Defendant due in court on child molestation charge is dead

By JOHN A. WINTERS john@newnan.com A man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours before he was to be arraigned in Coweta Superior Court Wednesday on a child molestation charge. Michael Todd Matthews, 47, was found at his residence on Corinth Road about 5 a.m. Wednesday, said Major Jimmy Yarbrough with the Coweta County Sheriff's Office.
He died of a gunshot wound to the head, the major said, adding the body was found outside his residence on the ground near a bench with littered alcoholic beverage cans. Matthews was indicted on a charge of child molestation last week by a Coweta County grand jury meeting for the March term of the Coweta Superior Court. Matthews was arrested in November of 2011 after an investigation that included the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The state of Michigan also charged Matthews with three counts of criminal sexual misconduct in that state, according to the GBI. The Georgia charges stemmed in part from a juvenile who reported being molested by Matthews while visiting his residence in Newnan, GBI officials said.

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