The 83-year-old man arrested Jan. 10 for the murder of a woman with ties to Anna Maria Island is set for a bond hearing at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 8.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Eugene Matthews at the county jail several hours after he allegedly shot and killed Rebecca Rawson, 65, of Bradenton.
Rawson was a hairstylist on Anna Maria Island for some 30 years at Head Quarters Salon in Holmes Beach and at Lor-Ells Hair Designs in Anna Maria until it closed in June 2016.
Longtime family friend Mary Gallagher said in a March 4 email that Rawson and daughter Kathryn “were two of the kindest, happiest people you could ever know.”
“We hope to keep him in jail,” she wrote in the email.
Gallagher said Kathryn was told by the victims advocate that a showing of supporters would “go a long way in keeping his bond from being reduced. …He should not see the light of day.”
Matthews is facing a charge of second-degree murder with a firearm and two counts of second-degree attempted murder.
According to MCSO reports, Rawson drove two family members to Matthew’s Parrish residence at about 7 p.m. Jan. 10 to pick up the family dog, Bart, when Matthews emerged with a gun, fired twice into the air and then at the vehicle, where Rawson sat in the front seat.
Gunfire pierced the windshield and struck Rawson.
Rawson’s brother-in-law, Rodney Rawson, who had gone to the front door and retrieved Bart, was on his way back to the vehicle when the shooting occurred. Rawson’s 26-year-old daughter also was in the vehicle, MCSO public information officer Dave Bristow said.
The tragedy was compounded by the death Rebecca’s husband, Ed Rawson, six days earlier, on Jan. 4.
On Jan. 11, a judge found probable cause for Matthew’s arrest and ordered him held without bond.
The March 8 bond hearing is noticed for courtroom 8A at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.