A Florida man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting his estranged wife before attempting to kill her and himself dropped his legal team mid-trial on Wednesday.
The reason? So he could cross-examine his former spouse—his alleged victim—himself.
Trevor Summers, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and kidnapping in connection to the March 2017 abduction of his ex-wife, Alisa Mathewson. Prosecutors allege that shortly after Mathewson asked for a divorce and to live separately, Summers convinced his 14-year-old daughter to leave a window of her mother’s house open, allowing him to get inside and hold Mathewson captive for two days by tying her to a bed with a rope and Christmas lights.
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“You broke into my home in the middle of the night... attacked me and tied me up. Yes, you threatened me to have sex with you!” Mathewson screamed at her ex-husband about two hours into the cross-examination. “You raped me!”
“So you’re calling it rape?” Summers questioned from the other side of the courtroom.
“It is,” his ex-wife screamed back. “That is the definition of rape to come into someone’s home and attack them and tie them up and then have sex with them! That is the definition of rape!”
Later, prosecutors allege, Summers drove Mathewson around rural south Florida in search of a marina where he could charter a boat. Authorities found the pair near a Rukin waterfront resort—where they say Summers tried to strangle her and slash his own throat before he was arrested.
But after five years of delays—and three legal teams—Summers finally reached trial on Monday. So far, prosecutors have said the father-of-five engaged in a pattern of abuse and snapped after he and Mathewson began living separately.
On Wednesday, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Summers took matters into his own hands.
The 45-year-old asked a judge if he could discharge his attorneys so that he might be able to cross-examine Mathewson on the stand himself. Representing himself had been Summers’ choice on Monday, before he quickly changed his mind just before jurors were set to begin hearing opening statements.
Then he changed his mind again.
“It would be better if I did the cross-examinations from here on out,” Summers told Judge Christopher Sabella on Wednesday morning. “After seeing how it’s going, I’m comfortable.”
Sabella allowed Summers to represent himself, stressing that he could not go back to defense attorney Anthony Marchese mid-testimony. Once the jury was let back into the room and Mathewson once again was led to the witness stand, the mother-of-five refused to look at her ex-husband as he began his cross-examination.
As Summers began to question her about the details of the incident, his ex-wife curtly answered questions—including some about their sex life during their 16-year marriage and the color of scarves he allegedly used to tie her up.
“I know that they are those colors because you used them to tie me up after the struggle,” Mathewson said.
Summers’ shocking decision to question his ex-wife himself comes just one day after prosecutors and Mathewson herself described to jurors a kidnapping during which he smothered her with a pillow until she passed out.
Mathewson told jurors that in the early morning of March 11, 2017, she woke up to find a “dark figure” in her bedroom of her Hillsborough County, Florida, home.
“I started to scream, ‘Who’s in my room? Who’s in my house?'” she testified, noting that two of her younger children were in bed with her.
She said she realized it was Summers, who had then dragged her off the bed by her feet. Prosecutors say Summers convinced their 14-year-old daughter to leave the window open for him, and later to take her younger siblings out so he could spend more time with Mathewson.
During the two-day abduction, Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Johnson told jurors on Tuesday, Mathewson tried to escape several times, but was ultimately “hogtied” down with Christmas lights and rope. Prosecutors also allege that Mathewson was sexually assaulted multiple times.
“At some point, he walks into the bedroom with a look she has never seen,” Johnson said during opening statements. “In his eyes, he approaches her when she is tied onto the bed, grabs a pillow, and puts it over her face. He is standing over the bed, takes the pillow, and pushes it down on her face…To the point, he pushes so hard and for so long, she loses consciousness.”
Johnson said that later, Summers placed Mathewson in his SUV and took them toward a marina, stopping briefly at a local Walgreens. Mathewson was able to open a door, screaming for help so loudly that it prompted an employee to call 911. Randall Crosby, the Walgreens employee, testified Monday he saw Mathewson running and screaming, “Help! Help! Call the police.”
The call prompted authorities to begin looking for Mathewson, who had allegedly been tied to the car with a rope after angering Summers with her escape attempt. Prosecutors say that Summers then took Mathewson to a secluded road, where he cut her wrist.
On March 13, prosecutors say that after briefly stopping at McDonald’s, Summers took Mathewson to a “safe house” on Anna Maria island. There, he allegedly wrote a “confession later” to his kids before attempting to strangle his wife with a rope. Johnson says that as Summers had the rope around Mathewson’s neck, he noticed an undercover cop car approaching.
In desperation, Johnson says, Summers “takes a razor blade and begins to cut his own neck” as law enforcement moved in and eventually safely secured both individuals.
Prior to being fired, Summers’ defense attorney offered a different narrative to jurors. Marchese insisted that the prosecution’s argument was a mere “theory of what happened” and that their investigation was rife with “inconsistencies.”
“If you keep an open mind if you wait until the end of the evidence…I believe the evidence will show he is not guilty,” Marchese added.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.
