GUILTY, GUILTY: Maggio Convicted In Murders Of Lockport Mom, Baby
JOLIET — A Will County jury of 12 citizens returned verdicts of guilty on both counts in the Lockport double first-degree murder trial of Anthony Maggio.
The former paramedic at the Joliet Amazon warehouse stood trial these past two weeks in the courtroom of Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak for the Oct. 2, 2020 slayings of infant Hazel Bryant and Hazel’s mother, Ashtin Eaton.
The mother and little girl were found dead on inside their apartment near downtown Lockport in the 900 block of Hamilton Street. Eaton died of strangulation, and Hazel was found smothered on her mother’s bed.
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Maggio was Hazel’s father, and he and Eaton had carried out a romance after meeting at Amazon, where they worked together. Eaton was divorced, and she had another daughter, Jessica, who was 11 years old when her mother and baby sister were killed. Jessica, who was in sixth grade at the time, was not harmed by the assailant.
The Will County State’s Office led by prosecutor Christopher Koch argued that Maggio killed Eaton and his little girl to avoid being required to make court-ordered child support payments to the divorced Lockport mother.
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At the time of the slayings, Maggio lived in Crestwood with his fiancee and they have two small girls. By all accounts, Maggio’s criminal defense lawyer Michael Clancey told the jury, Maggio had disowned Hazel. Clancy ejected the prosecution’s theory that Maggio killed the Lockport woman and their child over a dispute about child support payments.
Evidence presented by the prosecution showed that Maggio’s DNA was found underneath both sets of fingernail clippings taken from Eaton at the time of her autopsy. Maggio’s DNA was also found on the handle of the box cutter knife left near Eaton’s slain body on her kitchen floor. Maggio’s DNA was also found near the collar of Eaton’s T-shirt at the time of her homicide.
Clancy argued that Maggio was home, sleeping in bed with his fiancé, in Crestwood, 30 minutes away from Lockport, on the night of the slayings. Clancy reminded the jury that the Lockport Police Department was unable to find any eyewitnesses, neighbors of Eato, or any video surveillance cameras obtained from local businesses or any of the suburban license plate reader video technology that would have put his client’s car or Maggio’s fiancée’s car in Lockport around the time of the murders.
Evidence reviewed by Lockport police indicated that Maggio’s cell phone remained in Crestwood during the night of the killings.
The jury reached its verdict Friday afternoon after deliberating nearly 16 hours.
Maggio will be sentenced on Dec. 19.
Patch spoke with Eaton’s family outside the Will County Courthouse after the verdict was read.
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