Killer strangles woman, confesses in phone call before suicide

FERNDALE, Mich. (WJBK) - A Ferndale woman strangled inside her home, police say her killer called his family and confessed - then swallowed a deadly handful of pills.

"(I'm) devastated," said Radiant Cortez, a neighbor. "She was always friendly; when we'd drive by she waved."

Cortez still can't believe she'll never see her neighbor, 39-year-old Amy Brede, alive again.

Police say Brede was found dead in the backyard of her Ferndale home on west Marshall around 5 a.m. Sunday from an apparent strangulation.

"We don't have medical examiner reports but it appears as though that is the most likely ... that's how he attacked her," said Sgt. Baron Brown, Ferndale police.

Police say the crime scene on Marshall led them to nearby Hazel Park, after receiving information from the family. He called his family to say he killed Brede. He had fled to his house on east Harry and took a large amount of drugs to commit suicide.

Police have identified the suspect as 36-year-old Matthew Aaron Bush.

Police say they are still working to piece together this incident but say there had been a history of problems in the relationship between the victim and suspect.

"They had a tumultuous relationship in the past," Brown said. "Recently it does not appear they had been in contact."

Radiant says she would never expect anything like this to happen to her neighbor.

"You wouldn't think he would do something like that," she said. "I don't know him personally I've seen him in her front yard with her or seen them sitting on front porch, but I would never think that at all."

And Radiant says it's still hard and to believe something like this would happen in her quiet community.

"You don't hear about things like this in Ferndale," she said.  I loved here my entire life and this is a tragic loss.

"My heart and prayers go out to the family."