Prominent businessman is murdered
Jim Matthews was a coal miner’s son who would wake before dawn to work on a local milk truck.
His reverence for hard work helped the 54-year-old become a prominent entrepreneur - a financial planner with an eye for real estate.
Friends say he was beloved and admired — making his sudden death at the hands of an unknown assailant this week a shocking mystery.
“We’re still in a state of disbelief. It’s been a painful 48 hours,” John Tompkins, his long-time business partner, said in an interview Thursday. The murder has left police hunting for clues in a high-profile case. Cape Breton Regional Police responded to the Prince Street Market, a three-storey building in Sydney owned by Matthews and his business partners, on Tuesday morning after receiving a report of a deceased person.
Police said Matthews’ body was found in the apartment suite on the building’s top floor.
They are treating his death as a homicide, and the major crime unit and forensic identification section are leading an investigation.
Staff Sgt. Phillip Ross said Thursday he could not release any additional information on the case.
“It’s a very active investigation,” he said. “It’s fluid and it’s moving.”
Ross wouldn’t say whether police had any suspects and would not release the cause of death, to protect the “integrity of the investigation.” The Sydney Mines native’s death left many in Nova Scotia’s business community shaken.