He tried to kill woman walking alone at Point Defiance Park. Here’s his sentence
The man convicted of trying to murder a woman walking alone on a trail at Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park in a stabbing attack foiled by other park goers was sentenced Friday to 22 years in prison.
A jury found Nicholas Fitzgerald Matthew guilty of attempted first-degree murder in August for the February 2024 attack. Since then Matthew’s sentencing hearing has been repeatedly delayed, in part because of renewed questions over the defendant’s mental competency.
The woman who endured the attack, a local architect named Victoria Nizzoli, opted not to attend Friday’s hearing. In a victim-impact statement filed with the court, Nizzoli said she was exhausted from having her life revolve around the man who tried to murder her, and she refused to sacrifice any more of her time, energy and mental health on his behalf.
Nizzoli asked the court to give Matthew the maximum sentence — he faced a standard sentencing range of 17-22 years — but she said even that barely scratched the surface of what she felt would be equitable. Real justice, she said, would be getting back all the time she lost to the hospital stay, therapy appointments and canceled plans.
“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,” Nizzoli wrote. “If I could remove the memories of my bloody face and skull from my family when they saw me in the ER and hospital. If I could get feeling back in parts of my head that doctors have confirmed I will never feel again. If I could go back to inherently trusting people and seeing the good in everyone.”
Nizzoli credited her survival to the strength of her body, those who came to her aid and the community.
Two of the people who helped Nizzoli, a couple walking their dog named Julianna and John Vanenk, were awarded medals of courage by the Tacoma Police Department in November. An active-duty military service member, Rebecca Honeycutt, also helped save Nizzoli’s life.
“In the end, I survived, in spite of him,” Nizzoli continued. “I survived because my lungs were stronger than his knife, and I screamed till help arrived. I survived because the people who found me were fiercer than he is. He failed that day due to the strength of community, and he can never take that away from me, my rescuers, or anyone else who has supported me through this time.”
The Feb. 10, 2024 attack occurred just before 1 p.m. on the park’s Blue Trail. Nizzoli testified at trial that she had been walking for about 10 to 15 minutes when she heard Matthew’s footsteps, turned and saw he was an arm’s length away.
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. Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum that Matthew likely hit her with the knife, causing Nizzoli to stumble. Matthew then repeatedly stabbed and struck her with the blade.
The Vanenks ran toward the sound of Nizzoli’s screams and found Matthew standing over her and still attacking her. The couple tried to talk the man into stopping but ultimately Julianna Vanenk had to kick Matthew in the head to stop the onslaught.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Lisa Wagner read a portion of Nizzoli’s victim-impact statement before asking Pierce County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Andrews to impose a high-end sentence.
“I think what strikes me doing this for nearly 36 years is just the absolute savage nature of this attack,” Wagner said in court.
Peter Reich, Matthew’s defense attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, asked Andrews to impose a “mitigated sentence” based on how his client’s mental health issues affected him at the time of the offense. Reich asked the judge to impose a sentence below the high-end of the standard sentencing range.
Reich said the gravity of premeditated violence demands a serious response but that it should be balanced against the perpetrator’s impaired perception of reality and capacity for judgment.
Given a chance to address the court before he was sentenced, Matthew claimed there had been a mistake. He said he was not the person who did this.
Attacker argued he wasn’t competent for sentencing
Concerns over whether Matthew, 29, is capable of understanding the nature of the proceedings against him or assisting his defense attorney came up again Friday and once again threatened to derail the hearing.
Matthew, who appeared in court in a gray and pink jail uniform, told Andrews that he did not feel he was mentally competent and that he was still experiencing symptoms such as hearing chattering voices and hallucinating letters, faces and objects.
His defense attorney disagreed. Reich said mental health staff from the Pierce County Jail did not have concerns about Matthew’s competency. The attorney said he also hired an independent expert who concurred.
Wagner said she thought Matthew was trying to use his mental health issues to shield himself from the consequences of his actions. Wagner made similar arguments in response to handwritten letters Matthew wrote to the court requesting a new trial on the basis that he should not have been allowed to represent himself.
Matthew wrote that during the trial he felt too crippled by his conditions to say anything in his defense. At trial Matthew did not make an opening statement, did not make any objections, did not call any witnesses and did not make a closing argument.
Wagner wrote in response to the letters that during trial the court addressed Matthew repeatedly to determine if he had any objections to exhibits, and he responded appropriately and never expressed concerns about not understanding what was going on. Wagner said prosecutors had several conversations with Matthew outside the presence of the jury and the court, and he was responsive and answered questions appropriately.
“This was in stark contrast to his demeanor and near total silence in front of the jury, which suggests that his silence in front of the jury was a strategy on his part, rather than a product of mental illness,” Wagner wrote.
Psychologists have previously diagnosed Matthew with unspecific schizophrenia spectrum and “other psychotic disorder,” court documents show. But as recently as March 27 a psychologist found it more likely than not that Matthew was competent for court proceedings.
Andrews declined Friday to find that Matthew had been incompetent to represent himself at trial and ruled that Friday’s scheduled sentencing would proceed.
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 2:36 PM.
