Children’s Pastor Who Tried to Murder Wife, Five Children Over Money Woes Pleads Guilty

Staff Writer

A former children’s pastor who was charged with attempting to murder his wife and five children has plead guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Matthew Lee Richards used to be the children’s pastor at Crossroads Christian Church in Shawnee, KS, until he attempted to take out his whole family by stabbing them to death and then burning down their family home. KCTV5 reports:

(On Sept. 16, 2023) the Shawnee Police and Fire Departments were called to a home in the 6600 block of Goode Drive at 3:47 a.m. on reports of a house fire and disturbance. Multiple people had called 911, one of whom stated their father had chased them with a knife. Another said she had been stabbed and needed help.

When firefighters arrived, they found the home’s basement on fire and were able to quickly extinguish it, while officers found three people outside the home with stab wounds.

According to court documents, one of them was a child who suffered stab injuries to the upper right chest, as well as a significant cut across his abdomen that exposed internal organs. A second child suffered multiple stab wounds to his colon, liver, neck and back.

It was later determined that the then-41-year-old Richards had attacked his wife and five children before setting the fire.

One of Richards’ children told officers they were all in bed when his dad started stabbing everyone, according to the court document.

As far as the motive for the crime, Richards was distraught over being evicted from their home, which had been foreclosed. According to court documents:

“Richards said memories of the incident came in flashes from there, but he remembered thinking that he was a monster and that he’d thought it would be better if they all died rather than waiting for his kids and wife having to deal with the trauma of finding out the truth (about the evictions and losing the home.)

He is being sentenced on March 26, where it is expected he will spend at least 25 years behind bars.