KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on Friday who is reported to be the first person in Missouri charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter after knowingly trying to help someone take their own life.
According to investigators, deputies responded to the 600 block of Cherry Street in Randolph, Missouri, just before midnight when they saw a woman lying on the ground with a large knife sticking out of the left side of her body, under her armpit.
Investigators said a man, 41-year-old Christopher R. Crownover, was near the woman when they arrived. Shortly after, EMS took her to North Kansas City Hospital.
Crownover told police he had recorded the woman stabbing herself. He then proceeded to show deputies a video of him threatening the woman to grab a knife or he was going to stab her.
According to court records, Crownover said, “I was going to kill her if she didn’t kill herself.”
The video also showed Crownover telling the woman to grab a bigger knife because the one she had originally grabbed was too small. He also gave her directions on how and where to insert the knife so she could die quickly.
Deputies later discovered that Crownover only got this information from the 2004 Brad Pitt feature film, ‘Troy.’
When the woman fell to the ground, court documents said the video showed him checking and asking her multiple times if she had stabbed herself. Crownover then watched the woman and never attempted to help or prevent further self-harm.
Investigators said Crownover also told deputies that he had physically assaulted the woman a few days before. This lined up with the injuries they saw after they spoke with the victim in the hospital.
The woman is reported to be alive, and investigators sent the case to the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office. In addition to attempted voluntary manslaughter, Crownover is facing armed criminal action.
Crownover is being held in the Clay County Detention Center on a $100,000 bond. He has been arraigned and has a bond reduction hearing scheduled for May 28.