Youth Pastor's Motive in Stabbing of Wife, Kids Revealed in Court Docs

The Kansas youth pastor facing five attempted-murder counts told authorities that he stabbed his wife and five children and tried to burn their house down because he didn't want them to learn of his financial difficulties, according to a court affidavit.

While referring to himself as a "monster," Matthew Lee Richards, 41, of Shawnee, told investigators that he feared his family would soon be evicted from their house and "thought that it would be better if they all died rather than for his kids to have to deal with the trauma," according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by local outlet The Kansas City Star.

His wife and two of his children suffered serious stab wounds, while three of Richards' other children, a young adult and two youths, were released from the hospital, the Shawnee Police Department (SPD) said.

Richards is facing five counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated arson with risk of bodily harm, Johnson County District Court records show. He is being held on a $5 million bond and is due back in court on Friday.

Newsweek reached out via email and Facebook on Tuesday to the Johnson County District Attorney's Office for comment.

In the early hours of September 16, authorities said, Richards went room to room inside his family home, attacking his wife and kids with a knife after setting a fire in the basement, according to the court affidavit.

Richards told police last week that he planned to set the house on fire, but that he could not recall details of the stabbings, the Star reports. He said the family was going to be evicted on the day of the attack and that he had not been honest about the family's financial woes and admitted to thinking "it would be better if they all died" rather than his wife and children "find out the truth," the affidavit says.

Newsweek reached out via email on Tuesday to attorney David Matthews, whom court records list as Richards' defense lawyer.

The investigation began the day of the attack, after police and firefighters were called to a Shawnee home around 3:45 a.m. regarding a disturbance and fire. According to the affidavit, police said they spoke with one of the family's neighbors who recalled hearing the children bang on the door, saying their dad had attacked them. The names and ages of Richards' wife and children were redacted in the court documents.

At least one of the 911 calls came from one of Richards' children, who told police that he witnessed his father stabbing his mother before the child was chased to the garage by his knife-wielding dad, the affidavit says.

While court records did not detail the wife's injuries, two of the children had stab wounds damaging internal organs, including one who was stabbed in the chest and cut across the abdomen, the Star reports.

Richards has been a youth pastor at Crossroads Christian Church in Shawnee since 2016, according to his bio on the church's website, which has since been deleted. It was unclear at the time of publication if he was still affiliated with the church. In the bio, he was described as a "big kid who loves teaching little kids about Jesus" and has been married to his wife since 2003.