Woman Wants Convicted Serial Killer Tried for Mother's Murder

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - A Royal Oak woman says everyone, including the police, knows who murdered her mother, but the price of justice is apparently too high.

45-year-old Barbara Tuttle smiles during a family photo. Now, pictures are among the few things Amy Bacik has to remember her mother by.

"December 2004, my mother was brutally murdered," said Bacik. "It was just a random act, totally random."

"It trickles down to my four-year-old. She always asks, 'Why is your mommy in heaven?' How do you explain that to a four-year-old," Bacik added.

Amy can't begin to find the words that could make sense to a child. To us, she describes a monster.

"He assaulted her and raped her the first time and then left her for dead, and she lived. She went to stay with a friend. 13 days later, she came home," said Bacik.

That's when he came back to finish the job. It was December 2004. A grandmother killed at her home in Lansing.

30-year-old Matthew Macon has since been convicted of the murder of two other women, although police have told Amy that number is more like seven. He's now serving two life sentences. In that lies Amy's frustration.

She claims prosecutors have tried telling her it's not practical financially to try Macon for her mother's murder since he's already locked away for good.

"Taxpayer dollars, that's what it comes down to," Bacik said. "Well, you know what, if it was the prosecuting attorney's family member, would he prosecute it," she questioned.

"We take into account the wishes of the victims, but then the final decision lies with the prosecutor," said Ingham County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Lisa McCormick. "You have to balance the victim's wishes with the use of taxpayer dollars, certainly."

Initially convicted in 2007, Amy says all his victims were women chosen at random and sexually assaulted.

A press conference is planned for early next week where the Ingham County prosecutor is expected to announce officially if there will be more charges and read a possible confession by Macon.

"She's still my mother, so I feel like I have to stand up and be her voice," said Bacik.