Slain Parents Found with Toddler Cuddling and Trying to Play with Them as They Lay Dead — Neighbor Found Guilty

A Georgia man has been sentenced to multiple life terms for killing a firefighter and his wife while their 2-year-old child slept in the home.

Justin and Amber Hicks were found dead in their Acworth, Ga., home in November 2021, according to a criminal warrant. Their neighbor, Matthew Scott Lanz, was later arrested and charged with their murders. He was found guilty on all counts in a bench trial last week, according to online court records.

Investigators alleged that on Nov. 17, 2021, Lanz entered the couple’s home through a rear door and fatally shot them. At the time of the killings, the couple’s toddler was asleep upstairs and was not physically harmed, Atlanta News First reported.

During the trial, Justin’s father testified that he went to the couple’s house to check on them after Amber did not show up for work and neither she nor Justin responded to text messages, according to 11 Alive.

When officers arrived, they discovered a heartbreaking scene: the couple’s young child was found cuddling with his parents and trying to play with them to get their attention, according to police body camera footage cited by 11 Alive. The toddler was covered in blood and still in unchanged diapers.

No clear motive was established during the proceedings. However, prosecutors said Lanz previously claimed he had seen “demonic lights” inside the Hicks’ home, Atlanta News First reported. He also mentioned his brother Austin, who was deceased at the time, saying Austin had been disturbed by the previous residents of the property.

According to the outlet, Austin had broken into the same home when different occupants lived there. Months before Justin and Amber were killed, Austin died by suicide after fatally stabbing an officer in Washington, D.C.

In court, Lanz’s defense attorney argued that he was not tied to any trace evidence recovered from the scene, Atlanta News First reported.

Lanz was ultimately convicted 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, among other offenses.

He was sentenced to three life terms — two of them without the possibility of parole — plus an additional 32 years in prison, with all sentences to be served consecutively.