The trial for a man accused of killing a Cherokee County firefighter and his wife in 2021 began Monday.
Prosecutors say Matthew Lanz fatally shot Justin and Amber Hicks inside their Acworth home while the couple’s 2-year-old son was present.
On Monday, the victims’ relative, Timothy Hicks, testified that he found his grandson covered in blood and holding his father’s reading glasses after discovering the couple’s bodies, according to CourthouseNews.com.
A Cobb County police sergeant testified that the child likely became covered in blood after wrapping his arms around his parents following their deaths. The couple was not discovered until roughly 12 hours after they were killed.
Lanz is charged with murder, cruelty to children and evidence tampering. Prosecutors have said they have not identified a clear motive.
One day after the killings, Lanz was arrested in Sandy Springs after breaking into another home and stabbing a responding police officer.
Before the murders, Lanz’s brother — Austin Lanz — had been caught on video breaking into the Hicks’ home after leaving pornographic material in their mailbox.
Months later, in an unrelated incident, Austin Lanz stabbed a Pentagon police officer to death in Washington, D.C., in an unprovoked attack before killing himself with the officer’s gun.
Matthew Lanz’s trial has been delayed several times while attorneys argued over his mental competency to stand trial.
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