Tulsa Artist Dies In Motorcycle Crash Hours After His Brother's Death

A local artist is being remembered for the impact he made on other people’s lives.

"There's no way he would want a whole lot of sadness. It's just hard. Because we loved him so much,” said Todd Matetich’s friend Ignacio Lopez.

Ignacio Lopez says Todd called him on Monday afternoon saying his brother passed away suddenly and asked Lopez to meet him at his mom's house.

Matetich was riding his motorcycle to his mother’s home, and Lopez says when Todd was late, he got worried so he started looking for him.

“She lives at Pittsburg and 44th and I went north to 41st, hung a left, took a right on Harvard and there were four cop cars,” said Lopez.

Lopez got out of the car and saw Todd's helmet lying on the side of the road near 38th and Harvard.

Tulsa Police say he crashed into oncoming traffic trying to pass another vehicle.

Lopez told the officers the victim was his friend, and why he was in such a rush.

“I said officer that’s Todd Matetich, and he was going like a bat out of hell to get to his mother’s because his brother just died,” said Lopez.

Friends of Todd Matetich say he wouldn't want his friends to cry over his death, so instead, they remembered the times he made them laugh.

One of his friends, Craig Ziettlow, says he always thought he’d rule the world someday, while another, Kevin Owens, recalled his favorite music.

They say it’s hard to believe he’s gone.

"He would go above and beyond for anybody,” said Lopez. “You couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

“He was a talent, but he was larger than life,” said Todd’s friend, Sheena Greywall.

Todd was a local artist here in town, and right around the time he was involved in the accident on Monday, one of his other friends, Sheena Greywall, was hanging some art work he had given her.

"I just hung them Monday, I didn't think about it and I woke up Tuesday morning why I had hung them,” said Greywall.

Greywall says she's had these paintings for 10 years now, and doesn't know what inspired her to hang them, but now, she's glad she did.

"On the last panel it says if I can inspire you with anything, let me inspire you with this," said Greywall.

Because she knows his spirit will forever live on, through these paintings.