Background: A section of Ivy Hill Drive in Arlington, Texas (Google Maps). Inset left: Matthew Stuart (Laurel Land – Rose Hill Memorial Park and Funeral Home). Inset middle: Reid Rothenberg (Lon Evans Corrections Center). Inset right: George Nitsche (Laurel Land – Rose Hill Memorial Park and Funeral Home).
A Texas man has learned his fate for kicking down the door of a home, gunning down an unsuspecting man, and then chasing down another victim before killing him.
A Tarrant County jury found 37-year-old Reid Rothenberg guilty of capital murder in the killings of 41-year-old Matthew Stuart and 84-year-old George Nitsche, the Tarrant County District Attorney”s Office announced. The defendant was “automatically” sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On the night of April 10, 2022, Stuart, Nitsche, and Stuart’s then-67-year-old mother were at a home on Ivy Hill Drive in Arlington, Texas. Stuart’s mother was also Nitsche’s ex-wife.
Suddenly, as Nitsche lay on a couch in the back of the house, Rothenberg “kicked in the front door,” the DA’s office said. The now-condemned defendant opened fire, striking and killing Nitsche.
“He never saw it coming,” Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Matt Rivers told the jury during the trial. “That’s his final resting place.”
Rothenberg proceeded to “chase” Stuart and his mother into the home’s front yard, “firing repeatedly.”
Officers with the Arlington Police Department responded to the home just after midnight on April 11, 2022, and found the three victims. Nitsche was pronounced dead at the scene, while Stuart and his mother were rushed to an area hospital. Stuart was pronounced dead at the medical facility, but his mother survived.
“All of the victims were members of the same family,” the police department said at the time.
About two months later, police announced they had arrested Rothenberg in connection with the shooting. The law enforcement agency said that “following a thorough investigation and review of the evidence, detectives were able to connect Mr. Rothenberg to the crime and believe he knew at least one of the victims.”
It is unclear, however, what Rothenberg’s suspected motive was.
Tad Schmidt, another Tarrant County assistant district attorney, stated that “this is not just a killing,” adding, “this is a brutal homicide by someone who came to kill that night.”
