Who Killed Alex Cross’s Wife Maria In ‘Cross’ On Prime Video?

By Hope Sloop

Cross is the show that is sure to have your dad talking this Thanksgiving as it’s the latest Prime Video adaptation of a James Patterson classic, filled with mystery and intrigue.

The show follows Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge), a detective in the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., searching to solve both the crimes of the mysterious Fanboy Killer and the murder of his wife, Maria (Chaunteé Schuler Irving). Through it all, the titular character — who is Black in both the show and the novels the series is based on — also must reconcile with the troubled relationship between the police and Black members of the community.

And while it sounds like a lot for any one person to accomplish — don’t worry, Cross has help in the hands of his partner, John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa), his “Nana Mama” (Juanita Jennings), and his fellow officers — the Season 1 finale does indeed provide an answer to the show’s greatest and most important question:

Who Killed Alex Cross’s Wife Maria In Cross On Prime Video?

**This probably goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: The rest of this story contains spoilers for Season 1 of Prime Video’s Cross**

While much of Season 1 followed Cross and his fellow detectives searching for the devious Fanboy Killer — unmasked by the police in Episode 7, “Happy Birthday,” to be Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold) — another mystery at the heart of the series is the murder of Cross’ wife, Maria. The killing took place roughly a year before the show began and is shown at the beginning of Episode 1, “Hero Complex.”

In the opening scene, the viewers watched as Maria and a friend excused themselves from a lunch with Cross and Sampson to use the restroom, only for shots to ring out moments later. Upon running out to the parking lot, Cross finds his wife lying in the parking lot with several gunshot wounds. Maria died in Cross’ arms, leaving our main character devastated and searching for answers for himself and his two grieving children, Damon (Caleb Elijah) and Janelle (Melody Hurd).

While the journey to get to the bottom of her death is a long and winding road, it is finally revealed in Episode 8, “You Had Me at Motherfucker,” that Damon’s piano teacher, Miss Nancy (Karen Robinson), is the one responsible for Maria’s death. “But why?” you might ask. It’s a little complicated but put simply, it comes down to revenge.

Keri Anderson/Prime Video

Prior to cozying up to the Cross family as Damon’s music teacher, making herself instrumental (get it?) as a trusted member of their inner circle, Miss Nancy was a “street mother” to several people in the community. One of those people happened to be a woman named Dierdre, who Cross helped to put in prison several years ago when she took the fall for Peter, another of one of Miss Nancy’s “children.”

Miss Nancy believed that Dierdre, a white woman, would get a lesser sentence than Peter, a Black man, if she took the blame. That did not happen, however, as Cross testified that Dierdre had a “psychopathic personality” for the ruthless murder that she confessed to, which ultimately got her life in prison. Broken over the sentencing and facing abuse behind bars, Dierdre committed suicide from inside a jail cell.

As an act of revenge, Miss Nancy and Peter decided to seek retribution by killing Cross’ wife, Maria. It doesn’t stop there though. Miss Nancy sought further revenge by getting close to the Cross family and even shuttling them off to a remote cabin under the guise of keeping them safe amid Cross’ investigation. The family had been taunted and threatened throughout the season so the protagonist was keen on a trusted family friend getting his kids away from harm, or so he thought. At the cabin, Miss Nancy’s real plan involved having Cross choose which of his children would live while she would kill the other one.

Photo: Quantrell Colbert/Prime Video

Thankfully, her plot is eventually foiled as Cross and Sampson arrive in time to save the kids from the deranged woman, although Miss Nancy is not brought to justice after all. Before she can be taken into custody, she takes her own life by setting herself on fire. Yikes.

It’s a lot to process but it does finally answer the question that has been weighing heavy on our titular character. The closure also frees up Cross’ mind for more cases in Season 2, which Prime Video has already given the green light for.

All eight episodes of Cross Season 1 are currently streaming on Prime Video.