Wichita man arrested in Monday rape, stabbing tried to kill women, charges allege
.JPG "Wichita police officers and detectives worked a scene at a duplex in a neighborhood near West and Douglas Monday afternoon after two people were seriously injured.")
A 37-year-old man arrested for allegedly attacking two women Monday at a west Wichita duplex was trying to kill them, according to charges filed Thursday by the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
Police arrested Matthew Vess Smith of Wichita after a couple called 911 to report a disturbance in the 200 block of North McComas, near Second and West streets, police said previously. When officers responded to the address around 1:15 p.m., they found two women with injuries. One had also been raped, police said.
According to a complaint filed Thursday in Sedgwick County District Court, Smith beat one woman “about the face and head” and stabbed the other “multiple times with a knife,” with the intention of murdering them.
He is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of rape and one count of aggravated kidnapping, court records show. Smith made a first appearance in court Thursday and is due back for another hearing on Aug. 21. A judge set his bond at $250,000.
Police previously told The Eagle that the women, 78 and 79, suffered serious but survivable wounds that required hospital treatment. The women and Smith know one another but only one of the women lives in the duplex, police have said. Police haven’t given a motive for the assaults.
This story was originally published August 10, 2023 at 5:16 PM.
