The couple, Mathew Ethington, along with his ex-girlfriend Maria Martin, were recently discovered dead at their house on a Sunday afternoon.
Both were police officers and had been in the police force for not more than 4 years. They both had 2 children together, including a 1-year-old child.
Both were beloved members of their community who will always be remembered by their family, neighbors, and colleagues. This tragedy has left their family and community devastated and searching for answers.
What happened to Mathew Ethington?
At 12:30 on a Sunday, the Livonia police were contacted by the neighbors of Matthew Ethington and Maria Martin to check at their house since they were suspicious of inactivity inside the couple’s house.
When the police arrived, they discovered two bodies: a man and a woman. Later the bodies were discovered to be that of two police officers, Matthew Ethington and Maria Martin, aged 26 and 22, respectively. According to reports by the police officers, it was stated to be a murder-suicide instigated by a marital quarrel.
It is suggested that Matthew was abusive toward his ex-girlfriend. Several reports also suggest domestic problems in their household, but it wasn’t as extreme as committing this heinous crime.
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Mathew Ethington Cause of death
In BelleCreek Square Townhouses in the 16000 block of Farmington, two bodies were discovered having gunshot wounds. The male, Matthew Ethington, had only 1 gunshot wound, while the woman, Maria Martin, had suffered several gunshot wounds.
It is suspected that Matthew Ethington shot his ex-wife, Maria Martin multiple times after their recent split, before killing himself. The reports suggest that their 1 year old son was also in the house during the murder-suicide, but no harm was caused to that child, who was later given to a family member.
Mathew and Martin had a strained relationship and were separated for some time before the tragedy.
The police are still investigating the incident, and the shooting time is still unclear. According to police officer James White, they both were preparing for their Supervisor’s exam, which will be conducted in a month. No one expected anything like this to happen since they were an average couple like everyone else, having typical relationship issues, but nothing was out of the ordinary.