“He told me he would kill me and my husband,” one woman tells Inside Edition.
For years, women working as real estate agents in New York say a serial stalker tormented them with perverted phone calls after finding their names and numbers on real estate listings.
One woman tells Inside Edition she allegedly received calls from Joseph Mathews over 60 times a day. She says sometimes his threats got violent.
“He told me he would kill me and my husband,” Iris says.
The women say Joseph Mathews often left them unsettling messages.
“Did you wear your stockings this week? I think you look very beautiful when you wear your stockings,” Mathews said in one message.
According to police, Mathews has been harassing women on Long Island for nearly three decades. In 1996, in a police report Matthews admitted, “I have made many calls and I do it because it gives me pleasure.”
Inside Edition spoke with nearly a dozen real estate agents on Long Island who say they believe Mathews targeted them after finding their names and phone numbers on for-sale signs.
“It was really truly awful. It paralyzed me with fear,” Kelly says.
Kelly tells Inside Edition Mathews first called her about an open house pretending to be a prospective buyer before sending her a picture of himself wearing heels and stockings.
“From that day on, phone calls started,” Kelly says. She says Mathews began calling her 80 times a day.
“There was nothing a police department could do. I didn’t know who this person was so everywhere I went I was in fear,” Kelly says. “I was worried about my family. I had two young children at the time and I couldn’t be with them 24/7.”
For Iris, the calls began decades ago.
“When you do open houses you don’t do them alone anymore and I was taking my son with me to meet clients because I was afraid of meeting anybody alone,” Iris says. “That’s worried me for the last 25 years,” she adds.
Iris says Mathews was able to get her cellphone number, see her schedule and know when she had an open house.
Mathews has been convicted of harassment and stalking multiple times and spent a few months in jail each time.
Former FBI agent Steven Troyd worked on the case.
“The laws just don’t really effectively address this,” Troyd says. “I saw a line of cellphones and they each had their back removed and their battery out so the phones aren’t communicating with cell towers or with the phone companies.”
Troyd tells Inside Edition he saw legal pads filled with phone numbers.
“There could easily be hundreds of victims,” Troyd says.
Without serious intervention, Troyd says he fears Mathews’ behavior could escalate.
“If he’s off the chain again, that’s the problem. He’s on the loose, doing what he does and women are paying the price for it,” Troyd says. “He needs to be stopped before he goes further. I mean if it’s psychological intervention, that’s important.”
Inside Edition tried to speak with Mathews on his way into court. He ran away and avoided any questions.
Mathews is currently facing new charges of stalking and has pled not guilty.
