Chrystul Kizer: Black Wisconsin teen charged with murder of sexual abuser freed from jail on $400k bond
KENOSHA, WISCONSIN: A 19-year-old black teen — who is facing life in prison after she was charged with the murder of a man whom she said abused her and was her sex trafficker — was released from jail after two years awaiting trial at a Wisconsin detention center.
Chrystul Kizer was allowed to leave jail after her bond, which was recently reduced from $1 million to $400,000, was paid for by the Chicago Community Bond Fund, the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, Survived & Punished, and the Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee.
Kizer was just 14 years old when she met her alleged abuser, 34-year-old Randall Volar III, on Backpage in 2017, according to the Washington Post. The website was one of the country's largest prostitution marketplaces and has since been shut down for its association with child sex-trafficking.
Volar paid her $250 for sex the first time they met, and then $100 each time after that. In December 2017, she ran away from home and moved in with the 34-year-old, and she said he gave her money, took her shopping, and even took her out to dinner with his mother.
On June 5, 2018, police responded to a 911 call about a burning home in Kenosha, and inside, found a badly charred body which was later identified as belonging to Volar. He had been shot in the head twice.
During their investigation, detectives learned that his car, a BMW, was missing and tracked it to Milwaukee. A receipt inside the car led police to a Family Dollar store, where surveillance footage revealed four teens had been driving the car.
One of those teens was Kizer, and a glance at her Facebook page made it apparent she was behind Volar's death. On the night of the fire, she had posted a selfie at 3.10 am with Volar's house in the background with the caption, "My Mug Shot". Three days later, she live-streamed on Facebook and bragged about giving her brother a BMW, showed off her gun, and talked about not wanting to shoot anybody else.
She was arrested the next day and charged with arson and first-degree intentional homicide, an offense that carries a mandatory life sentence in Wisconsin. Prosecutors said she wanted to rob him and that the crime was premeditated. Kizer told police she was a victim of child sexual abuse. She said Volar knew how old she was because, when she suggested to him that he should find women his age, he explained to her he preferred the bodies of young girls like her.
Police had every reason to believe her because they were investigating him for those very crimes. On February 12, 2018, a 15-year-old girl had called from Volar's house to report that a man had given her drugs and was threatening to kill her. Officers later found her wandering the streets, wearing only a bra under an unzipped jacket. She said she had taken LSD.
Ten days later, police had searched his home and confiscated laptops, hard drives, and memory cards, along with women’s pajamas, bikini bottoms, and underwear. He was arrested and charged with child enticement, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and second-degree sexual assault of a child, but was inexplicably released the same day.
Kizer bonding out of Kenosha County Jail this past week was celebrated, but advocates raised questions on how she had been made to remain behind bars for so long in the first place.
"Far too often, survivors of violence—especially black women and girls—are punished for defending themselves," the Chicago Community Bond Fund said. "Chrystul’s case highlights the urgent need for the criminal legal system to stop prosecuting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The police and government systems set up to protect Chrystul failed her. Instead of being given care and support from the beginning, she has been wrongfully incarcerated for nearly two years now for choosing to survive."