A neighbor on Frog Hollow Road recalled checking on her daughter at about 1:30 A.M. Passing by a window, she heard four warning shots, and several calls of "Halt!" Next she heard the sounds of movement in the woods, followed by a voice saying, "Get up, get up, get all the way up. And no tricks." Three rapid gunshots followed.

As the investigation widened, officers discovered a motive for the killing. The 15-room Hauptfuhrer mansion had been broken into. The wealthy family was away on vacation as the burglar ransacked their home. In the woods, police found a silver cigarette case and a bottle of perfume,believed to have been dropped by the suspect.

Popular among his fellow officers, Tom Mathews was active in
Montgomery County Lodge 14 of the Fraternal Order of Police.
He is seen here, second from left, serving with the F.O.P. Color Guard.

Seeking additional clues, APD traced the produce truck to North Uber Street in Philadelphia. The owner's 14 year-old son told investigators he had watched from an upstairs window as a man named Ollie Carey hot-wired his father's truck on the night of June 28th at about 10:30 - less than three hours before Off. Mathews' fateful encounter.

On June 30th, APD Detective Frank Jackson, accompanied by Philadelphia Police detectives, went to Carey's West Philadelphia home in search of the suspect. Carey, fearing arrest, climbed out a third floor window when police knocked, slipping into the window of an adjoining row house. Downstairs, his parents told officers that their son had been gone since the day before. Carey's girlfriend, Beatrice, also present, denied knowledge of his whereabouts. The frustrated investigators placed a round-the-clock watch on Carey's home, and sent an alert via teletype to police agencies in an eight-state area. Back in Abington, Justice of the Peace Howard Nice approved an arrest warrant charging Ollie Carey with the murder of Officer Thomas Mathews.

Continued