A Cobb County courtroom heard chilling police footage showing Matthew Lanz making unprompted statements about the 2021 murders of his neighbors just two days after their deaths.
What’s Happening: During the third day of his bench trial, prosecutors played video of Lanz in a Sandy Springs police cruiser asking about whether Amber Hicks was pregnant when he killed her and her husband Justin. At the time of his arrest, Sandy Springs officers were responding to an unrelated home break-in and officer stabbing.
What’s Important: The footage captures Lanz unprompted asking officers about a pregnancy that didn’t exist. He told police he felt “terrible about knowing that there was a baby in that woman’s body” and repeatedly asked if “the lady” was pregnant, even though officers hadn’t mentioned the Cobb County killings. Detectives later confirmed Amber Hicks was not pregnant.
Between the Lines: The strange confession came after Sandy Springs arrested Lanz on November 19, 2021, for stabbing an officer during a home break-in response. Officers didn’t know he was connected to the murders that happened two days earlier until he started talking about them on his own.
Catch Up Quick: Justin and Amber Hicks were found shot to death in their Acworth-area home on November 17, 2021. Their 2-year-old son Jacob spent roughly 12 hours alone with his parents’ bodies before Justin’s father discovered the scene. Lanz lived behind the Hicks family with his parents and was studying at the University of Georgia at the time.
- Lanz told Sandy Springs detectives he drove from Athens to his parents’ house the night of the murders, saw a light on, smoked a cigarette, and drove back to Athens without going inside.
- His mother told police she knew he was lying because their dogs would have barked if he’d come home that night.
What Happened Next: Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday afternoon. The judge is expected to deliver a verdict Thursday morning. Lanz waived his right to a jury trial and is facing a bench trial before Cobb County Judge Sonja N. Brown.
The Sources: Cobb County court proceedings.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
