Sentence came after Pickens court accepted plea bargain
Remi Bray was 14 months old when she was murdered.
She died bruised and asphyxiated.
Her two-year-old brother, Ryker Bray, underwent cruelty and abuse including burns, bruises, and wounds.
The father of the children is Ellijay resident Matt Bray, and their mother is Emily Byrd.
At the time of the abuse, the state had given Byrd custody of the children some of the time.
She lived with her boyfriend, Cameron Mathews. Ryker Bray was abused and Remi Bray died in their custody.
The Pickens County Superior Court charged Mathews with felony murder and three counts of first-degree cruelty to children.
Byrd pled guilty to child abuse.
His case was scheduled to go to trial Monday, June 1.
But in a May 20 plea deal, Mathews pled guilty to second-degree murder. All other charges against him have been dropped by the Pickens County Superior Court.
Second-degree murder is a felony, which means Mathews will no longer have the right to vote, own a gun or obtain some professional licenses.
Mathews’s sentencing document gives him 15 years in confinement.
The court has requested that Mathews’s last year of confinement be served at a transition center.
After this time served, Mathews will have an additional 15 years on probation after he leaves. He has no fines to pay except the community supervision fee for parole.
Mathews is not allowed to contact David Bray, Byrd, or Riker Bray.
Before this sentence, Cameron was able to remain out on bail for nearly four years after Remi Bray’s murder.
Cameron was first arrested on Dec. 24, 2022 and charged with two counts of battery family violence and two counts of cruelty to children. On Oct. 10, 2023, he was charged with murder and contempt of court.
Then, authorities let him loose on bail. While on bail, Mathews was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol on Nov. 29, 2025.
Mathews’s bail was revoked Jan. 14, 2026.