At the Cobb County Courthouse, 11Alive reporter Grace King says the stakes could not be higher.
Instead of facing a jury, Matthew Scott Lanz has waived that right and is now in the middle of a bench trial, leaving a single judge to decide whether he murdered his neighbors, Justin and Amber Hicks, in their Acworth home back in November 2021.
Grace King notes that prosecutors believe the facts are so disturbing it may explain why Lanz chose a judge instead of 12 jurors.
Four years to the day after the killings, the details coming out in court are reopening old wounds for the Hicks family and for the community that watched the story unfold.
A Two-Year-Old Wandering a Silent House
The most heartbreaking testimony so far centers on the couple’s son, Jacob, who was just 2 years old at the time.
Grace King reports that prosecutors told the court Jacob spent roughly 12 hours wandering the house, unable to understand why his parents would not wake up.
In one chilling line from court, prosecutors said Jacob “tried to cuddle with his parents” and tried to wake them, not knowing they had been shot to death.
It’s the kind of detail that sticks in your throat.
You can feel the smallness of that child against a reality too big and too ugly for him to process.
In many ways, that single moment sums up the cruelty of this crime more than any ballistic chart or crime-scene photo ever could.
Childhood Sweethearts, A Dream Home, And A Sudden Nightmare
Grace King reminds viewers that Justin and Amber Hicks were childhood sweethearts.
They had just bought what they saw as their dream home in Acworth – only 73 days before they were killed.
Justin’s father took the stand and described them as kind, easygoing people with no known enemies.
“I cannot think of one person that would be considered their enemy,” he testified, according to King’s report. “Both of them just easygoing, likable kind of people.”
The contrast between that description and the violence they suffered is hard to reconcile.
Two people who did everything “right” – started a family, bought a home, built a life – were suddenly gone, leaving their child and parents to carry what’s left.
A Father’s Alarm And A Broken Window
The first signs that something was terribly wrong didn’t come from police sirens.
Grace King reports that Amber’s boss called Justin’s father when she never showed up to work – something she simply didn’t do without notice.
Justin’s dad drove to the house, knocked, and then pounded on the front door when he got no answer.
He testified that he was hitting the door so hard it began to bow, King reports.
Still, no one answered.
Walking around the home, he noticed a broken window, a detail prosecutors say fits their theory that Lanz broke in from the backyard, where his family’s property shared a fence with the Hicks’ yard.
That’s when the quiet concern of a worried father crossed over into horror.
Inside that house, his son and daughter-in-law were already dead, and his grandson was wandering alone.
What Prosecutors Say Ties Lanz To The Killings
Both Grace King and Atlanta News First reporter Chelsea Beimfohr outline the evidence prosecutors say links Matthew Lanz to the murders.
Chelsea Beimfohr reports that during opening statements, prosecutors told the judge they intend to show that:
- It was Lanz’s gun used in the crime.
- His DNA and the victims’ DNA were found on that firearm.
- Surveillance video captured him driving by and walking around the Hicks’ home the night of the murders.
On the second day of trial, Beimfohr says prosecutors played the surveillance footage they claim shows Lanz’s vehicle and a person moving around the property.
Lanz’s defense team pushed back, questioning how clearly the person can be identified on the video.
In cross-examination, an investigator admitted to the defense attorney that the figure on the video was not visually identifiable beyond appearing to be “a human figure, maybe.”
That kind of exchange is exactly why this trial may come down to how the judge weighs forensic evidence versus visual ambiguity.
DNA and gun evidence are powerful, but the defense is clearly working to inject as much doubt as possible into every piece of the puzzle.
Claims Of a “Setup” And A Troubling Mental Health Picture
Lanz’s defense is not just about blurry video.
Grace King reports that his attorney told the court Lanz believes he has been “set up” by a government agency, mentioning the FBI or CIA as possible actors in a conspiracy against him.
Those claims, as reported by King, are coming from Lanz’s side, not from any evidence prosecutors have presented.
Chelsea Beimfohr adds another layer from a separate video played in court — an interview with Lanz’s parents, Theres and Scott Lanz.
In that interview, his parents told police they had seen a change in Matthew’s behavior over the years.
They said he had been seeing a psychiatrist, and his father described noticing a “demonic side” of Matthew’s brain.
According to Beimfohr’s reporting, Scott Lanz told investigators his son was hearing and seeing things and believing things that weren’t true.
Importantly, a judge has already ruled Lanz mentally competent to stand trial.
That means the court believes he can understand the proceedings and assist in his own defense – even if his inner world has been deeply unstable.
This kind of testimony is always delicate.
On one hand, it’s vital context about a defendant’s state of mind.
On the other, it’s crucial not to paint all mental illness as dangerous or violent, because most people who live with psychiatric conditions never hurt anyone.
In this case, though, the parents’ words – as shared by Beimfohr – underscore that they, too, were worried long before their son was ever charged with murder.
A Family Carrying On Without Mom Or Dad
Grace King reports that Jacob, the Hicks’ son, is now six years old and living with his grandparents.
In court, his grandfather – Justin’s father – had to relive both the day he found his son’s home in silence and the memories of the life Justin and Amber were building.
That’s a double burden no parent should ever have to carry.
It’s easy in a case like this for attention to drift toward the accused: What was he thinking? What’s his mental state? Will he be convicted?
But King’s reporting keeps pulling the focus back where it ultimately belongs – on a little boy who once tried to climb into bed with his parents, not understanding that the reason they were so still was because someone had taken them away from him.
Even now, as the trial unfolds, Jacob is still living with the consequences of someone else’s choices every single day.
A Second Violent Incident And a Larger Pattern
Both reporters also note that the Acworth murders are not the only serious allegation against Matthew Lanz.
Grace King and Chelsea Beimfohr each point out that the day after Justin and Amber were killed, Lanz is accused of breaking into another home in Sandy Springs.
During that burglary, police say he stabbed a Sandy Springs police officer in the neck, and another officer then shot and wounded Lanz.
That separate case is moving forward in Fulton County, with King noting there is a status hearing scheduled in early December.
Taken together, prosecutors are likely to argue that these events reflect a pattern of dangerous behavior, not a one-time snap.
For the defense, each extra allegation makes their job harder – but does not erase their core job: to test every claim and force the state to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
What Justice Can – And Can’t – Fix Here
No verdict will ever give Jacob his parents back.
That’s the blunt reality beneath all the legal arguments, expert testimony, and surveillance clips described by Grace King and Chelsea Beimfohr.
What a trial can do is answer some of the hard questions:
Who is legally responsible?
Was the evidence handled correctly?
Is there enough proof to hold one man accountable for two lives taken and a child’s life permanently reshaped?
It’s also a reminder of how many systems intersect in a case like this – mental health care, campus life at a major university, neighborhood relationships, and law enforcement.
If the allegations are true, warning signs were there: strange behavior, psychiatric treatment, a family worried enough to take away a gun after another son’s violent incident involving a Pentagon officer.
Yet none of that stopped two people from being killed in their own home while their toddler slept nearby.
As the bench trial continues, the judge will weigh evidence and law.
But for everyone watching, the image they may never forget is the one Grace King shared from that courtroom:
A 2-year-old boy, padding through a silent house, trying to cuddle up to his parents and wake them up, long after it was already too late.
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The article Court Details Tragic Moment Toddler Tried To Cuddle & Wake Parents After Their Killing first appeared on Survival World.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.
