Multiple gunshots killed men

Some details of the murders of Shannon Marie McKillop, Frank Scaramuzzi and Jeremiah Johnston emerged this week as the Union County District Attorney’s office released information on cause of death and said that evidence in the triple homicide will be presented to a grand jury.

McKillop’s dismembered body was discovered July 24 in a pond along Pumpkin Ridge Road in Elgin. Later, the bodies of Frank Scaramuzzi and Jeremiah Johnston were found in a wooded area near Darr Road north of of Elgin.

Thursday, Union County Deputy District Attorney John Schilling said that results of autopsies by the Oregon Medical Examiner’s office show that McKillop, 51, died of multiple stab wounds to the neck and trunk.

Scaramuzzi, 50, was killed with two gunshots wounds to the brain, and Johnston, 28, died of three gunshot wounds to the head and trunk.

Schilling said McKillop’s autopsy was completed July 27, and those of Scaramuzzi and Johnston were done Aug. 4. He said families of the victims were notified of the results in a conference after the DA’s office received them.

Cook, charged with murder in the death of McKillop, and aggravated murder in the deaths Scaramuzzi and Johnston, was arrested Aug. 3 near Rainier, Wash., following an intensive manhunt.

Aggravated murder, which carries a possible death penalty, applies in the deaths of Scaramuzzi and Johnston because the case involves the commission of multiple murders in the same criminal episode.

When Cook was arraigned in Union County Circuit Court  Aug. 6, he told Judge Phillip Mendiguren that he is not disputing the charges and did not want legal counsel.

Mendiguren appointed Ken Hadley, a death penalty-certified lawyer from Baker City, to represent Cook. Schilling said Thursday that Cook has changed his mind about having legal representation.

“He is cooperating and consulting with his attorneys,” Schilling said.

The case will be presented to a grand jury, Schilling said, though he couldn’t say when. A grand jury is responsible for evaluating charges and deciding whether indictments should be made.

The murders are believed to have occurred in Elgin in mid-July. Cook, McKillop, Scaramuzzi and Johnston were known associates, and according the DA’s office had been seen together at the same time and location shortly before the murders.

In interviews with a KING-TV reporter in Washington, and later in an interview with reporters in La Grande, Cook said he committed the murders, and blamed methamphetamine.