Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!
On May 18, 1987, Whitman student Tristram Lundquist, a sophomore, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest from a .22 caliber hand gun. He was murdered by fellow Whitman student, senior Eric Maxon.
Prior to the murder, Lundquist and Maxon fought over the affections of the same girl, sophomore Suzanne Meuret.
Lundquist was murdered over a love-triangle.
“It was a pretty standard love triangle. Suzanne had been dating Eric first and had just gotten tired of the relationship or somehow it had broken up,” said Whitman alum, Brek Lawson. Lawson, who graduated in 1990, lived with both Lundquist and Meuret in Lyman during the time of the relationship drama and ensuing murder.
Matt Cleman, a fellow Lyman resident in 1987, also spoke of the affair.
“Suzanne and Eric broke up about November or December…she started going out with ‘Tris’ sometime in January or February,” said Cleman in a May 20, 1987 issue of the Union Bulletin.
At about 1:30 p.m. on the day of the murder, Maxon came to Lyman where Lundquist lived and took the victim to wheatfields eight miles Northeast of Walla Walla to “talk” over their differences regarding their mutual lady love. Maxon returned without Lundquist and by 7:35 p.m., Lundquist was reported missing.
According to Lawson, the romantic combination of Lundquist, Maxon and Meuret was dumbfounding.
“I guess part of the, well I don’t want to say humor of it, but it was ironic that these three people were involved in a love triangle,” he said.
Lawson depicted the students involved as colorful characters.
“Tristram was tall, dark hair, a beard—a thin little beard. He was a trench coat type-of-guy. A bit of an odd person…I think I recall him and some other guys hanging around and playing Dungeons and Dragons. It was big at that time and that was kind of his speed,” said Lawson.
Maxon, was alsoconsidered “odd” by those who knew him, but in a different way.
“He was stockier, his hair was a light brown, he was, hard to say specifically, but overweight just 30 or 40 pounds,” said Lawson. “He was not Tristram, Tristram was tall and thin.”
Considered an “imposing figure” by Lawson and accused of having an “intense personality” by Cleman in the Union Bulletin, Maxon had the potential to intimidate wiry Lundquist into a wheatfields expedition.
Furthermore, Maxon was athletic, into body building, football and strength. Someone who, according to Cleman, was “really into” being the member of a frat.
At the time of his death, Lundquist was just starting to get into drama. He was also a standout enthusiast of math, physics and astronomy.
“He was simply an outstanding student,” said Phil Sakimoto, Visiting Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Physics.
But for all their differences, Maxon and Lundquist had the same fatal taste in women and the same competitive edge. Their rivalry was brewing on a couple of fronts.
“Not only did he and Eric like the same girl, but they had battles over the chess board,” said Lawson. “They matched wits.”
This deadly competition culminated in Maxon’s fateful decision to unleash his wrath against Lundquist with a .22 and his even more surprising decision to turn himself in half a day later.
Maxon went to Walla Walla police station at 5:30 am on May 19 and told officers that he was “in some trouble,” and led them to Lundquist’s body.
The state originally charged Maxon with first degree murder. But on January 14, 1988, Maxon pled guilty to a reduced charge of second degree murder. Walla Walla Superior Court Judge Yancey Reser who presided over the case asserted that because of difficulties with evidence in the case, first degree murder would have been difficult to peg.
Controversy around the case thickened as Maxon’s parents were nearly arrested for contempt against the court. The day of the murder, Maxon had placed phone calls to his parents. The elder Maxons initially refused to testify against their son or answer any questions regarding their conversations that day. Eventually, they were forced to testify about the conversations in court.
Although Maxon was determined to have had suffered certain mental incapabilities, Judge Reser denied Maxon’s suggestion that his ineptitudes prevented him from a lucid determination of right from wrong on the day of the murder.
Maxon was sentenced to 13 days and eight months in state prison, the longest possible sentence for second degree murder.
In spite of the drama surrounding the murder involving two Whitman students, there were varied reactions to the event on campus.
“I can only speak for Lyman people, I’m hearing them say it’s like a bad nightmare, a bad movie,” said Cleman.
But Lawson remembers the student reaction as one of relative apathy for a murder.
“It wasn’t a popular trio on campus…they were part of the loner crowd,” said Lawson.
He claims that had the trio been a more popular group on campus there would have been “more of a splash” over the murder.
On the day of his conviction, Maxon issued a statement to the press.
“I’m deeply sorry for what happened and I wish I had a chance to repay other than sitting in a prison cell,” he said.
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