12 On Your Side Investigates: Nearly deadly night ‘could have been stopped way before it happened’

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We have an update from 12 On Your Side Investigates, following an attack on an Augusta woman.

“I loved that man,” said Matilyn Ward, “until he tried to kill me.”

Her estranged husband had broken into her house and started wiping her down with gasoline. He had a gun.

Richmond County deputies arrive just in time to save her life, interrupting a plan to set her on fire.

“This could have been stopped way before it happened,” said Matilyn.

Two weeks before this brutal attack, she filed a report telling law enforcement he was threatening to kill her.

That piece of paper did nothing to protect her, so she’s breaking her silence, speaking only to 12 On Your Side Investigates about a system she believes is broken.

Ward first reached out to us by phone just before her estranged husband’s bond hearing.

She was terrified Frank Ward would be released, and he would come after her again.

Several years later, that fear is no longer in her voice.

“This whole roller coaster has been a secret blessing,” said Matilyn. “Because of Frank attacking me and trying to kill me, my daughter is now free.”

Matilyn is now free, and so is her family.

However, she worries about a time when Frank could also be free.

“Other women are at risk, our community is at risk if Frank Ward is free,” said Matilyn.

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Our cameras were the only ones rolling when he was sentenced to two decades behind bars.

Matilyn asked the judge to put him away for life.

“What else did they need? My dead body,” said Matilyn. “What else did they need to grant more than 20 years?”

Even though Matilyn says she relives that night just about every time she closes her eyes, parts of it are still fuzzy.

12 On Your Side Investigates has body camera footage from that night.

In it, you can see deputies approach the home. They hear a gunshot and break down the door.

Deputy: “Get on the ground! Now! I need both of your hands! Right now! M’am, get up. Set the gun down! Set the gun down! Get on your stomach! Both of your hands on the ground!”

That wasn’t the only time Frank pulled the trigger that night.

In the body cam, you can hear the deputy ask Matilyn if he fired his gun as she leads him to the bedroom.

“Yes,” Matilyn told the deputy. “I think it was, like, a warning shot because he was trying to make me reconcile.”

There was a bullet hole in the headboard.

You can also hear the deputy ask Matilyn if there’s gas in the bedroom.

“He wiped me down with gasoline,” Matilyn said.

Looking back on that terrifying night, Matilyn told 12 On Your Side Investigates she woke up to the sounds of footsteps in her house.

“I yelled out, ‘Who goes there?’ And he said, “It’s me, b***h. Today is the day. I told you you were gonna die. Today is the day,” said Matilyn.

He was making good on a promise and a threat she had reported to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office just weeks before.

In the body cam video, she told deputies that he had threatened her a couple of times, and she filed a police report. He asked her if she got a temporary protective order. She told him she did not because she had to spend the night at Safe Homes to get one.

Matilyn bought her own home, so she wasn’t even living with Frank, so she says she felt she didn’t need to stay in a domestic violence shelter.

“I think other protocols should be put in place to expedite protection orders,” she said.

Instead, Matilyn’s quick thinking that night saved her own life.

As he was attacking her, he noticed her phone on her nightstand.

“He [Frank] said, ‘Open your phone! Let me see what you’ve really been doing?’” said Matilyn.

She quickly dialed 911 and started fighting for her life.

“That’s when I heard a knock on the door,” said Matilyn.

Those brave deputies didn’t just rescue Matilyn that night.

Matilyn and Frank’s baby was nowhere to be found.

In the body cam, you can hear Matilyn asking about her baby girl. She was supposed to be with Frank.

When questioned about it, a handcuffed Frank Ward told deputies he left her with a babysitter, but Matilyn said she knew that wasn’t right.

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Law enforcement raced to Frank’s house in North Augusta.

“I was thinking she wasn’t alive, I will be honest,” said Matilyn. “I was nauseous waiting, and when the cop came out, he said, ‘All is clear. You can go get your baby.’”

Officers say they found the baby, unharmed, in the middle of his king-sized bed.

The same night Matilyn was attacked, she was on the phone with her daughter at college.

“I told her I feel like something is going to happen,” she said. “My life insurance stuff is in the safe. I went through everything that I wanted her to do. I said, ‘I need you to be strong.’ She said, ‘Mom, if you’re scared, just don’t stay.’ I said, ‘I’m not gonna leave my home. I did nothing, I’m not leaving my home. I will be right here.’ We watched TV until I fell asleep, and the phone was on my chest.”

Hours later, Frank tried to kill her.

Frank tried just about every delay tactic he could, dragging this case out over the past three years.

Matilyn, however, has only gotten stronger, and while she’s not happy with his 20-year sentence, she thinks our cameras in the courtroom made a difference.

“Had the news – had you guys not been there, I believe it would have been less. I believe it would have,” said Matiyln.

Now, she’s focusing on making a difference and hopes her darkest hour can be a source of light.

“For any woman that is watching and second-guessing their value in life, God has a plan bigger than you could think of, bigger than you can imagine,” said Matiyln.

This might be the end of this chapter, but this is not the end of Matilyn’s story.

She is looking to partner with shelters and lawmakers.

Matiyln is also now armed and is an advocate for women learning how to be responsible gun owners.

She is also vowing to fight to keep Frank behind bars.

The Georgia parole board confirms he is eligible for parole in 2028, just three years from now.

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