Chrystul Kizer, accused of killing a man she says sexually trafficked her as a teen, is arrested in Louisiana

KENOSHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin woman accused of killing a man who she said sexually assaulted her and other underage girls was arrested in Louisiana after nearly two weeks on the run.

U.S. marshals took Chrystul Kizer, 23, of Milwaukee, into custody on Monday. She was being held in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, online jail records show.

Kizer was free on $400,000 bond and awaiting trial in the June 2018 death of 34-year-old Randall Volar III in Kenosha. She was charged last month with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a domestic violence case at a Milwaukee home. A condition of her bond was that she not commit any crimes, and Kenosha County prosecutors filed bail jumping charges against her stemming from the Milwaukee County incident.

The Associated Press left a phone message and an email seeking comment from Kizer’s attorney.

Kizer’s trial in Volar’s homicide is scheduled for June 10. Prosecutors have said there’s no doubt Volar sexually assaulted Kizer and other girls. Police have seized videotapes that show some of the assaults, according to court documents. Kizer was 17 when the killing occurred.

The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but Kizer discussed her case in an interview with The Washington Post that was published in late 2019.

After Wisconsin’s self-defense law led to Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal on homicide charges, advocates demanded similar treatment for Kizer. They said that if Rittenhouse could successfully claim self-defense, then Kizer can, too. 

Her situation also drew comparisons to that of Cyntoia Brown, who was convicted as a teenager of murdering a man she said had hired her for sex and was released from prison in 2019 after then-Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam commuted her life sentence.