Matthew Daniel Anfeldt was a 20-year-old living in Washington. Although a talented wrestler in school, his biggest passion in life was music. He posted his freestyle rapping videos on Facebook under his alias, MT Hayze.
He had developed a drug addiction as a teenager, and by the winter of 2018, Matthew was seeking help. He was living with his aunt and worked at a temp agency. In January of the following year, Matthew had his first clean UA (urinalysis) and soon graduated from an outpatient program.
Matthew was close with his mother, Sarah Anfeldt, but did not have a relationship with his father, who had a history of mental illness and substance abuse. He had an older brother, Anthony, and a younger sister, Cheyenne.
Anthony had been living in Alaska for about a year and a half. The night before he left, Matthew got into trouble and didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. He deeply regretted this. With him doing well with his sobriety, Sarah decided to fly Anthony to Washington and surprise Matthew at his 20th birthday party on January 27, 2019.
On the morning of February 28, 2019, Matthew spoke to his mother at the family home in Tenino before she left for work. He had been suspended from work because he had missed a few days while Anthony was visiting. Sarah told him not to worry about money as she would help pay his bills. She wanted him to focus on finding a better job now that he had graduated from his addiction program.
Matthew spent the day bowling with his sister and her boyfriend. He told Cheyenne he had been up for three days straight as part of an internet challenge. Aside from being a bit tired, Matthew was acting like his normal self.
The three were home by 4:30 PM and planned to watch movies that evening. They were hanging out in Cheyenne’s room when Matthew got up to get his phone at about 5:10 PM. Her room was off the garage and he had to walk outside to the main house where he had left his phone charging.
It was 5:17 PM when authorities received a call from the family’s neighbor (who also happened to be Matthew’s former teacher). Matthew was frantically knocking on her door. She opened the door and he was shouting that his family had been mur*dered and he needed to hide. The woman was scared and closed the door for a moment while she controlled her dogs and grabbed the phone to call 911.
When she opened the door again, she saw Matthew cross her yard and jump over the fence. He ran onto Old Highway 99 SW, causing several cars to swerve and stop. He was still screaming and jumped onto a car and in the bed of a truck.
At about 5:30 PM, Matthew entered the Speedway Grocery along Highway 99 SW near Grand Mound, about two miles away. It’s believed that he jumped on the back of a utility truck as it would be unlikely for him to have traveled so far in so little time. Still yelling about his family having been mur*dered, he tried to hide behind the counter. The clerk managed to get him to sit down, but as he called the police, Matthew escaped through the side door.
No one reported seeing him after he ran from the store. Witnesses say he had blood around his mouth.
Meanwhile, Cheyenne was still in her room when she heard sirens outside her house about 15 minutes after Matthew had left. Authorities verified that no mur*der had occurred. Sarah was at a friend’s house for dinner when Cheyenne called her to tell her Matthew was missing.
Not only was Matthew not dressed appropriately for the cold weather, but he was also barefoot. His phone was still in the house charging.
Several searches have been conducted, including with K-9 units and drones. Local homeowners were asked to search their properties in places where an adult could be concealed, such as outbuildings and crawl spaces.
Although police searched the area around the convenience store, the owner would not allow them to search the property and asked them to leave. He refused to cooperate with the investigation, and when Sarah spoke to him, he stated, “I don’t need this bullshit.”
No one knows what caused Matthew to have a mental breakdown. His family believes he was still doing well with his sobriety. Cheyenne did not see him take any drugs or alcohol that day.
Whether his mental health crisis was drug-induced or not, there is also a theory that involves an incident that had occurred just a couple of months before.
According to what he told his mother, he had been walking home after hanging out with a co-worker on December 22, 2018. He couldn’t call for a ride because his phone had run out of battery.
Three individuals began to follow him, so Matthew went into a Rite Aid pharmacy in Lacey, hoping they’d leave him alone. Instead, they waited outside, and when Matthew left the pharmacy he was attacked. They beat and cut him. Most disturbingly, the word “k*ill” was cut on his chest.
Matthew does not remember how he got home, but the next morning when he woke up, he had posted a video of him bloody and crying on social media. He quickly deleted it, but his brother had already seen it and was frantically trying to contact him.
He told his mother he did not know his attackers and that he didn’t owe anyone money. Matthew refused to file a police report and was concerned for his family’s safety. He had been sober for about 30 days at this point.
It is unknown if this incident is related in any way to Matthew’s mental breakdown and subsequent disappearance. But it has been theorized that he was suffering from a delayed brain injury due to the vicious attack.
Matthew, who was 5’7″ and 120 pounds, was last seen wearing a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt and grey sweatpants.
Matthew Anfeldt has been missing for over 4 years.
