David Eaton, 45, of Salem, arrested and charged Tuesday in Marion County with murdering his estranged wife, has a tie to Bend.
Eaton was charged with fatally shooting his 30-year-old wife around 12:50 p.m. Monday at a home in rural south Salem, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Department. He was arraigned Tuesday and ordered held without bail, said Marion County Sheriff’s spokesman Don Thomson.
The pair were discussing a divorce settlement when they started to argue, Eaton told detectives, according to the Marion County sheriff. Eaton said he shot the woman, whom the Sheriff’s Office did not identify, after she threatened him with a kitchen knife. Later, according to the Sheriff’s Office, Eaton told detectives he shot the woman and placed the knife in her hand.
Public records identify the woman as Elena Nikolaevna Eaton.
Eaton, a resident of Bend from about 1997 to 2009, according to property records, in 2004 was chairman of the newly organized Deschutes County Young Republicans. State Sen.-elect Tim Knopp, R-Bend, a state representative at the time, on Wednesday recalled Eaton but said he didn’t know him well.
“Any time you see bad news about someone you’ve known in the past, you’re shocked and saddened by that type of violence," Knopp said. “I think any person who heard that type of news would have a very similar type reaction: It’s hard to believe it could happen but it does happen."
