Man convicted of murdering Cherokee firefighter, wife as they watched TV
On a November evening four years ago, a Cobb County couple sat on their couch watching television. Minutes later, they were both killed as their young son slept upstairs.
When the toddler woke up, he tried desperately to get his parents’ attention, Cobb prosecutor Stephanie Green said Thursday. The little boy was found with his parents’ blood on his Mickey Mouse pajamas.
“Your honor, Jacob cuddled with his dead parents,” Green said. “He cuddled with his dead parents.”
The gunman was a young neighbor Amber and Justin Hicks didn’t even know, according to investigators.
Matthew Lanz, then 22, was arrested and charged with murder in the couple’s deaths. By then, Lanz had again broken into a home, this time in Sandy Springs, and stabbed an officer, police said.
On Thursday, Lanz was convicted on all 13 charges he faced, including felony murder, home invasion, aggravated assault and cruelty to children.
Lanz sat motionless, wearing a lime green jail suit, when Judge Sonja Brown read her verdict. He had opted for a bench ruling rather than a trial by jury.
The couple’s deaths shocked their family and community. Justin Hicks, 31, was a Cherokee County firefighter, and he and his 31-year-old wife had celebrated their son’s second birthday in August. The family was excited for their new home.
Defense attorney Jimmy Berry argued there was no evidence that Lanz was responsible for the killings, including DNA. According to prosecutors, the murder weapon was found on Lanz’s bedside table in Athens. At the time, he was a student at the University of Georgia.
After learning about the couple’s deaths, Lanz’s parents suspected he was responsible and drove to Athens to question him.
Lanz had bought the gun about a month before he drove from Athens and broke into the Hicks’ home, where they had lived for less than three months.
“He shot them both in their head in the comfort of their home,” Green said Thursday.
Less than 48 hours after killing the couple, Lanz allegedly ran out of gas off I-285 and walked to a Sandy Springs neighborhood, where he committed another home invasion, investigators previously said.
During that incident, he allegedly stabbed an officer, who survived. Another officer then shot Lanz.
Investigators in the Sandy Springs case, which is still pending, helped Cobb police link Lanz to the double homicide.
During police questioning, Lanz said he was bothered by the “demonic” lights on the Hicks’ home, Green said. He also told investigators he felt bad the woman killed had been pregnant. However, Amber Hicks was not pregnant.
The case had been delayed while Lanz underwent mental evaluations, court records show. In October, the judge ruled he was competent to stand trial.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case Wednesday in the trial that began Monday. Berry called no witnesses on his client’s behalf and Lanz did not testify.
Sentencing will be held Friday after victims are allowed time to give statements to the judge, beginning at 10 a.m.
Lanz is the brother of Austin William Lanz, a man who made national headlines in August 2021 when he fatally stabbed a police officer at a bus stop near the Pentagon in Washington. After stabbing George Gonzalez, 27-year-old Austin Lanz used the officer’s service weapon to kill himself, the FBI Washington field office previously said.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
