Police say man killed 3 to hurt his ex-wife

CANTON (AP) — A man arrested in the deaths of his two young children and former mother-in-law apparently wanted to “inflict severe emotional pain” on his ex-wife and calmly confessed the crimes, Canton Police Chief Dean McKimm said Tuesday.

McKimm said James Mammone III, 35, did not sign the statement, but his account of the killings was recorded.

“He did provide us with what we consider to be a full confession to the crimes in question,” the chief said. “He was surprisingly frank and cooperative in the investigation and the subsequent confession.

“The motive that’s surfaced so far is he just wanted to inflict severe emotional pain on his ex-wife, as extreme as that may be by the methods used,” McKimm said.

Mammone was arrested Monday after police followed his car to his apartment building after finding his ex-mother-in-law dead and the children missing. The children — 3-year-old James IV and 5-year-old Macy — were found stabbed in the throat in the back seat of his car.

Mammone was arrested on three counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. He is to be arraigned today in Canton Municipal Court.

Meanwhile, the Canton Repository and WJW television station in Cleveland reported details of a 911 call from Marcia Mammone, in which she pleads for police help after her ex-husband arrived at her duplex near Canton. Marcia Mammone, 29, said she could see her children inside their father’s car and her ex-husband pouring gasoline over a vehicle parked there.

Then, sounding frantic, she said, “He just broke in! Oh My God. He just broke in! Please just get someone here. He’s probably pouring gasoline downstairs, too!”

When deputies arrived, the man was gone.

According to police, Mammone had picked up his children Sunday for a visit. Monday morning, police responded to a call of shots fired and found his former mother-in-law shot, Margaret Eakin, 57, shot to death in an upstairs bedroom of her Canton home. They began a search for Mammone.

According to police, Marcia Mammone filed a domestic-violence complaint against her husband about a year ago. She told police then that in an argument he repeatedly threatened to kill her.