Nadia Sutton's paternity case began after her daughter was born in New Orleans in January 2021.
Sutton met Matthews in spring 2020 at his house in Mandeville, Louisiana, when she was 22, according to an investigation by The Dallas Morning News. Sutton told the paper that Matthews texted her, “We're about to go half on a baby,” and that he claimed to be allergic to latex. She said she took Plan B after their first encounter, though the medication is not effective once an egg has already been released, and she said Matthews later claimed he was in Africa and unreachable while she was pregnant. Sutton also told the newspaper that Matthews ejaculated inside her after she had said no three times.
A Default Judgment, Then a Reversal
Matthews visited a Labcorp location two months after an August 2022 judgment, according to The Dallas Morning News.
In October 2022, Matthews provided a DNA sample at a Labcorp location on North Gessner Road in Houston, listing his Dallas townhome — purchased a few months after the baby's birth — as his home address on the collection paperwork. Donald Rose then contacted the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.
A 0% Result, Then a Push for a Retest
That testing approach produced a stunning result: in March 2023, a paternity test found a 0% chance that Matthews was the father of Sutton's child, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. Attorney Maria Treffinger filed a motion that June requesting another test, and she later told the Dallas Morning News that she believed Matthews's attorney had pressured the state into using the unusual testing process in the first place. Treffinger acknowledged, per the newspaper's reporting, that the overall testing process had been highly unusual and outside normal court procedures.
A judge ruled in August 2023 that Matthews had to provide a new DNA sample through official court processes. Louisiana's child-support enforcement arm then arranged for his DNA collection at an Any Lab Test Now location in Plano in mid-January 2024, but Matthews failed to appear. He later said, per a legal filing cited by the Dallas Morning News, that the testing site required him to drive farther than the state had previously suggested.
Contempt Requests and a Rescheduled Hearing
Treffinger asked the court in February 2024 to hold Matthews in contempt for failing to submit to the second test, and a judge ordered him to appear in court that March. Court records show Matthews called the state-contracted DDC lab repeatedly during that period, trying to submit a sample collected by another entity, while Treffinger emailed a DDC employee asking for records of any communications between the lab and Matthews or his attorney. A DDC employee indicated the lab preferred Matthews submit his sample in court or another formal setting, according to the newspaper's reporting. The March hearing was ultimately rescheduled for the beginning of May.
While Sutton waited for the legal process to play out, she pursued her own answers. She ordered a DNA test from Ancestry, and the results matched a woman identified as Matthews's half-sister, sharing 11% of her DNA with Sutton's daughter. The Ancestry results also included relatives carrying Matthews's last name and his mother's maiden name, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The Courthouse Showdown
Sutton had moved to Florida with her daughter in 2021.
Matthews's testimony appears across nearly 4,900 pages of court records compiled during the case, per the newspaper's reporting. Through his attorney, Matthews declined to speak with the Dallas Morning News for its investigation.
Other Women, Other Cases
The Dallas Morning News reported that Sutton discovered at least six other women who said they felt betrayed by Matthews.
Another woman said Matthews told her he had moved to Toronto and suggested the child wasn't his, while his attorney, Andrew Kerns, sent her a cease-and-desist letter in August 2023.
What Louisiana Law Says About Paternity Disputes
Louisiana's child-support enforcement agency, the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, says parents involved in a paternity determination can be represented by an attorney, request DNA testing and have the right to a trial. The agency describes genetic testing as voluntary and says a court may become involved if a parent does not consent. For the specific procedure titled “Acknowledgment of Paternity - Child Born of Marriage,” the Louisiana Department of Health requires a notarized affidavit involving the mother, spouse or ex-spouse, and biological parent, with two witnesses, along with a DNA-based report showing at least a 99.9% probability, as noted by Louisiana Department of Health — a legal backdrop that frames just how unusual the years of conflicting lab results in Sutton's case turned out to be.
