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| Agents’ killer was —= _ — ‘accustomed.to tragedy By Michael Berens and = ———~~ After moving, Matix dressed Tim Doulina 1 Reportecs William R. Matix’s life was fraught with tragedy. Relatives and friends are won- dering whether the deaths of his father, three brothers and the 1983 murder of his wife, Patricia, claimed a heavier toll than they realized, Nobody knows why Matix, de- scribed as a soft-spoken, God- fearing man, would turn into a killer who was fatally shot Friday in a battle with FEI agents. Police paid Matix killed two agents with & machine gun before he was killed. THE REV. David Culver, a close family friend, said last night that Matix changed after his wife was murdered and he moved to Miami. Matix, who lived a modest life in Delaware, had more money than ever before, he said. “After he left there were notj- ceable changes. J saw nothing of a violent reaction,” said Culver, ——— in expensive clothes and aban- doned his dream of becoming a helicopter pilot to instead work with an man who served with him in the Marines. That friend, Mi- chae] Lee Platt, was killed with Matix during the Miami shootout witheight FBI agents. , . “I'M SHOCKED. I just can’t believe he did it,” Culver said. He said Matix was a talented cook and woodworker who attended ehurch faithfully. Matix's step-mother, Dola Ma- tix, of Dayton, told The Dispatch she had not been notified that Matix had been killed. She refused to believe that her stepson had been involved in bank robberies. “No, no, that could not be,” said Mrs. Matix, 77. “If it was Bill, it must have been some kind of mistake, because Bill would not go around robbing banka. “] know the boy too well. He may have gotten killed, but he wouldn't rob banks. There is something wrong somewhere. But A