WARNING: This story contains descriptions of violence and may be disturbing to some readers.
A Cobb County judge has found Matthew Scott Lanz guilty of murdering a couple back in November 2021.
Justin and Amber Hicks were found dead as their toddler attempted to get their attention inside their Acworth home in Georgia.
The killing happened while their child slept upstairs.
Highlights
- Matthew Scott Lanz was found guilty of murdering Justin and Amber Hicks in their Acworth, Georgia home in November 2021.
- Lanz, the couple’s neighbor, entered through a rear door and shot them while their toddler was asleep upstairs.
- The toddler was found the next day, unharmed but covered in blood, trying to get his parents’ attention.
Matthew Lanz was found guilty of murdering a Georgian couple
Image credits: Facebook
Lanz, the couple’s neighbor, was arrested on several charges, including murder, and was found guilty on all counts in a bench trial in late November, per a criminal warrant seen by People.
The ruling came after three days of testimony detailing the killing inside the house.
Prosecutors argued that Lanz used his own gun to shoot the couple. DNA evidence, firearm analysis, and surveillance footage show him near the couple’s property on the night of the murders.
Authorities alleged that Lanz entered the house through a rear door and shot the couple. He was unaware that the Hicks’ two-year-old son was asleep upstairs, Atlanta News First reported.
Image credits: CourtTV/YouTube
The child was unharmed and discovered the next day by Justin Hicks’ father. During the trial, Justin's father testified that he went to their house after Amber failed to report to work and neither of them responded to calls or messages.
The father, a former police officer, knew something was wrong when he saw a broken window at the back of the house. When police entered, they found the toddler covered in blood, with a dirty diaper, trying to cuddle with the bodies of his parents.
According to body-camera footage cited in court, the child was trying to play with them to get their attention.
“He was like a sack of potatoes,” one officer who brought the child out of the house said, describing how unresponsive the child appeared. Police said he was clutching Justin’s glasses.
Investigators testified that the murder occurred while Justin Hicks, a firefighter, and Amber Hicks, an audiology assistant, were watching television.
Image credits: Facebook
Prosecutors said Lanz had been seen walking around the Hicks’ home before entering. Surveillance videos showed Hicks walking between 9:31 p.m. and 9:55 p.m. and leaving the scene at 10:10 p.m.
His mother found him sleeping with a firearm at 2 p.m. the next day. Lanz’s DNA was found on the pistol grip of a ZEV OZ-9, corresponding to casings found at the scene.
Prosecutors noted that Lanz’s Google history included searches on ballistics, ZEV pistols, and gunshot effects. Police also said Lanz placed his phone in airplane mode shortly after the estimated time of the killings.
During interviews played in court, Lanz told police he saw “a flickering light” or “demonic lights” at the Hicks’ residence. He believed that the neighbors were “out to get him.”
The couple’s toddler was found cuddling them and trying to get their attention the next day
Lanz’s brother, Austin, had broken into the same property when previous residents lived there. Months before the Hicks were killed, Austin fatally stabbed a police officer and then died by suicide.
Lanz referenced his dead brother during his testimony and claimed that the neighbors were “messing with” him.
Lanz’s defense argued he had been “set up” by a government agency. However, the Hicks’ defense argued that Lanz suffered from severe mental illness.
In October, after a hearing, a forensic psychologist testified that he suffered from schizophrenia, according to WSB-TV, but a judge ruled him competent for trial.
Lanz was found guilty of two counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of child cruelty, and one count of tampering with evidence.
He has received three life sentences, two without parole, and 32 years in confinement, all to be served consecutively.