Man deputies arrested charged with first-of-its kind crime in Missouri
A man deputies arrested on Friday is now the first person in Missouri to be charged with the crime of attempted voluntary manslaughter by knowingly assisting another in the commission or attempted commission of self murder.
Deputies responded the 600 block of Cherry Street in Randolph just before midnight May 16. They saw a woman lying on the ground with a large knife sticking out from under her armpit. A man was by her. An ambulance quickly transported the victim to the hospital.
The man told deputies he had recorded the woman stabbing herself. He showed them the video, in which he'd told her to get a knife and then threatened that he would stab her if she didn't do it to herself first. He told her the first knife she was going to use was too small, so she retrieved a much larger one. He told her where to insert the knife so she would die quickly, based on what he had seen in a movie. When she fell to the ground, the video showed him checking to ensure she had done it. It did not appear that he attempted to provide any aid. He also told deputies he had physically assaulted the woman a few days prior, and she had prior injuries consistent with that.
Fortunately, she survived the incident.
Christopher R. Crownover, 41, is charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. He is being held in the Clay County Detention Center on a $100,000 bond.
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