Woman recounts date with Colorado cardiologist Stephen Matthews during rape trial: "Something was very wrong"
A woman who met Dr. Stephen Matthews on a dating app and subsequently got together with him in 2023, testified Wednesday in a Denver courtroom that she believed the cardiologist 'spiked' a drink he made for her at his home. She said that drink left her incapacitated, hindered her ability to walk and speak, and that after drinking with the doctor, she had little memory of what happened in the ensuing hours.
She testified what happened left her "traumatized and upset."
Matthews is on trial, charged with drugging eleven women he met on dating apps between 2019 and 2023 and sexually assaulting nine of them. Matthews has pleaded not guilty.
The woman who appeared Wednesday met Matthews on the dating app Hinge and agreed to meet with him on Jan. 25, 2023. She said the two met at a restaurant where she had a shot of tequila and a mixed drink. Following that, she went with Matthews to his townhome where she said he offered her tequila, which she did not see him prepare. She said after ingesting a small portion of the drink, she became "incapacitated" and said, "He put me in a headlock position I couldn't escape from and kissed me." Under direct examination from prosecutors, the woman said she lost control of her body, lost the ability to walk and speak and does not have memories of large portions of the night.
She took an Uber home, threw up in the car, and recalled waking up on her bathroom floor with vomit in the bathtub. The woman testified she had never had a reaction like that to drinking alcohol.
The woman said she felt "nauseous... dizzy... confused... afraid" and drove herself to an urgent care facility the day after the date, seeking a drug test for a possible date rape drug. The facility did not have the materials for the testing and suggested she go to a hospital, but she declined.
"I was feeling traumatized and upset and I wanted to be at home where I felt safe," she said. She said what happened "really scared me."
She later reported what happened to the Hinge dating app, filed an anonymous complaint with the Colorado Medical Board, and told her primary care physician what happened.
When police searched Matthews' cellphone following his arrest, they found a video he had taken of the woman doing a cartwheel in his townhouse on the night in question.
"I don't have any memory of that moment in time or that video being taken," she testified.
Under cross-examination by Matthews' defense team, the woman was asked about a fall she had taken a week or two before the date. She said she had slipped on some ice while walking her dog, fallen and hit her head. The defense seemed to be trying to suggest her symptoms on the night she was with Matthews could be traced back to the earlier fall.
Jurors also asked questions about that fall, "Was it a hard fall? Did you receive bruising or swelling?" "No," responded the witness.
Another juror asked if Matthews had asked her permission to take pictures or video of her. "I did not give him permission," she said.
The trial is scheduled to run through the end of the month. Matthews is facing 38 charges and is being held in the Denver jail on $5 million bond.
