DECATUR, Ill. (AP) - A former U.S. Marine recruiter who pleaded guilty in February to killing two women in central Illinois in 2011 and seriously wounding a third heard Friday about how his crimes impacted the victim’s family.
The Herald & Review in Decatur reported that Timothy Giles sat with his attorney in a Decatur courtroom and stared at the table as the mother of his daughter and three of her relatives delivered their statements.
Giles, 30, agreed to a life sentence without parole when he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and an attempted murder charge. He admitted to the stabbing and shooting deaths of Cindanette Eaton, 57, and her daughter, Lindsey Eaton, 23, at their Harristown home.
Casey Eaton, Cindanette Eatson’s daughter, was injured in the attack. The hearing was held to give victims and their family members an opportunity to give impact statements.
Giles and Casey Eaton were involved in a custody dispute. Giles was moving from Centralia to North Carolina and had unsuccessfully petitioned a court to take his daughter with him.
“Sitting here I tell you I wear my scars proudly,” Casey Eaton said as she sat at the prosecutor’s table, with her father standing behind her. “That which was supposed to kill me made me who I am today. I am not a victim, I am a victor.”
Eaton, then 27, was sleeping in her rural Decatur home with her two daughters when Giles broke into her home, stabbed her more than 40 times, shot her and left her for dead.
Giles was arrested the day of the attacks in Moweaqua, a small town about 15 miles south of Decatur. He was discharged by the Marine Corps in October 2011.
Giles’ sister, Katrina Giles, lived in Moweaqua and is awaiting trial. She has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges. Her trial is scheduled to start Aug. 18 in Decatur.
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