A Kansas City youth pastor has been sentenced to over 29 years in prison for stabbing his family and setting his home on fire.
Screengrab via Crossroads Christian Church website
On Wednesday, March 26, a judge sentenced Matthew Lee Richards, 43, to 188 months for one count of attempted first-degree murder and 165 months for a second count. The sentences will run consecutively, totaling 353 months—or just over 29 years in prison. Both charges are classified as level 1 felonies, the most severe under Kansas law.
Richards pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder in February.
The charges were part of the plea agreement that reduced multiple charges filed by the Johnson County District Attorney in September 2023. Richards had initially faced five counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson with risk of bodily harm.
The sentencing comes 18 months after Richards stabbed his wife and five children and set his home on fire as a result of what he told detectives was financial strain.
On September 26, 2023, Richards allegedly began stabbing his family around 3:45 a.m. as they slept.
Police said firefighters responded to a call at 3:47 a.m. from inside the home and reported a disturbance and a fire in the basement. When they arrived at Richards’ house, they waited for the police to tell them it was safe to enter.
Once emergency personnel entered the Richards’ home, they found that Richards’ wife and children had various degrees of laceration injuries. All six victims were transported to the hospital, and firefighters extinguished the fire. Richards was also transported and treated for smoke inhalation.
Richards told police the family was going to be evicted the day of the crime, and he had not been forthcoming with his wife about their dire financial condition.
All of the family members were reportedly unaware of the eviction notice the night Richards attacked them.
Richards told police that he had planned to burn down the house on the day he was set to be evicted. He admitted to thinking “it would be better if they all died” than his family “find out the truth.”
“I stabbed my kids, detective. I stabbed my wife,” he told police.
Richards told police that while he did not remember stabbing anyone, he recalled one of his sons asking him, “Dad, why do you have the knife?”
“The defendant admitted to having the thought that it would be better if they all died rather than for his kids to have to deal with the trauma of finding out the truth and for his wife to find out the truth,” the affidavit said.
Richards had been serving as the children’s pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Shawnee, Kansas. In an online statement, Crossroads Christian Church characterized Richards’ offenses as “a tragedy beyond what any of us could have imagined.”
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