Jacqueline Matthews left five children and a granddaughter as authorities accuse Michael Ranger of killing her despite an active protective order.
ROCKY HILL, Conn. — Jacqueline Yolanda Matthews was a mother of five who had recently welcomed a granddaughter, loved creative projects and made a habit of ending messages to people close to her with an affectionate signoff. Those details, preserved by her family after her death, stand apart from the court records that now describe the final weeks of her life and the murder case against a man who had been ordered not to threaten or harass her.
Matthews, 59, died Aug. 22 after she was found critically injured at the entrance to her condominium on Concord Drive in Rocky Hill. Police accuse Michael Ranger, 55, of killing her and violating a standing criminal protective order issued in connection with an earlier case. Ranger was arrested the following day in Saratoga Springs, New York, extradited to Connecticut and arraigned in New Britain Superior Court. He faces a murder charge and a charge of violating the protective order. The accusations have not been proven at trial.
Matthews was born May 28, 1967, in Buffalo, New York, according to her obituary. Her family described raising her children as the central work of her life and said becoming a grandmother brought her particular happiness. The obituary also recalled her artistic side and the creativity she brought to projects for her children and community activities. She was survived by her five children and her granddaughter. Services were held Aug. 29 at Brooklawn Funeral Home in Rocky Hill, with burial afterward at Center Cemetery.
The obituary makes no attempt to recount the criminal investigation. Police records provide a separate account. Rocky Hill officers were dispatched shortly after 9 p.m. Aug. 22 after a caller reported a woman who had been assaulted and appeared to have stab wounds. Officers began lifesaving measures, and emergency personnel took Matthews to Hartford Hospital. She was pronounced dead there. Connecticut’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner later concluded that she died from sharp-force injuries to her neck and torso and classified her death as a homicide.
An arrest warrant reported by Connecticut media says Matthews’ son told investigators that his mother and Ranger had been together for about five years. He described Ranger as increasingly persistent in the period before the killing and said Ranger repeatedly called Matthews. The son told investigators that he had become deeply worried about his mother’s safety. His statements form part of the state’s investigative record, but they remain allegations and anticipated evidence rather than court findings. Authorities have not publicly established a motive for Matthews’ death.
The family’s concerns followed an earlier encounter that had already brought Ranger into the criminal justice system. Police accused him of assaulting Matthews during a March 23 confrontation at a storage facility in Rocky Hill. Reports based on police records say Ranger questioned Matthews during a dispute involving jealousy and allegedly grabbed her clothing. Matthews fell backward and struck her head, investigators said. Ranger was arrested in April on charges including unlawful restraint, third-degree assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. The case was still pending months later.
A standing criminal protective order was issued in connection with that earlier case. At Ranger’s September arraignment on the murder charge, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney David Clifton told the court that the order prohibited threats, violence or harassment toward Matthews. The existence of the order has become one of the most significant legal facts surrounding the homicide accusation because police say it was active when Matthews was killed. Ranger now faces a separate charge alleging that he violated it.
The homicide warrant describes contact continuing despite the earlier proceedings. On Aug. 22, Matthews was with her son at another location when Ranger appeared outside and repeatedly telephoned her, according to the document. Matthews eventually answered but rejected Ranger’s request to come inside. She later headed home and sent her son a short message at 9:03 p.m. wishing him good night and expressing her love. About four minutes later, a camera near the condominium entrance recorded her returning in distress, according to the warrant.
Her son and his fiancée were there when Matthews reached the home. The warrant says she identified Ranger as the person who had attacked her. Her son called emergency services as he and his fiancée tried to help until first responders arrived. Police processing the scene later reported finding evidence in and around Matthews’ vehicle. The restrained public account leaves many details for the criminal case, including how prosecutors intend to establish the precise location and sequence of the attack and what portions of the investigation Ranger’s defense may contest.
Ranger was no longer in Rocky Hill when police sought him. On Aug. 23, a Saratoga Springs officer received an automated license plate reader alert involving a Dodge pickup tied to the Connecticut investigation. Ranger was stopped and detained in upstate New York. Rocky Hill police obtained an arrest warrant accusing him of murder and violating the protective order. After appearing in New York courts, Ranger waived extradition Aug. 28 and was returned to Connecticut on Sept. 3.
At his arraignment the next day, a Connecticut judge maintained a $2 million bond on the murder case. Prosecutors pointed to the protective order, and Judge Chris Pelosi also cited Ranger’s decision to leave the state before his arrest. Ranger had a public defender for the bond hearing. His attorney said Ranger worked for Amazon as an area manager, was originally from Canada and had recently moved to Florida. Those details have been publicly reported but have not been identified by investigators as a cause or explanation for the alleged crime.
Matthews’ relatives declined to comment to reporters after Ranger’s arraignment, leaving her obituary as their clearest public description of the person behind the case name. It described a woman whose life centered on her children, whose creativity was familiar to those around her and whose new granddaughter had brought fresh happiness. That account also underscores the permanent consequence of a case that remains unresolved in court: Matthews’ family held her funeral while the man accused of killing her began a new series of criminal proceedings.
Ranger was directed to obtain counsel as the murder prosecution moved forward. The public sources reviewed for this report do not establish a final disposition or conviction after the September proceedings, and the state’s allegations remain unproven. Whatever evidence is presented later will be weighed in court. Matthews’ death, however, is not in dispute: the medical examiner ruled it a homicide, and her family buried the mother and grandmother in Rocky Hill one week after the attack.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.