Matthew Pyke of

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, was a British student who had resided in Nottingham since 2006 with his girlfriend Joanna Witton. He was murdered by 21-year-old David Heiss from

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on 19 September 2008. Pyke's murder was motivated by Heiss's obsession with Witton. Pyke, known online as Shade, and Witton were administrators on the ''

Advance Wars ''Advance Wars'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was released in North America on September 10, 2001. The game's release in Japan and Europe was delayed, ...

'' fansite Wars Central, where Heiss was a registered user under the screen name "Eagle_the_Lightning".

Murder

Heiss developed an obsessive infatuation with Witton, and travelled to Nottingham both in June and August 2008 to meet Witton and Pyke in person. As Heiss didn't have a hotel reservation, he stayed one night at the apartment of Pyke and Witton. After being admonished and rebuffed by Witton, Heiss travelled to Britain two more times, and met with Pyke and Witton. During his last visit to the UK, on the morning of 19 September 2008, Heiss forced his way in to Pyke's flat and proceeded to kill him by stabbing him 86 times. His body was found by Witton later that day.

Killer's arrest

Heiss was arrested at his home in Limburg and in May 2009 he was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyke, Matthew English murder victims Year of birth missing 2008 deaths

Murder

Killer's arrest

See also

References