He Sh*t His Neighbours D3ad and Left Their 2 Year Old With the B0di3s For 12 Hours

He Sh*t His Neighbours D3ad and Left Their 2 Year Old With the B0di3s For 12 Hours

He cuddled with his dead parents. They were dead in his house. He came down the stairs and he crawled in their blood. On the night of November the 17th, 2021, a young family were just settling down in their new home in Acworth, Georgia. At this point, they’re completely unaware that someone is already outside, watching, circling, and basically waiting for the moment to get in.

Within minutes, Justin and Amber Hicks would be shot dead in their own living room, leaving their 2-year-old son to wake up alone and to wander through that house covered in his parents’ blood, desperately trying to get their attention. But what makes this case even more chilling, even more unsettling, is that this home had already been targeted before by the killer’s older brother.

Two brothers, two terrifying descents into psychosis, and one house that became the center of unimaginable tragedy. screaming Hi guys, welcome back. Thanks for joining me today. Now, as all of you know, I have got a personal experience in my own story with psychosis. I lost my own father to suicide as a result of psychosis.

So, you cannot meet somebody who is more of an advocate than those individuals who go through periods of mental illness. Also, you’ll be aware that I do not hold back in cases where there is an underlying mental illness. Because at the end of the day, yes, people can be mentally ill, and certainly in very, very small amounts of cases, they can kill because of that illness.

But it doesn’t necessitate that they are individuals who can therefore be exonerated of blame. There is a balance, isn’t there? We’re talking about human lives that are taken, and saying it is because they were mentally ill, that’s why they acted in this way and murdered people. It does not cut the mustard, realistically, because so many people are indeed mentally ill and would do anything to protect people that they love and strangers that they don’t know.

So, it’s more about striking that balance in these kind of cases. It is possible to have a mental illness and still have killer DNA and potential. And I think it’s really important that in cases that I cover that we do, as I say, strike that balance. So many of you are still messaging me saying thank you for introducing you to Tester Up because apparently quite a few of you are actually making decent money from it.

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And if you’re on your phone, use my link in the description or pinned comment because that’s the only way you’ll get your 5-pound bonus. Give it a go and let me know in the comments as you have been doing if you’ve tried it already. I am genuinely curious as to how much some of you are making. So, let’s talk about Matthew Scotland. So, he was 22 years of age at the time of the crime and that means that his birthday was between 1998 and 1999.

It hasn’t actually specifically been verified in records, but essentially it’s around 98 to 99 that he’s born. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Acworth, Georgia and he lived there with his parents Scott and Teresa Lands. Also, his older brother Austin William Lands.

And I would say this is a really supportive family. Certainly when I look at Scott and Teresa Lands, they seem to be people who had tried to do their best to bring these boys up with very well. And throughout his childhood, what neighbors would say and people who knew him would say is he was one of those individuals who was very quiet.

He was polite though and as a child he was somebody that didn’t notably get into trouble. He basically kept himself to himself. And I suppose as you look at this on a reflective level you can say well was there a level of isolation? Was he withdrawn? Could that speak even early on of some mental health potential issues? But obviously this is just anecdotal.

This is what neighbors have said about how he was when he was a child. And during those years as he’s growing up, teachers would describe him as very polite, very quiet. He certainly wasn’t someone who stood out to them and we appreciate that in schools teachers tend to notice those who excel unbelievably and also those who are disruptive because they’re the ones who give them pleasure and pain.

So, not somebody that stands out for any wrong reasons to any degree. Now, beginning around mid-2020, this is when the first concerning behaviors we could say start to arise. Actually not from Matthew at this point, but in the household, it’s actually his older brother, 27-year-old Austin, who starts to display some concerning behaviors.

Now, bear in mind, Austin had actually enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, but he’d only remain there a short time before he was actually removed. Um they don’t evidence why he was specifically removed in any detailed reports that we’ve had access to, but it means that he never earns the title of Marine.

But like I said, there’s been no reason for that separation publicly disclosed. It just means that he never completed the boot camp. There again, it’s a very challenging boot camp, so many people will fail. It doesn’t mean that there was anything about his mental health at that point that was causing him issues, but certainly it means he does not complete this.

And I suppose if this is something that you might really want, you could have a level of resentment because you didn’t achieve your dream. And if you feel that you were treated badly, that could also fuel resentment. And that’s important because when we look at cases like this where people going to act in ways that you and I would find outlandish, we also have to try to drill down to what could have provoked this kind of festering where their emotional feelings are concerned.

It turns out that he starts to develop what we would consider would be increasingly alarming behavior. He starts to fixate increasingly on a house behind theirs, the family home, which is on Verbena Drive. Now, basically, they share a face boundary with that home, and Austin starts to become that there are issues with this particular house, and that activity apparently intensified over time, and it became so frequent and so disturbing that the couple who lived at the address that Austin has become completely fixated with ends up installing cameras, even began documenting each incident. So, this feels to them very atypical, deeply concerning, and something I feel that they feared might escalate to something quite sinister. And actually, they repeatedly capture Austin on surveillance. They actually see that he leaves graphic pornography and very disturbing notes for the neighbors who are living there.

This is Philip Brent and Eliza Wells. And you can imagine, can’t you? When you’re living in a house, you feel that that is your safety, your sanctuary. And you feel that you can believe that that safety and sanctuary isn’t going to be impacted by anybody outside of that, because that’s why you feel that level of safety.

Now, we know it happens. We have people who burgle our homes and that violates that sense. We have people who stalk our homes and that violates that sense. But nonetheless, for the most part, you don’t imagine that’s going to happen to you. And when it is happening to you, it is so destructive. And when it’s got to the point that you’re actually installing surveillance videos and you’re viewing that surveillance video and you’re finding that people are actually doing things to your home and to your serenity, so to speak, that is going to cause you a whole heap of psychological issues and also genuinely a reality-based fear about what might happen and escalate in this kind of case. So, Philip and Eliza are obviously beside themselves because this is occurring. And apparently, he’s scribbling current messages and then just go back to the property over and over and over again.

Sometimes, he just stares into their windows. And apparently, on occasion, he even snuck into the home. Now, bear that in mind. If you are in a scenario where you genuinely feel that your property does not protect you, you are going to be thinking about what to do next. And I personally would be thinking, I either need to get him to be stopped or I just need to remove myself from this property.

And that’s exactly what the majority of us would feel. How do I escape this situation? Now, bear in mind, at this point, friends and neighbors have also noticed that Matthew, Austin’s younger brother, has also become more withdrawn. That actually began really in his late adolescence, but it kind of escalates over this period of time.

So, now both brothers are acting in ways that people are noticing just not seem to be typical for their age frame, for their experience, and as you would imagine they should be acting if they were actually enjoying a normal experience going through the years, as opposed to an experience that could be inhabiting some mental health issues.

Now, by April 2021, people are really noticing Austin’s behavior. They’re noticing that he seems to be acting very strangely, and then finally, we get, I suppose, the crescendo at this point. Now, by April 2021, we are seeing a real shift and escalation in Austin’s behavior. It’s been bad enough already, the neighbors are terrified, clearly, but then, in the early hours of the morning, around 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. , he actually breaks into the neighbor’s home armed with a demolition tool. And just imagine that. Imagine seeing that. That someone has broken into your home, they’ve got a demolition tool, what are they intending to do with it? And surveillance video footage showed him wandering through the house around 15 minutes he’s in that house. He’s switching on the lights.

It’s almost like he’s searching for someone. Now, he took nothing from that home, in fact, he barely touched anything from that home, and then he just eerily leaves. And that can seem very strange to people who don’t understand things like mental illness, including psychosis. Personally, when I lived in Australia many years ago, I had a man with schizophrenia living underneath my apartment, and he would repeatedly come to my room, knock on my door, and ask whether he could come in, and whether Lorraine was there. And I would say, “I don’t know where Lorraine is. I don’t know Lorraine.” And then, eventually, one day, he came up, and I was a bit annoyed, a bit touchy, and I said, “Can you please stop coming up here?” And a second later, he literally smashed my door completely off its hinges and came in. He had a knife and he was wandering around with it.

And essentially, I managed to get out. I then went to the police station. They came back, arrested him. And he believed I had a brain-sucking machine in my house. And he genuinely was looking in my apartment for a brain-sucking machine. Now, in that instant, in that situation where I was looking at him armed and my flatmates were there as well, it was truly terrifying.

And you think to yourself, is my life at risk? But actually, we were not the issue. It was the delusion that he was carrying that was the issue. And he believed that we were harboring something that was harming him. He ended up obviously being sectioned in Australia, the equivalent of what we would do in the UK.

And he was placed under medication to ensure that he was in a better mental state when he came out. So, I have lived that experience as well as living an experience with my own father, where he was deeply suspicious and paranoid and believed that we were stealing money from him and that my mom was defrauding him.

So, this is contextual with somebody who is really struggling with psychosis. But if you’re the individuals who are actually living in our home witnessing that particular material, you’re going to think, “My god, what was he capable of doing?” Now, when he is later arrested and then taken to jail, he actually becomes really enraged.

He’s really combative whilst he’s being processed. In fact, he attacks two deputies without any provocation. And also, multiple officers were required to actually restrain him. The thing about somebody who is dealing with psychotic delusions is often they have super strength. Unless you’ve been in a scenario like that, you really will not be able to understand the power that individuals have in these moments.

It genuinely is like they are possessed by somebody with incredible strength. And it is not unusual for restraints to involve multiple people because they are so dominating strength-wise. And whilst they’re trying to restrain him, he’s continuing to fight, to kick. He wants to hit the deputies.

This is after being taken to the ground. In fact, he tore one deputy’s ACL, which is the anterior cruciate ligament, and that’s a critical knee ligament. Don’t get me wrong, that is an injury that is relatively common to those involved in high-intensity physical jobs, and she actually had a bone chipped in her knee. He also dislocated another deputy’s thumb.

I mean, that in itself demonstrates the level of power and aggression, and he also destroyed one of the deputies’ tasers. Also, during this altercation with the officers, he accuses one of the officers of being gay for teaming up on him. So, obviously, he’s using that as a slur in this case. He’s not being positive, he’s using gay as a slur, and is also challenging the deputies to remove his restraints and to fight one-to-one.

So, basically, he’s seeing this as a bullying situation where they’re basically ganging up on him. And when he’s in custody, Lance actually made statements to a police officer about how planes have been flying over his neighborhood and tracking his cell phone. Again, this isn’t unusual in cases like this. When somebody has a delusion, they can genuinely believe that people are tracking their thoughts, that the authorities are interested in everything that they’re doing and are tracking them.

And this conversation is something that many psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists have with their clients because this is something that is typical in these kind of mental illnesses. Now, after this, he ends up being given additional charges. So, this includes aggravated battery, criminal damage, and also rioting in a penal institution.

So, these are on top of the charges that he’s already been arrested for, which include aggravated stalking, burglary, criminal trespass, and obstruction. And his bond conditions required also mental health treatment, which makes absolute sense because he can’t be going to people’s homes that he is not invited into, and walking through those homes with demolition equipment, particularly when he’s got these issues where he could turn dangerous if he’s challenged.

After this, a temporary protective order was issued by a Cobb County judge, and this meant that Austin was to have no contact with the neighbors. He was also prohibited from going near that property, and he was barred from contacting them by any electronic or written means, which makes perfect sense because they at least need to feel that the courts are taking them seriously when it comes down to his actions.

Now, it seems that Austin was not being stabilized. He’s showing signs of escalating paranoia. He’s showing signs of delusional thinking, and also some disorganized behavior. And bear in mind, his parents are completely committed to helping him. They are desperately trying to get him mental health treatment in compliance with the court order conditions, but it’s really challenging.

If anybody has dealt with somebody in the community who is dealing with psychosis, they are deeply suspicious and paranoid. So, when you are trying to get them help, they often think that you are poisoning them, or that you’re working against them. And that can make getting them the help that they require all but impossible. Now, we’ve got him dealing with this situation with these hallucinations, with these delusions, with this spiraling in his behavior, and with more dangerous behavior.

And in tandem to this, his brother Matthew, he is now also experiencing auditory hallucinations. This is where he reports hearing voices, and these voices are commenting on the neighbors. Basically, he’s sharing, to some degree, the same delusion that his brother is exhibiting. And apparently, these voices are telling Matthew that the neighbors are corrupted, dangerous, or evil.

He said that when he’s listening to these voices, they’re sometimes suggesting that they’re actually government operatives or they’re spiritual forces or indeed the voices sometimes are apparently his deceased grandfather. But essentially his belief system says that they are communicating instructions or warnings for him and to him.

So, even though this is scary, to some degree what he’s suggesting is they’re trying to operate a protective mechanism to protect him from whatever’s going on out there, whatever he needs to know to make sure that he’s safe from all these terrible things that the neighbors might be doing.

He becomes increasingly frightened of people. He’s also stopped actually attending social interaction opportunities, so he’s just completely withdrawn now. And people who knew him said he developed a real preoccupation with the idea that his whole environment was being manipulated. But as I said, this is really contextual with a brain disorders such as schizophrenia or people who are dealing with psychosis.

And this does fit that picture and paradigm perfectly. And this must have been incredibly challenging for the parents in this case because you’ve got both the brothers, both Matthew and Austin, who are displaying these very challenging behaviors. They were clearly dealing with a very severe mental illness.

What can you do when you are the parents of adults who are dealing with these situations? Because there is limited power, that’s the reality. If an individual is over a certain age unless they are causing immediate harm to themselves or to others, very often you are just expected to care for them in your household.

But you feel altogether unprepared and unqualified to do that. And you just end up feeling a level of powerlessness and helplessness. Now on August 3rd, 2021, Matthew’s older brother Austin, he steps off the bus at the Pentagon Transit Center in Arlington, Virginia. At this point he immediately approaches officer George Gonzalez.

He’s a Pentagon Force Protection Agency officer. Bear in mind, this is without warning. There’s been no altercation. There’s been no escalation. And yet without warning, he stabs that officer Gonzalez multiple times in the neck. Austin then seizes the officer’s service weapon and unbelievably turns the gun on himself and then fatally shoots himself.

Sadly, both he and unfortunately the officer that he just grotesquely and unprovoked wise attacked died at scene. Now they believe the reason that Austin Lance had chosen the target, shall we say, was because he’d had this prior negative experience with law enforcement. So he just decided, you’ll do.

You represent something that I resent deeply. And it seems like his goal basically was to have been revenge against the US security complex. And I guess more than that really, more broadly, it was against the US authorities. Like I said that festering resentment, that feeling of wanting to take it out on somebody that represents a place, a position, an organization that he feels has been unfair to him, that are therefore in his mind deserving of that retribution.

Now they also believe another motivator in this crime was likely his administrative separation from the US Marines. And that had some input into his decision as well. Now for Matthew, he’s now lost his older brother. Bear in mind, Matthew’s just 22 years of age at this moment in time. So you lose your older brother, somebody you probably look up to, somebody that you also feel understands a similar experience to you.

And on top of that, the stress that grief is going to plow upon you is certainly an exacerbator where mental illness is concerned. In fact, when we look at schizophrenia, stress seems to be a big part and position in the development of schizophrenia. And like I said, when we think about schizophrenia per se, we’re talking about younger men usually in the adolescence in particular being impacted when the development of this is concerned if stress and drugs and things that can kind of exacerbate these issues come into play. So certainly for Matthew, we’ve seen the early signs of it in his youth, but now we’re talking about a whole heap of stress that is challenging for anyone to manage in the loss of his brother. And he’s dealing with that whilst also dealing with this brain disorder, whatever that may be, developing. That is going to be adding a fuel to the fire.

Now, Matthew continues living between his parents’ home at this point in Acworth and also an apartment in Athens because he’s actually attending the University of Georgia. I suppose the fact that he’s away from his parents is also potentially going to mean there is a stress level there because often you have a lot of time on your hands, particularly if you live by yourself, and he lived alone.

He didn’t have any roommates on the lease. So he’s got a lot of time to ruminate and to fuel the thoughts that he already is having delusion-wise. But like I said, imagine the fact that he’s also got this preoccupation now likely because of the fact that he’s lost his brother and he’s trying to make sense of that.

He’s enrolled at this point in a general undergraduate program, but we don’t know what his major was. What we do know is a neighbor told reporters that he worked intermittently as a landscaper during this period. But it seems like after his brother dies, we really do see his mental health begin to deteriorate.

So first off, people notice he’s even more socially withdrawn. And then when he’s actually at home with his parents, that fixation that his brother had with the neighbor’s house that now he’s been enduring, it just escalates, it intensifies. So, his parents said that you know, he would speak more frequently about government plots and energies around the property line.

And his mother actually confirmed that he had began actually seeing a psychiatrist and that psychiatrist had diagnosed him with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and had gone ahead and prescribed him antipsychotic medication. But, the reality is he didn’t consistently take it. Again, this is very typical because if you think potentially you’re being poisoned, you’re not going to necessarily going to want to take the medication because you fear what’s in the medication.

And because of that, it worsened his mental state because the problem is if you’re taking antipsychotics and then coming off them, you can actually get a kickback to some degree where the issues with your mental health spirals further and the psychotic experience becomes even grander because you’re messing about with the biology of your brain by taking certain drugs for a period and then coming off so there’s a withdrawal effect and that means it gives you that kickback, that rebound.

So, that’s really problematic as well. And his mother actually described periods where he appeared clearer. This is particularly when he was medicated and then very noticeably more paranoid when he stopped with his medication. So, we’re all aware this means that he’s showing clear symptoms of psychosis.

And his father, interestingly, described seeing what he called a demonic side of his son, which is just heartbreaking, isn’t it? Cuz we have children and we love our children and we want what’s best for our children. And when they’re growing through the years, we see their good points, we see their bad points, we see them in the whole.

And the idea that some people have to go through those hideous moments where they see their child and think, “I don’t like that side of you. That scares me.” It happens time and time again. Some of you listening to me now, you will relate to this on a personal level. You will have seen your children do things, act in ways, in times deal with mental illnesses that can provoke certain actions and reactions.

In that time frame, you love them, but you don’t like them. You might be scared of them, fearful of them. And this is what’s happening in that home. And again, this is not typical when it comes down to schizophrenia. Seeing somebody looking demonic, that actually isn’t something that many people talk about. Yes, all the other things I’ve talked about so far regarding the delusions, the hallucinations, the fear, the paranoia, the suspicion, the super strength.

Yes, that’s contextual. But a demonic side, that’s far more unusual. And his father said that it’s at this point that Matthew’s hearing voices, seeing things that’s not real, and just believing in ideas that are completely detached from reality. But if you are trying to reason with somebody who is in this state, it is just like trying to say to them that a brick in front of their eyes that they can hold in their hands isn’t real when they’re holding it in their hands.

That’s how real it is for someone dealing with these hallucinations. They smell things, they see things, they hear things as if it were 100% real. And so, even trying to manage an individual who is going through the process of this that state mentally is challenging based on the fact that it feels real. And is real to them.

Now, bear in mind, as I’ve said, he’s doing the same as his brother Austin did. He’s focusing on there being a house, and he becomes absolutely fixated on that property. He’s making really paranoid statements about his neighbors. And of course, he now, because his brother has died, links the house to his deceased brother. He also says that at times he sees shadowy figures moving in the corners of rooms, and he says that he believes that those figures are spirits or presences watching him.

In fact, he says to his father that at times those figures signaled warnings from a supernatural or government source. And this is really challenging when you’re listening to someone talk like this because you want to just say to them, “You’re wrong. That’s not true.” But like I said, that will not reassure them. That will make them believe that you’re lying to them and add to the paranoia about you.

When you’re dealing with somebody with psychosis, you have to be a voice who listens to what they’re saying, acknowledges how scary that must be, but doesn’t say, “But it’s all BS. You’re just imagining all this.” Cuz that, as I say, it will create a separation between you and them, and the likelihood is they will put you in the position of being somebody they need to be suspicious about.

So, deeply challenging for the parents in this case. Now, around 33 days after Austin has killed himself, so this is around the start of September. We’re still in the eye of the storm of grief, and the family having to come to terms with the most harrowing reality of where their life is now. This is while the Land’s family are obviously grieving their desperate loss of their eldest son.

It turns out that that house that Matthew and Austin had this huge fixation on changes hands. Now, that doesn’t surprise me for a minute. If I’d been living in the Verna house and I had had those things happening around me, I would want to move, too. I wouldn’t be able to handle the fact that somebody had violated my boundaries, that I hadn’t felt safe, that I was worried about the consequences of being there.

It would just have so much bad energy for me that I would sell. And I do wonder when the previous occupants sell the property if they actually were open about what had been happening. In the UK for example, if there are issues with neighbor disputes and I would imagine that what Austin was doing would constitute a neighbor dispute, you do have to be honest about that because understandably some people would not want to move somewhere where there might be some prior issues with neighbors cuz it could translate to their own experience. But it could be that that conversation has occurred and maybe the house was sold at a cheaper price and that’s why it seems very attractive. I don’t know. I’m just speculating that in the UK we do need to do that. Is it possible that that had been said to Justin and Amber Hicks who buy the property or were they just sold it without that knowledge? So, Justin and Amber Hicks, they’re a young couple, they’ve got a two-year-old little boy named Jacob.

They buy the home and we all know how every single one of us feels when we move into a new home. Can’t believe it. We usually just so excited that we’ve managed to achieve a certain goal and particularly when we’ve got a young family and maybe we’ll get a bit more space, it just feels like we have won at life for a period of time. Don’t get me wrong, two years down the line you’re like, maybe I just need a bigger back garden.

But we’ve all been there in that situation even when we’re renting. You move somewhere and you just think, yeah, this is home. It represents so much more than a house. It represents foundation. It represents dreams. It represents future. It represents so much and I can just imagine for Justin and Amber that’s exactly where they are when they move in.

Now they’ve got no connection to the Land’s family and from what I found out at least they have no knowledge of its troubled history with the property. Can’t dig up any information that suggests they were informed. Like I said, in the UK, if it were the case that you weren’t informed, and then suddenly you find yourself in the eye of this kind of storm, you would essentially be able to force, potentially, the person who sold it to you to buy the property back.

That’s how serious these things are when you don’t disclose it. But, if they didn’t have to disclose, and they did buy the property, it feels very unfair because, like I said, that should have actually been communicated with the family. Now, bear in mind that you’re really just starting their life, and both were in their early 30s, they’re building their careers, they’re raising their first child.

Justin Hicks, he was described by colleagues and friends as just the most compassionate and intelligent and deeply committed individual. In fact, people said that, you know, his life was dedicated to public service. He completed his education, he trained in emergency response, and eventually became a firefighter and a paramedic with the city of Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.

So, we’re talking about a real hero. Somebody who is literally willing to risk his own life for other people’s lives. And people who were with him said, you know, he’s one of those guys who was just really calm under pressure, and instinctively, he knew how to care for people, and he was vocational. That’s why he chose the career he chose.

People said he was just unbelievably reliable, and he treated his job as a calling. Neighbors who knew him as well said he was just this generous, attentive family man. And then we’ve got Amber Hicks. She worked as an audiology assistant at North Georgia Audiology. She’s also studying at the time of her death, she was planning to progress further in audiology with an interest in early childhood communication and hearing.

So, anybody who’s choosing that area has just got compassionate and empathy running through their veins, in my opinion. And she’d actually been raised by her aunt because her mom passed away from cancer, so she’d had challenges early on. One of the things that is very notable about her is that she was very intelligent. She had incredible organizational skills, and I love what a friend of hers said.

They described her as having a quiet kindness. You know, when people talk about a quiet kindness, it means that she isn’t expecting people to necessarily notice all her good deeds. It’s just in her. It’s instinctive. And so, if you’re around her, she will do things that are sweet and caring and compassionate without expecting a round of applause.

People who were friends with her said, “You know, she had this really soft-spoken voice, but she was so warm.” And that she made people feel really comfortable without any effort. It was just her nature. She was somebody who loved course stability. She loved security of building a grounded, peaceful home life.

Being dedicated to her family was a number one priority. And close friends described her as a really protective mother, and said she and Justin centered their lives around their little boy, Jacob. And we’re talking about a 2-year-old child, so they’re very much at the very beginning of that experience of having a family, and it is just miraculous and wondrous when you’re in a loving family bringing a child up together, because you just see every new first of theirs as your first, too.

It really does, I always believe, reintroduce childhood to adults when you have a child for the first time. So, this is a wonderful period. They’re growing and they’re thriving, and they’re moving through their lives exactly as they had planned. It is a time of celebration. Justin and Amber had married in the late 2010s. They were really known as gentle souls who were really hard working, really dedicated to one another.

He actually proposed to her wearing his full fireman’s suit. Who would not wish to be proposed to by a fireman in a full fireman outfit. I mean, particularly in the United States, those guys do look good in those outfits. It’s as simple as that. I’ve seen the calendars that are put out yearly of the men in those environments.

And let me tell you, a lot of them do have eight packs, things that I can only dream of having myself. I don’t mean the fireman, I mean the eight pack. You know, but there is something truly wonderful about that he wants to look like that fireman, that hero, in the moment that he proposes to the woman of his dreams.

So, that’s essentially the backstory of how they arise in this new home of theirs. Now, Matthew, in 2021, the October of that year, goes out and buys a 9-mm handgun. His parents, they are really concerned by his mental state. And of course, they’re still grieving what’s happened to their other son. They are not going to allow him to have that gun. They confiscate it.

They lock it inside a safe. But in the weeks that follow, Matthew manages to access a firearm again. And this is the issue. If you really want to achieve something, even when you are dealing with the mental state that Matthew is dealing with, it is possible to do that. And it seems like it’s around the same time that Matthew’s digital activity also becomes concerning.

So, in the weeks leading up to the November 17th murders, he essentially conducts a series of online searches including facts about blood, ballistics calculators for long-range shooting, what would getting shot by a .308 be like, do heads really explode as portrayed in Pulp Fiction, and religious queries about the Ten Commandments for dummies.

So, I suppose some searches about spiritual issues and also the rest very much about issues that are dealing with concerning with the backdrop of his mental illness. Now, we get to the evening of November the 17th, 2021. At this point, Matthew travels from his apartment at the university in Athens back to Acworth. Bare in mind, at this point the Hicks family, they’re just enjoying what every young family would be enjoying at this point, an evening in their new home.

They’ve put their son to bed. They’re ready to just have a sit down and a relax together. You know, when you’ve got a young child, it’s miraculous when you get them to bed, they go to sleep, and you can just have a little bit of you time because most of your time is dedicated to work and looking after your kids, and you celebrate it.

I love it when you get those moments where you can maybe have a glass of wine with your partner, sitting in front of the TV, Netflix and chill. They are moments that you genuinely feel are wondrous. Bare in mind that only been living at this point in that house for 73 days. This is brand new.

They’re right in the first throws of that beautiful period of celebrating just being where they are, achieving what they’ve achieved. Now, surveillance footage captures Matthew arriving at his parents’ home at around 7:09 p.m. Now, into the evening, he moves repeatedly around the Hicks property. So, he’s out there watching, waiting, stalking.

Between 9:31 p.m. and 9:55 p.m., security footage records a figure repeatedly circling the homes, approaching from different angles, and this triggers the Hicks exterior lights. The person on camera is, of course, Matthew Lance. Now, at this time, the Hicks devices show signs of a normal, peaceful activity in the home, with Amber’s phone last being used for the final time at 9:59 p.m.

But, shortly after that, 10:00 p.m., Matthew Lands moves towards the back of the house. Unbelievably, at this point, he smashes through a window at the rear sunroom, scattering glass outwards onto the patio. Inside that sunroom, they found shards of glass and a broken frame, which basically shows the path he uses to climb into the home. The front door and both rear doors were later found locked from the inside.

So, this is absolutely his point of entry. Once he’s inside, Lands advances into the living area. This is where Justin and Amber are. The living room doesn’t show any sign of a struggle. So, there was no overturned furniture or scattered belongings, and the couple basically just appear to have been sat together relaxing for the evening.

Toys have been gathered nearby, which suggests they’ve been spending time together after putting their little boy to bed. Obviously, the remnants of him playing were still there. But, at some point between 9:59 p.m. and 10:10 p.m., Lands shoots both Justin and Amber using a 9-mm handgun. And it begs the question, why didn’t they react? Why weren’t they up and thinking about what on earth had just happened when he broke in? But, equally, when people are just concentrating on the TV or having a conversation, even if you hear something

smash, it might immediately alert you. You might look around. You might say, “God, what was that?” But, if something happens really quickly from that initial hearing to them coming into the room and shooting you, you’re still in the shock, what’s going on, what do we need to figure out, kind of stage.

So, even though they were sat on that couch, doesn’t mean they hadn’t been alerted to something happening. It’s just that they hadn’t reacted, they hadn’t gone to investigate because they were probably trying to figure out what was that noise. How often has that happened to any of us? I mean, I can count many times when me and my husband have heard a noise, sat in bed or been on the couch and gone, “What on earth is that?” before we actually investigate.

If in that process and time frame, somebody has come in and used a gun, we wouldn’t have time to retaliate. It would just happen so quickly. We wouldn’t even get past shock. Now, later medical testimony actually established that each of the victim had been shot three times. So, Justin had three gunshot wounds, one to the right temporal scalp, which is, by the way, immediately lethal.

Also, one to the right upper arm, which is potentially lethal because of the blood loss, and also one to the right abdomen near the ribs. Also, he had an abrasion which was likely caused by broken glass. Amber Heick also had three gunshot wounds. One to the left lower cheek and face, which was lethal because the bullet damaged the carotid artery and spinal cord, which means that she’d bleed out immediately.

She also had one to her right forearm with an entry and exit wound, and also one to her right thigh. Also, a large abrasion on the abdomen. So, they didn’t have a chance. They were just executed in the safety of their own home on the sofa that they were sharing. It is just almost impossible to imagine that scene, just how quick it plays out.

Now, of course, the nature of the injuries were incapacitating and fatal, and as I said, that attack unfolded with absolute speed. And it’s motivated not because he wants to steal from the home, because all the cash, the electronics, the jewelry, the valuables, they’re all left exactly where they had been. And there is no silver lining here, but I suppose the one thing that I am deeply grateful for is that their 2-year-old little boy was actually asleep in a room inside the house and wasn’t present with them. But even though he survived, he

heard what was playing out. He must have been absolutely terrified by the noise. And he actually ends up wandering into the scene, but then after seeing his parents in this situation, he goes back into his crib. I am heartbroken by that knowledge. I’m heartbroken by the idea of a little 2-year-old child getting up because he hears noise, seeing his mommy and daddy horrifically slain.

The blood would have been everywhere. What do children do in those scenarios? We know what they do. They try to rouse their parents. And the fact that in the end he gets that state of helplessness and thinks, “I’m going to go back to bed.” It’s almost this instinct of protection. Just get into bed. Go to sleep.

Maybe it’ll be okay in the morning. He’s a little boy. He’s walked into a slaughterous scene. And just that returning to his crib, it’s the most innocent thing that he can do, isn’t it? It just speaks of childhood. It speaks of being a baby. And he wants his mommy and daddy, but they can’t be there for him. So, he returns to that place of safety, probably hoping it will all be okay when he wakes up.

Now, it’s 10:10 p.m. when Matthew Lonsdale’s vehicle is recorded leaving the neighborhood. And at 10:16 p.m., his phone actually enters airplane mode, which means all location tracking is off. So, he’s got the wherewithal to do that, hasn’t he? It’s really important in cases like this that we explore the actions of the individuals afterwards.

Were they completely out of their mind? Or were they able to actually make decisions, particularly in this mode, to try to protect themselves? And if that’s the case, how out of their mind were they really? Now, it remained in airplane mode until 12:43 a.m., which means that it masked his movements immediately after the murders.

And when his phone reconnects to the network, he’s actually already far from the Beena Drive. So, like I said, he’s made a choice to disconnect so people don’t know about his activity, and he’s reconnected when he feels that he’s put some distance between himself and the crime. Also, he’s driven, so he must have been cogent and competent enough to do so.

Now, it’s the next morning on Thursday, the 18th of November, when Amber fails to appear for work. So, when colleagues can’t reach her or Justin, they actually contact Justin’s father, Timothy Hicks, and he drives to the home cuz he wants to check on them. When he sees the broken window at the back of the house, he just knows immediately that something’s wrong, calls 911, and it’s approximately 9:43 a.m. that Cobb County Officer Matthew Brown arrives to conduct a welfare check. He approaches the rear of the house. He sees the shattered sunroom window with the blinds rattling. He hears a dog barking inside, and then he looks through the broken opening and he can hear the voice of a small child. Can’t even begin to imagine that feeling.

The knowledge that something really dire has likely happened, and there’s a child at the scene. When he adjusts his angle and peers through the gap, he can see the young toddler peeking out from behind a corner, and behind that little boy is a lifeless body of Amber on the couch and Justin on the floor. Officer Brown then forces entry into the home.

Once inside, he lifts the little boy, who is literally covered in blood. His clothing and skin were smeared all over with blood. And the reason for that is that little boy is obviously been trying to rouse his parents. The officer then carries that little boy outside and hands him to a family member who’s waiting in the yard.

The officer described Jacob as unresponsive and like a sack of potatoes. He was wearing blood soaked pajamas. He was clutching Justin’s glasses. He also had a very heavily soiled diaper as you would expect for a child who’s not been with his parents to tend to him. In court, it was actually later said that Jacob had cuddled with his dead parents just desperately trying to get them to acknowledge him.

That’s why he was covered in blood. And it makes sense because when you’re a little boy or a little girl, you’re going to try to play with your parents. You’re going to try to engage with them. And you’re going to be thinking, “Mommy, Daddy, why are you ignoring me? Why aren’t you engaging with me?” It’s so traumatic for that child.

And the fact that he’s not concerned about the blood. You think about adults, you know, if you were in that situation, most of us are not going to get ourselves completely covered in blood from head to toe. But for a child, they don’t think that way. They’re not offended or afraid of the blood. They just see the parent.

And they just want the mommy. They want the daddy. And the fact that he was trying to play with them the morning after the murders is just absolutely devastating. Now, at this point, additional units arrive. They secure the home. This is of course while paramedics go about the business of confirming that Justin and Amber are dead.

The crime scene specialists then work through the day. They work into the night. And they are documenting the broken window, the casings, the bullet strikes, and of course the positions of the bodies. Ballistic technicians, they collected the 9-mm shell casings from inside and just outside the living room area. But apparently one is missing at this point.

And that suggests either lambs or even possibly 2-year-old Jacob could have picked it up. And when they start to analyze the crime scene, they don’t feel that this has been down to theft. No one has come to steal anything from the home. What they know is it appears to have been a swift violent intrusion with an unclear motive, basically.

Now, as this investigation is ongoing, Matthew Lands, as we know, is elsewhere. It’s the afternoon of the 18th. At this point, his parents have been trying to reach him. They actually travel to his apartment in Athens. Now, they find him asleep at this point with a handgun beside him. Now, bear in mind they’ve previously confiscated a gun from him.

They’ve locked it in a safe, and so this must be quite disturbing. And I imagine the reason they drove to see him at university is because they have suspicions about horrific things that’s played out in their neighborhood, and they want to know that he’s there because they’re afraid that he could be behind it.

At this point, they actually tell him about the murder that has happened. Again, why would you do that? You’re going to engage someone’s reaction. Now, their hearts must have dropped when they saw him with a weapon, let alone the fact that they now know that a weapon has been used to murder their neighbors. So, that connection is something that’s going to blindside them.

And during that particular visit, Matthew Lands makes some really delusional statements where he’s very paranoid, where he’s talking about demonic lighting, where he’s referencing his deceased brother. And his dad, understandably, removes the gun from the apartment, takes it back to Acworth, and he puts it in a sport jacket in their closet.

Now, that weapon is a ZEV OZ9-mm pistol. That eventually will match the casings found in the Hicks home. By the next morning, this is Friday, the 19th of November, and this is in Sandy Springs, Georgia, miles south of Acworth. Police receive reports of a suspicious man attempting to enter homes in the Cameron Glenn neighborhood. So, obviously, the police are going to act on this information because we know there’s been an execution of a family that no one understands, and now there is somebody else stalking another neighborhood, and it feels like this

could be related. Now, at 8:41 a.m. that day, a homeowner reported that an intruder was inside their residence. So, officers traveled to that location, and this is at 90 Cameron Glenn Drive. Now, when they arrive inside that home, they first encounter Matthew Lanz. Now, he seems compliant initially.

He’s standing there quietly at the base of a staircase, but he is wearing camouflage. He’s got gloves. He’s got a fishing cap. He’s got a face covering. This in itself feels very sinister. Why would he be dressed like that? And also, what has prompted him to do that? We know that he’s already killed two people, and now he’s creeping into somebody else’s home dressed in camouflage with gloves and a fishing cap and a face covering.

And even though he’s seemingly compliant in that moment, as soon as officers attempt to detain him, he pulls out a large knife and he tries to attack them. He stabs one officer repeatedly in the back and neck. He injures the second officer who just tries to heroically intervene. And during this, he’s yelling slurs at officers, including the N-word, calling them [ __ ] as well.

During this altercation and attack, a taser is deployed, but it has little to no effect, and Lanz just carries on assaulting the officers. They then fire their service weapons, hitting him twice, but again, he resists, resists, resists. He has to be physically subdued until they get a control of him. Now, officers during that period of time, in spite of their own injuries, are actually still applying first aid to him and also, of course, to the injured officer.

Then, emergency medical services transport Matthew Lance and, of course, the most seriously injured officer immediately to Grady Memorial Hospital. Fortunately, on this occasion, the officer who was stabbed in the neck does make a full recovery, as does Matthew Lance. Now, within hours of this horrific attack, detectives have realized that this is the young man who lived in the house behind where the murders have just taken place.

Now, detectives have already begun to build a timeline through the digital data from the Hicks devices, which showed that Amber’s phone had last been active at 9:59 p.m. Also, they know that the exterior lights and home security systems had recorded motion and illumination around 9:55 p.m. and 10:10 p.m. They then learn that the older brother of Matthew Lance, Austin Lance, had recently harassed the previous occupants of the home and broken into it before later attacking the police officer and then taking his own life.

And it looks, in this moment, that Matthew Lance has effectively done exactly the same. It is quite harrowing where Matthew Lance’s family find out what he’s done. You can just see the mother and father crumble. Can’t even begin to compute the enormity of finding out that another of your sons has actually carried out the most unspeakable crimes.

Imagine being the parent of Austin Lance and thinking, “Oh my god, my son murdered a police officer.” How harrowing would that be? But then to imagine my other younger son has not just tried to kill police officers, they’ve executed my neighbors in cold blood with no reason. How do you even begin to inhabit a psychological space where you can compute that in reality? Now cop investigators coordinated with Sandy Springs and they obtained search warrants.

They seized Matthew Lanza’s car, which had been abandoned near the Sandy Springs scene. They obtained warrants for his Athens apartment at the University of Georgia as well as warrants for his parents’ home in Acworth. Now during the searches of his Athens apartment and his vehicle, they find a box for a gun that matched that used at the crime scene.

They also had ammunition, magazines, clothing, and a flashlight that was seized and that flashlight had signs of impact. At his parents’ home in Acworth, detectives recovered a 9-mm pistol, which matched the box, also a magazine, and a sports jacket belonging to his father. We know that his father removed that from him when they found him sleeping with that next to himself.

Laboratory testing found Matthew’s DNA on the grip of that gun. And when ballistics experts compared the pistol to the casings recovered from the Hicks living room, they also matched. Forensic teams were also able to get a hold of his phone and to extract the location and browsing data. And records show that on the night of the 17th, his phone basically had normal network activity until 10:16 p.m.

This is when it switched into airplane mode. They also found the surveillance footage, which shows his car arriving near his parents’ home at 7:09 p.m. And lastly, footage of a figure, which they then identify as him, moving around the Hicks house between 9:30 and 9:55 p.m.

And his car then leaving the street around 10:10 p.m. Now while he’s being transported, he ends up telling a Sandy Springs officer that he feels pain for knowing there was a child in the lady’s belly. Which is kind of interesting that it bothers him that he might have killed an unborn baby, but he’s not that concerned about killing the mother who would have been carrying that unborn baby.

Now, he does deny killing Justin and Amber, and he appears shocked when they tell him that there been a child in the house. He said basically comments to the effect of “it was horrible that that had played out.” He also then talks about needing a gun for protection. He said that they were out to get him.

He referenced devil worshipers and demonic lights. He linked all these beliefs to that house behind his parents’ yard and also to his brother Austin. So, he’s saying, “I’m not responsible for it. I’ve not done anything. That’s awful that that thing has happened, but I do know there are all these problems with that house.” It’s more that he sees himself as a victim, not a perpetrator.

Another thing interestingly he brings in though is that he had blackouts and didn’t realize he was not at his own home. A cynical person could say, “Well, this seems very convenient. You just had a blackout when all these things happened.” Another person would say, “No, this is contextual. People who have psychoses do actually forget what they were doing, forget what happened, and part of that can be a protective mechanism where the brain just shuts it out cuz it’s too traumatic to remember.” But like I said, when it comes down to criminal cases, a lot of people, particularly the prosecution, will say, “No, this is just convenient. You just saying you blacked out. You know what you did, and you’re going to try to play the mental illness card.”

Now, investigators also examined his search history in the weeks leading up to the murders, and this is where he’d made those strange searches about blood and violent gunshot effects. They also note that he’d searched information around ZEV pistols. So, with all of this evidence, detectives have enough for homicide charges. They also found other searches from long ago, such as searches about who the residents in the home were, and searches for the property records. So, he has been scoping out this property.

Now, it’s on the 17th of February, 2022, that a Cobb County Grand Jury do indict Matthew Land on 13 counts related to the killings and to the treatment of the Hickses’ child. So, two of the counts are for malice murder, four counts of a felony murder, home invasion in the first degree, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, second-degree cruelty to children, also tampering with evidence, as apparently there’s an allegation that he removed some shell casings before leaving the scene.

Now, in October 2022, he is arraigned in a Cobb County Superior Court, and at this point he enters a plea of not guilty. But, the court, basically at this point, also need to examine his mental state. So, over the next 3 year, there is a big discussion about whether Matthew Land is competent to stand trial.

So, he was sent to the Georgia Regional Hospital. This is for extended forensic evaluation, and two psychiatrists there assessed him over the course of about 10 months. So, it’s a pretty deep investigation. They do acknowledge he had mental health issues. They also acknowledge that he had odd beliefs, but they also said at the end of that 10-month investigation that he did understand the charges against him.

They also testified that he had narcissistic traits, and they said that makes him very difficult to work with, but it doesn’t mean he’s incompetent. So, they deemed that he did know who the key courtroom players were, and that he was able to communicate rationally with his lawyers. One psychiatrist actually noted that the nurses had become concerned when Land had started to mimic behaviors of other patients who were truly psychotic.

So, this is shortly after he’d been informed he was competent to stand trial. All of a sudden, he starts to mimic behaviors of patients who truly are psychotic. And that could be seen cynically as an individual trying to act like they’re mentally ill when they are not. Equally, I guess you could argue the point that if you’re told that you’re competent to stand trial, that could actually exacerbate stress, and stress can certainly exacerbate psychotic behaviors.

So, it could be that he wasn’t mimicking, he was just enduring. Like I said, I don’t know, just giving both sides of that particular coin. Now, when it comes down to the defense, they hired a forensic psychologist who reached a different conclusion that Matthew Land in fact suffered from schizophrenia. And I think his past behaviors demonstrate that he likely does suffer from schizophrenia.

So, it ends up that a competency hearing takes place in 2025. This is when the court played interviews that were recorded during those evaluations. And in those interviews, he clearly described the charges, and he talked about wanting to go to trial and to be found not guilty and released. During that interview, he also showed awareness of the role of the judge, of the lawyers, of the prosecutor, and of the stakes involved in the trial.

So, it’s late October 2025 when Judge Sonya Brown issued a written order ruling that Matthew Land was indeed competent to stand trial. She said, “Look, I believe he understands what he’s been accused of. I believe he understands what could happen to him if he’s convicted.” So, at that point, the case is cleared to move forward, and the trial eventually begins in November 2025.

This is after almost 4 years to the day after the murders. Now, interestingly, Matthew Land chose to waive his right to a jury and decided to have a bench trial. So, at this point, the prosecutor’s straightforward theory it outlines the timeline of what happened and they say his mental illness did not change the physical facts.

Now, the defense, they’re not going to have that, are they? They challenge the state’s proof that Lambs was the killer and emphasize his mental illness. Now, again, when I suggest they are clutching at straws, I genuinely think they are clutching at straws. The idea that they’re trying to say someone else could have killed the couple just sounds ludicrous.

How could it be that someone who had been literally stalking that home, whose brother had been doing the same, who had massive issues about what that home represented, that they would just be stalking that particular address at a point where some person from a completely different environment storms in and kills them and then leaves? How does that make any sense whatsoever? I know you’re trying to put reasonable doubt into the judge’s mind, but it’s just not going to work in a case like this. Now, basically, the defense say

that Matthew Lambs thought he was being set up by a federal agency and they question whether the broken window was a realistic entry point for someone of his size. They point to the absence of fingerprints or DNA on the interior surfaces in the living room. They actually argue that some aspects of the shell casing evidence was speculative because they didn’t recover all of the actual casings and they also point out that one casing that was tested showed only the toddler’s DNA, not his.

So, this timeline is basically saying, “Yeah, it’s tight, but at the end of the day, an unknown intruder would have had the opportunity.” Like I said, it just doesn’t make any sense to you or to me, but the defense have to go down a line of some kind of excuse base so that the judge might believe that it could have been someone else, but it just doesn’t ring true in any way, shape, or form.

Regarding that missing shell casing, they say, “Well, listen, a child could have picked it up, could have flushed it down the toilet.” And the defense rely very very heavily on saying that the schizophrenia and the delusions were the reason why it happened. They are saying, “You know, if you do believe that our client actually acted in this way, it would be down to the fact that he was schizophrenic and he was dealing with all these issues, um that this action therefore would have been driven by psychosis.”

And when it came down to Matthew Lands, when he was asked questions in court, he actually answered with “no comment.” He didn’t testify for himself, essentially. Now, the court also heard about his interview with the Sandy Springs detective after the Cameron Glenn incident, when he was found wandering around that home, in which he actually said that his mother had told him about the murders behind the house.

So, he’s not saying he was involved with it, he’s saying he heard about it. During that conversation, he claimed that he’d come back to Acworth, and that he mentioned seeing odd flickering lights at the neighbors, and then described running out of gas and ending up in the Cameron Glenn neighborhood. So, he’s not really making sense from that particular interview, just kind of saying he knows about the murders and then he ended up in the Cameron Glenn neighborhood, and that’s where he was obviously arrested.

But in that same interview, he expresses regret for stabbing the officer, speaks about God’s forgiveness, and also repeats that belief that he is personally being targeted. So, the suspicious and paranoid thoughts seem to be there. On the 20th of November, 2025, this is after hearing several days of evidence, the judge presiding over the court returned to the court and found Matthew Lands guilty on every single count.

Both malice murder counts, all four felony murder counts, home invasion, aggravated assaults, firearms charges, second-degree cruelty to children, and tampering with evidence. She also accepted the prosecution’s reconstruction of events and the timeline they presented, so therefore she rejected the suggestion that someone else might have been responsible.

I mean, it’s a ludicrous suggestion, with respect. And one of the prosecutors actually said this, “The only demonic thing that night was Matthew Scott Lunds. This defendant acted as only a demon would, breaking into a stranger’s home to execute them and leave for no reason.” It’s very true. I can completely see it from that point of view.

Now, it’s the next day on the 21st where he was sentenced. Matthew Lunds chose not to be present in the courtroom, but family members, colleagues, and friends of Justin and Amber did fill the benches. Justin’s own father actually spoke about the devastation of losing his son and daughter-in-law and the huge impact couple’s child, who is obviously now going to grow up without either parent.

He also said, as a matter of faith, that he forgave Matthew Lunds, even though he condemned the act and was hurt by his refusal to face the family. I do find it really challenging when a prisoner refuses to face the family in this way. I think they should be forced to do so. Why should you not have to watch those people read out the impact statements so you understand what you have done to them? But, like I said, these individuals refused to go, and sometimes they are allowed not to attend. In this case, that’s what happens.

Now, one friend of the Hickses delivered a really emotional victim impact statement talking about the impact on the child. And Amber’s aunt then took the stand and spoke about how the flashing lights that Matthew Lunds claimed to see were just Christmas tree lights. He also was described by her as demonic and a monster, and how she now feels the need to sleep with a gun under her pillow.

The fire chief, they spoke of how Justin had completed 16 months of paramedic training before qualifying, and said he never got to save lives in the back of an ambulance in the way we’d hoped because his life was cut short so soon after that qualification. When it came down to Judge Brown, she then gave him two life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders, along with decades more for home invasion, child cruelty, and weapons offenses.

She ordered that these sentences run consecutively. That ruling ensures that Matthew Scott Landers will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of Justin and Amber Hicks, and for the cruelty inflicted on their now orphan child. When it came down to other charges, while there were separate charges in Fulton County for the Sandy Springs home invasion and for the stabbing of a police officer, they actually at the moment remain pending.

But whatever happens with those charges, he’s still going to die in jail. And in this case, I have an unusual level of sympathy and empathy for Matthew and Austin’s parents. Can’t even begin to imagine how they feel. I imagine that they must feel as if people are looking at them and pointing the finger in their direction as far as blame is concerned cuz people do that. They don’t realize that young people can develop mental illnesses that can contribute to these kind of actions, and that it isn’t the parents that have done anything wrong.

But I would imagine they have a level of survivor shame in this situation, whether they deserve that or otherwise. Now, after the deaths of this incredible couple, Matthew Landers’ mother explained that she and her husband didn’t know the murder victims, that they’d never even met them, which again shows just how left field this kind of crime really is.

Now, the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services, they’ve actually formally honored Justin, Amber, and their son Jacob. They’ve renamed roads at the department’s fire training center after them. Five intersections at the training facility now carry street signs in their names, ensuring recruits constantly see and remember the family as they train.

Chief Robinson said this, “I can assure you that Justin, Amber, and Jacob will never ever be forgotten by the members of this organization.” In addition to the street names, the buildings were given a new numerical address with each marking a special day in the Hicks’ lives, such as the day of their birthdays or their anniversary.

Lieutenant Sims said this, “The names of Justin and Amber and their son will be heard for years to come from our radio waves. We hope that years down the road when someone asks, ‘Who was Justin? Who was Amber? Why are these names here?’ that that will keep the story and the legacy going of what great people they were, what a great friend to all our firefighters they were, and an outstanding firefighter and paramedic Justin was.”

Also, the firefighters set up a foundation for the little boy’s future because we have to remember he is such a victim in this case. Beautiful little 2-year-old boy who’s lost his mommy and daddy. And families and friends actually set up a GoFundMe titled “Justin and Amber Hicks Memorial Expenses.” Initially, it was with a $50,000 goal. It’s quickly surpassed that figure. I’ve included that in the description below.

It truly is astonishing, isn’t it? That a couple who just had their life going in the direction they wanted could just be absolutely executed in a home that they felt safe in. I mean, I feel like somebody has to answer questions about whether they truly were informed about the history of that home. Because as I said, if work in real estate in the states, I imagine you should have to inform someone if somebody has been stalking a household if there’s been disputes with neighbors.

Personally, I know someone who just bought a place in Miami. They found out that the person who previously owned it had taken their own life in it and therefore they had to be informed because you need to know whether you want to move into a place where that’s happened. It just bothers me that we have a couple here just in and Amber who were beginning their lives, who had everything to live for, everything to play for, were bringing up their beautiful little boy who were executed on their own sofa. Could have been informed that there were issues and that might have meant that they hadn’t moved to that address.

They may have chosen not to buy that home. And if that was withheld, well, I feel on a litigation level, whoever sold them that property should be sued. I really do. I think that they should have informed both Justin and Amber that there was a risk to moving to that address. Do you agree with me? As ever, guys, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

This is a reminder, isn’t it, that we can feel safe in our homes, but if someone really wants to do us harm, windows are easy to shatter and in certain countries, guns are easy to come by. Take care, guys. Look after yourself. I know I say this many times, but lock your windows, lock your doors, make it more difficult. I know none of us should have to live this way, but the truth is we should always take our security uber seriously.

In this case, it may not have changed what happened to Justin and Amber, but in other situations, it really can be a protective mechanism between life and death. Look after yourselves. See you next time. Be safe. “Mhm.”