ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — Thanksgiving is traditionally a festive holiday, but it’s a difficult time for families missing a loved one at the dinner table.
A Treasure Coast father has been waiting eight years for an arrest in his son’s murder.
“It seems like the nightmare that will never end, you know,” James Hiner said recently, as he sat on a park bench.
Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving for James Hiner. It is one more holiday that passes in a quest for justice.
“My son was robbed, and murdered in his home,” he said.
In November of 2015, there was a fire at Matthew Hiner’s home in St. Lucie County.
As James Hiner walked through the aftermath, he made a horrific discovery.
“I looked down and brushed away some drywall, some soot, some debris and there was the burned out skull of my son,” he said.
James Hiner said investigators revealed to him that Matthew Hiner was knocked out, and then shot, but it was the arson fire that killed him.
“Instantly, the intense heat took his life in a matter of seconds while he was unconscious,” he said.
Matthew Hiner was a rising star in the jewelry field. James Hiner said his son had a safe full of firearms and jewelry, and that it was not forced open, making robbery a likely motive. He wonders if his son’s generous nature led to his death.
“I’m sure whoever was in the house that night were people he knew, because he didn’t allow strangers to come into his house,” he said.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has a detective with a track record of solving cold cases on this crime, and according to James Hiner, progress is finally being made.
“We are excited about the news that they have suspects," James Hiner said. "That’s never happened before in the past eight years.”
The sheriff’s office would not elaborate on their investigation.
Meantime, James Hiner will spend time this holiday with his grandson, who was not even three when his dad was killed.
“He’s a hundred miles an hour just like his father was,” James Hiner said, referring to his grandson, little Matthew.
While it’s hard for him to celebrate the holiday, James Hiner will not give up, and will celebrate the day an arrest is made.
“I’ll be in that courtroom someday when the judge takes care of business,” he said.
