A Florida mother who was raped and kidnapped by her estranged husband after he tricked their daughter into helping facilitate the attack has spoken of her relief after he was jailed for life.
Alisa Mathewson told DailyMail.com of her horror after waking from a nap with two of her children to find Trevor Summers, 47, in her Valrico home.
“I’ll never forget waking up and seeing him towering over me,” she said.
Summers was able to carry out the sick assault in March 2017 after convincing his daughter to leave a window open, allowing him to sneak into the property where he found Mathewson with two of their children.
He also convinced the then 14-year-old girl to bring the other siblings to his house so he could strike.
Alisa Mathewson was raped and kidnapped by her estranged husband after he tricked their daughter into helping facilitate the attack
Trevor Summers, 47, was jailed for life for the horrific attack in March 2017
Once inside, Summers pinned down the mother of five and raped her while shoving a pillow in her face until she lost consciousness.
He then tied her wrists and ankles with scarves before stuffing a sock in her mouth and wrapping her entire body in nylon rope, something she said “dehumanized me in a way I will never forget.”
Mathewson, 45, held her hostage in her home the next day and was forced into her car as Summers drove through several Florida counties.
“I thought I was going to die when he held me hostage,” Mathewson said.
While Alisa was parked at a supermarket in Manatee County, she tried to escape, but Trevor dragged her back into the vehicle, which caught the attention of a supermarket employee who called the police.
After fleeing to a nearby field to hide from police and dragging Mathewson with him, Summers tried to strangle her with a rope.
During an hour-long ride with Mathewson, Trevor hid from police in a field, where he slit his throat and claimed, “This is what love is.”
Seeing an unmarked police car, Summers wrote a suicide note telling their children they would “watch from heaven” and slit his throat with a razor – despite bleeding profusely, the cut was superficial.
Mathewson snuck into his estranged wife’s home after convincing their daughter to leave a window open. Pictured: Mathewson reacts to the sentencing verdict
At the time of the attack, the couple was living in different homes as they were estranged and in the process of divorcing.
Police cars surrounded the dark blue SUV the couple was in and Mathewson was rescued, while Summers was arrested.
Alisa shared photos of the gruesome wrist wounds inflicted by her husband
Summers pleaded not guilty to eleven charges – kidnapping, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of sexual assault, four counts of child neglect, auto theft and violating a restraining order – Summers represented himself in Circuit Court, Hillsborough County, Florida, after dismiss his legal team.
During his interrogation, Trevor asked: “So you call it rape?”
“It was horrible to be in court with him and three of our children had to testify,” said Mathewson, an insurance agent from Tampa, Florida.
‘It’s the last place you want your children to be and it traumatized them when they heard everything their father had done.
“He represented himself so he could grill me in the stands. I couldn’t breathe when he talked.’
During the weeklong trial in Circuit Court, Hillsborough County, Summers claimed that “sex doesn’t mean much” to his ex-wife.
“For a long time I would be triggered when I saw a man who looked like him, and nightmare flashbacks would mean I would wake up screaming,” Mathewson said.
Trevor Steven Summers and his ex-wife in a photo posted to social media in July 2016. He was found guilty on all eleven charges, including two counts of attempted first-degree murder
During the ordeal, Mathewson was raped and tied up with rope and scarves before her estranged husband kidnapped her.
The couple share five children who Mathewson said helped her through the trauma of the attack
But after just five hours, a jury found Summers guilty of all eleven charges and he was given a life sentence in October 2022.
“I was relieved when he was found guilty, but the length of his sentence was longer than I expected,” Mathewson said.
‘It took time and various forms of therapy, but I feel good: he will never be able to hurt anyone else.
“I’ve had the best support system around me. But most of all, my children have kept me going; everything I do, I do for them.
“My unconditional love for them overcame their father’s evil intentions.”
‘I’m doing fine now. I have the best relationship with my children and a successful insurance business.
“I get to help other survivors of domestic violence through advocacy and I recently wrote a book.
Representing himself in court in Hillsborough County, Florida, Summers fired a series of questions at his former wife Alisa Mathewson
Alisa Mathewson held back her emotions as she took the witness stand during her husband’s trial
“You think what you’re going through is going to be forever, but there’s healing on the other side.”
After nearly 16 years of marriage, the couple separated in 2016 and Mathewson filed for divorce in March 2017, which Summers was unable to accept.
‘What Trevor did to me no longer affects me because I refuse to allow it.
“It’s a battle I will fight for the rest of my life, but I will continue to win.”