SPARTA, Mich. (WOOD) — A 23-year-old Sparta man charged with murder in the beating death of his grandmother said it all started with an argument over a medical alarm, according to court documents.
Matthew Malleaux was charged Tuesday with open murder in the death of 85-year-old Anne Parker. He was previously charged with felonious assault and resisting and obstructing in connection to the Aug. 7 incident.
Sparta police said Malleaux and Parker lived together at a home in the 100 block of Clark Street NW near South Union Street.
According to the probable cause document filed in court, Malleaux said he had been drinking heavily and had taken ecstasy two days before the incident.
He told authorities he became upset about a CareLink medical alarm that was sounding and confronted his grandmother in her bedroom. Malleaux told authorities the argument turned physical and he grabbed Parker by her shoulders, violently shook her and headbutted her face, according to the court filing.
Malleaux said the fight continued into the living room, where Parker may have tripped and fallen on the stairs, according to the probable cause document.
Sparta police say Parker’s medical alert device sent them to the home during the early morning hours of Aug. 7. Court documents state that when officers arrived, Malleaux swore at them, told them to leave and threw a large cement object at an emergency medical technician, hitting him in the head. Malleaux then barricaded himself in the house, according to Michigan State Police.
Officers spotted Parker lying unconscious on the floor inside the home “with obvious injuries,” according to Michigan State Police and the probable cause document. That’s when first-responders forced their way into the home.
Several officers had to use a Taser on Malleaux in order to get him to comply with commands, according to the probable cause report.
Malleaux was arrested for assaulting first-responders and held on a high bond, according to Sparta police.