Will County judge rejects alternate suspect in Lockport double murder case

A Will County judge found a defense motion for an alternate suspect in a Lockport case involving the homicide of a woman and her infant daughter too speculative to introduce to jurors at the upcoming trial.

On Wednesday, Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak denied a motion from the attorneys of Anthony Maggio, 30, of Crestwood requesting that they make a case to jurors there is an alternate suspect in the Oct. 2, 2020, murder of Ashtin Eaton, 32, and her infant daughter, Hazel Bryant.

Maggio is due to stand trial for the murders Sept. 30.

Maggio’s attorneys argued that Eaton’s ex-husband should be considered an alternate suspect. Among the attorneys’ claims for him being a suspect was his 2011 domestic violence arrest in which Eaton was the alleged victim.

“I find that beyond remote in time in relation to the homicides,” Bertani-Tomczak said.

Bertani-Tomczak said Maggio’s attorneys need to provide evidence that is more than just speculation or mere suspicion, which she found they failed to do when they claimed that Eaton’s ex-husband is an alternate suspect.

However, Bertani-Tomczak denied the defense motion without prejudice, which gives Maggio’s attorneys the opportunity to resurrect their motion again until the trial begins.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Koch told the judge Wednesday that he expects the case to last until at least Oct. 9. Both parties in the Maggio case plan to meet again Sept. 20 for a status hearing.

Maggio is charged with the first-degree murder of Eaton, with whom he was in a relationship, as well as the first-degree murder of their daughter Hazel.

Prosecutors alleged that Maggio strangled Eaton but staged her death to look like a suicide by cutting her wrist with a box cutter. They also alleged that Maggio suffocated Hazel.

Prosecutors alleged that Maggio was motivated to commit the murders because of his dispute with Eaton over her request that he pay child support.

Maggio’s attorney, Michael Clancy, claimed that it was “ridiculous” that Maggio would commit the murders over that issue because he had a good job and he was willing to make the payments.

Koch told Bertani-Tomczak that he does not plan to call any expert witnesses to testify that Eaton’s death was staged to look like a suicide.

“We’re going off the evidence in this case,” Koch said.

Koch said they also plan to argue that Eaton’s death was staged based on “reasonable inferences.”

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Kwasneski said at the Aug. 16 court hearing that the Maggio case is a “very DNA-heavy case.”

Prosecutors alleged that Maggio’s DNA was found on the neckline of Eaton’s shirt, underneath her fingernails and on a box cutter near her body. They said DNA testing in the case excluded Eaton’s ex-husband.