Was woman’s stabbing on Tacoma park trail attempted murder? Here’s the verdict

TACOMA – A 29-year-old man was found guilty Tuesday of the horrific stabbing attack in Point Defiance Park in Tacoma that targeted a woman who was walking alone.

A Pierce County jury of six men and six women convicted Nicholas Fitzgerald Matthew of first-degree attempted murder with a deadly weapon sentencing enhancement. The verdict came just hours after jurors began their deliberations.

The victim, Victoria Nizzoli, 34, testified that Matthew approached her on a trail wearing all black, struck her while her back was turned and brought her to the ground, where he relentlessly stuck and slashed her with a knife. Her screams drew other parkgoers, one of whom kicked Matthew in the head to stop the onslaught.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Lisa Wagner said during closing arguments Tuesday morning it was Nizzoli’s fight for her life and the actions of those four witnesses that prevented Matthew from inflicting the final fatal blows.

“She fought to live,” Wagner said. “She testified about what she did. You saw what are easily described as defensive wounds in her hands. She fought him off with her hands, with her arms, everything that she could do, trying to keep him from stabbing her even more.”

The testimony of those witnesses and Nizzoli herself was among the most powerful evidence against Matthew. At the outset of the trial, Nizzoli, who was called as the second witness, recognized Matthew in court and identified him as her attacker.

Nizzoli was in court Tuesday afternoon when Superior Court Judge Jennifer Andrews read the jury’s verdict. She cried after Matthew was declared guilty and leaned on her partner seated next to her. She politely declined to speak to news media after court adjourned. Jurors also declined to speak to reporters when they left.

Matthew, who represented himself and pleaded not guilty, remained silent throughout his trial except to tell Andrews that he did not have any questions for each witness. He did not give an opening statement or closing argument, did not call any witnesses or testify.

Matthew was handcuffed and led out of the room following the verdict. He’ll remain in jail on a no-bail hold until his sentencing hearing, which was tentatively set for Sept. 26. After inquiries from Andrews about continuing to represent himself, Matthew said “maybe” he would like to stop and have his standby counsel, Peter Reich, appointed as his attorney for the hearing, then assented when Andrews asked him again.

Matthew has no prior criminal convictions in Washington, but according to court records, he has criminal history from California, Georgia and his time in the Army, where he served from 2015 to 2018 as a computer/detection systems repairer.

His mental health issues were excluded from trial, but his ability to assist in his own defense or understand the nature of the proceedings against him was examined several times before he was cleared. Matthew underwent two 90-day periods of inpatient treatment at Western State Hospital, and a psychologist diagnosed him with unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorder as recently as June.

It wasn’t only eyewitness testimony that incriminated Matthew. Investigators recovered DNA from the boot of the woman who kicked him in the head that was matched to him, and license-plate cameras near Point Defiance Park captured the yellow Chevy Spark registered to him in the area before and after Nizzoli was stabbed.

The Feb. 10, 2024, stabbing in one of Tacoma’s most popular parks struck fear into residents who run, bike or stroll its lush and densely-wooded trails. In the weeks after, Parks Tacoma installed temporary security cameras and increased patrols. Stacia Glenn, a spokesperson for Parks Tacoma, told the News Tribune on Tuesday that the idea of permanent cameras has been discussed at length but has not become a reality.

In Wagner’s closing arguments, she summarized investigators’ hunt for Nizzoli’s attacker, which led them from initial DNA evidence that gave them Matthew’s name – “That broke the case wide open,” Wagner said – to his apartment in Federal Way, which was in disarray and smeared with his own blood. Wagner said the blood was from a cut to Matthew’s right hand he accidentally inflicted on himself while stabbing Nizzoli.

Detectives found the registration for Matthew’s distinctive yellow Chevy Spark in the apartment, and its license plate number allowed the authorities to track down images of his vehicle going toward the park at about 12:40 p.m. at North 51st and Pearl streets and at 1:13 p.m. at North 49th and Pearl streets. Police were called to Point Defiance for the stabbing just after 1 p.m.

After Matthew was arrested in late March 2024 at the San Francisco International Airport, where he was allegedly trying to flee the country, Wagner said DNA swabbed from Matthew was confirmed as a match with DNA taken from the boot that connected with the attacker’s head.

Wagner asked the jury panel to question whether Matthew was credible when he was interviewed by detectives in California and told them he got the large cut on his right hand from skating – Wagner said in openings that Matthew claimed the cut was from shaving. Wagner said Matthew also wasn’t credible when he told detectives that he had gone to the park but never got out of his car.

“If he’s not credible about that, you have to ask yourself why,” Wagner told jurors. “Is it evidence of consciousness of guilt? It’s just not a credible statement, but that’s a determination that you have to make.”

Wagner also sought to convince jurors that Matthew premeditated the stabbing and intended not just to commit assault but murder. Nizzoli testified that she heard the man’s footsteps about 10 to 15 minutes into her walk on the Blue Trail – where she was searching for glass art known as Monkeyshines – and when she turned around Matthew was just an arm’s length away from her.

Nizzoli offered to let him pass, but he just chuckled and said it was fine. When Nizzoli continued walking, she heard him rapidly advance on her and strike her in the back of the head. Wagner said it was unclear if the first blow was a fist or a knife, but as the blows continued Nizzoli quickly realized she was being stabbed.

Wagner said the fact that Matthew had his knife in his hand when he advanced again was one aspect of his premeditation. The prosecutor said attacking her from behind gave Matthew the advantage of a surprise attack.

“I would submit to you that he began approaching her so rapidly because he’s already formed the intent in his brain, ‘I’m going to kill her,’” Wagner said. “He’s already done that, and he’s acting on it.”

Matthew’s “chilling words” to Nizzoli while he had her pinned to the ground and his actions were evidence of his intent to kill, Wagner said. She reminded jurors that Matthew told Nizzoli to tilt her head back and said, “You need to meet your maker.”

Near the end of Wagner’s closing arguments, she told jurors that Matthew’s motive for trying to kill Nizzoli does not matter. At least twice in the attack, Matthew baselessly told Nizzoli and the eyewitnesses that she was a pedophile, and she had to pay for what she’d done.

In Nizzoli’s testimony, she surmised that Matthew targeted her because she was a lone woman on the trail.

“One of the things the state does not have to prove – it is not an element in this case or in the to-convict instructions, is motive,” Wagner said. “Whether he thought she was a pedophile, he’s not justified in attacking her, or whether it was because it was a crime of opportunity.”