stop Marquavious Wheaton on Tuesday on suspicion of fentanyl trafficking. According to authorities, Wheaton did not stop.

Authorities say Wheaton drove more than 100 miles an hour before crashing into the SUV carrying Chris and Tyler Marier just 13 minutes after deputies first attempted the traffic stop.

Both brothers were killed.

Shannon said she spent hours trying to reach her husband before learning what had happened.

"I had been texting him and calling him for hours, and he wasn't answering," she said.

Before becoming a criminal justice professor, Chris Marier served with the North Port Police Department from 2007 to 2013.

He later earned his doctorate and recently joined the University of Central Florida as a criminal justice professor, having previously taught at Appalachian State University.

But Shannon says no job ever meant more to him than being a father.

She says everything he did was for his two sons.

"He loved his kids so much," Shannon said. "Everything he did was for them."

She says he constantly encouraged the people around him to be better.

"He always encouraged everyone around him to do better," Shannon said. "He never stopped improving himself."

Shannon says Chris was also incredibly close with his younger brother, Tyler, making the loss even more devastating for their family. She said Tyler was kind and funny, Chris's best friend.