The prosecution’s narrative relied on timing: the shootings, the blaze, the drive away and the statements that followed.
LIMINGTON, Maine — The case that ended with Matthew Cote receiving two life sentences and 30 years for arson began before sunrise on June 17, 2021, when firefighters were called to a burning home and found two shooting victims inside.
Looking at the case as a timeline helps explain why jurors convicted Cote and why the court imposed the maximum practical punishment. Investigators said Cheryl Cote and Daniel Perkins were dead before the fire started. Hours later, police stopped Matthew Cote in his mother’s vehicle. Over the next several years, prosecutors built the case around that sequence, his later statements and evidence they said showed a deliberate effort to kill, burn the scene and move on with the day.
The first public moment came at about 5:13 a.m., when the Limington Fire Department responded to 259 Hardscrabble Road. A retired firefighter who saw the blaze called 911 and tried to get inside, but could not. Firefighters entered the house and found the bodies of a man and a woman. That quickly changed the nature of the scene. Fire officials and state police major crimes investigators were called in, and authorities soon said they believed the victims had not died in the fire. At that stage, officials had not yet publicly identified the dead, but the investigation had already shifted from an unexplained blaze to a double homicide inquiry tied to the home itself and the people living there.
The next major step came later that same day. Police stopped Matthew Cote while he was driving his mother’s Chevrolet Trailblazer. According to later court reporting, he told officers that he knew “this was coming” and said, “Once I snapped, I couldn’t stop and I emptied the whole magazine.” Those words became central to the prosecution’s account because they helped bridge the gap between the fire scene and a motive-free but intentional act. Authorities eventually identified the victims as Cheryl Cote, 47, and Daniel Perkins. Some later reports listed Perkins as 45. Matthew Cote, then 21, was charged with two counts of murder. Arson charges followed as investigators concluded the fire had been set after the shootings.
The case then slowed into the long middle phase common in serious homicide prosecutions. Court proceedings stretched from 2021 into 2026, including a mental health evaluation and an eventual insanity defense. When trial began in January 2026 in York County Superior Court, the defense did not make identity the central issue. Instead, it argued that Cote should not be held criminally responsible because of mental illness. Prosecutors answered with the timing of events and the order in which they said everything happened: he took a semiautomatic rifle into the home, shot both victims nearly 30 times, set the house on fire, left the property and later went to the beach. That sequence, prosecutor Mark Rucci told jurors, showed goal-oriented behavior.
The verdict arrived Jan. 23, 2026, after more than a week of testimony. Jurors found Cote guilty of two counts of intentional or knowing murder and one count of arson. The guilty finding also meant the insanity defense failed. Trial reporting said corrections officers had testified about overheard jail calls in which Cote said he had “blasted” his mother and set a fire to hide the bodies because he did not want anyone to see them. Those statements mattered because they described not only the shootings but also a reason for the fire. The prosecution used them to argue consciousness of guilt, while the defense urged jurors to weigh mental illness and trauma in understanding what had happened inside the house.
The final public step in the sequence came Feb. 27, 2026, at sentencing in Biddeford. Family members of both victims spoke. Hannah Perkins, Daniel Perkins’ daughter, told the court she still tries to remember the best parts of her father. Cheryl Cote’s relatives said the violence of her death continues to shape their grief. Cote apologized before sentence was imposed. Justice Richard Mulhern then handed down two life sentences for murder and 30 years for arson, and ordered $3,348 in restitution. Defense lawyer Thomas Connolly said he planned to appeal. That means the case is no longer about what happened on June 17, 2021. It is now about whether the conviction and punishment will survive review.
The public timeline is complete for now: fire, bodies, arrest, trial, verdict, sentence, and an appeal that has been announced but not yet resolved.
Author note: Last updated March 30, 2026.