Woman Sues Match.com after Date Tries to Murder

Here’s the story of a date that’s probably not going to make it into one of Match.com’s television ads.

Mary Kay Beckman first met Wade Ridley after the online service paired the two up in September 2010, and knew him for only 10 days before breaking up with him. Four months later, according to Courthouse News Service, on the night of Jan. 21, 2011, Ridley hid in her garage and eventually attacked her, stabbing her 10 times and kicking her in the head. Beckman is now suing Match.com for $10 million, citing negligence, negligent misrepresentation, deceptive trade, failure to warn and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

In her official complaint, Beckman claimed that

the site led her to believe that she’d end up in a  ”stable and loving relationship with another member” and didn’t properly warn her about the dangers of meeting ”an individual whose intentions are not to find a mate, but to find victims to kill or rape.” However, Beckman has not sued Ridley, who died in prison last year while serving  a sentence of up to 70 years for the crime. (For the record, he was also wanted for killing an ex-girlfriend in Phoenix.)

Following the attack, Beckman underwent several surgeries to repair her jaw, save her eyesight and hearing and to replace part of her skull, Courthouse News Service reports. She seeks $346,000 in economic damages, $5.4 million in noneconomic damages, and $4.1 million in punitive damages. In a statement, Match.com agreed that what happened to Beckman was “horrible” but said that the lawsuit was “absurd” and that the site cannot be held responsible for the actions of one “sick, twisted individual.”