The horrifying story of Chrystul Kizer: How a sex trafficking victim ended up becoming the accused
The high court of Wisconsin on Wednesday, July 6, has finally passed a ruling that will allow Chrystul Kizer, who is awaiting trial on a first-degree intentional homicide charge along with other felony charges in the death of Randall Volar III, to argue self-defense to justify killing the man who sexually abused her when she was 16.
In June 2018, Kizer shot 34-year-old Volar in the head and set fire to his home in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She faced a life sentence in prison, but in June 2020, after two years in a Wisconsin detention center awaiting trial, she was released when the Chicago Community Bond Fund, the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, Survived & Punished, and the Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee paid a $400,000 bond once her case attracted widespread attention. The Chicago Community Bond Fund said in a post about Kizer's release, "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."
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Details of the night: Victim gets charged for murder
As per HuffPost, Kizer was 16 when she met Volar after posting an advertisement on Backpage, a site that was visited by sex workers and potential patrons. The site was shut down in 2018 after being linked to child sex trafficking. Kizer's terrifying ordeal began when she met Volar, who sexually abused her several times and filmed the encounters. He also began trafficking her to other men.
Reports say Volar drugged Kizer the night of the incident. They had a fight after which she refused to have sex with him, leading him to pin her to the ground. According to The Washington Post, she accepted that she had a gun in her purse when she was at Volar’s home and that her actions were a result of self-defense. However, she said, "I didn’t intentionally try to do this." When asked who she considered as the victims in the case, she said, “Both of us. Because of the stuff that he was doing to me. And, that he should have never died.”
In a criminal complaint reported by TMJ4, the police officials said that the teen claimed that “she could not leave without being blocked and she believed that Mr Volar might jump out at her so she shot him.”
Arguments by prosecutors
As per Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, prosecutors stated that the killing was planned and Kizer wanted to steal Volar's BMW, which her brother was later found using. They also accused her of taking a selfie following the killing, and a criminal complaint states she recorded a Facebook Live where she boasted of killing a “white dude.”
Volar's history with minors
Kizer was not Volar's only victim. A 15-year-old too had accused him and called the cops. After being charged with child enticement, Volar was arrested and released on the same day. When he was killed, he was still being investigated for child trafficking and possession of child pornography. However, he never got called by the court. In addition, the court documents state there are over 20 videos of Volar sexually assaulting young black girls.