Man charged in murder of WWJ's Jim Matthews to stand trial, girlfriend overwhelmed during graphic testimony

CHESTERFIELD Twp., Mich. (FOX 2) - The man charged with killing WWJ news anchor Jim Matthews in his Chesterfield Township home last fall will stand trial after several hours of testimony from Matthews' girlfriend.

Arthur Williamson, 55, appeared in front of a judge on Monday on charges of murdering Matthews, real name Jim Nicolai, in September 2022.

Jim's girlfriend, 35-year-old Nichole Guertin, took the stand and gave disturbing details about the night Jim was killed.

Guertin testified that Jim was at work on the midnight shift on Sept. 23. With their 5-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son asleep, Williamson, aka Smokey, came over. Guertin said that Williamson was her best friend and he came to smoke crack and bring her heroin. But he had a knife and wanted her to role-play and tie herself up. When she refused, Williamson slashed her throat, zip-tied her wrists and ankles, and then threatened her when Jim came home.

"He said 'when Jim gets home, I'm going to kill him'," she said. "He said if I tried to warn him in any way, he'd kill the kids."

Guertin says Williamson had a knife and a hammer. She said she heard Jim screaming and then saw him.

"(I saw) Jim running towards the bedroom and the defendant was hitting him and stabbing him," she said. "Jim ended up in the bathroom and fell to the floor."

At the time, she said Jim was still alive.

"He grabbed him by his head and slit his throat," Guertin said. "Before he slit his neck, Jim said - oh god."

As she recalled the tragedy, she was overwhelmed with emotion and took a brief break - only to then go into detail about how Williamson then duct-taped her to the bedposts before coming back into the room with her son, who was also duct-taped on his eyes, wrists, and mouth.

"He was whimpering. I told him it's okay, just to be quiet and listen," she said.

But the young boy was crying and she said Williamson didn't like that.

"Smokey hit him in the head with a hammer," she said.

Guertin said she begged him to stop and he took his rage out on her. 

"He hit me in the head with the hammer and told me to be quiet," she said.

Then she said her daughter found Jim's body.

"I heard her say ‘is that my dad? Did you kill my dad?'" Guertin said.

Her gripping testimony continued as she said Williamson attacked her daughter and further terrorized them before he tried to take his own life. 

That's when she was able to get free, grab her daughter, and run for help.

Williamson was ordered to trial and is due back in court in March. He's being held without bond.