Man accused of killing his parents, 2 others in Maine had been convicted earlier in Kansas
A man accused of murdering four people and injuring three others in shootings in Maine on Tuesday had been convicted earlier of crimes in Kansas.
Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, Maine, was charged with four counts of murder Tuesday after four people were found fatally shot at a home in Bowdoin, according to the Associated Press. The victims were his parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, and their friends, Robert Eger, 72, and Patti Eger, 62, The Portland Press Herald in Maine reported.
Law enforcement found and arrested Eaton after three other people were shot several miles south of the home on I-295, the AP said.
In two Kansas juvenile cases in the mid 2000s, Eaton was sentenced to 9 months of probation for burglary, theft and battery, court records show.
In a 2008 case, he was sentenced to 24 months probation after being convicted of burglary in Maize. Supervision ended in 2010, Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Dillon said in an email.
Court records show a Wichita address for Eaton at the time of the 2008 case. In a request to a judge, Eaton’s attorney asked that the probation be ended so he could move to Maine to be closer to his fiancee’s family, court records show. They were expecting a child.
Court records show he had many people vouch on his behalf: a pastor, an instructor at Butler Community College where he was taking classes and his parents’ friends, the Egers.
“He’s becoming the fine young man I knew he would with God’s guidance,” Patti Eger wrote. “He’s doing his best to stay on the straight and narrow and I see changes in him that will benefit him long term”
Eaton also has a criminal record in Florida and Maine.
In 2018, he plead guilty in Nassau County, Florida for “possessing a concealed firearm as a convicted felon and three counts of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer” and spent three years in prison, the Portland Press Herald in Maine reported.
In Maine, his prior convictions “were for felony aggravated assault in 2014, operating under the influence in 2015 and assault and domestic violence in 2016,” according to the Portland Press Herald.
The newspaper said Eaton was released from Maine Correctional Facility days before the shooting.
He was set to make his first court appearance later this week, according to the AP.
