A Maple Grove man who beat his 68-year-old mother to death and severely injured her husband during what the father suspected was a methamphetamine-fueled rage has been sentenced to a term of more than 22 years.
Matthew G. Witt, 43, who pleaded guilty in January in connection with the July attacks on Elizabeth J. Witt and George B. Witt, 71, was sentenced Thursday in Hennepin County District Court.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Witt will serve roughly the first 14¼ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Witt attacked his parents on July 24. Police arrived at the family's home in the 6600 block of N. Eagle Lake Drive around 7:30 p.m. that day. Witt answered the door covered in blood, with a body behind him.
"Take me to jail. I did it," Witt told police, according to the criminal complaint. "I let them live. … They're hurt bad."
Witt's mother was on the floor, not breathing, with severe head injuries. She died at the scene.
Paramedics found Witt's father in the upstairs bathroom with multiple facial fractures and a cut under his eye, the complaint said. He was taken to the hospital, where he told police that his son lived at home, suffered from mental health problems and may have been using meth.
A female witness recounted to authorities a conversation with Witt earlier that day, when Witt said he and his parents hadn't been getting along. Witt told her the "house and money would be his someday and specified that day would be soon," she said, according to the complaint.
