In an episode of NBC’s “Dateline: Secrets by the Bay,” Elizabeth Sullivan, a 32-year-old mother of two, who vanished from her house in October 2014 and was never seen or heard from again, is profiled along with her murder. Yet in a weird twist of fate, about two years after she vanished, her body was discovered in the San Diego Bay, about a half mile from her home at Liberty Station. When investigations continued, it was determined that her spouse, former U.S. Navy sailor Matthew Sullivan, was the offender. So let’s learn more about him now, shall we?
Who is Matthew Sullivan?
Elizabeth Ricks Sullivan and Matthew Scott Sullivan met while the former was stationed there as a petty officer in the Navy; she supposedly grew up in Virginia. According to friends and family, their relationship was a full whirlwind, and they were married in a short period of time in 2010. The couple moved after that and had two kids while Matthew was stationed in San Diego. However, their union was having serious problems by 2012. In their townhouse, they were not only sleeping on different floors, but Elizabeth was also seeing other guys, which Matthew obviously did not enjoy.
Records show that the Sullivans’ hostility was so intense that a few 911 calls concerning domestic violence were made. In these conversations, Elizabeth Sullivan reportedly warned that their dispute over child support and custody would get out of hand. Yet no charges were ever brought against him. After meeting with a divorce lawyer on October 13, 2014, Elizabeth abruptly vanished the following day. After that, the sailor claimed that his wife had abandoned their family, and as there were no indications of criminal activity, the authorities were powerless to intervene. But it seems that Matthew kept searching for Elizabeth because he wanted to make sure she was ok.
Later, on October 4, 2016, Elizabeth’s body was discovered in the bay as Matthew was preparing to move their two daughters, his new partner, and their unborn child to the East Coast. As a result of searching their former home, homicide officers found Elizabeth’s blood on a knife stashed in the attic and on a carpet. It was quickly determined that this knife was the murder weapon and that it also contained his DNA. Finally, on January 31, 2018, Matthew was accused of killing his ex-wife and was taken into custody while at his new home in Delaware. He was being held on a $2 million bond and was accused of hiding her remains in a freezer for two years.
Where is Matthew Sullivan Now?
The prosecution claimed that the Navy veteran beat and stabbed Elizabeth to death in a bedroom of their home when Matthew Scott Sullivan went on trial for the accusations against him in February 2020. They said that he did so because she had an affair and was also preparing to leave him permanently. After a whole day and a half of deliberations, the jury ultimately found him guilty of second-degree murder in March. Then, about a year later, he was given a prison term of 16 years to life.
During his March 2021 sentencing hearing, the court said that Matthew Sullivan “brutally murdered his wife, painstakingly cleaned up the nasty murder site, and then buried the body for years.” He nearly got away with it, but his last-ditch effort to bury the body at the bay’s bottom failed. The former sailor didn’t seem to care, though. In actuality, he merely warned the court that a few defence witnesses would not be able to testify, which irrefutably damaged his case. Matthew is currently serving a 38-year sentence at the minimum-to-medium security Avenal State Prison in Kings County, California, and is anticipated to stay there at least until the time he becomes eligible for release in September 2028.
