(Newser)
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Detroit’s WWJ Newsradio 950 reported on the violent death of one of its own on Friday. Overnight news anchor Jim Matthews was murdered in his Chesterfield Township residence. NBC News reports his body was discovered around noon after a 35-year-old female—identified by ClickonDetroit as Matthews’ girlfriend and the mother of the couple’s children—escaped from the same home with stab wounds and their 5-year-old daughter. She stopped a driver who called 911.
Responding officers found the 57-year-old Matthews dead and the couple’s other child, a 10-year-old boy, bound and suffering from blunt force trauma. Township Public Safety Director Brian Bassett said the suspect is a 54-year-old man who was found suffering from a self-inflicted wound and a drug overdose in the home’s basement. He is hospitalized in stable condition. Basset said the suspect was known to the family, was frequently at the home, and had been welcomed in on Friday morning. “We’re still investigating what the relationship is between all the parties,” he said.
Matthews’ son is in critical condition; sources tell ClickonDetroit the boy was attacked with a hammer and left for dead when he tried to come to his father’s aid. The woman was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. WWJ said its employee of seven years “would often talk to co-workers about his children and his love for them and their adventures at school. He was a consummate professional and was dedicated to WWJ and the broadcasting industry. He loved delivering the latest news to his listeners.” (Read more Detroit stories.)
