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Man sentenced to 22 years in Point Defiance Park stabbing
The man found guilty of stabbing a woman multiple times in the face and neck along a popular walking trail in Tacoma will spend the next two decades behind bars.
TACOMA, Wash. - The man convicted in a horrific, unprovoked attack along a popular walking trail in Tacoma will spend more than two decades behind bars.
Nicholas Matthew, 27, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for stabbing a woman multiple times in the face and neck at Point Defiance Park on February 10, 2024.
Nicholas Matthew appears in court for his sentencing in a violent stabbing attack on a Point Defiance Park trail. (FOX 13 Seattle)
The backstory:
Matthew was following 34-year-old Victoria Nizzoli along a trail near Five-Mile Drive and was "uncomfortably close" behind her. When she offered to let him pass, he laughed and refused.
Moments later, Matthew ambushed the victim, straddling her on the side of the trail and partially dragging her into a bush. He stabbed her in the head at least a dozen times while saying disturbing things like, "you need to meet your maker," before bystanders stepped in.
What they're saying:
Prosecutors said, if not for the actions of some Good Samaritans, things could have turned deadly.
"She tried to act on her own behalf by screaming, and that brought forth four people who arrived to aid her. He was about to stab her one final time, that would've likely have been a final, fatal stab, but, Juliana Van Angse stepped forward and kicked him off of her. That got him to flee the area," prosecutors stated at the sentencing hearing.
A Tacoma Police patrol car sits off the trail of Point Defiance Park after a stabbing on February 10, 2024.
The State also read a brief statement from the victim, Nizzoli, ahead of the sentencing:
"It would be real justice if I could get back to who I was before, if I could lose the fear that still makes me question going outside alone, and if I could stop looking over my shoulder," the statement read.
Prosecutors asked the court to consider a sentence on the high end of the normal range because of the violent and premeditated nature of the attack.
Matthew tried to convince the judge that he was not mentally competent, telling the court he had visions and was hearing voices in his head.
However, prosecutors noted that Matthew tried to flee to Taiwan after the stabbing, but only made it to California before he was arrested. They argued that because Matthew tried to leave the country, it proves he knew the consequences of his actions.
Jury reaches guilty verdict in Tacoma's Point Defiance stabbing trial
A jury has found Nicholas Matthew guilty of first-degree attempted murder for an unprovoked stabbing attack on a trail at Point Defiance Park last year.
Ulitmately, the sentencing total was 240 months (20 years) for attempted murder with an additional consecutive two-year sentence for a weapons violation, bringing Matthew's total prison term to 22 years.
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The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting.