The woman who brought rapist doctor Stephen Matthews to justice has exposed the method he used to lure unsuspecting victims to his home.
The Denver cardiologist wept in court Tuesday as he was found guilty of drugging 11 women and raping nine of them in a four-year reign of terror between 2019 and early last year.
Prosecutors said there was a striking similarity between the accounts of his victims, and now the latest of those victims has revealed the strategy that was already chillingly familiar to the other 10.
“He gave us all life sentences, but not behind bars,” he told KDVR.
‘One of the hardest things about sexual assault and rape is that your body is the crime scene and you carry it with you forever.’
After the last victim, ‘Audrey’, went to police, they found a succession of women with exactly the same story at the hands of Denver doctor-rapist Stephen Matthews.
The perverted cardiologist would go to great lengths to trick his victim’s suspicions, according to lawyer Stephen J Burg, and would use the same tactics with each of them.
Matthews, 36, searched online dating apps including Hinge and Tinder and “strategically” tried to arrange dates near her home in the city’s Lower Highland neighborhood.
It was on Hinge that the serial rapist arranged to meet the woman, who gave her name as ‘Audrey’, in January 2023.
“It was just a first date,” he said.
Matthews was a trusted and respected member of the Colorado medical community.
They met for lunch before he invited her back to his house, where they played Jenga and took a dip in his hot tub.
Her last memory is of drinking a drink he had made for her, before coming to, hours later, in her own home, with no recollection of what had happened.
Lawyer Stephen J Burg said the perverted cardiologist would go to great lengths to mislead his victim’s suspicions.
‘He would build trust with them and then invite them out for a drink, usually near his house, and drug them with that drink,’ he explained.
“They were very, very incapacitated and they didn’t know what was happening. And he was sexually assaulting them.”
“He was very clever and able to build trust. He would say, ‘Let’s meet in a public place,’ and talk about his dog and often use that as an excuse to go back to his house or apartment.”
But Audrey became suspicious when she noticed unexplained bruises and went to the doctor for an examination, only to discover that she had been raped.
“I didn’t remember any sexual activity, but I did have a hickey,” she said.
She went to the police and when they started investigating they found more women with exactly the same experience: a date, a game of Jenga, a drink, a hot tub and nothing else.
One said that 10 hours after meeting Matthews they were in a complete blank and had “no idea how he got home.”
Another recalled vomiting and curling up in the fetal position after having a single drink at Matthews’ home before waking up at her home with Matthews in the room.
When she turned down a second date, he sent her nude photographs he had taken of her unconscious.
Matthews denied all allegations as his defense team attempted to find flaws in the women’s stories.
But Audrey testified against him in court and plans to deliver a victim impact statement at his sentencing on Oct. 25.
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“It makes your hair stand on end. You want to scream at that person, shake them and ask them why,” she said.
“It’s something you carry with you all your life. And I don’t think he regrets it.”
Matthews has had his professional license revoked and has been held in the Denver jail on $5 million bail since his arrest in March 2023.
He was found guilty of 35 of the 38 felony counts that went to the jury and faces between five and 25 years in prison.
“A verdict doesn’t change what happened to you,” one victim told CBS.
“I have to deal with physical and emotional issues that will last a lifetime as a result of what happened to me. I don’t think he regrets what he did. I think he regrets that he got caught.”
Audrey also said she has been struggling to deal with what happened and “there are days when you don’t want to get out of bed.”
But she has no regrets about coming forward and is grateful to the other women who were brave enough to tell their stories.
“It was really nice to be able to meet them all, give them a hug and say thank you for coming after me,” she said. “Because they didn’t have to.”
