Man who killed WWJ anchor Jim Matthews sentenced to life in prison: 'Embodiment of evil'

"The embodiment of evil."

That's what a Macomb County judge called Arthur Williamson while sentencing him to life in prison Thursday for killing WWJ-AM radio overnight anchor Jim Matthews by bludgeoning him with a hammer and slitting his throat.

Williamson also attacked Matthews' girlfriend and the couple's two children, then ages 5 and 10, in a brutal spree Sept. 23, 2022, in the family's Chesterfield Township home.

"You're a pedophile. You're a murderer and, really, you're the embodiment of evil. And it's good that you'll never see the light of day outside of a prison," Circuit Judge James Biernat Jr. told Williamson, who pleaded no contest in April to one count of first-degree premeditated murder; two counts of assault with intent to murder; and three counts of unlawful imprisonment.

But that wasn't everything Williamson had to face during the unusual and emotional hearing.

'I hate you for what you did to me and my family'

By Zoom, he faced Matthews' girlfriend, Nichole Guertin, who read from a statement saying Matthews "needs a voice today and for all he has done for his family, he deserves justice." Through tears, she recalled Matthews as a doting dad, playing guitar and reading a children's book to their son in the womb. When their daughter was born, she was "instantly a daddy's girl."

"This was the man that was taken from us and for what, I still don't know," said Guertin, who was with Matthews for more than 20 years. "Not that any reason would matter. ... The world lost an excellent man, an excellent father and with that, the world has lost its beauty and sunshine as well."

Williamson heard from Hunter, now 11 years old, through a statement read by Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Stager.

The boy, who was found bound in a closet and hit in the head with a hammer in the attack, said in his statement: "I hate you. I hate you for what you did to me and my family. You ruined my life. You ruined all of our lives and now my dad is gone and we have to live with what you did. You put me and my mom and my sister through hours of hell."

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'There will be no forgiveness today'

Hunter called Williamson "evil," what he did to his dad "horrible" and that he put the boy through "pain and torture" and left him with trauma.

Williamson heard from Guertin's sister Ashley Quigley, also through a statement read by Stager, saying Williamson deserved to "rot in hell" for what he did and that she would ensure her niece and nephew grow up knowing nothing but love and support and that "what you did will not define the lives you affected." The children are living with Quigley in Port Huron.

Williamson sat in a chair facing Matthews' brother Joe Nicolai and Nicolai's wife, Jennifer, with his defense attorney and deputies by his side, as Jennifer Nicolai read a statement that the children were robbed of their youth and lost their father and their mother. Jennifer Nicolai said no punishment would be adequate for Williamson.

"There will be no forgiveness today," she read.

And in an unusual move, Assistant Prosecutor Steve Fox asked to play video of township police entering Matthews' home and looking for Hunter, finding him in a closet.

"I want to ensure that he sees some of the images. I hope that he feels some of these images, hears these sounds for the rest of his life," Fox said.

A responding officer is heard saying "Kid? kid?" "Kid you in here? Please come out." Urgency is heard in their voices and then the horror of finding Hunter.

"Oh no, God dammit," one is heard saying. "Come on. Dammit. No!"

"It's OK, kid. It's OK," an officer is heard on his bodycam video.

He's carrying Hunter, who is moaning and wearing a shirt and underwear. The officer is continuously telling the boy, "It's OK" and that he's got him.

Judge berates girlfriend's decision to let killer in home

Williamson said little.

"I am sorry. I am sorry," he said.

His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Joan Morgan, said, "There has been discussion this morning about my client not having remorse. That's not true. I think that evidence of his remorse is the fact that he is entering pleas knowing what the mandatory sentences are and in some small way that's saving, hopefully, some people from going through further pain.

"It's unusual for someone to plead ... to first-degree murder," she said.

Williamson hit Matthews in the head more than two dozen times with a hammer and slit his throat in the attack, according to prior testimony in district court.

Guertin and the couple's 5-year-old daughter escaped hours after the ordeal began.

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After Guertin spoke, Biernat asked her if she would agree with him that inviting "this person, with multiple prior felonies in prison, an evil man, to your house at 4 o'clock in the morning, with your children there and your significant other at (work) coming home soon was, to say the least, an epic, an epically disastrous decision to do? Is that correct? Would I be correct in saying that?"

"Absolutely," she said, a short time later holding up to show a caricature of her and Matthews that was drawn before their son was born.

Biernat said "it's amazing" that Williamson didn't kill everyone. He told Williamson, who tried to commit suicide after the attacks: "See, this is gonna sound harsh, try to commit suicide before you do any of this. Take yourself out, so you don't kill people."

Fox previously said a no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea for sentencing in criminal court.

At the plea hearing, Fox told the court that Williamson, whose lawyer said his client does not remember the attack, never had a declaration of mental incompetence.

Authorities said Williamson, who had a nearly 30-year criminal record that included convictions for assault with intent to commit murder and kidnapping before the shocking murder, was found in the basement of the home with self-inflicted wounds and apparently was overdosing in what they believed was an attempted suicide.

After the plea hearing, Fox said he did not know what led Williamson to ultimately make the decision to plead no contest, but there was "always the potential for other charges." Additional charges would not have increased his sentence, Fox said, but it could have further victimized witnesses who would have had to testify.

Guertin provided gut-wrenching testimony in district court about the ordeal and Matthews’ horrific last moments during a preliminary exam in February.

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She testified that Williamson said he was going to kill Matthews when Matthews returned home from work. Matthews, 57, whose legal last name was Nicolai, died in the home during the brutal attack.

The girlfriend's ordeal

Guertin testified that she was bound with zip ties, duct tape and USB cords and was assaulted; that her son was assaulted; and how her daughter, who also had been harmed, got scissors to help free her mother. The two then fled the house for help.

Guertin said she considered Williamson “my best friend at the time” before the attack and testified that he called her in the middle of the night asking to come over.

She said when the night began, she "didn't think anything bad would happen" and Williamson had not been violent toward her or the family before. During her testimony, however, she recounted that after she asked him to leave to get the children ready for school, things took a turn.

She said they had smoked a little crack cocaine and she had a little heroin before Williamson cut her neck with a knife and told her, “When Jim gets home, I’m gonna kill him.”

Guertin recounted Matthews' death after he came home from work and how she could hear her son, Hunter, crying and whimpering and how Williamson, whom she knew as Smokey, hit the child in the head with the same hammer that was used on Matthews.

Guertin testified that she had known Williamson about two years, that they did drugs together and had an intimate relationship in the past of which Matthews was aware. She said she met Williamson through a friend, who was later killed in an apparent drug deal gone bad on New Year's Day 2022 in Port Huron.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Man who killed WWJ anchor Jim Matthews sentenced to life in prison