The Cyntoia Curse! Chrystul Kizer Faces Possible Life Sentence For Killing Man Who Sold Her For Sex
Dec. 18 2019, Published 9:41 p.m. ET
Chrystul Kizer is facing a life sentence for killing Randy Voler, her alleged rapist and sex trafficker.
The 19-year-old confessed to the June 2018 murder of Volar, who she claimed raped and sold her for sex since she was 16 years old.
According to the Washington Post, Kizer initially claimed she didn't know Volar, but later admitted they met after he responded to an ad she posted on Backpage.com, a now defunct marketplace for prostitution.
She eventually met up with him every other week and was gifted with material items and money for her family, but it came at a cost: Volar demanded to be compensated with sex.
Kizer alleged he also used Backpage.com to sell her to other people, drove her to her meet-ups and took her payments.
She claimed she tried to distance herself from Volar once she got into a relationship with her boyfriend Delane Nelson and he wasn't too happy about it.
"He had started to talk violent and stuff," Kizer said in one of her jail interviews. "I was going to stop talking to him, and he said if I did that he was going to kill me."
In May 2018, Kizer said Nelson gave her a .380 pistol after he suspected she was being followed.
Then one day, after she got into a fight with him, she sought refuge at Volar's place and brought her gun with her.
“I had went into the house. … He had ordered some pizza. We were smoking, and he asked me if I wanted to drink any liquor,” Kizer told authorities.
“And then he had gave me this drug. I don't know what it's called. And after that, we started to watch movies. … And then, the drug, it made me feel weird or whatever.”
The teen then alleged he tried to touch her, but she told him she was not interested. In her attempt to escape, she fell and he allegedly got on top and tried to pin her down, but she got loose.
The young girl then shot Volar in his head twice before setting his body aflame and fleeing the scene in his BMW, but she claimed she doesn't remember performing either act.
Neighbors reported the fire to authorities. After finding Volar's vehicle, they discovered Kizer's belongings and connected her to the crime.
Four months before Volar's murder, he was arrested on charged of child enticement, using a computer to assist a child sex crime and second degree sexual assault of a child.
Police found computers and electronics with videos and photos of his sexual encounters with underage girls, including Kizer. A bank account with $1.5 million in transfers, allegedly from sex trafficking, was also discovered.
But a day after his arrest, he was mysteriously released without bail.
The evidence against Volar was initially withheld by the district attorney's office, but Kizer's lawyer was later given access to the information.
They tried to apply an "affirmative defense" under a Wisconsin law that allows victims of sex trafficking to be acquitted of certain charges if they can prove they committed the crime because they were being trafficked.
But prosecutors ruled it was inapplicable in Kizer's case as they alleged her murder was premeditated.
Kizer, however, argued that she did not intend to kill him and argued in self defense.
Her lawyer is now preparing to appeal that ruling as she remains in jail and awaits her trial.
Kizer's story is strikingly similar to the case of Cyntoia Brown.
As readers know, Brown was 16 years old when she was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man she claimed sold her for underage sex.
Her story went viral as celebrities rallied behind her in hopes of getting her out and she was fortunately granted clemency She was released from prison in August after serving 15 years behind bars.