The suspect in the murder of a 87-year-old Alaska man on Saturday was found dead in the woods not far away a day later.
Mathew Thomas Becker, 61, was the ex son-in-law of the man he killed, Romaine Clark, and Anchorage police believe he gunned Clarke down minutes after trying to kill his ex-wife as she tried to open her Anchorage hair salon, KTUU reports.
The ex-wife told police that Becker had been living in Arizona since they were divorced, and she was unaware he had come back to Alaska.
She told police she thought someone had tampered with the lock to her business Saturday morning because she couldn’t fit the key in the lock, court documents say. Then, she said, she saw Becker in a car. He got out and started shooting at her, then jumped back in and sped away as she fled.
The woman contacted police and said she was concerned about her elderly father, who lived with her. Police say Becker apparently went directly to the home after failing to kill his ex-wife.“
Based on preliminary evidence it appears the suspect went to the rear of the residence, fired a couple of rounds through a plate glass window, striking and killing the victim and then fleeing the scene,” Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said.
Friends — who had planned an outing with the older man — found Clark’s body minutes before police arrived on the scene.
“[Officers] were hailed by friends who were waiting to meet up with the victim and they went inside the residence because he hadn’t come out yet,” Case said. “And they discovered the body, and then they notified us.”
Police launched a manhunt for Becker, warning the public that he was armed and dangerous.
His body was found just before 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, police said. The medical examiner will determine his cause of death.
Becker’s brother told KTUU that he owned a comedy club in Bisbee, Arizona, and had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
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[Featured image: Mathew Becker/Anchorage Police Department]
