Slain Parents Found With Toddler Cuddling and Trying to Play With Them As They Lay Dead — Neighbor Found Guilty By Samira Asma-Sadeque

A Georgia man has been sentenced for killing a firefighter and his wife as their toddler slept upstairs.

Justin and Amber Hicks were found slain in their Acworth, Ga. home in November 2021, according to a criminal warrant reviewed by PEOPLE.

The couple’s neighbor Matthew Scott Lanz was arrested on several charges including murder, per the warrant. He was found guilty on all counts in a bench trial last week, according to online court documents reviewed by PEOPLE.

Authorities alleged in the warrant that on Nov. 17, 2021, Lanz entered the couple’s home through a rear door and fatally shot them.

He was unaware that the couple’s 2-year-old son was asleep upstairs, Atlanta News First reported. The child was unharmed.

During the trial, Justin’s father testified that he went to the couple’s residence to check on them after Amber missed work and the couple had not responded to text messages, according to 11 Alive.

When officers responded to the scene, they found the couple’s toddler cuddling with his parents and trying to play with them to get their attention, according to police bodycam footage cited by 11 Alive.

The child was covered in blood and was in unchanged diapers.

While no motive behind the murders was established during the trial, Lanz previously told police that he had seen “demonic lights” in the Hicks’ residence, prosecutors claimed during the trial, per Atlanta News First.

He also said his brother Austin, who at that point had passed away, was bothered by the previous residents of the Hicks’ property.

Austin had broken into the same property when the previous residents lived there, the outlet reported. Just months prior to the Hicks’ murders, Austin died by suicide after fatally stabbing an officer in Washington, D.C.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Lanz’s defense attorney argued in court that he had not been linked to any trace evidence found at the crime scene, Atlanta News First reported.

Lanz was found guilty of two counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of child cruelty and one count of tampering with evidence among other offenses.

He received three life sentences, two without parole, and 32 years to serve in confinement, all to be served consecutively.