Lorain/Elyria, OH
Suspect in abduction being held without bail
Print this story
Read comments and discuss this story
Victim in fair condition after being shot in back; parks to step up patrols
ELYRIA — The husband of the woman who was brutalized at the county Metro Parks’ Carlisle Reservation summed up his anger for the man accused of attacking his wife in five words.
“I’d like to kill him.”
As 25-year-old Matthew Plas was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping Wednesday, the victim’s husband and family were trying to make sense of how such a thing could happen to a woman they love in a place she loved.
“We’re down there a lot, and she’s down there more than the rest of us,” the woman’s husband said as he stood outside the couple’s Elyria home.
“Look at all the flower beds I planted for her. Anything to be outside.”
The 43-year-old mother of three who was snatched as she hiked, shot in the back, stuffed in her trunk and dumped off Oberlin-Elyria Road told police she was sexually assaulted by her assailant.
She remained in fair condition at MetroHealth Medical Center on Wednesday. The extent of her injuries and whether she will be paralyzed from them are not yet known.
Emergency personnel who tended to the woman after she was attacked said she had no sensation in her legs but was wiggling her toes — a good sign considering she was shot in the middle of her back.
“She’s tough,” her husband said.
The attack appears to have been random, with the woman and her attacker encountering each other on a trail near the Duck Pond Picnic Area on Tuesday, sheriff’s Capt. Richard Resendez said.
Plas, who was apprehended by Metro Parks rangers Tuesday after police say he dumped the woman behind a vacant building and fled into the woods in an attempt to get back to his car, appeared by way of video Wednesday before Elyria Municipal Court Judge Lisa Locke Graves.
“I know I’ve done a stupid thing, your honor,” he said to Graves, who arraigned him on the kidnapping and attempted murder charges and ordered him held without bail.
Resendez said that was more of a confession than Plas made to the deputies who interviewed him.
Resendez said deputies are still searching for the gun used in the shooting and continue to investigate.
Plas, formerly of Wellington and living out of his car at the time of the alleged attack, is no stranger to sheriff’s deputies, Resendez said.
He has a criminal record that dates to 2001, when he was convicted of DUI. He also has convictions for domestic violence, disorderly conduct, underage consumption and driving under suspension, according to Elyria Municipal Court records.
The domestic violence charge stemmed from a May 2006 incident in LaGrange when he attacked his wife, with whom he has a 2-year-old son.
According to a domestic violence protection order in effect against Plas until 2011, he beat, choked and held a knife to his wife’s throat. The incident came less than a year after the couple was married and in full view of Plas’ stepdaughter, who tried to stop him from attacking her mother, the wife wrote in her account of the incident.
Plas was last in court in February, when he pleaded no contest and was found guilty of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
In that case, he appeared before Locke Graves, the same judge who handled his arraignment on Wednesday. She fined him $150 and sentenced him to one day in the county jail. He also was told he could face higher fines and more jail time if he got in trouble in the next year, according to court records.
Dan Martin, director of the Lorain County Metro Parks, said Tuesday’s incident was the worst in the park system’s nearly 50 years in operation.
“It’s a terrible incident,” he said.
Although Martin said park rangers plan to increase their presence, he said the random nature of the crime makes it impossible to guarantee that nothing like it will ever happen again.
Martin said people can protect themselves by not hiking alone, carrying a cell phone and being aware of their surroundings.
Chronicle Chief Photographer Bruce Bishop and staff writer Stephen Szucs contributed to this story.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.
Print this story
Report an innappropriate comment
In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement
and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered,
click here.
If you are registered, click here to log in.
Need help? Email Us.
A cell does you NO good when you are tring to run! Like I wrote on another area about this, my mother was chased not to long ago and by the grace of god she found others on the trail. It was reported. She did have a cell in her hand but she said that thier was no way she could RUN and call at the same time without tripping.
Maybe camera’s should be put on some trails along wiht help buttons. I know for a fact that even if you are with someone and they get hurt, you will have to leave them to get help and not all cell companys work on those trails or get a good signal.
Things can be done to make it safer. I have walked thier with my kids, we will not longer untill something changes.
(Report comment)
Last summer I was at the Carlisle park using the swingset with my two kids. You know, the one beside that house which is behind the big fire station, and we were the only ones there except a gender ambiguous individual wearing dark sunglasses that walked slowly all around the area and never said anything. A few times the person disappeared into the trees but then would reappear a minute later and walk past us again very slowly. The person freaked me out so much that when the person ducked behind a cluster of trees and then I could not see them I decided to get out of there as quickly as possible before anything happened. I have not returned to the park since and that is a shame because it is a nice swingset. Often times when I would go there we were there alone. Not many people seem to use the swingset. And it being in the location that it is, somewhat secluded, may make it inviting for freaks like the one I encountered that day.
(Report comment)
Maybe if more people would come forward and tell the parks of the things that have happen, something can be done.
Thier is no reason that a mother can not take her children for a walk or even play in these parks without fear. I would love to take my kids back thier if I knew it was safe. We use to take seed and feed the ducks, geese, and even the fish in the river. They miss this and so do I.
If the parks say they can not afford the equipment for these items then I have a idea. The Halloween walk is always free, maybe charge .50 for kida and $1.00 for adults (thousands go thew their every year) and they they could do this. Maybe then they could open the Duck pond and the horse trails for parking and let some walk safely on solar lighted pathes to the even making things Safer.
Just a idea on how to make these parks safer, and not have this happen again to someone.
This could have happen at any Metro park in any place and has in other area before. It is time for the parks to install safty measures to protect those who use and support the parks.
(Report comment)
As far as carrying a cell phone goes, I do carry a cell phone and I make sure it is adequately charged and turned on so that if I need to call 911 I can do so as quickly as possible, and I also carry red pepper defense spray in case I am attacked but in the scenario that I described last summer, I noticed that there was no activity at the house located next to the swingset area and that the fire station was far enough away that the likihood of anybody hearing me yell was low. I kept my eyes on the individual the entire time we were there and therefore I couldn’t really enjoy playing and my kids at the time were 2 years old and under 1 year old and I certainly would have a difficult time defending myself in that situation and I know that predators wait for conditions to be right to strike and since conditions were what they were, I got out of there when my intuition told me things weren’t right. I also have stayed away from the duck pond because it tends to have low volumes of people and it is secluded and I’m certainly not going to put my kids or myself in a situation for a predator to strike.
(Report comment)
How about the rangers patrol the parks instead of being out shopping . I have seen the rangers over at wall-mart in full dress shopping , buying fishing poles and gear , also have seen them over at Supierior Eletric buying electrical supplies , wonder what they were useing them for during there course of patroling the park systems. I would assume that there is maintenance Workers that would do this type of stuff and not park rangers . And when they were at supierior Electric , there was not one , But 2 Rangers . Maybe there needs to be more supervision over the Rangers if they can do stuff like this at their leasure .
(Report comment)
Lets take a look at the Rangers Logs for that park for the last year.Lets take a look at past concerns and issues that the park system knows about that park.Lets see if the Metro Parks dropped the ball and did not give enough patrol for that park. Lorain County Metro Parks has alot of money but can not get quality Rangers for $8.oo an hour.Well Park managers lets go public with records and issues pertaining to that park and see if more patrol was needed but never happened till this terrible crime and poor victim. If I was that women I,d be sueing somebody for not doing ther job.
(Report comment)
This should be a catalyst to allow concealed carry permit holders to be allowed to carry in parks. Police are always minutes away and that goes for park rangers as well. Having a panic button or calling 911 isn’t really going to save you from someone like the perp in this latest incident as it generally takes a few minutes for help to arrive. Mace/Pepper spray will only aggravate the perp. People should be allowed to put bad guys like Matthew Plas into the ground if need be.
(Report comment)
Big T, I liked your comment. Makes one wonder if Mr. Plas has a CCW permit for that gun he used to shoot that innocent woman who was simply trying to enjoy a leisurely hike. Isn’t it funny how politicians and other activists want to hinder the honest, hard-working, law-abiding, patriotic, God-fearing American from carrying a weapon to protect theirself from these psychos that are popping up everywhere from shopping malls, schools, restaurants, and virtually everywhere else because their lives aren’t fulfilling and they want to take it out on innocent others. And to top it off, the newspaper then prints the names of the people that obtain permits for all to see as though they are the criminals and need to be exposed. I’d be willing to bet that most of the criminals that use guns do not have permits so therefore disarming the good guys would be a very bad mistake. Just remember, Mr. Politician, it could be your life, or the life of your loved one, that is saved by an armed citizen the next time a psycho is on the loose. My husband has a CCW permit and has encouraged me to obtain one. I have not done so as of yet but if society continues the way it has been going I may be forced to just so that I can navigate through life without being in constant fear.
(Report comment)
I am so sorry for this woman and prays she makes a complete recovery.
ART - I recently read an article on how the 4.2 million closed circuit television cameras in England have not reduced crime there. I don’t believe they are the answer. Call boxes are the better option, but the problem there is so much harm could be done before the authorities arrived. I’m glad your mom got away and is okay.
MOMM - The Lorain County Metroparks are known gay cruising spots. This crap goes on all over the country and at rest stops. This is what you saw. Every few years the Lorain Country sheriff has a sting operation to bust these idiots. I don’t believe they’ve had one in awhile though. It’s about time they did it again.
BIG T - I would always carry a gun in a park whether it is allowed or not. Would not want to be a violent crime victim just because some ‘feel good’ passed an asinine law. Violent crime is on the rise in all types of parks including National Parks. I am not going to be a victim if I can help it.
(Report comment)
The victim is my sister-in-law. I wish we had the words to thank all who helped her in her desperate need and those who have sent/posted/telephoned their good wishes and prayers for her recovery.
Obviously our family is in shock and is trying to cope as well as can be expected. My sister-in-law will live but is paralyzed from her waist down and will remain so for life. We are committed to helping her and my brother to insure that they have as normal a life as we can.
Thank you again to all who have helped her and our family physically and with their prayers.
(Report comment)
Haxor & Bobby O. - You guys nailed it. It’s a fact noone can predict what sicko’s are out there, and who their next victim will be. But it’s a very good bet the park rangers were out shopping and the sheriff deputies were all huddled down at the corner mini mart, laughing about the last Joe Citizen they just put in jail. I sincerely hope this woman’s family does pull the park ranger logs, and also go to the county sheriff logs, and sues these so called “law enforcement officers” into non-existence. We’d be no worse off.
(Report comment)
Well here is another fact , the Sherrifs dept last year and i am sure it is to come this year , dont have enough money or road patrols to patrol alot of the townships , and was soliciting money from townships to increas patrol . But amazingly enough , this year they got a boat from homeland security money , and they are going to staff it with sheriff deputies to patrol lake erie. All you folks that have lived with all the break-ins and burguleries out in the townships i guess you will have to live without sheriff patrols . there must be more burgularies and break-ins out in the middle of lake erie .
(Report comment)
In case u missed the article about the boat , you can read it here http://www.chroniclet.com/2008/04/11/vermilion-vice-its-not-but-it-is-an-added-boat-patrol/
(Report comment)
And guess who’ll be paying for the gas that boat uses. and the “perks” when it’s not used for “official duty”. That whole department’s a crock!
You’d better grab your wallets, cause November’s comin up, and there’ll be a whole lot of crying about not enough funds, and the jail is over crowded, blah, blah, blah.
Summit County just cut 30 deputies to save the county money. WHEN ARE OUR COMMISSIONERS GOING TO WAKE UP AND QUIT THROWING MONEY INTO THE BLACK SINK HOLE KNOWN AS THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT??
(Report comment)
So very sorry to hear of this aweful tragedy to happen to a mom just enjoying the sunshine and attempting to be healthy. We will keep you and your family in our prayers for the days ahead. God Bless you !!!
(Report comment)
sisinlaw how very kind of you to update everyone at such a terrible time for your family. Let her know she has a whole county pulling for her. After all most of us have been at the same park before and but for the grace of God it could have been us.
As for the other comments I have read here, I hope we remember it is the sick perpetrator who is at fault here. Yes and thank you God for the wonderful citizens who took a chance and got involved. Anymore it is a very scary thing to get involved. There is a very real possibility of getting shot or killed when you do!
Also shame on the Chronicle for posting the gun permit holders. They are a BIG reason I have not gotten one. I live alone and do not need anyone breaking into my home hoping to get a gun. I wish the Chronicle would rethink their position on that.
(Report comment)
Crap - I really like the Duck Pond and the trails. I’ve taken my daughter there last summer and was looking forward to going again this summer. Guess we’ll stick to the more crowded parks.
(Report comment)
You guys think you can find another place to wage your vendetta against LCSO instead of hijacking the story of a woman who just got paralyzed by some scumbag? This isn’t the place. Show some respect.
(Report comment)