Left inset: Nicholas Matthew (Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office/KOMO). Right inset: Victoria Nizzoli, the stabbing victim, discussing the February 2024 incident (KOMO/YouTube).
This week, a man from Washington state was convicted of attempted murder after randomly attacking a woman on a park trail. The assault involved Matthew plunging a “5-6 inch fixed blade knife” into the woman’s back, torso, head, face, and neck while she was walking alone during the day, prosecutors reported.
Nicholas Matthew, 29, was found guilty on Tuesday for nearly killing Victoria Nizzoli, 34, as she walked along trails in Point Defiance Park on a Saturday in February 2024.
The conviction came after jurors reviewed evidence and witness statements presented by the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, including Matthew’s unsettling remarks to Nizzoli while she lay in front of him suffering from severe “scalp injuries and bleeding,” according to court testimony reported by local ABC affiliate KOMO.
“During the assault, the suspect instructed her to tilt her head back so she ‘wouldn’t be in pain anymore,'” states Matthew’s arrest affidavit. “He also remarked, ‘Soon you won’t feel any pain … you need to meet your maker,'” the document continues.
Nizzoli refused to listen — choosing, instead, to fight back.
“Victoria Nizzoli should be dead,” said Lisa Wagner, a deputy prosecutor involved in the case, during the closing arguments on Tuesday, as reported by KOMO. “She should’ve died because he repeatedly and relentlessly stabbed her with his knife, targeting her back, torso, head, face, neck, and doing so with the intent to kill her that day.”
Wagner reportedly told jurors that there were “two reasons” why Nizzoli is still alive.
“The first is Victoria herself, she fought to live. She fought him off with her hands, with her arms, everything she could do to try to keep him from stabbing her even more,” the prosecutor recalled. “She also fought with her voice.”
At least four witnesses heard Nizzoli screaming for help that day, including a woman who kicked Matthew off her and caused him to flee, identified as “J.V.” in court documents.
“[J.V.] ran towards the sounds of the victim’s screams and told the defendant, ‘Hey man don’t do this don’t do this,'” the affidavit says. “The defendant replied, ‘She’s a pedophile, I can’t let her live.’ J.V. reported that it looked like the defendant was going to stab the victim again, so she proceeded to kick him on the right side of his face while he was crouched over the victim. The kicks were successful in knocking the defendant off the victim. He then proceeded to run away.”
Nizzoli took the stand during Matthew’s trial last week and testified about what she went through during his brutal attack.
“He kept moving the knife back and forth,” she recounted, according to KOMO.
“I remember at one point, because I only had my teeth to fight with, I remember holding the knife in my teeth at one point just trying to get ahold of it,” Nizzoli said. “He kept holding the knife at my throat, and it felt like he was trying to get to an artery, and he was saying, ‘Now tilt your head back so I can end your pain.'”
Speaking to local Fox affiliate KCPQ after testifying, Nizzoli said Monday she was “furious” with how Matthew — who represented himself — “tried to end” her life. She remembered seeing him “smiling” and “smirking” as she talked about what happened.
“Makes me want to punch him,” Nizzoli admitted. “It makes me want a little bit — I want payback. But I realize the justice system is going to do that for me.”
Matthew, who has a documented history of mental health issues and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression, is due to be sentenced later this year.
