The Maine man who police say confessed to killing his parents and their two friends before going on a shooting rampage on a nearby interstate had been released from prison just days prior – when he’d been picked up by his mother.
Joseph Eaton, 34, appeared briefly in court on Thursday morning and faces four murder charges, with more charges pending. Police arrested him shortly after discovering the bodies of his parents and their friends in a home near Portland on Tuesday morning.
As police searched for Eton on Tuesday, he fled in his parents’ rental car and started shooting at passing vehicles, injuring three members of an area family who were driving past.
The shooting spree stunned Mainers, and Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of Maine Public Safety, called the shootings “an attack on the soul of our state.” It’s one of the worst incidents of violence in Maine history, police said.
Killed in the attack were Cynthia Eaton, 63, and her husband, David, 65, a Navy veteran, and friends Patricia and Robert Eger. The Eatons were staying with the Egans while they picked up their son from prison. Their bodies were discovered Tuesday morning by Patricia Eagan’s sister who grew worried when no one answered the phone, police said.
The three people injured in the interstate shooting were Sean Halsey, 51, and his children Justin Halsey, 29, and Paige Halsey, 25. Police on Wednesday said Eaton confessed after being arrested.
Shooting in Maine on 295:Man fired on motorists after killing 4, including his parents
What do court records reveal?
The Eatons, who lived in Kansas, had gone to Maine to pick up their son, who was released from prison on April 14 after serving a 2015 sentence for domestic violence. Cynthia Eaton met her son at the Maine Correctional Facility in Windham, according to the Maine State Police.
“They were good people,” said Cynthia’s stepfather, Kenneth W. Fagan Jr., who lives in Ocala, Florida, where the Eatons once lived. “They loved their kids. They were the best parents.”
He said the Eatons had lived in Auburndale, in Florida’s Polk County, until a few months ago. They sold their home and moved to Kansas City, Kansas, to be with another son who lives there. They later may have moved to Wichita, Fagan said.
An arrest affidavit for Joseph Eaton said Patricia Eagan’s sister saw blood on the front steps and entered the home.
“Lisa opened the door and yelled but no one answered. Lisa said she entered the home and could see broken glass and blood on the floor. She observed a body in the area of the kitchen covered by a towel,” the affidavit says.
She said she also saw several firearms lying about the house and saw drag marks. She left the home to call police, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said crime scene investigators found a note that said, “someone had been molested and that there was nothing done about it. The note mentioned someone being freed of pain and that the writer of the note wanted a new life. The note was not written to anyone nor was it signed by anyone.”
Prison terms in Maine and Florida
Joseph Eaton has a long, troubled past, according to media reports and public records. In 2014, his parents tried to persuade Maine authorities to release him to their custody to serve out his probation for a Maine crime. However, that plan did not work out because “his father refused to give up his guns.” Not having access to firearms was a condition of probation, the Bangor Daily News reported, quoting court documents.
Joseph Eaton eventually moved to Florida to be with his parents in 2017 after being released from prison for violating his probation on a domestic violence charge, the Daily News reported.
In January 2018, he was imprisoned in Florida for three years on aggravated assault on a law enforcement or rescue worker, according to the state Department of Corrections website. He was returned to Maine in 2021.
In a video posted to Facebook before the shootings, a man who appears to be Joseph Eaton left a rambling Facebook Live post asking for forgiveness and talking about people who pretend to be Christians.
Prayers for the dead
News of the slayings touched others in Central Florida who knew the Eatons.
“I want to ask the group for prayers to my friend David Eaton and his wife and their two friends and the friends’ family dog as they were recently murdered in Maine two days ago. David was a longtime Harley owner (over 40 years) and longtime HOG member and officer,” Kim Paige, with New Smyrna Beach HOG Chapter 530701, wrote on Facebook.
“David and I served together in the Navy in the early 80’s in Jacksonville where we were Flight Engineer instructors. I talked to him and his wife at a Navy reunion in 2021 in Maine, we talked about getting together for a ride,” he wrote.
Contributing: Frank Stanfield for the Ocala Star-Banner