Life Sentence For Matthews’ Murderer
• A Detroit-area man has been sentenced to life in prison for the brutal slaying of WWJ (Newsradio 950)/Detroit overnight anchor Jim Matthews (left) and the attack on his family last year. According to The Detroit News, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge James Biernat called Arthur Williamson the “embodiment of evil” last Thursday during sentencing. “The only thing that’s amazing is you didn’t kill all of them,” Biernat said.
Williamson had pleaded no contest in April to first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder and unlawful imprisonment. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is used as such at sentencing.
As we reported last September, Matthews was found bludgeoned to death with a hammer in Chesterfield Township, northeast of Detroit. Authorities said Williamson, 55, was a friend of Matthews’ girlfriend, Nichole Guertin. Guertin and the 10-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter she shared with Matthews were injured. The boy was also struck in the head with the hammer and left tied up in a closet.
Guertin testified that Matthews was working a late shift when Williamson came to their home to smoke crack cocaine and bring heroin. Guertin said that when she refused to role play and tie herself up, Williamson slashed her throat and zip-tied her wrists and ankles, The Detroit News reported. When Matthews arrived home, he was struck with a hammer and stabbed. Guertin escaped with their 5-year-old daughter and asked someone to call the police.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Matthews’ and Guertin’s son wrote that Williamson ruined their lives. “I hate you for what you did to me and my family,” the boy wrote. “You put me and my mom and my sister through hours of hell. You are evil.”
