23-Year-Old Wisconsin Woman Accused of Killing Her Trafficker Is Arrested in Louisiana
A Wisconsin woman accused of killing a man who sexually trafficked her as a teen is facing extradition back to Kenosha County after being taken into custody by U.S. Marshals in Louisiana on Monday.
Chrystul Kizer, now 23, spent nearly two weeks on the lam after county authorities issued a $40,000 warrant for her arrest. Online jail records showed Kizer was being held on four counts of extradition in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on Wednesday.
The counts are connected to earlier charges of felony bail jumping filed by Wisconsin prosecutors, who alleged she’d broken the terms of a $400,000 bond she posted in June 2020 to secure her release while awaiting trial in the death of Randall Volar III. Kizer was 17 years old when she was arrested in 2018 and charged with shooting Volar in the head, setting his house on fire, and fleeing in his car.
Kizer and her supporters argued that Volar, 34, had sexually abused and trafficked her for more than a year, and that she was being punished for acting in self-defense. Prosecutors did not disagree that Volar had sexually assaulted Kizer and other girls. But they argued that Volar’s murder was premeditated, charging Kizer with arson and first-degree intentional homicide.
“Chrystul’s case highlights the urgent need for the criminal legal system to stop prosecuting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault,” the Chicago Community Bond Fund, one of the groups that helped her raise bail, said in a statement upon her release.
Last month, Kizer was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a domestic violence case at a Milwaukee apartment. According to a criminal complaint obtained by local station WITI, she called 911 and said a man—identified as David Melton, a 47-year-old registered sex offender—had tried to sexually assault her. When officers arrived at the apartment, Kizer yelled at them, using “abusive and profane” language towards Melton before lunging at him and striking him in the face, according to the complaint.
Kizer was arrested and released the next day, according to Milwaukee County court records. The local district attorney decided to pursue charges in the case shortly after, triggering the Kenosha County bail-jumping charges, according to WITI.
The U.S. Marshals told the station that they had found Kizer and Melton together in a Louisiana parking lot on Monday. Melton was also taken into custody, for violating his probation, they said.
Kizer’s trial in Volar’s death is scheduled to begin on June 10th, according to WTMJ-TV. If convicted, she faces a mandatory life sentence in prison.
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