Black teen facing life in prison for killing her alleged sex trafficker released after protest fundraisers cover bail

A 19-year-old Black woman facing life in prison for killing her alleged sex trafficker was released from a Wisconsin jail on Monday after activist organizations paid the $400,000 bond. 

Four organizations, Chicago Community Bond Fund, the Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee, Milwaukee Freedom Fund, and Survived & Punished, paid Chrystul Kizer’s bond to release her from jail nearly two years after she was arrested. 

When Kizer’s case ends, the bond money will be used to establish a national bail fund for crimanalized survivors of domestic and sexual violence, the Chicago Community Bond Fund said in an announcement Monday. 

“We are elated to know Chrystul will no longer be locked in a cage simply for wanting to live,” the Chicago Community Bond Fund said in a statement. “We are proud to stand with Chrystul and will continue fighting by her side to ensure she can put this tragic incident behind her and begin to heal from trauma she has suffered at the hands of her abuser and the state that failed her.”

Kizer was charged with arson and first-degree intentional homicide, which has a mandatory life sentence in Wisconsin, in the death of Randall P. Vollar, III, according to The Washington Post. 

Kizer spoke to the Post about her case last year. She met Volar, a White man from Kenosha, Wisc., when she was 16-years-old. 

Kizer said Volar was trying to pin her to the floor when she shot him in the head twice, according to the Post. She also lit his house and car on fire and fled his house, according to the newspaper. 

Volar sexually abused Kizer for over a year while giving her cash and gifts, the Post reports. Court records showed Volar was abusing multiple underage girls and that police and prosecutors had video evidence of the abuse, but Volar remained free while he was investigated, according to the Post.