Three months after a jury convicted Anthony Maggio of first-degree murder in the 2020 deaths of a Lockport woman and their 14-month-old daughter, the former paramedic at an Amazon plant in Joliet was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.
Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak handed down two consecutive natural life terms for Maggio’s murder conviction in the deaths of Ashtin Eaton, 32, and their daughter, Hazel Bryant, following nine days of testimony and 15 hours of deliberations in October.
Eaton’s cousin, Lita Kasper, asked Bertani-Tomczak to give “as much sympathy on his life as he took for the lives of his daughter and a mother.”
“I hope you are reminded every day of not only what you lost, but also what you took,” Kasper said to Maggio.
Maggio’s attorneys, Margaret McQuaid and Michael Clancy, filed a motion for a new trial in November that Bertani-Tomczak denied just before sentencing.
The motion argued prosecutors failed to prove Maggio guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that Bertani-Tomczak violated Maggio’s constitutional rights by not allowing his defense to present Eaton’s ex-husband as an alternate suspect.
Bertani-Tomczak also denied the defense’s motion to interview a juror, court records show.
“I am an innocent man and the person responsible for these crimes still walks among you all free,” Maggio said before being sentenced. “This knowledge sickens me.”
“Don’t make the mistake of believing this is over. My innocence will be proven and I will come back,” Maggio said.
Maggio, of Crestwood, and Eaton were co-workers at an Amazon plant in Joliet and began a romantic relationship in 2019, despite Maggio being engaged to another woman and having two children with her, prosecutors said.
The bodies of Eaton and Bryant were found by Eaton’s oldest daughter, Jessica, who was 11 at the time. She discovered her mother and sister in their apartment on the 900 block of South Hamilton Street in Lockport. Eaton was strangled and Bryant was asphyxiated, prosecutors said.
Maggio’s motive, prosecutors said, was he didn’t want to pay court-ordered child support.
Eaton’s aunt, Jenny Seaborg, told the judge Friday that Eaton was considering not pursuing child support from Maggio and was prepared to raise her baby, Hazel, on her own.
“She would rather suffer than cause a hardship on you, and this is how you treat her,” Seaborg said.
“You didn’t just end their lives that day, you tore apart our family,” she said. “The grief and pain we feel are indescribable. Birthdays, holidays and simple everyday moments are no longer filled with the same joy.”
Prosecutors said in October that Maggio strangled Eaton and staged her death to look like a suicide, which was initially speculated to be the cause of death. Early rumors in the years-long case suggested Eaton had accidentally caused Bryant’s death and subsequently took her own life, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Christopher Koch argued if anyone other than Maggio had killed the mother and child, they likely would have harmed Jessica Eaton as well. He noted 14-month-old Bryant was asphyxiated and the 11-year-old, who could potentially testify, was left unharmed.
Charges against Maggio were filed in 2022, two years after the killings. After Maggio’s arrest, Lockport police told the Southtown the investigation caused detectives to collect more than 100 pieces of evidence and follow many leads before identifying Maggio as a suspect.
Prosecutors relied heavily on DNA evidence to make their case, with Maggio’s DNA being found on three of four items discovered at the crime scene including on a box-cutter knife, under Eaton’s fingernails and on the neckline of her shirt.
Maggio’s defense argued the DNA evidence does not prove Maggio’s guilt because he and Eaton had sexual relations just 12 days earlier, and contended the Lockport police investigation overlooked critical evidence that could implicate someone else in the double murder.
McQuaid is representing Maggio in an appeal.
In tears, Eaton’s mother, Shirley Onderisin, turned toward Maggio during sentencing.
“I feel sorry for your dad, I see how hurt he is, but your dad can come visit you, and all I have are memories of my beautiful daughter and the woman I raised, with this beautiful baby I helped deliver,” she said. “You ruined my life. I’ll never be the same person I once was.”
smoilanen@chicagotribune.com
