Police commander testifies in Lockport murder trial of mother, toddler daughter

A police commander testified in a Lockport murder trial on Monday about the evidence he gathered in the 2020 investigation of the homicides of a woman and her toddler daughter.

Will County prosecutors on Monday called several police witnesses in presenting their case against Anthony Maggio, 30, of Crestwood. Maggio has been on trial on charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ashtin Eaton, 32, and their 14-month-old daughter, Hazel Bryant.

Lockport Police Cmdr. John Arizzi, who leads the police department’s investigation division, was one of the witnesses called to the stand.

Arizzi and Jacob King, the lead detective on the case, interviewed Maggio several days after Eaton and Hazel were found dead on Oct. 2, 2020 inside a Lockport apartment.

Before arriving at the crime scene, Arizzi said he was told Eaton’s and Hazel’s deaths looked “very suspicious.”

Arizzi said he collected the box-cutter knife found next to Eaton’s body. King said last Friday the knife had Maggio’s DNA on it. Prosecutors alleged the knife was used by Maggio to cut Eaton’s left arm in an attempt to make her death seem like a suicide even though she was strangled to death.

Arizzi said in October 2020, Lockport was in the middle of “beta testing” license plate reader cameras for the city. Maggio’s vehicle was not captured on a license plate reader during the timeframe of the homicides, according to Arizzi’s testimony.

Maggio’s attorney, Michael Clancy, asked Arizzi if he contacted suburbs outside of Lockport to see if they had license plate reader cameras and if they could run the license plate numbers for vehicles belonging to either Maggio or his fiancé, Marcelina Baliczek.

“I don’t recall that we did,” Arizzi said.

Lockport Police Cmdr. Patrick Ellanson, who leads the police department’s patrol division, said he conducted a canvass of possible witnesses and surveillance cameras but found nothing of “evidentiary value.”

During the trial, jurors have learned Eaton’s T-shirt, her fingernails, the box-cutter knife and a pillow case with a blood spot on her bed were collected and tested for DNA.

The jurors learned from King’s testimony that Maggio’s DNA was among the DNA found on the neckline of Eaton’s T-shirt, her fingernails and the knife.

Clancy asked Arizzi why the bedding where Hazel’s body was found had not been tested for DNA.

Arizzi said he was told by someone at a laboratory that the fabric was too large for such testing. When pressed by Clancy on who at the lab said that, Arizzi said, “I don’t remember.”

When Clancy asked Arizzi why the doorknobs at the apartment were not swabbed for DNA testing, Arizzi said he knows from experts that someone touching a doorknob momentarily will not result in a good DNA sample.

When asked by Clancy how long it would take to get a good DNA sample from the box-cutter knife or T-shirt, Arizzi said, “I don’t know.”

Arizzi testified that when investigating a crime scene, he focuses on areas that may have more evidence of a crime than other areas.

Arizzi’s investigation of Maggio’s phone led to the discovery of text messages between him and Baliczek in 2019 after she learned Maggio had a child with Eaton.

Prosecutors showed jurors the text messages as part of their case that Maggio was motivated to kill Eaton and Hazel so he wouldn’t have to pay child support for Hazel.

In the text messages, Baliczek was upset with Maggio and expressed concern that he would have to give more money to Eaton than to her. Maggio responded that he wanted to be with Baliczek and that “we can get through it.”

In one of the texts presented to jurors, Baliczek told Maggio that Eaton “thinks she’s got some power because she can ask for some money.” She texted Maggio to tell Eaton to “move on” and find a “different guy.”

The trial resumes Tuesday in the courtroom of Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak.