Left inset: Nicholas Matthew (Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office/KOMO). Right inset: Nicholas Matthew’s stabbing victim, Victoria Nizzoli, talking about the February 2024 attack (KOMO/YouTube).
A Washington state man was convicted this week of attempted murder for randomly attacking a woman on a park trail — plunging a “5-6 inch fixed blade knife” into her back, torso, head, face, and neck as she was walking alone in broad daylight, according to prosecutors.
Nicholas Matthew, 29, was found guilty Tuesday after nearly killing Victoria Nizzoli, 34, as she walked the trails in Point Defiance Park on a Saturday afternoon in February 2024.
Matthew was convicted by jurors after evidence and witness statements were presented by the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, including disturbing comments made by Matthew to Nizzoli as she was lying in front of him with severe “scalp injuries and bleeding,” according to local ABC affiliate KOMO, which cites court testimony.
“During the assault, the suspect told her to tilt her head back so she ‘wouldn’t be in pain anymore,'” Matthew’s arrest affidavit recounts. “He also told her, ‘Soon you won’t feel any pain … you need to meet your maker,'” the document adds.
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Nizzoli refused to listen — choosing, instead, to fight back.
“Victoria Nizzoli should be dead,” explained Lisa Wagner, a deputy prosecutor on the case, during closing arguments on Tuesday, per KOMO. “She should’ve died because he repeatedly and relentlessly stabbed her with his knife, stabbing her in her back, her torso, her head, her face, her 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.
