Lockport Murders: Maggio's DNA On 3 Items At Crime Scene, Detective Testifies

JOLIET — The final 15 minutes of Friday afternoon's double murder trial for Joliet Amazon plant paramedic Anthony Maggio revealed the prosecution's DNA evidence.

Assistant Will County State's Attorney James Zanayad revealed for the first time this week that Maggio's DNA was recovered by the Lockport Police Department on three separate items at the crime scene in the Oct. 2, 2020 slayings of Ashtin Eaton, 32, and her infant daughter, Hazel Bryant, 14 months old.

With Lockport Police Detective Jacob King on the witness stand the entire day as the only witness called on Friday, the lead homicide detective confirmed during the prosecutor's line of questioning that Maggio's DNA was discovered on the T-shirt worn by Eaton at the time of her strangulation.

Maggio's DNA was also recovered from under Eaton's fingernails, and from the box cutter knife found a few inches away from her body. The divorced Lockport mother's body was found sprawled across her kitchen floor, with a large three-inch wound to one of her arms.

Forensic pathologists determined that the wound to Eaton's arm did not cause her death. Authorities believe her killer created the wound and left the knife near her body to make it appear as if Eaton ended her life after becoming distraught with the death of her infant child.

Maggio's Phone Not In Lockport At Time Of Double Murders

Little Hazel died of smothering. Her body was found wrapped inside several blankets on her mother's bed. As for Maggio, he was the infant's father, but had no relationship at all with his child.

During Friday's cross-examination of King, Maggio's defense lawyer Michael Clancy acknowledged to the courtroom that his own client "for the most part disowned" Hazel during her brief life.

After going the first nine months of 2020 without talking to one another, Maggio and Eaton rekindled their dormant romance one month before the double murder, according to testimony. Maggio and Eaton worked together in Joliet at the Amazon plant. He was a paramedic there and she was a regular associate, Maggio told Lockport police detectives during his five-hour-long interview with King and Lockport Police Cmdr. John Arizzi four days after the double murders.

According to testimony, as Maggio's fiancée and his two small girls were sleeping at their Crestwood condominium on the night of Sept. 20, 2020, Maggio made the 30-minute drive in the middle of the night to have sex with Eaton in the living room of her Lockport apartment. Eaton's two daughters, baby Hazel and 11-year-old Jessica, were both asleep when Maggio showed up.

On the night of Maggio's rendezvous with Eaton, Sept. 20, 2020, according to Friday's trial testimony, Maggio left his smartphone back in Crestwood. His fiancée, who was already asleep, had no idea Maggio sneaked out of their condo.

Maggio stayed at Eaton's place in Lockport for about two hours and then drove back to Crestwood during the early hours of the morning.

Suddenly, less than two weeks later, Eaton and her youngest daughter were dead inside the Lockport apartment house on Hamilton Street, while Jessica was unharmed.

On the night of the Lockport murders, Maggio's smartphone also remained in Crestwood, King informed the jury on Friday.

One of the reasons the Lockport detectives made Maggio a prime focus of their double murder probe was due to his lack of emotion and his lack of interest in learning more details about his daughter's death and the death of Ashtin.

King called Maggio and told him over the phone that Hazel was dead. At no point did Maggio ask the detective during the phone call about Hazel's mother, who was also dead.

Lockport's detectives later learned that Maggio did not break the news of Hazel's death to his own father, who was at his house. The father and son also had a good relationship, according to the trial testimony. After the death notification phone call ended, Maggio returned to his couch and watched more television, according to prior testimony. As the night went on, Maggio did not talk about Hazel's death with anyone, and he didn't ask anyone about the Ashtin.

"Like I was upset, I felt nauseous, and I just sat there," Maggio told the detectives during his Oct. 6, 2020 interrogation. "I didn't want to talk to nobody. I felt sick."

Maggio maintained he first learned of Ashtin's death the next day from some friends.

At the time of Maggio's interview at the Lockport police station, four days after the killings, the idea of arranging a funeral for Hazel had not even crossed his mind, Maggio told the pair of detectives. They also grilled him about the fact that he chose not to attend the memorial vigil held for Hazel.

"Do you have any pictures of her?" King inquired, referring to Maggio's infant daughter.

"No," he replied.

When pressed for his own theory about what happened to Hazel, Maggio suggested that it had to be an accidental fatality. He does not believe Ashtin harmed their child.

"I could not see that," Maggio offered. "It would have to be an accident."

During Friday's questioning from Maggio's defense lawyer, King acknowledged that Maggio was extremely cooperative with the Lockport police during their 5-hour-long interrogation. Maggio signed papers authorizing King and Arizzi to download the contents of his smartphone. He also signed paperwork allowing them to obtain a DNA buccal sample from his mouth.

"It's good you talked to us," Arizzi told Maggio. "We'd hate to see your DNA pop up on something. That would suck."

Detectives Lie To Maggio That Jessica Died To Assess His Reaction

A common police tactic, which is perfectly legal, is to lie to a criminal suspect to gauge their reaction or response. The Lockport detectives took this approach with Maggio. They wondered if he was showing a genuine lack of interest in learning any details about the deaths of his infant daughter and the child's mother because he already knew what had happened and had been there when they died.

Several hours into the October 2020 interrogation, King brings up the name of Jessica Eaton. The sixth-grade student, who was not harmed, found her mother's body on the kitchen floor. Jessica ran out her apartment screaming for help. Her grandparents came over and found Hazel also was dead.

"So, what do you think happened to Jessica?" King inquired.

"What?" Maggio responded. "Is she alive?"

"No, she is not," King lied to him. "But she's not your daughter."

"What happened to her?" Maggio asked. "I don't know what to think about any of this.

"What happened to Jess?" Maggio repeated.

"Probably someone did something to her," one of the detectives replied.

"What happened?" Maggio inquired again.

"I don't know. We want to know happened," King replied.

The detectives told Maggio that his reaction to the news of Jess's death was the first and only time he showed any emotion and curiosity about the case.

"I'm not telling you you're lying," King told him. "Do I think you did something to Jess, not at all. Not even a little bit."

Before the interrogation ended and Maggio was allowed to go home, Arizzi told Maggio that they just got word from Jessica's father that Jessica had not died after all. However, Maggio is told that he is not to share this information with anybody, including his father and his fiancée. The detectives warn Maggio this information needs to be kept silent for the safety of the victims' family because Lockport police still didn't know whether someone was out there trying to harm the family.

Maggio's double murder trial enters its second week on Monday. The jury was told to report to the courthouse shortly before noon because Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak is obligated to attend a Monday morning ceremony inside the Will County Courthouse for a newly appointed judge.