Joey Matthews

Joey Matthews is the son of Joe Carroll and Claire Matthews.

Biography
Joey was born to Claire Matthews and Joe Carroll around 2003. Eventually, after his father was arrested for murder, Claire gained full custody of her son and kept him from learning about his father lest he never get over it.

2013
While Ryan Hardy and the rest of the FBI was watching over Claire's house, Joey spent time with his babysitter, Denise, who was actually one of Joe's Followers, Emma. She kidnapped him and brought him to Jacob and Paul in an empty parking lot, who took him to an unknown location.

The unknown location turned out to be a Farmhouse in Duchess County in Upstate New York. During the events of Chapter Two, The Poet's Fire, Mad Love, The Siege, and The Fall Joey stayed in the house with his "Babysitter" Emma and her two friends Jacob and Paul. He was convinced by Emma that they were on an adventure and that they couldn't call Claire aka Mom. During his time at the Farmhouse he was not allowed to go outside without Emma aka Denise, Jacob or Paul. At the end of The Poet's Fire it is revealed they were teaching him to kill simply because he could.

In the events of The Siege Joey was able to obtain the phone they use to contact the other followers. He used it to call his mom stating he wants to go home before he was grabbed by Paul. Getting even more suspicious than before, due to his mom's frantic behavior, he ran off to an elderly couple's home whose home was through the woods. Emma lies to Joey about not calling his mother cause they are in danger and that the police are the bad people to keep him quiet. Before they can tell him that he has been kidnapped; Emma intervenes and takes him away promising to let him call his mom. She sends Paul and Jacob to silence the elderly couple before they can reveal what they saw. After his escape; Emma locks him in his room as they prepare to escape with Hank Flynn. He breaks through the door only to see Ryan Hardy. Ryan harnesses his gun only to be held at gunpoint by Paul who sends Joey to his room. Emma knocks Joey out with some "special milk" for most of the events of The Fall. That is until help arrives from Roderick at which point Emma and Joey escape in a new vehicle leaving Paul and Jacob to die.

In the events of Let Me Go, Joey is taken to a new temporary location where he meets Bo. When he wanders off to the bathroom, he see a girl trapped in a cage; who happens to be the Warden's daughter who is being used as leverage against the Warden to help Joe escape. Later Joey helps her escape and Bo screams at him and Joey makes a run for it; Bo eventually catches him but Emma jumps to his rescue but is quickly beaten down by Bo when suddenly Charlie Mead shows up with the Warden's daughter having caught her when he arrived. Later, Charlie and Joey are talking about the girl and Joey makes him promise that the girl will be okay. Charlie promises and they depart after Charlie kills Bo and lets the girl live; keeping his promise. They arrive at the new destination and soon Joey meets his father for the first time. He is also surrounded by numerous followers of Joe who stare at Joey with happiness, much to his fear.

Joey is seen briefly in Welcome Home and he is giving Joe the silent treatment due to him watching over him sleep, to which Joey shows fear over him due to the stories he's heard of him, but later he and his father bond or at least start to when they make smores. When he asks when he'll see his mother again, Joe says it will be very soon, with Joey unaware he's having his men abduct her from Ryan's protection.

In Whips & Regret, Joey is finally reunited with his mother and the two have a tearful embrace.

In The Curse Claire tries to escape with Joey, but ultimately fails after several followers and Roderick surround the place and bring them back. Claire later chooses to at least play cards with Joey and use Joe's laptop to try to use the Internet, but it's no luck. Just then, Joey informs her of Emma's real name after she enters, to which Joey now shows fear to her after realizing she kidnapped her and lied about her name. Emma tries to tell her reasons, but Claire refuses to let her near him ever again.

In Havenport, Joey is seen talking with his mother about everyone learning that Emma and even Jacob, his favorite, are bad people and they can't trust any of them. Just as they attempt to go inside, Roderick punches Claire from behind and kidnaps Joey. At night, Ryan forces Roderick to take him to Joey's location and, as he unties a scared Joey, Roderick attempts to kill both of them till he is killed by Joe's followers. Mike then hides Joey somewhere promising to come back for him. However, finding a dead body scares Joey to the point where he leaves the room and finds Jacob attempting to take him back to Joe. As they run, Joey begs him to let him go after what his mother told him. Ryan stops them and begs Jacob to let Joey go, which is followed by a tearful Joey begging Jacob to let him go. Jacob does so, but escapes in the process. Joey recognizes Ryan Hardy and says how his mom said he's one of the good guys. Ryan agrees with him and carries him back to the station.

2014
Following the "death" of his mother it was revealed that Joey went into witness protection with his mother and grandmother. It's implied he now knows what kind of man his father is, as Claire mentioned he's been going to therapy a lot.

Trivia

 * He is an avid reader who has read Melville and Twain. He also read Robinson Crusoe, but didn't like it. ("Chapter Two")
 * He is the only main cast member of Season 1 to have not appeared in Season 2 and still be alive. However, Joey is frequently mentioned.
 * Joey is the only male main cast member not to have killed a person during season 1.