Mom of alleged victim of Denver doctor testifies she worried her daughter was "drugged, sexually assaulted" after date

The mother of a woman who went on a date with Dr. Stephen Matthews, 36, testified Thursday morning that after seeing her daughter following the date, she suspected there was a big problem.

 "I'm feeling like she's been drugged and sexually assaulted," the mother testified, recounting her feelings at the time. "She was not making sense, she was so dazed."

The testimony came as part of the prosecution's case against the Denver cardiologist, who is facing 38 felony charges for allegedly drugging 11 women and then sexually assaulting nine of them. Matthews has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The women generally met Matthews via dating apps like Hinge and Tinder, but say after going on a date with him, they believe he tampered with their drinks, leaving them with memory loss, in some cases illness, and physical signs that they had been assaulted.

One woman who met Matthews on Hinge then went on a brunch date with him in January 2023. She said after mimosas at a restaurant, she then went to his west Denver home where she had another mimosa, that she said Matthews prepared. The woman said she soon began feeling poorly and lost memory of most of the rest of the date.

Matthews later claimed the woman agreed to have "consensual sex" with him and then vomited multiple times.

Her mother -- who has been a nurse for 42 years -- said on the stand her daughter was "not making sense" in a phone conversation after the date, and she went to her daughter's apartment.

"She looked really dazed and didn't know where she was," the mother said in response to a question by one of the prosecutors.

She said her daughter was "foggy, it was terrifying."

Her mother took her to a hospital for a rape examination which the mother described as, "horrific ... sheer anguish ... unbearable." She said her daughter told a nurse, "I think I was drugged and sexually assaulted."

The daughter later said she discovered hickeys on her chest but did not recall having that kind of physical interaction with Matthews.
On cross-examination, Matthews' attorney Douglas Cohen raised the issue of the alleged victim's use of marijuana, which showed up in scientific testing. Cohen pressed the woman's mother on her daughter's drinking habits, which the mother said were minimal.

In earlier Thursday testimony, a friend of the alleged victim who saw her after the date said she had seen the woman drunk before but that "This was different. I never saw her disoriented like this." The friend said, "It was clear to us something was wrong."

Matthews is being held on $5 million bond.