In the early morning hours of June 17, 2021, a fire broke out at a home on Hardscrabble Road in the small town of Limington, Maine. When firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze, they made a grim discovery inside the residence: the bodies of 46-year-old Daniel Perkins, a White male, and his 47-year-old girlfriend, Cheryl Cote.
While the fire had caused significant damage to the home, it soon became clear that the flames were not the cause of their deaths.
Investigators determined that both Perkins and Cote had sustained gunshot wounds. The fire, they concluded, had been intentionally set in an attempt to conceal the double homicide. The tragic event quickly shifted from a fire investigation to a murder inquiry, shaking the quiet community.
The investigation swiftly led to a suspect: Matthew Cote, Cheryl Cote's 21-year-old son, who also lived at the residence. He was located a short time after the discovery of the bodies, driving his mother's Chevrolet Trailblazer not far from the scene of the crime. During the traffic stop, as officers approached him, Cote reportedly made statements to the effect that he "knew this was coming."
Cote was taken into custody and subsequently charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of his mother and Daniel Perkins. According to court documents, he allegedly told police that he had "snapped," and that "once I snapped, I couldn't stop." When he was initially placed in handcuffs and asked if he knew why, he reportedly responded, "I guess manslaughter." Following his arrest, a judge ordered that Matthew Cote undergo a mental health evaluation. He was held without bail at the York County Jail.
