Left to right: Joseph Chute appears in court in Maine, May 29, 2024; an area in Maine where police searched for Alex Jackson's body after his dog was found nearby; Alex Jackson. (Images via YouTube/WCSH.)
At least one question of many is now answered for the family of Alex Jackson, a 34-year-old Maine man who went missing a year ago this month: police have revealed that Jackson was shot in the head before he was stuffed into a barrel and dumped into a sand,.,pit.
The man accused of killing Jackson, Joseph Chute, 30, was arrested in March and charged with Jackson's May 2023 murder after a monthslong investigation. Chute, wearing a prison-issued orange jumpsuit entered a not guilty plea in court in Maine on Wednesday. He is now being held at the Androscoggin County Jail without bail.
When the Windham man went missing last year, his mother, Patricia Jackson and his sister, Kayla Jackson, spoke through tears to reporters at local NBC affiliate WCSH.
"I have times that I just cry and I beg," Patricia Jackson said last May. "And I don't beg,"
She added: "It's like a part of my body is gone."
His sister, sobbing, also pondered last year about what it would mean if police were to ever find her brother.
"I think about sometimes if they do find him, what if he's not alive? What if I have to bury my sibling. I'm only 27 years old," she said. "I don't want to bury my sibling."
When Chute, a resident of Leeds, Maine, appeared in court this week, it was the first time that authorities described greater details of their probe into Jackson's death.
The Associated Press reported that a detective took the stand Wednesday and alleged that Chute's ex-girlfriend told them how she helped Chute attempt to get rid of Jackson's body. The officer said the woman told him that the couple became anxious as they moved from location to location, searching for somewhere secluded when too many people seemed to be nearby. Other witnesses allegedly told prosecutors that Chute admitted to shooting Jackson in his head at his farm before chucking the man into a barrel.
Danna Hayes, a special assistant to the Maine attorney general, said one witness said Chute put Jackson's body on a compost pile and then put him inside of the barrel. Chute's attorney, Verne Paradie emphasized in court this week that there was still much evidence to review.
In a phone call with Law&Crime, Paradie said Friday: "[Mr. Chute] maintains his innocence. We'll conduct our investigation and certainly look at and consider any alternatives suspects and all possible defenses. I haven't seen or heard of the weapon being discovered at this point and I know there was no evidence of any human blood at the location where police are alleging Mr. Jackson was killed — that was at the home of Mr. Chute's parents where he resides also and has some type of maintenance shop and a farm. Police searched that and found no evidence of any wrongdoing or any evidence of a murder taking place at that location. Those are the things we're going to try and pursue to fully defend Mr. Chute and give him a fair trial."
Background: Missing poster of Alex Jackson (via YouTube/WMTW). Inset: Joseph Chute booking photo (via Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office).
"There was a complete lack of any physical evidence located at his house, at his farm, in the area where witnesses claim he spoke about shooting Mr. Jackson. There are many unanswered questions," Paradie said.
According to a May 2023 report from WCSH, Jackson's dog was found 40 miles from where he was last seen, though he wore a different collar. Jackson's family said it felt like the pup — named Hazel — was showing police "a sign." But detectives and investigators searched the area high and low, looking from the ground and from the air but came up short.
CBS affiliate WGME reported that before police officially located Jackson's body in April, Chute had filed a motion to dismiss his indictment because the body had not been found.
Chute's next court date has not yet been scheduled.
