Bradenton RV park double-murder convict appeals lifelong prison sentence
A Manatee County man sentenced to life in prison for killing his mother and her boyfriend at a Bradenton RV park is appealing his convictions, according to court records.
Thomas Matejcek, 38, was convicted earlier this year of two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of Patricia Matejcek, 62, and Sean Harrison Sr., 55. After waiving his right to a jury trial, Matejcek was found guilty during a bench trial before Circuit Judge Frederick Mercurio, according to court records.
Mercurio sentenced Matejcek to life in prison on each count, with the sentences to run consecutively, but Matejcek has since appealed the convictions, court records show.
There is no set time period for appeals to be resolved, and the process can take anywhere from several months to more than a year.
The case centers on the November 2023 killings of Patricia Matejcek and Harrison inside their home at Arbor Terrace RV Park in Bradenton.
Double-murder convict appeals sentence
According to an arrest report, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded after a neighbor called 911, reporting a violent disturbance and hearing a woman scream for a man to stop.
When deputies entered the home, they found both victims dead on the floor and a significant amount of blood, according to the report. Investigators reported finding a knife in a sink with water running and observed another faucet running inside the bathroom.
A deputy responding to the call initially encountered Matejcek walking away from the area, but he refused to stop and continued walking, according to the report.
After deputies discovered the victims, investigators alerted responding officers to look for Matejcek. Investigators later located Matejcek nearby wearing wet khaki pants and carrying a wet black T-shirt. When deputies attempted to contact him, he said he was “not going to jail” before running away, investigators said.
Deputies detained him after a brief foot chase and found a razor blade in his possession, according to the arrest report.
During an interview with detectives, Matejcek denied being at his mother’s home and claimed he had been drinking and jumped into a pond, according to investigators. The report states he showed signs of mental illness but demonstrated an understanding of the difference between right and wrong.
‘An obvious danger’
The killings came after years of violence involving Matejcek and the same victims.
Court records show Matejcek previously pleaded to charges stemming from a 2020 incident in which he attempted to suffocate his mother with a pillow and threatened to kill her.
In May 2023, deputies arrested him after investigators said he forced his way into the victims’ home, punched and choked Harrison, shoved his mother and broke her hip. A sheriff’s detective wrote in an arrest report that Matejcek posed “an obvious danger” to the victims.
The earlier case drew renewed scrutiny after the killings because Matejcek had been released from custody less than three weeks before the murders, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.
After being found incompetent to stand trial in the earlier case, Matejcek was conditionally released Oct. 23, 2023, to the Mary Jennings Group Home in East Bradenton for mental health treatment. Records show he left the facility after only a few hours and never returned. He was not taken back into custody before the murders occurred on Nov. 10, less than 3 weeks later.
Patricia Matejcek’s sister, Krista Kale, publicly criticized the justice system after the killings and said family members repeatedly warned officials they feared violence would escalate.
“She has faced years of physical, mental and emotional abuse at the hands of this monster with no help from the courts to stop this man,” Kale wrote on a GoFundMe page after the killings.
The homicide case itself was delayed for more than two years as the court repeatedly evaluated Matejcek’s mental competency.
A judge ruled him incompetent to proceed in January 2024 and committed him to the Florida Department of Children and Families for treatment. After undergoing treatment, Matejcek was found competent to proceed a little more than a year later. Defense attorneys later raised new concerns about Matejcek’s competency, prompting another round of evaluations before the court again found him competent to proceed in February 2026.
Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty after a grand jury indicted Matejcek on two counts of first-degree murder shortly after the killings. Prosecutors later withdrew their notice of intent to seek the death penalty, according to court records.
